Global drought pushes 90 million towards starvation, report finds

More than 90 million people in eastern and southern Africa face extreme hunger from record-breaking drought, marking what experts describe as the worst global water crisis in decades, according to a report published on Wednesday.

The report, published jointly by the NMDC, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, and the International Drought Resilience Alliance, examined drought impacts across Africa, south-east Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean.

If found that droughts have triggered widespread crop failures and livestock deaths across Africa, with Somalia experiencing particular severity as a quarter of its population edges towards starvation, and at least one million people have been displaced.

“This is not a dry spell. This is a slow-moving global catastrophe, the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Mark Svoboda, founding director of the US National Drought Mitigation Center and co-author of the report.

In Zimbabwe, last year’s corn crop declined 70% year-on-year, whilst 9,000 cattle died. Morocco has experienced six consecutive years of drought, leading to a 57% water deficit by early 2024.

The crisis extends beyond affected regions. Drought disrupted global supply chains for rice, coffee and sugar, with dry conditions in Thailand and India contributing to a 9% increase in US sugar prices during 2023-2024.

Spain recorded a 50% decline in olive production due to insufficient rainfall, doubling olive oil prices. In Turkey, land degradation has left 88% of the country at risk of desertification, whilst agricultural demands have depleted aquifers, creating dangerous sinkholes.

“The Mediterranean countries represent canaries in the coalmine for all modern economies,” Svoboda said. “No country, regardless of wealth or capacity, can afford to be complacent.”

The Panama Canal experienced severe water level drops, reducing shipping traffic by more than one-third between October 2023 and January 2024, disrupting global trade routes.

El Niño weather conditions in recent years exacerbated underlying climate warming trends, according to the report. “High temperatures and a lack of precipitation had widespread ramifications in 2023 and 2024, such as water supply shortages, low food supplies and power rationing,” the authors wrote.

Demand for fresh water will exceed supply by 40% by the decade’s end, with more than half of global food production at risk within 25 years, according to an autumn report on global water resources.

Separately, research published in March highlighted “unprecedented” glacier ice loss threatening food and water supplies for two billion people worldwide.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reported that global drought-affected land area has doubled over 120 years, with costs rising sharply. An average drought in 2035 is projected to cost at least 35% more than today.

“Drought is a silent killer. It creeps in, drains resources and devastates lives in slow motion,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. “When energy, food and water all go at once, societies start to unravel. That’s the new normal we need to be ready for.”