Latest Drought Stories

By David Evans PARIS (Reuters) - France and Spain are ringing alarm bells over the climate, fearing a repeat of last year's drought that sparked deadly forest fires, costly crop failures and widespread water rationing in southern Europe. France's environment minister has said three dry years in a row have left the country facing possibly record water shortages this year. "This could be a very difficult year, and perhaps a record in terms of drought," Nelly Olin said. The European...

People will soon be able to find out how vulnerable their own local area is to global warming, thanks to new techniques developed by scientists. The STARDEX project's seven European research teams, led by the University of East Anglia, narrowed down evidence of changing weather patterns to predict the occurrence of floods, heat waves and drought on even smaller regions across the UK and Europe. And the new method of analysis could help governments prepare for or even prevent a predicted...

By Terry Wade MANAQUIRI, Brazil (Reuters) - The worst drought in more than 40 years is damaging the world's biggest rainforest, plaguing the Amazon basin with wildfires, sickening river dwellers with tainted drinking water, and killing fish by the millions as streams dry up. "What's awful for us is that all these fish have died and when the water returns there will be barely any more," Donisvaldo Mendonca da Silva, a 33-year-old fisherman, said. Nearby, scores of piranhas shook in...

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Africa contributes least to global climate change, but is bearing the brunt of the phenomenon that is expected to exacerbate food shortages in the long term, scientists warned on Thursday. Global warming has been blamed for increased cycles of drought across Africa, where millions this year face hunger and starvation. Yet the world's poorest continent has the lowest levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, scientists said at a conference in...

NAIROBI -- Africa contributes least to global climate change, but is bearing the brunt of the phenomenon that is expected to exacerbate food shortages in the long term, scientists warned on Thursday.Global warming has been blamed for increased cycles of drought across Africa, where millions this year face hunger and starvation.Yet the world's poorest continent has the lowest levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, scientists said at a conference in Nairobi."Poor...

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Africa contributes least to global climate change, but is bearing the brunt of the phenomenon that is expected to exacerbate food shortages in the long term, scientists warned on Thursday.Global warming has been blamed for increased cycles of drought across Africa, where millions this year face hunger and starvation.Yet the world's poorest continent has the lowest levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, scientists said at a conference in...

CANBERRA -- Rising world temperatures could cause a significant increase in disease across Asia and Pacific Island nations, leading to conflict and leaving hundreds of millions of people displaced, a new report said on Thursday.Global warming by the year 2100 could also lead to more droughts, floods and typhoons, and increase the incidence of malaria, dengue fever and cholera, the report into the health impact of rising temperatures found.Compiled by the Australian Medical Association (AMA)...

NASA -- Today, scientists estimate that between one-third and one-half of our planet's land surfaces have been transformed by human development.Now, a new study is offering insight into the long-term impacts of these changes, particularly the effects of large-scale deforestation in tropical regions on the global climate. Researchers from Duke University, Durham, N.C., analyzed multiple years of data using the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies General Circulation Computer Model (GCM)...

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain has suffered the driest year on record and meteorologists do not forecast enough rain in the coming months to top up drained reservoirs, the National Institute of Meteorology said on Monday. In the 12 months to the end of August 2005 Spain received almost 40 percent less rain than in average years, the institute said in a statement. It was the driest year since records began in 1947. Water reserves stand at 43 percent of capacity, and in one southern area as...

When it's dry, it's dry all over, according to a new analysis of more than 400 years of annual streamflow in the Upper Colorado and Salt and Verde river basins. By using data from tree rings, University of Arizona researchers conclude that water supply for those western rivers fluctuated in synchrony during periods of severe drought. The study goes back almost 800 years in the Salt-Verde basin and covers waterways from the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The...