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FACTS ABOUT DESERTIFICATION AND DROUGHT Droughts have been categorized in three ways: as meteorological (due to a lack of precipitation), hydrological (lack of water in streams and aquifers) or agricultural (when conditions are unable to sustain agricultural and livestock production). The concept of what constitutes a drought varies from country to country. In England, three weeks without rain is considered a problem; in many parts of the world much longer dry periods are normal. Droughts are undoubtedly the most far-reaching of all natural disasters. From 1991 to 2000 alone, drought has been responsible for over 280,000 deaths and has cost tens of millions of US dollars in damage. Desertification, of course, did not begin with the recent droughts. Archaeological records suggest that Africa's arid areas have been getting progressively drier over the past 5,000 years. What is new is the coincidence of drought with the increasing pressures put on fragile arid and semi-arid lands by mounting numbers of people and livestock. An FAO/UNEP assessment of land degradation in Africa suggests that large areas of countries north of the equator suffer from serious desertification problems. For example, the desert is said to be expanding at an annual rate of 5 km in the semi-arid areas of West Africa. A recent study estimated that desertification processes affect 46% of Africa and that 55% of that area is at high or very high risk. The worst affected areas are along desert margins, and in total about 485 million people are affected. Durations and extents of droughts vary greatly. Examples of severe, persistent droughts over large geographical areas include those in the Sahel, covering 7.3 million km2, from 1970 to 1988; continental Europe covering 9 million km2, from 1988 to 1992; and India covering 3 million km2, from 1965 to 1967. The Zimbabwe drought of the early 1990s was associated with an 11% decline in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a 60% decline in the stock market; more recent floods in Mozambique led to a 23% reduction in GDP, while the 2000 drought in Brazil led to a halving of projected economic growth. Even in developed countries, an extreme drought may cause considerable disturbances in terms of environmental, economic and social losses. The 1988 drought in the United States may have caused direct agricultural losses totalling US$13 billion.
Information from: Source: UNESCO Water Portal, June 2005
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