The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
A MEGADROUGHT in parts of Africa and Asia about 17,000 years ago led to mass migration of humans and animals. It is regarded as the most severe in the last 50,000 years. Rainfall in this drought-hit region is caused when winds from the northern and southern hemispheres converge ne-ar the …
Call it the fallout of seven years of severe drought or government inaction, a silent revolution is brewing in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Communities are getting united and digging channels to bring water from government canals to their fields. Some are volunteering labour, while those belonging to Scheduled castes …
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released its annual "Statement on the Status of the Global Climate," highlighting that global surface temperatures reached record values and that 2010 represented the closure of the warmest decade on record. The Statement describes global temperature in 2010, major large-scale influences on the global …
he potential for increased drought frequency and severity linked to anthropogenic climate change in the semi-arid regions of the southwestern United States (US) is a serious concern. Multi-year droughts during the instrumental period and decadal-length droughts of the past two millennia were shorter and climatically different from the future permanent, …
A long climate record reveals abrupt hydrological variations during past interglacials in southwestern North America. These data set a natural benchmark for detecting human effects on regional climates.
Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. True to the adage, the innovative farmers of Gudibande have taken challenges to seek a solution to redress their evergreen drought problem bogging their taluk. And they have become successful in it. Gudibande taluk, of late, has earned the notorious tag of being …
INTENSE heatwaves in July last year scorched much of Europe and several other countries in the Northern Hemisphere. It took many lives, destroyed crops and ignited forest fires. Scientists say climate change will not just influence the average climate but also extremes such as heatwaves. Taking cue a group of …
The immediate and most common response by the different organs of a plant to water stress is decrease in turgor. This may be partially or fully adjusted by accumulation of solutes. In the present study sorghum pollen grains were subjected to in vitro osmotic stress using polyethylene glycol (PEG). The …
The weather pattern known as La Nina, blamed for floods in Australia and drought in parts of Latin America, is expected to persist through the first quarter of 2011, the World Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday. La Nina, which cools the Pacific Ocean, could possibly even continue into April or …
Most of China's wheat-growing areas in the north are suffering from drought with some seeing no rain for more than three months while the second most important wheat province of Shandong is facing its worst drought in a century. Experts say that if the drought goes on over coming weeks, …
Regulating groundwater use or enforcing law to prevent farmers from sinking borewells in areas where water is not available even at a depth of 150 mts is a difficult task, as it is a social issue, said Principal Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj P Ravikumar, on Wednesday. Speaking at …
Rain is the only source of water on the earth and for conserving this precious resource, the base is the land. Shortage of rainfall coupled with its erratic distribution during rainy season causes severe water deficit conditions resulting in various intensities of droughts. Drought varies in different parts of the …
The people of Zimbabwe have to cope with a difficult political situation, but they also face many other problems daily. Climate change is making entire areas of land infertile and may halve crop yields by 2020. Zimbabwe
Global population growth exerts stresses on river basins that provide food, water, energy and other ecosystem services. In some basins, evidence is emerging of failures to satisfy these demands. This paper assembles data from nine river basins in a framework that relates water and food systems to development. The framework …
This paper analyses water availability and use within and between the Challenge Program on Water and Food basins. It describes the main features of water demand and supply in the basins and indicates where there are deficits and opportunities for development of water resources. A typology of basin water resources …
This article summarizes the results of water productivity assessment in 10 river basins across Asia, Africa and South America, representing a range of agro-climatic and socio-economic conditions. Intensive farming in the Asian basins gives much greater agricultural outputs and higher water productivity. Largely subsistence agriculture in Africa has significantly lower …
Afghanistan Human Development Report 2011 - The Forgotten Front: Water Security and the Crisis in Sanitation examines the deep and persistent deprivation in access to drinking water, sanitation and irrigation in Afghanistan, as well as the risks of drought and floods. Reliable access to sufficient and safe water is integral …
Droughts and deluges in Australia, snow in Europe and cold snaps in the United States are pushing up prices of a range of commodities from sugar to heating oil and soyabeans. Australia typically ranks as second in the league of global sugar exporters after Brazil, but rains have forced its …
