Drought touches a quarter of humanity, U.N. says, disrupting lives globally

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🗞️ Driving the news: Severe droughts are affecting various regions globally, with significant impacts on agriculture, water supply, and food security
• Tunisia's olive groves, the Brazilian Amazon, and wheat fields in Syria and Iraq are suffering from extreme dryness
• The Panama Canal faces water shortages, and India has restricted rice exports due to drought concerns

🔭 The context: The United Nations reports that 1.84 billion people, nearly a quarter of humanity, lived under drought conditions in 2022 and 2023
• These droughts, exacerbated by climate change and natural phenomena like El Niño, are occurring amidst a backdrop of record-high temperatures and food-price inflation

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Droughts have wide-ranging environmental and societal impacts
• They contribute to food insecurity, affecting millions worldwide, and influence geopolitical dynamics, such as trade and migration patterns
• The environmental toll, particularly in carbon-rich areas like the Amazon, could have lasting effects on global climate patterns

⏭️ What's next: The ongoing situation highlights the urgent need for effective climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies
• It also underscores the importance of sustainable water and agricultural practices to cope with the increasing frequency and severity of droughts

💬 One quote: “Droughts operate in silence, often going unnoticed and failing to provoke an immediate public and political response,” (Ibrahim Thiaw, head of the United Nations agency)

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