Dubai, December 1 (Xinhua) -- According to the "Global Drought Overview" released by the United Nations agency on December 1, the global drought has reached an "unprecedented emergency", and the huge impact of drought-induced by human activities has just begun to appear.
The report was launched during COP28 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Prepared jointly by the secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the International Drought Control Union. Drought has claimed more lives, caused more economic losses and affected more sectors of society than almost any other disaster, the report says.
According to the report, in December 2022, the number of people in the Horn of Africa who were assessed to be acutely food insecure reached 23 millionIn 2022, 630,000 square kilometres of drought were affected in Europe, almost four times the average annual area affected between 2000 and 2022The last time Europe experienced a drought like 2022 was 500 years ago;Between 2016 and 2018, 70 percent of cereal crops in the Mediterranean region were lost due to drought;Over the past 50 years, Africa's economic losses due to drought have amounted to $70 billion.
Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, said in a statement that he hoped the report would be a wake-up call.
He said the drought happened quietly and often overlooked, failing to capture immediate public attention, leaving the affected populations to bear the burden alone. As drought events continue to increase in frequency and severity, reservoir levels and crop yields continue to decline, biodiversity continues to be lost, and famine continues to spread, "we need transformational change".
The report highlights that land restoration, sustainable land management and nature-positive agricultural practices are key components of global drought resilience, that efficient water management is another key component of global drought resilience, and that disaster preparedness and early warning systems are also crucial. (Participating reporter: Du Zheyu).