The area of land affected by drought has tripled since the 1980s, a new report on the impacts of climate change claims.
Last year, 48 percent of the Earth's land area was affected by extreme drought for at least a month, a big increase from the 1980s, when the average was 15 percent, according to a report on the impact of climate change on health published annually by the medical journal The Lancet.
Almost a third of the world, 30 percent, was affected by extreme drought for three months or longer in 2023, compared to the average during the 1980s of five percent.
A new study presents some of the latest data on droughts around the world, showing how quickly the area affected by this natural disaster is expanding.
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A drought is considered extreme when there is very little precipitation or very high levels of evaporation from plants and soil over a six-month period, or both.
This poses an immediate risk to water and sanitation, food safety and public health, and could affect energy supplies, transport networks and the economy.
The causes of individual droughts are complex, as there are many different factors that affect water availability, from natural weather events to the way people use the land.
But climate change is altering global rainfall patterns, making certain regions more prone to drought.
The increase in dry periods is particularly severe in South America, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa.
In the Amazon in South America, drought threatens to change weather patterns.
Drought kills trees that encourage the formation of rain clouds, which disrupts delicately balanced rainfall cycles, creating a feedback loop that causes further droughts.
However, while large parts of the landmass are drying out, extreme precipitation is also increasing.
In the last 10 years, 61 percent of the world has recorded an increase in extreme precipitation compared to the average for the period from 1961 to 1990.
The connection between droughts, floods and global warming is complex.
Due to high temperatures, water evaporation from the soil increases, making periods without rain even drier.
But climate change is also altering precipitation patterns.
As the oceans warm, more water evaporates into the air.
The air also warms, which means it can hold more moisture.
When this moisture moves over land or merges with a storm, more intense rain occurs.
An annual report by the journal The Lancet found that the impact of climate change on health is reaching record levels.
Last year, drought left 151 million more people with food insecurity than in the 1990s, contributing to malnutrition.
The number of heat-related deaths over the age of 65 has also increased by 167 percent compared to the 1990s.
Also, due to higher temperatures and heavier rains, viruses transmitted by mosquitoes are spreading.
Dengue fever cases have reached record levels, and dengue, malaria and West Nile virus have spread to areas where they have never been seen before.
Due to the increase in the number of sandstorms, millions more people than before are exposed to dangerous air pollution.
“The climate is changing rapidly,” says Marina Romanello, executive director of the Lancet’s annual climate change report.
"It is changing in a way that creates conditions that we are not used to and that our systems cannot cope with."
For the series Life at 50, the BBC World Service visited some of the hottest parts of the world, where there has been a high demand for water in the past.
We found that extreme drought and rainfall make access to water even more difficult.
Since 2020, extreme drought has been affecting agricultural crops in northeastern Syria and parts of Iraq.
For the past few years, Hasaka, a city of one million people, has lacked clean water.
"Twenty years ago, there was water in the Haburi River, but it has been dry for years because there has been no rain," says Osman Gado, head of water quality testing in the city of Hasaka.
"People don't have access to fresh water."
And when they don't have access to water, people dig wells, but the groundwater can be polluted, making people sick.
The city is supplied with drinking water from a system of wells 25 kilometers away, but they too are drying up.
Clothes are not washed and children are not bathed regularly, which is why skin diseases and diarrhea are widespread.
"People are ready to kill their neighbors for water," a resident of Hasaka told the BBC.
"People are thirsty every day."
Last year, 77 percent of South Sudan's land was affected by drought for at least a month, and half of the country was exposed to extreme drought for at least six months.
At the same time, more than 700.000 people were affected by the floods.
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"Things are getting worse," says an elderly resident of Nyakum.
"When we get into the water, we get sick. And the food we eat is not nutritious enough."
Nyakuma had malaria twice in a few months.
Her family lost their entire herd of cattle during the floods last year and now survive on government assistance and food they find in nature.
“Eating this is like eating mud,” says Sunday, Nyakuma's husband, as he searches for underground water lily trees in the flooded area.
During a drought, rivers and lakes dry up, and the soil becomes parched, meaning it hardens and loses its plant cover.
If heavy rain occurs, the ground cannot absorb the precipitation, so the water runs off and causes flash floods.
"Plants can adapt to extreme drought to some extent, but flooding really disrupts their physiology," says Romanello.
"That's really bad for food security and agriculture."
If we do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stop further global temperature increases, we can expect even more droughts and more intense precipitation.
The previous year, 2023, was the warmest year on record.
"Currently, we are still in a position to somehow adapt to climate change."
"But changes will reach a point that will be the limit of our capabilities."
“Then we will see a lot of inevitable consequences,” says Romanello.
"The more we allow global temperatures to rise, the worse the consequences will be."
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