Droughts in Africa

What is a Drought

A period or condition of unusually dry weather within an area where rainfall is normally present. it can take decades to develop, thus difficult to predict. Its characteristics vary significantly from one region to another. Droughts are completely natural, but their devastation can be far-reaching and severe.

Causes of Drought

•A depletion of precipitation over time.•Occurs in all climatic zones. •Prolonged lack of rain causing regions around the world to slowly dry out.•It is one of the top three threats to population in the world (along with famine and flooding).•Atmospheric conditions such as-climate change-ocean temperatures- changes in the jet stream- changes in the local landscape 

Agriculture and Infrastructure

Other impediments to feeding Africa's masses include the lack of good roads. points out that at thetime of independence in 1947, India had a more dense road network than Africa has today. Withoutgood roads and other infrastructure, bumper crops in one region can't be transported to needy areas.

Demand for water supply

In many underdeveloped countries, such as India, people place a great demand on water supply. Its seriousness depends on

-the degree of the water shortage

-size of area affected.

- the duration and warmth of the dry period. 

However, Africa has contributed less than any other region to greenhouse gas emissions that are widely held responsible for global warming. Global warming is contributing to a disastrous and unprecedented famine spreading across the Sahel Region of West Africa and the Horn of Africa. 

What is affected?

• Depletion of farming lands
• Depletion of natural habitat for aquatic and land animals
• Decline in biological diversity (the variety of all life on earth, the complex relationships among living things, and the relationships between living things and their environment)
• Aquatic pollution, adversely affecting the livelihood of fishing communities and destroying fish and other water creatures (at the 2002 World Summit on sustainable Development (WSSD) which was held in South Africa, the causes of water pollution were cited as: oil transmission through shipping ports, poor water resources management, absence of effective regional and basin development plans, and underestimation of the groundwater potential to supplement irrigation and drinking water supplies.)
• Land pollution, adversely affecting the livelihood of farming communities.