‘The next pandemic’: Drought could be followed by COVID-19, warns UN

At least 1.5 billion people have been directly affected by the drought this century, and the economic cost over roughly that time has been estimated at $124b.

The true cost is likely to be many times higher because such estimates do not include much of the impact in developing countries, according to a report published on Thursday.

“Drought is on the verge of becoming the next pandemic and there is no vaccine to cure it. Most of the world will be living with water stress in the next few years. Demand will outstrip supply during certain periods. Drought is a major factor in land degradation and the decline of yields for major crops.”

Mami Mizutori, the UN secretary general’s special representative for disaster risk reduction, said.

“People have been living with drought for 5,000 years, but what we are seeing now is very different,” Mizutori said. “Human activities are exacerbating drought and increasing the impact”, threatening to derail progress on lifting people from poverty.

The report, entitled Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction: Special Report on Drought 2021, was published on Thursday and will feed into discussions at vital UN climate talks known as Cop26, which are scheduled to take place in Glasgow in November.

However, she acknowledged that It is more likely that these figures are lower than the actual figures.