From 2003 a long, severe drought, again the worst on record was experienced in many parts of Australia. In it was declared a 1000-year drought event.Australia's production has fallen with the smallest area planted in 20 years, a 66% reduction compared to five years ago. In the order of 20 cotton communities and 10,000 people directly employed by the cotton industry are impacted by the drought.
While developed countries are affected, the effects pale in comparison. The effects of droughts are most felt in developing countries due to the sheer size of agriculture. For example in India, more than 80% of the population is dependent on agriculture, therefore when droughts occur, most people are affected. is heavily dependent on the : a favorable southwest summer is critical in securing water for irrigating Indian crops.
This is also due to the various strategies or lack of strategies in countries. Developed countries are equipped with tools to prevent water scarcity. of sea water for irrigation or consumption is rather widely used in countries such as United States and Spain. US also recycles water - former (sewage) that has been treated and for reuse. Such equipments are rarely adopted by countries such as Bangladesh and Brazil as they require significant funds.
In addition, developed countries also have effective mitigative tools. In the US, there are various drought management policies on all three fronts of calamity management – prediction, mitigation and response. For example in South Carolina, South Carolina Water Resources Commission (WRC) administers state water conservation efforts, issues weekly reports of drought conditions, and coordinates regional drought response meetings in affected areas. As such in 2006 the ‘severe’ drought spreading across the , the , and the Southeast in US caused only minimal impact.
In India, while financing of relief work has undergone several positive changes, some element of politics always remains in releasing the allotted funds bypassing some of the most deserving and vulnerable areas and people (according to International Water Management Institute(IWMI)).
In addition, in many developing countries, relief is considered to be the panacea for droughts, and there is no long term solution. The severe drought in 1982 -1983 in southern and Eastern Africa led to almost half the population in certain countries in the region had to be fed by emergency relief from overseas. More than 2 decades later, there is the 2006 Horn of Africa food crisis more than 11 million people in these countries may be affected by an impending widespread , largely attributed to a severe , and exacerbated by military conflicts in the region. In Kenya, some 2.5 million people (10% of the population)require food aid over the next six months. The relief efforts provided each time while alleviating the impact, has not helped in future drought mitigation. As such they remain vulnerable to droughts.
In some developing countries too, certain construction, usually for economic purposes, can exacerbate droughts. For example in Bangledesh, upstream withdrawal of water for economic and household uses mostly divert dry season flow of rivers, contributes to drought condition in NW and SW Bangladesh.
In conclusion, the effects in developing countries are more greatly felt than in developed countries. While drought management has been stepped up in developing countries, they are mainly on relief efforts, there should be increased efforts in drought monitoring and long term management strategies. There is an encouraging sign of that such as the ‘ Drought Assessment and Mitigation in Southwest Asia’ project by the IWMI.
