Drought in Numbers 2022: UN report

In News

• United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) recently presented the Drought in Numbers, 2022 report at the ongoing 15th Conference of Parties (CoP15) which highlighted India’s vulnerability to droughts.
  • The report assessment analysed droughts and their impacts on life and livelihood over 122 years covering 196 countries.

Highlights of the Report

• Indian scenario:
  • India has featured in the assessment as one of severely drought-impacted countries.
    • Nearly two-thirds of the country suffered drought during 2020-2022.
    • India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reduced by 2 to 5 percent between 1998 and 2017 due to severe droughts in the country.
  • Many parts of India fall under the list of regions that are vulnerable to drought globally. 
  • Geographically, India’s drought vulnerability compares with that of sub-Saharan Africa.
  • India features on the Global Drought Vulnerability Index, which is part of the assessment. 
• Global scenario:
  • Droughts inbetween 1998 and 2017 caused economic losses of approximately $124 billion. 
  • The number and duration of droughts around the world have increased by an alarming 29% since 2000.
  • An entire new generation is growing up being “water scarce”.
  • Climate change alone will cause 129 countries to experience an increase in drought exposure in the next few decades.
  • The report notes that women and girls in emerging and developing countries may spend up to 40 per cent of their caloric intake fetching water.

What is Drought?

• Drought is a prolonged dry period in the natural climate cycle that can occur anywhere in the world. 
• It is a slow-onset disaster characterized by the lack of precipitation, resulting in a water shortage. 
• In recent decades, drought has emerged as one of the biggest drivers of human life loss and economic loss among weather-related disasters.
• By 2030, or in the next eight years, drought will potentially displace an estimated 700 million people worldwide. 

Effects of the increasing droughts 

• Environmental Impacts:
  • Losses or destruction of fish and wildlife habitat
  • Lack of food and drinking water for wild animals
  • Increased stress on endangered species or even extinction.
  • Increase in disease in wild animals.
  • Migration of wildlife.
  • Lower water levels in reservoirs, lakes, and ponds; loss of wetlands
  • More wildfires
  • Wind and water erosion of soils
  • Poor soil quality
• Social impacts: 
  • Health problems because of low water flows, poor water quality and dust
  • Threat to public safety and loss of human life due to an increased number of forest and range fires
  • Reduced incomes
  • Human migrations
• Economic impacts: 
  • Most affected would be agriculture and allied industries.
  • Rise in the prices of foodstuffs and overall inflation.

Way Forward 

• The Ministry of Water Resources is involved in drought management mainly on policy guidelines, monitoring and technical and financial assistance.
• Integrated farming systems and non-agricultural developments may also be considered for livelihood support and poverty alleviation.
• Policy intervention is also made facilitating relaxation in project clearances, funding etc. for drought-prone areas.
• The Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) and its partners have adopted three pillars of drought management:
  • Drought monitoring and early warning systems to determine drought status.
  • Vulnerability and impact assessment to determine who and what are at risk and why.
  • Mitigation, drought preparedness, and response to set out actions and measures to mitigate drought impacts and to prepare to respond to drought emergencies.

Source: DTE, TH