Drought is draining water supplies and driving up food costs where you’d least expect

This story was originally published by Grist Sign up for Grist s weekly newsletter here Taking shovels and buckets to a dried-up sandy belt of the Vhombozi River in Zimbabwe last August groups of Mudzi district villagers gathered to dig with the hope of somehow finding water The southern African region had entered into a state of severe drought which had shriveled the Vhombozi a primary water supply for more than people Before long a maze of makeshift holes revealed shallow puddles along the otherwise arid riverbed The frantic digging had worked there was water There was just one big challenge It wasn t blue It was a muddy brown color and villagers worried that consuming it would make them ill But as there were scarcely other options several took their chances with drinking it and bathing with it Almost a year later the persistent drought has led to a deluge of devastation on the region s food system Corn yields dropped percent across the country causing consumer prices to double Thousands of cattle were lost to thirst and starvation A local UNICEF exigency food distribution lost all of the food crops it harvested which forced the NGO to reduce charitable food provisions from three meals a week to one Child malnutrition levels in Mudzi doubled driving up the demand for strength care and causing a quarter of medical care clinics to run out of water reserves Between January and March about million people in Zimbabwe faced food insecurity According to a new record by the U S National Drought Mitigation Center or NDMC and the U N Convention to Combat Desertification or UNCCD the combined effects of global warming drought and El Ni o have triggered similar crises all over the world from Mexico City to the Mekong Delta Using impact reports alongside authorities content scientific and technical research and media coverage of major drought events the authors examined case-by-case how droughts compound poverty hunger potential insecurity and ecosystem collapse in situation hot spots around the world They measured impacts in and when the planet saw particular of the preponderance widespread and damaging drought events in recorded history What they determined is a lesson and a warning sign Increasingly severe droughts caused by conditions change are laying waste to ecosystems and economies everywhere This overview is a blistering reminder that weather change and punishing drought are already devastating lives livelihoods and food access declared Million Belay of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems and general coordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa who wasn t involved in the research We need to get serious about resilience and real adaptation Mexico City A focal point in the analysis is Mexico where prolonged drought conditions provoked a water predicament that has had repercussions for food affordability and access The situation began to intensify in when the country entered into a period of historically low rainfall By June the bulk of Mexico s reservoirs dropped below percent quota The rainy winter of brought various relief but not enough By the next summer percent of the country was experiencing particular level of drought and Mexico City s water supply system reached a record low of percent threshold Abnormally low rainfall and high temperatures made worse by inefficient water infrastructure and overextraction of the city s aquifer would persist into early These struggles to obtain water have been further exacerbated by distribution requirements as mandated by a water-sharing treaty Mexico has long shared with the United States Related Minnesota tribe sets enforceable rules to safeguard wild rice and water supply A severe lack of water has been ascertained to be closely linked with food insecurity as water scarcity impacts food access through reductions in agricultural production that can fuel food shortages and higher grocery prices Roughly percent of Mexico s population was food-insecure in according to national statistics with consumer food inflation rates steadily climbing since then Price hikes were eventually reflected in grocery stores causing the costs of produce like cilantro to soar by percent alongside other climbing price tags for goods like onions broccoli and avocados Ripple effects can turn regional droughts into global economic shocks mentioned NDMC s Cody Knutson who co-authored the account No country is immune when critical water-dependent systems start to collapse Amazon Basin During those same years the Amazon River Basin became another drought and hunger hot spot According to the new account state change caused waterways to drop to historically low levels in September of Drinking water became contaminated by mass die-offs of marine life and local communities weren t able to eat the fish they rely on Supply chain transportation was also greatly affected as the low water levels made it impossible for boats to tour in and out of certain regions Brazil s AirForce would be deployed to distribute food and water to several states where river supply routes were impassable Residents in several towns dug wells on their own properties to replace river water they would normally depend on for drinking cooking and cleaning according to the U N -backed summary Others were stuck waiting on regime aid Disruptions to drinking water and food supplies due to low river levels continued through late as the drought persisted By September waterways that had previously been navigable were bone-dry A statement distributed by the nonprofit ACAPS determined that several communities in the Amazon region were already considered to be suffering malnutrition making them more vulnerable to the emerging soundness and food insecurity effects of the drought Context change plays a critical role in food prevention stated FAO economist Jung-eun Sohn who is unaffiliated with the UNCCD overview He noted that warming not only can impact both availability of and access to food but that natural hazards are one of three main risks of food insecurity along with conflict and economic risks in hunger hot spots Mekong Delta Though a central contributor to the interconnected water-and-food situation context change isn t the only factor in numerous hunger hot spots failing infrastructure and inefficiencies in water delivery systems have also been flagged as critical contributors to widespread water shortages The compounding effect of El Ni o or a naturally occurring weather phenomenon that drives above-average global heat and more intense natural disasters in parts of the planet is another culprit It s now abundantly clear that industrial chemical-intensive agriculture with its high water demands and uniform crops is deeply vulnerable to drought and intensifying the dilemma reported Belay the IPES expert One scrutiny detected that saltwater intrusion much like what persistently plagues the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam also causes a vital reduction in food production The watershed flows through six Asian countries and over million people depend on the rice grown in the region which is Vietnam s majority productive agricultural area It is also the region of Vietnam that is most of vulnerable to hunger with up to half of its rural households struggling to afford enough food So when an early heat wave struck the Mekong Delta in and an abnormally long dry spell followed suit causing canals to dry up excessive salinity heat and water scarcity killed farmers catch in droves reducing what communities were able to supply and sell which led to shortages that prompted the local regime to intervene and help producers swiftly sell their wares As the drought persisted communities undertook other desperate measures to mitigate losses renovating ditches constructing temporary reservoirs digging wells and storing fresh water Even so according to the account up to hectares of agricultural guidance including fruit crops rice fields and aquaculture have been impacted in the last year by the drought and excess salinity The situation contributed to rice shortages prompting a widespread inflationary effect on industry prices These instances highlight how interconnected our global economies and food supplies are Paula Guastello NDMC drought impacts researcher and lead author of the statement communicated Grist Drought has widespread implications especially when it occurs on such a large intense scale as during the past limited years In in the modern day s global society it is impossible to ignore the effects of drought occurring in far-off lands All stated the authors argue that without major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions rising temperatures will lead to more frequent and severe droughts by continuing to inflate heat evaporation and volatile precipitation patterns All the while urbanization land use changes and population rise are expected to continue to strain water materials and influence which assets and areas are most of vulnerable to drought impacts The world s resilience to those impacts the record denotes ultimately depends on the fortification of ecosystems the adoption of changes to water management and the pursuit of equitable store access Proactive drought management is a matter of context justice equitable rise and good governance announced UNCCD Deputy Executive Secretary Andrea Meza in a comment about the analysis Stronger early warning systems and real-time drought impact monitoring for example those that assess conditions known to fuel food and water insecurity are a few of the solutions countries can better fortify their systems in preparedness for the next big drought event Others include watershed restoration the broad revival of traditional cultivation practices and the implementation of alternative water supply technologies to help make infrastructure more climate-resilient Adaptation methods however must also account for the the bulk vulnerable populations the authors say and require global cooperation particularly along critical food agreement routes Drought is not just a weather event revealed review co-author and NDMC assistant director Kelly Helm Smith It can be a social economic and environmental crisis The question is not whether this will happen again but whether we will be better prepared next time This article originally appeared in Grist at https grist org food-and-agriculture drought-water-supplies-food-costs-where-you-least-expect Grist is a nonprofit independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of weather solutions and a just future Learn more at Grist org The post Drought is draining water supplies and driving up food costs where you d least expect appeared first on MinnPost