Between 1980 and 2018, the global land area affected by prolonged droughts increased by an average of around 50,000 square kilometres per year, the study found.
Keystone-SDA
“Mega-droughts” are increasing worldwide – becoming more frequent, hotter and more widespread over the past 40 years, a study published on Thursday shows.
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Between 1980 and 2018, the global land area affected by prolonged droughts increased by an average of around 50,000 square kilometres per year – an area bigger than Switzerland – researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) said in a study published in the journal Science.
+ Swiss experiment targets forest drought, a driver of climate change
“Multi-year droughts cause enormous economic damage, for example in agriculture and power generation,” said Dirk Karger, head of the study, according to a WSL statement on Thursday.
This has been caused by rising temperatures linked to climate change, the researchers explained. These lead to greater fluctuations in precipitation and at the same time increase evaporation from the soil and vegetation.
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