Droughts are world’s costliest disasters

Atmosphere, 2022

Droughts have been identified as an environmental hazard by environmentalists, ecologists, hydrologists, meteorologists, geologists, and agricultural experts. Droughts are characterised by a decrease in precipitation over a lengthy period, such as a season or a year, and can occur in virtually all climatic zones, including both high and low rainfall locations. This study reviewed drought-related impacts on the environment and other components particularly, in South Africa. Several attempts have been made using innovative technology such as earth observation and climate information as recorded in studies. Findings show that the country is naturally water deficient, which adds to the climate fluctuation with the average annual rainfall in South Africa being far below the global average of 860 mm per year. Drought in South Africa’s Western Cape Province, for example, has resulted in employment losses in the province’s agriculture sector. According to the third quarterly labor force sur...

Cambridge University Press eBooks, 1996

2015

2000

Climate Research, 2016

It is estimated that by 2020, the world population will reach 7.5 billion and that much of this population growth will occur in the developing world. To meet the increasing global demand for cereals, the world's farmers will have to produce 40 percent more grain in 2020. Growth of world agricultural output is expected to fall to 1.5 percent per year over the next three decades and further to 0.9 percent per year in the succeeding 20 years to 2050, compared with 2.3 percent per year since 1961. Many of the least developed countries, particularly ...

Drought Assessment, Management, and Planning: Theory and Case Studies, 1993

1996

Images of malnutrition, famine and a degraded African landscape were commonplace during the 1980s and appear likely to continue well into the 1990s and beyond. Glantz (1987) has shown that drought has hindered the ability of much of sub-Saharan Africa to achieve a sustained level of agricultural production and, as a result, has retarded progress toward economic development. Linkages between drought and economic development, although most obvious in Africa, exist throughout much of the developing world