Drought

hide

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region. Although droughts can persist for several years, even a short, intense drought can cause significant damage and harm the local economy. This global phenomenon has a widespread impact on agriculture. The United Nations estimates that an area of fertile soil the size of Ukraine is lost every year because of drought, deforestation, and climate instability. Lengthy periods of drought have long been a key trigger for mass migration and played a key role in a number of ongoing migrations and other humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel.

For more information about Drought, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with drought

results timeline


Some 6,000 families were affected by the drought in the Chaco region of Paraguay, particularly indigenous populations

El Nino intensifies Latin America drought

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 20, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

From a devastating food crisis in Guatemala to water cuts in Venezuela, El Nino has compounded drought damage across Latin America this year.


Germany calls for binding climate deal in 2010

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 2

(AP) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Thursday for all countries to fix binding climate change targets next year at the latest, acknowledging that no such deal is likely at global talks in Copenhagen next month.


Research spawns new discoveries showing how crops survive drought

Research spawns new discoveries showing how crops survive drought

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Breakthrough research done earlier this year by a plant cell biologist at the University of California, Riverside has greatly accelerated scientists' knowledge on how plants and crops can ...


New water management tool may help ease effects of drought

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 12, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Continued improvement of climate forecasts is resulting in better information about what rainfall and streamflow may look like months in advance. A researcher from North Carolina State University has developed an innovative ...


Cave study links climate change to California droughts

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0

California experienced centuries-long droughts in the past 20,000 years that coincided with the thawing of ice caps in the Arctic, according to a new study by UC Davis doctoral student Jessica Oster and geology professor ...


Drought resistance explained

Drought resistance explained

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Much as adrenaline coursing through our veins drives our body's reactions to stress, the plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) is behind plants' responses to stressful situations such as drought, but how it does ...


Hybrid bluegrasses analyzed for use in transition zone

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 04, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The transition zone can be one of the most challenging places to maintain high-quality turfgrass; changeable growing conditions in these regions often prove too hot for some grasses and too cold for others. Finding turfgrass ...


Drought tolerant cowpea can improve crop yield in arid West Africa

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 03, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Even the highly drought-resistant cowpea (a long type of legume) now has an increasingly difficult time surviving in the Sahel countries where climate change has resulted in shorter and less frequent rainy seasons. Wageningen ...


Pedestrians make their way across the snow in Tian'anmen Square

Beijing's first snow of season 'artificially induced'

Space & Earth / Environment

created Nov 01, 2009 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (6) | comments 1

Chinese meteorologists covered Beijing in snow Sunday after seeding clouds to bring winter weather to the capital in an effort to combat a lingering drought, state media reported.


Soil moisture and ocean salinity satellite ready for launch

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Oct 29, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

A new European Earth observation satellite will be launched in the early hours of Monday morning (2 November 2009) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.


Expect the unexpected when adapting to climate change in Africa, says leading researcher

Expect the unexpected when adapting to climate change in Africa, says researcher

Space & Earth / Environment

created Oct 28, 2009 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (7) | comments 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- Nations, communities and families in Africa need to safeguard their homes and livelihoods against the unpredictable effects of climate change, according to a discussion paper written by Imperial ...


Research May Help Plants, Humans Survive Stress, Disease

Research May Help Plants, Humans Survive Stress, Disease

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 27, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- New technology to analyze gene expression at the level of different cell types offers new insights in the ways that plants and animals react to the environment and how they change when they ...


Scientists reveal secrets of drought resistance

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 22, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0

A team of biologists in California led by researchers at The Scripps Research Institute and the University of California, San Diego has solved the structure of a critical molecule that helps plants survive during droughts. ...


Research for Organic Farming - Soya Thrives on Nitrogen From the Air

Research for Organic Farming - Soya Thrives on Nitrogen From the Air

Space & Earth / Environment

created Oct 20, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

For the first time, the capacity of soya plants to absorb nitrogen from the air has been precisely determined in dry areas of Eastern Austria. The primary aim of this project, backed by the FWF Austrian Science ...


Researchers develop genetic map for cowpea, accelerating development of new varieties

Researchers develop genetic map for cowpea, accelerating development of new varieties

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 13, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Cowpea, a protein-rich legume crop, is immensely important in many parts of the world, particularly drought-prone regions of Africa and Asia, where it plays a central role in the diet and economy of hundreds ...