In 2022, more than 2.3 billion people face water stress and nearly 160 million children are exposed to severe and prolonged droughts, reveals a report by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) published on the occasion of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD (COP 15) which is being held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 9 to 20 May 2022.

According to the report, humanity is “at a crossroads” when it comes to managing drought and accelerating mitigation measures must be done “urgently, using all possible tools.”

Drought in Numbers, 2022, released on Wednesday 11 May 2022 to mark Drought Day at COP 15, calls for making drought preparedness and resilience of all regions of the world a top priority.

The facts and figures in this publication show an upward trajectory in the duration of droughts and the severity of impacts, affecting not only human societies but also the ecological systems on which the survival of all that lives depends, underlines, the executive secretary of UNCCD, Ibrahim Thiaw.

In addition to the number of people affected by drought, the report reveals that since 2000, the number and duration of droughts have increased by 29%, from 1970 to 2019, weather, climate and water hazards accounted for 50% of disasters and 45 % of deaths related to disasters, mainly in developing countries. From 1998 to 2017, droughts caused global economic losses of approximately US$124 billion.

Unless action is taken, the report predicts that by 2030 an estimated 700 million people will be at risk of being displaced by drought and by 2040 an estimated one in four children will live in areas with extreme water scarcity. By 2050, droughts could affect more than three quarters of the world’s population, and an estimated 4.8 to 5.7 billion people will live in areas where water is scarce for at least one month every year compared to 3.6 billion today.

“We need to focus on the solutions rather than continuing our destructive actions, believing that marginal changes can cure systemic failure (…) We need to better build and rebuild our landscapes, mimic nature wherever possible and create functioning ecological systems. says Mr. Thiaw.

Source: Agence Ivoirienne de Presse