Context:
The OECD's 2025 report, Global Drought Outlook: Trends, Impacts and Policies to Adapt to a Drier World, highlights a stark reality: droughts are intensifying in frequency, scale, and severity across the globe. Currently, 40% of the Earth’s land surface is affected by more frequent and intense drought conditions — a trend driven largely by climate change and unsustainable land use.

Understanding Drought and Its Types

Definition:
Drought refers to a prolonged period of abnormally dry weather that results in a hydrological imbalance. It reduces soil moisture, lowers surface and groundwater levels, and disrupts ecological and human systems.

Types of Drought:

• Meteorological Drought: Caused by significantly below-average precipitation over a prolonged period.
• Agricultural Drought: Occurs when inadequate soil moisture affects crop productivity and vegetation health.
• Hydrological Drought: Characterized by falling water levels in rivers, lakes, and aquifers, affecting water availability for human and ecological use.

Global Drought Trends

• Land Area Affected: The proportion of land experiencing drought has doubled since 1900.
• Recent Impact: In 2023, about 48% of global land experienced at least one month of severe drought.
• Regional Hotspots: Intensifying droughts are now frequent across the Western U.S., South America, parts of Europe, Africa, and Australia.
• Water Stress: 62% of monitored aquifers show a downward trend, and many major rivers are exhibiting reduced flow, undermining water security.
• Future Risks: If global temperatures rise by +4°C, droughts could become 7 times more frequent and severe by 2100, threatening global systems.

Impacts of Drought

1. Environmental:

• 37% of soils globally have shown significant drying since 1980.
• Reduced river flows and groundwater depletion disrupt ecosystems and biodiversity.

2. Economic:

• Drought-related damages are increasing by 3–7.5% annually.
• Economic losses from droughts today are twice those of 2000, with a projected 35% cost increase by 2035.
• Agriculture is hit hardest, with crop yields dropping up to 22% in drought years.
• Energy & Trade: Droughts reduce hydropower output by 25% and fluvial trade by 40% in affected areas.

3. Social:

• Although only 6% of natural disasters are droughts, they account for 34% of disaster-related deaths.
• Droughts are a primary cause of food insecurity, displacement, and migration, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Increasing competition for scarce water resources contributes to social unrest and political instability.

Adaptive Measures and Solutions

1. Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM):
Balancing water withdrawals with natural replenishment, ensuring fair distribution and long-term sustainability.

2. Nature-Based Solutions (NbS):
Includes urban de-sealing, forest and wetland restoration, and re-greening degraded landscapes.

3. Sustainable Agriculture:
Adopting drought-resistant crop varieties and efficient irrigation systems — capable of reducing water use by up to 76%.

4. Urban Planning:
City-wide de-sealing projects have proven effective, with U.S. examples showing aquifer recovery rates of 780 million m³/year.

5. Early Warning Systems:
Investments in climate and drought monitoring, predictive models, and risk mapping are critical for timely action.

6. Policy Integration:
Embedding drought resilience into climate policy, water governance, and land-use planning frameworks.

7. Cross-Sectoral Coordination:
Engaging sectors like energy, agriculture, transport, health, and construction to promote system-wide resilience.

8. Economic Benefits:
Every $1 spent on drought preparedness and resilience returns between $2–$10 in avoided losses and societal benefits.

Conclusion

Drought is no longer a localized weather anomaly; it is a global, systemic risk impacting water, food, energy, and human security. The OECD urges governments and institutions to act decisively, embracing proactive, integrated strategies to adapt to an increasingly arid world. With coordinated investment and planning, it is still possible to secure a sustainable and water-resilient future.

Previous Year Question Reference (PYQ - 2014):

Question:
Drought has been recognized as a disaster in view of its spatial expanse, temporal duration, slow onset, and lasting effects on various vulnerable sections. With a focus on the September 2010 guidelines from the National Disaster Management Authority, discuss the mechanism for preparedness to deal with the El Niño and La Niña fallouts in India.