We do not know precisely how the present megadrought in south-western North America will finish, however there are examples to be taught from all through historical past
Environment
17 November 2022
Ruins of the traditional Maya metropolis Chichen Itza Shutterstock/Aleksandr Medvedkov
Around the world, extreme droughts are disrupting life for tens of millions of individuals. In south-western North America and the Pacific coast of South America, worst-in-a-millennium megadroughts have created a slow-moving catastrophe, as reservoir ranges decline and entire areas put together to make unprecedented cuts to make up the shortfall.
In the Horn of Africa, the worst drought in 40 years has put greater than 7 million folks prone to famine. In Europe and China, drought and warmth have made rivers impassable and tanked power output at dams and nuclear crops.
Global warming has made such droughts extra extreme and frequent in lots of locations, however these exceptionally dangerous droughts – or megadroughts – aren’t solely a contemporary phenomenon. According to a current evaluate, megadroughts have occurred on each continent besides Antarctica over the previous 2000 years.
A have a look at a number of the worst droughts of the previous may help us to organize for the megadroughts of the long run. Below, discover how megadroughts have modified the panorama and altered human societies for the final two millennia.
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