Nairobi: Drought is a silent killer. It creeps in, drains resources, and devastates lives in slow motion. This stark reality is highlighted in a new report from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the U.S. National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC), and the International Drought Resilience Alliance. The report examines the global impacts of droughts from 2023 to 2025.
According to EMM, the report underscores the severe consequences of droughts across the globe. In Somalia, 43,000 people died in 2022 alone due to drought-linked hunger, with a quarter of the population facing crisis-level food insecurity into 2025. Zambia is grappling with one of the world's worst energy crises as a result of drought; the Zambezi River's water levels have drastically fallen, reducing the Kariba Dam's generation capacity to 7 percent and causing extensive electricity blackouts.
The report also details impacts beyond Africa. By September 2023, Spain experienced a 50 percent drop in its olive crop due to two years of drought and heat, doubling olive oil prices. In Türkiye, groundwater depletion has led to sinkholes, endangering communities. The Amazon Basin has faced mass deaths of fish and endangered species, disrupted water supplies, and transport challenges due to record-low river levels. Declining water levels in the Panama Canal have significantly disrupted global trade, affecting American soybean exports and causing shortages in UK grocery stores.
To combat this crisis, the report recommends stronger early warning systems, real-time drought monitoring, and nature-based solutions. It also emphasizes the need for resilient infrastructure and global cooperation, especially concerning transboundary river basins and trade routes.
