UN-Backed Report Warns of Intensifying Global Drought Crisis

From Somalia to mainland Europe, the past two years have witnessed some of the most severe droughts ever recorded, worsened by the impacts of climate change, according to a new UN-backed report.

Describing drought as a “silent killer” that “creeps in, depletes resources, and devastates lives in slow motion,” the report highlights how drought has exacerbated poverty, food insecurity, and ecological collapse.

The report draws attention to particularly severe impacts in Africa, the Mediterranean, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. In Somalia alone, an estimated 4.4 million people were facing crisis-level food insecurity at the start of 2024.

Governments are urged to prepare for a “new normal”, with recommendations including the implementation of stronger early warning systems and long-term resilience strategies.

“This is a slow-moving global catastrophe, the worst I’ve ever seen,” said co-author Dr Mark Svoboda, founding director of the US National Drought Mitigation Center.

“This report underscores the need for systematic monitoring of how drought affects lives, livelihoods, and the health of the ecosystems that we all depend on.”

Global Hotspots and Compounding Factors

The Drought Hotspots Around the World report identifies the hardest-hit regions between 2023 and 2025. It notes that the effects of global warming have been intensified by El Niño—a natural climate phenomenon where unusually warm waters in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean disrupt global weather systems.

El Niño events typically bring drier conditions to regions such as southern Africa, Southeast Asia, northern South America, and parts of Australia.

In addition to climate-related pressures, human activities—such as intensive irrigation for agriculture—have further strained water supplies.

By early 2023, the Horn of Africa was enduring its worst drought in 70 years, following multiple failed rainy seasons across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. This crisis came on the heels of an estimated 43,000 drought-related deaths in Somalia in 2022.

Wildlife has not been spared. In Botswana, hippos were left stranded in parched riverbeds, while in Zimbabwe and Namibia, elephants were culled to prevent overgrazing and to provide food for struggling communities.

Wider Societal Impacts

The report also underlines the disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups—particularly women. In Eastern Africa, regions worst hit by drought saw rates of child marriage more than double, as families turned to dowries in desperate bids to survive.

“The coping mechanisms we saw during this drought grew increasingly desperate,” said lead author Paula Guastello. “Girls pulled from school and forced into marriage, hospitals going dark, and families digging holes in dry riverbeds just to find contaminated water – these are signs of severe crisis.”

Although lower- and middle-income countries have borne the brunt of drought-related devastation, the report warns that no nation is immune. In Spain, two consecutive years of drought and record-breaking heat slashed olive yields by 50%.

The Amazon basin has also suffered severely. Record low water levels have led to widespread fish deaths, endangered freshwater dolphins, and jeopardised drinking water supplies for hundreds of thousands of people.

Drought has even disrupted global trade. Between October 2023 and January 2024, low water levels in the Panama Canal forced a reduction in daily ship transits from 38 to just 24.

“Drought is not just a weather event – it can be a social, economic, and environmental emergency,” said report co-author Dr Kelly Helm Smith.

“The question is not whether this will happen again, but whether we will be better prepared next time.”

 

 

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