Editing Drought (section)

== Regions particularly affected ==
{{main|List of droughts}}

=== Amazon basin ===
{{See also|Amazon Rainforest#Impact of early 21st century Amazon droughts}}
In 2005, parts of the [[Amazon basin]] experienced the worst drought in 100 years.<ref name=":4">{{cite web|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Amazon Drought Worst in 100 Years|url=http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2005/2005-10-24-05.asp|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115094341/http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2005/2005-10-24-05.asp|archive-date=2019-11-15|access-date=5 November 2017|website=ens-newswire.com}}</ref><ref name=":5">[http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0717-07.htm Drought Threatens Amazon Basin – Extreme conditions felt for second year running] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527104721/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0717-07.htm|date=May 27, 2013}}</ref> A 2006 article reported results showing that the forest in its present form could survive only three years of drought.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/law-mixed-year-begins-and-ends-wrapped-up-in-straw-1191932.html ''Amazon rainforest 'could become a desert' ''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825064419/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/law-mixed-year-begins-and-ends-wrapped-up-in-straw-1191932.html|date=2017-08-25}}, [[The Independent]], July 23, 2006. Retrieved September 28, 2006.</ref><ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/fishermen-braced-for-quota-cuts-1191880.html ''Dying Forest: One year to save the Amazon''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825060909/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fishermen-braced-for-quota-cuts-1191880.html|date=2017-08-25}}, [[The Independent]], July 23, 2006. Retrieved September 28, 2006.</ref> Scientists at the Brazilian [[National Institute of Amazonian Research]] argue in the article that this drought response, coupled with the effects of [[deforestation]] on regional climate, are pushing the rainforest towards a "[[tipping point (climatology)|tipping point]]" where it would irreversibly start to die. It concludes that the [[rainforest]] is on the brink of being turned into [[savanna]] or [[desert]], with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate. According to the [[World Wide Fund for Nature|WWF]], the combination of [[Deforestation and climate change|climate change and deforestation]] increases the drying effect of dead trees that fuels forest fires.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080518192545/http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=64220 ''Climate change a threat to Amazon rainforest, warns WWF''], [[World Wide Fund for Nature]], March 9, 2996. Retrieved September 28, 2006.</ref>

=== Australia ===
{{Further|Drought in Australia}}
The 1997–2009 [[2000s Australian drought|Millennium Drought]] in Australia led to a water supply crisis across much of the country. As a result, many desalination plants were built for the first time ([[List of desalination plants in Australia|see list]]).

By far the largest part of [[Australia]] is [[Deserts of Australia|desert]] or semi-arid lands commonly known as the [[outback]]. A 2005 study by Australian and American researchers investigated the desertification of the interior, and suggested that one explanation was related to [[human]] settlers who arrived about 50,000 years ago. Regular burning by these settlers could have prevented [[monsoon]]s from reaching interior Australia.<ref>[https://www.geosociety.org/news/pr/05-01.htm Sensitivity of the Australian Monsoon to insolation and vegetation: Implications for human impact on continental moisture balance] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615232508/http://geosociety.org/news/pr/05-01.htm|date=2010-06-15}}, Geological Society of America</ref> In June 2008 it became known that an expert panel had warned of long term, maybe irreversible, severe ecological damage for the whole [[Murray-Darling basin]] if it did not receive sufficient water by October 2008.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7460492.stm Australian rivers 'face disaster'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813205109/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7460492.stm|date=2021-08-13}}, BBC News</ref> Australia could experience more severe droughts and they could become more frequent in the future, a government-commissioned report said on July 6, 2008.<ref name=":6">[https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSYD6747620080707 Australia faces worse, more frequent droughts: study] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203120930/https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSYD6747620080707|date=2021-02-03}}, Reuters</ref> Australian environmentalist [[Tim Flannery]], predicted that unless it made drastic changes, [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]] in [[Western Australia]] could become the world's first [[ghost town|ghost metropolis]], an abandoned city with no more water to sustain its population.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6620919.stm Metropolis strives to meet its thirst] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906083308/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6620919.stm|date=2021-09-06}}, BBC News</ref> The long Australian [[2000s Australian drought|Millennial drought]] broke in 2010.

=== East Africa  ===
[[East Africa]], including for example Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, has a diverse climate, ranging from hot, dry regions to cooler, wetter highland regions. The region has considerable variability in seasonal rainfall and a very complex topography. In the northern parts of the region within the Nile basin (Ethiopia, Sudan), the rainfall is characterized by an unimodal cycle with a wet season from July to September. The rest of the region has a bimodal annual cycle, featuring long rains from March to May and the short rains from October to December. The frequent occurrence of hydrological extremes, like droughts and [[flood]]s, harms the already vulnerable population suffering from severe poverty and economic turmoil.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal|last1=Taye|first1=Meron Teferi|last2=Dyer|first2=Ellen|year=2024|title=Hydrologic Extremes in a Changing Climate: a Review of Extremes in East Africa|journal=Current Climate Change Reports|volume=10|issue=1|pages=1–11|doi=10.1007/s40641-024-00193-9|issn=2198-6061|doi-access=free}} [[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px]] Text was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License]</ref> Droughts prompted food shortages for example in [[1983–85 famine in Ethiopia|1984–85]], [[2006 Horn of Africa food crisis|2006]] and [[2011 East Africa drought|2011]].

The Eastern African region experiences the [[Effects of climate change|impacts of climate change]] in different forms. For instance, below-average rainfall occurred for six consecutive rainy seasons in the Horn of Africa during the period 2020–2023 leading to the third longest and most widespread drought on record with dire implications for food security (see [[Horn of Africa drought (2020–present)]]). Conversely, other parts experienced extreme floods, e.g., the [[2020 East Africa floods]] in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, and Uganda, and the 2022 floods in South Sudan.<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":8" />

A key feature in the region is the heterogeneous distribution of hydrologic extremes in space and time. For instance, [[El Niño–Southern Oscillation|El Niño]] can cause droughts in one part of the region and floods in the other. This is also a common situation within a country, e.g., in Ethiopia. The recent years with consecutive droughts followed by floods are a testament to the need to better forecast these kinds of events and their impacts.<ref name=":10" />

=== Himalayan river basins ===
[[File:Drought affected area in Karnataka, India, 2012.jpg|thumb|Drought-affected area in [[Karnataka]], India in 2012.|alt=|left]]Approximately 2.4&nbsp;billion people live in the [[drainage basin]] of the Himalayan rivers.<ref>{{cite web|title=People & the Planet > climate change > newsfile > big melt threatens millions, says un|url=http://www.peopleandplanet.net/pdoc.php?id=3024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070819200515/http://www.peopleandplanet.net/pdoc.php?id=3024|archive-date=19 August 2007|work=peopleandplanet.net}}</ref> [[India]], [[China]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Nepal]] and [[Myanmar]] could experience floods followed by droughts in coming decades. More than 150 districts in India are drought vulnerable, mostly concentrated in the state of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and its adjoining Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, northern Karnataka and adjoining Maharashtra of the country.<ref name=":9">Nandy, S.N. (2021) Analysis of drought vulnerability indices of Indian districts using Fuzzy logic approach. International Water Resources Association Journal (IWRA – India), 10(2): 11–17. https://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:iwra&volume=10&issue=2&article=002</ref> [[Drought in India]] affecting the Ganges is of particular concern, as it provides [[drinking water]] and agricultural [[irrigation]] for more than 500&nbsp;million people.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ganges, Indus may not survive: climatologists|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jul/24indus.htm|work=Rediff.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=People's Daily Online – Glaciers melting at alarming speed|url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90781/90879/6222327.html|work=People's Daily}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=2004-11-10|title=Science/Nature – Himalaya glaciers melt unnoticed|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3998967.stm|publisher=BBC News}}</ref> In 2025, the UN warned that retreating glaciers could threaten the food and water supply of 2 billion people worldwide.<ref>{{cite news |title=Glacier meltdown risks food and water supply of 2 billion people, says UN |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/20/glacier-meltdown-risks-food-and-water-supply-of-2bn-people-says-un |work=The Guardian |date=21 March 2025}}</ref>

=== North America ===
The west coast of [[North America]], which gets much of its water from [[glacier]]s in mountain ranges such as the [[Rocky Mountains]] and [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]], also would be affected.<ref>{{cite web|title=Glaciers Are Melting Faster Than Expected, UN Reports|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080317154235.htm|work=ScienceDaily}}</ref><ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-may-02-me-snowpack2-story.html Water shortage worst in decades, official says], ''Los Angeles Times''</ref>