MADRID, December 1 (IPS) – Drought is one of the ‘most destructive’ natural disasters in terms of human losses, arising from impacts, such as widespread crop failure, forest fires and water shortages.
In other words, drought is one of the “most terrifying natural phenomena in the world;” they ravage farmland, destroy livelihoods, and cause innumerable suffering, such as report by the world’s leading professional bodies: United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
They occur when an area suffers from a lack of water supply due to lack of rain or lack of surface or groundwater. And they can last for weeks, months, or years.
Made worse by land degradation and climate change, droughts are increasing in frequency and severity, increasing 29% since 2000, with 55 million people affected each year.
By 2050, drought could affect about three-quarters of the world’s population. This means that agricultural production will have to increase by 60% to meet global food demand by 2050.
This means that about 71% of the world’s irrigated area and 47% of major cities will at least experience periodic water shortages. If this trend continues, scarcity and problems related to water quality will lead to competition and conflict among water users, the Convention adds.
Most of the world has been affected
The alert is loud and powerful and it comes from some of the world’s most knowledgeable organizations.
For starters, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on November 29, 2022 report that most regions of the world are drier than usual by 2021, with “continuing impacts on economies, ecosystems and our daily lives”.
Water
From 2001 to 2018, UN-Country reported that a staggering 74% of all natural disasters are water related.
Currently, more than 3.6 billion people do not have access to enough water for at least one month each year, and this number is expected to grow to more than 5 billion by 2050.
Furthermore, unusually dry areas include the Rio de la Plata region of South America, where a prolonged drought has affected the region since 2019, according to the WMO. Report on the status of global water resources.
Drying rivers and lakes
In Africa, major rivers such as the Niger, Volta, Nile and Congo have below-average water flows in 2021.
Similar trends are observed in rivers in some regions of Russia, Western Siberia and Central Asia.
On the other hand, there are above-normal river flows in some basins of North America, Northern Amazon and South Africa, as well as in the Amur basin of China and northern India.
cascading effect
The WMO Secretary-General said the effects of climate change are often felt through water – more frequent and intense droughts, more severe floods, more erratic seasonal rainfall and faster melting of ice – with cascade effects on our economies, ecosystems, and all aspects of our daily lives. General Peter Taalas.
“Changes to the Cryosphere’s water resources affect food security, human health, ecosystem integrity and maintenance, and lead to significant impacts on development,” WMO said. economic and social development,” said WMO, which sometimes causes river and flash floods due to the explosion of glacial lakes.
The cryosphere – namely glaciers, snowcapped, ice caps and, if present, permafrost – is the world’s largest natural freshwater reservoir.
soil
As water – or rather water shortage – a major cause of the rapid depletion of natural resources and consequent damage to the world’s food production, the theme of World Earth Day 2022marked on December 5, as “Land: Where Food Begins.”
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
- 95% of our food comes from the soil.
- 18 natural chemical elements are essential for plants. Soil supply 15.
- Agricultural production will have to increase by 60% to meet global food demand by 2050.
- 33% of the land is degraded.
dangerous poisoning
Besides human, animal and plant life, one of the most water-dependent industries is crops which are currently at high risk of extinction.
Indeed, since the 1950s, remind United Nations, innovations such as synthetic fertilizers, chemical pesticides and high-yielding grains have helped mankind significant increase the amount of food it grows.
“But those inventions would be controversial without agriculture’s most precious commodity: fresh water. And it, according to the researchers, is now Threatened.”
Furthermore, pollution, climate change and excessive abstraction are beginning to damage the lakes, rivers and aquifers that underpin agriculture globally, report United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
Salinised and plasticized
Such is the case, among many others, of salinization and the increasing ‘plasticization’ of the world’s soils.
In fact, at present, it is estimated that more than 833 million hectares of land are saline globally (8.7% of the planet’s area). This means the soil loses its ability to grow crops and also increases its impact on water and its ability to filter pollution.
Saltwater intrusion and soil calcification are the main soil degradation processes threatening ecosystems and are recognized as one of the most important issues at the global level for agricultural production, food security, and food security. and sustainability in arid and semi-arid regions, speak UN on the occasion of 2021 World Earth Day.
wastewater
Among the main causes highlighted by the international body is that in some arid regions, the amount of wastewater used for farming has increased.
“The problem can be exacerbated by flooding, which can flood sewage systems or fertilizer storage facilities, contaminating both surface and groundwater.” Fertilizer overflow can cause algal blooms in the lake.
Meanwhile, the amount of fresh water per capita has down 20% over the past two decades and nearly 60% of irrigated arable land is under water.
The consequences of those shortages are far-reaching: irrigated agriculture contributes 40% of total food produced worldwide.
Soils are highly living creatures
“Did you know that there are more living things in a tablespoon of soil than there are people on Earth?”
Soil is a world made up of organisms, minerals and organic ingredients that provide food for humans and animals through the growth of plants, Explaining this year’s World Earth Day.
Agricultural systems lose nutrients with each harvest, and if soil is not managed sustainably, fertility will gradually be lost and the soil will produce nutrient-deficient crops.
Soil nutrient loss is a serious soil degradation process that threatens nutrition. It is recognized as one of the most serious problems at the global level for food security and sustainability globally.
Hunger ‘hidden’
Over the past 70 years, the vitamin and nutrient content of food has plummeted and an estimated 2 billion people around the world suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, known as latent hunger because it is so difficult to detect.
“Soil degradation causes some soils to become depleted of nutrients, losing their ability to support crops, while others with such high nutrient concentrations are environmentally toxic to plants and animals. animals, polluting the environment and causing climate change.”
© Inter Press Service (2022) — All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service
