Drought, exacerbated by the changes to our climate caused by planetary overheating, is expected to affect three in four people globally by 2050. Experts from several international groups recently convened at World Water Week and came up with five common myths around drought that experts want to dispel, the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification reports.
The first myth is that droughts only affect farmers. This is categorically false — though droughts certainly do impact farmers quite a lot, their effects are felt far beyond the agriculture sector. Droughts can force school closures, kill wild plants and animals, and affect transportation and shipping.
"Bottom line is: the cascading impacts of drought can touch all regions and sectors, including energy production, transportation, manufacturing, tourism, education and physical and mental health," UNCCD policy officer and drought-resilience expert Daniel Tsegai said. "This means we need an inclusive and all-of-government, all-of-society approach to drought."
Myth No. 2 is that droughts are crises that can be handled. In actuality, once a drought has arrived, it is essentially too late to deal with it. Droughts must instead be planned for and mitigated in advance, the experts said.
"Drought is not a crisis, it is a risk and, as such, it can — and has to — be managed with proactive policies and investments, without waiting for drought to strike," Tsegai said. "This is the one major change in mentality that needs to happen."
The third myth is that climate change is the only thing leading to increased and prolonged droughts. Poor water management has also greatly worsened the problem in many areas, and some of the experts expressed worry that climate change was giving the humans in charge of decisions an easy excuse for why their communities are not better prepared.
The fourth myth is that gray infrastructure, or infrastructure for stormwater management, alone can alleviate drought. In reality, gray infrastructure is just one tool — but using nature to store water can and should also be a big part of the solution.
"When implemented at scale and in the right places, nature-based solutions can support healthy hydrological systems that naturally store water and slowly release it in drier times, building the resilience of ecosystems and communities," said Kari Vigerstol, director of water security science and innovation at The Nature Conservancy.
The final myth, something of a catchall, is that business can continue as usual. The reality is that countries and municipalities must overhaul their drought prevention and mitigation practices, taking a proactive approach to this growing problem.
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