Learn more about Drought
Decades ago, climate scientists predicted that rising global temperatures would lead to more severe and intense droughts due to combinations of increasing temperatures, decreasing precipitation, more evaporation, and a reduction in snow and ice packs. The effects of a warming world are already being felt in different regions of the world, including the Mediterranean and Southwest. These droughts threaten jobs, food security, water resources, and, in some places, political stability.
In our stories, our correspondents explore the links between climate change and drought and their implications on societies.
Pray for Rain
In Pray for Rain, correspondent Don Cheadle explores the devastation of the Texas droughts from 2011 to 2013, and learns how human-caused climate change has made these droughts worse.
In Climate Wars, Thomas Friedman witnesses how climate change is not only a “threat multiplier,” but a “stressor” that can take a volatile political situation and push it over the edge.