Ibrahim Thiaw, the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) addressed the audience at the opening of COP16, a significant global conference happening in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The conference aims to finalize a new global drought regime that will shift the focus from reactive relief response to proactive preparedness.
Here are some important points to understand about droughts.
Droughts are on the rise in frequency and severity
While droughts are a natural occurrence, they have become more severe in recent years due to climate change and unsustainable land practices. Since 2000, the frequency and intensity of droughts have increased by almost 30%, posing a threat to agriculture, water security, and the livelihoods of 1.8 billion people, especially in the poorest nations.
Droughts can also lead to conflicts over dwindling resources, such as water, and force people to migrate towards more productive lands.
No country is immune
Over 30 countries have declared drought emergencies in the past three years, including India, China, the US, Canada, Spain, Uruguay, Southern Africa, and Indonesia.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson
A ship passes through the Panama Canal in Central America.
Droughts have disrupted grain transportation in Europe, international trade via the Panama Canal, and hydropower generation in Brazil, which relies on water for most of its electricity.
In New York City, firefighters were called to extinguish a bushfire in a park in November 2024 following weeks of no rainfall.
UNCCD’s Ibrahim Thiaw emphasized that “Droughts have extended to new regions. No country is safe, with up to 7.5 billion people globally feeling the impacts by 2050.”
Chain reactions
Droughts often transcend specific locations and times, typically arising from a combination of factors related to climate change and land mismanagement.
Deforestation, for example, leads to immediate land degradation, compromising its resilience to extreme weather conditions and making it more vulnerable to droughts and floods.
Once a drought hits, it can trigger a cascade of events, exacerbating heatwaves and floods, posing multiple risks to lives, livelihoods, and economies with substantial human, social, and economic consequences.
As communities, economies, and ecosystems grapple with the aftermath of droughts, they become more vulnerable to future occurrences, fueling a damaging cycle of land degradation and underdevelopment.
Drought is a development and security concern
Around 70% of the world’s freshwater resources are in the hands of individuals relying on land for sustenance, particularly subsistence farmers in low-income countries, including approximately 2.5 billion youth.
Without water, there’s no food or land-based jobs, potentially leading to forced migration, instability, and conflict.
UNCCD Deputy Executive Secretary Andrea Meza stressed that “Drought isn’t solely an environmental issue; it’s a developmental and human security issue that necessitates urgent cross-sectoral and multi-level governance responses.”
Building resilience through planning
Human-induced climate change and mismanagement of land are escalating droughts, prompting a predominantly reactive global response. More proactive planning and adaptation are crucial to enhancing resilience to extreme weather conditions arising from dwindling water supplies, often at the local level.
In Zimbabwe, a youth-led initiative is striving to restore land through planting one billion trees countrywide, while farmers in Haiti are embracing beekeeping to protect trees necessary for bees. In Mali, a young female entrepreneur is bolstering livelihoods and resilience to drought by promoting moringa tree products.
Experts argue that proactive initiatives like these can avert extensive human suffering and prove more cost-effective than response and recovery measures.
What’s next?
At COP16, countries are convening to outline collective strategies for addressing worsening droughts and promoting sustainable land management.
Two key research pieces were released on the event’s inauguration.
The World Drought Atlas illustrates the interconnected nature of drought risks across sectors like energy, agriculture, river transport, and international trade, highlighting how they can instigate cascading impacts, exacerbate inequalities and conflicts, and endanger public health.
The Drought Resilience Observatory is an AI-driven data platform for drought resilience established by the International Drought Resilience Alliance (IDRA), a coalition of over 70 countries and organizations committed to drought action and hosted by UNCCD.
What’s the financial outlook?
An estimate from the UN suggests that about $2.6 trillion is required by 2030 to restore drought-affected lands across the globe due to poor management.
During COP16, an initial pledge of $2.15 billion was announced to fund the Riyadh Global Drought Resilience Partnership.
Dr. Osama Faqeeha, the Deputy Minister for Environment at the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture in Saudi Arabia, mentioned that “The Partnership will serve as a global facilitator for drought resilience, emphasizing a transition from reactive relief to proactive preparedness. We aim to pool global resources to save lives and livelihoods worldwide.”
