Last Thursday, within the framework of the Day to Combat Desertification and Drought that is celebrated every June 17, the United Nations organization published a report entitled Special Report on Drought 2021 in which it warns, among other things, about the impact of desertification and drought; a phenomenon that can affect many areas of the world, damaging the ecosystems and quality of life of the hardest hit countries. It details that droughts have already caused economic losses of at least 124,000 million dollars and affected more than 1,500 million people between 1998 and 2017; but even these figures are most likely gross understatements, they add, as “with man-made climate change, the frequency and severity of droughts have already increased in some regions of the world, which are often already struggling with water scarcity.” Drought is about to become the next pandemic and there is no vaccine to cure it,” Mami Mizutori, the UN representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, told a news conference.
“Like a virus, drought tends to last a long time, has a wide geographic reach and causes chain damage,” Mizutori continued. “It can indirectly affect countries that are not actually experiencing drought through food insecurity and rising food prices.” According to UN estimates, nearly 130 countries could face an increased risk of drought this century in a high-emission scenario. Another 23 countries would face water shortages due to population growth, while 38 could experience both problems. The most frequent and severe droughts, predict UN specialists, will be in most of Africa, Central and South America, Central Asia, South Australia, Southern Europe, Mexico and the United States.On the other hand, Ibrahim Thiaw, secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, also pointed out that the deterioration of the soil, caused in large part by poor land management , had led the world to a “point of no return”. In this context, the UN urged countries to take immediate action on water and land management, as well as to address the climate emergency.
