From France in the west and Romania in the east, to western Germany and southern Greece, a “widespread and persistent” lack of rain, combined with heatwaves, is creating an alarmingly long list of countries where drought is worsening. New figures from the European Drought Observatory (EDO) show around 45% of the bloc’s territory under “warning” conditions, the second of three drought categories, during the 10 days leading up to July 20. Figure: Around 45% of the EU territory is in drought ‘warning’ conditions and 15% has reached the ‘alert’ level (latest data available for 10 days to 20 July). Meanwhile, 15% of the land has moved into the most severe “alert” state, meaning that not only is the land drying up after low rainfall, but plants and crops have also been damaged. The figures show little improvement from the previous 10-day period, where 46% of the land was on “warning” level with parched ground and 13% on “alert” territory. Further dry weather forecasts for many countries in August and September “add concerns to an already very critical situation and, if confirmed, will worsen the severity of the drought and the impact on agriculture, energy and water supplies”, the EDO warned in July . Crisis Group France’s worst drought has left parched villages without safe drinking water, farmers are warning of a winter milk shortage and the corn harvest is on track to be 18.5% lower than last year. Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne’s office on Friday set up a crisis team as the country prepares for its fourth heat wave of the summer. “Broad vegetation pressure” has hit the Italian plains, much of France, central Germany, eastern Hungary, Portugal and northern Spain, the EDO said, just as Europeans are grappling with higher food prices as a result of the war in Ukraine. Farmers in Tuscany, the heart of Italy’s award-winning wine and olive oil industry, are fighting to save as much of this year’s crop as possible from the ravages of drought and heat. Professor David Hill, former deputy chairman of Natural England, said intensive farming practices have exacerbated droughts by making soil less able to hold water and therefore more easily dried or washed away. “Where you have large-scale agricultural intensification, you end up with simple ecosystems that cannot withstand the shock,” he told Sky News. “Mass farms are much less resistant to environmental change than a mosaic of different types.” Energy production took a hit Russia’s latest invasion of its neighbor and the disruption of natural gas supplies to Europe have also sent energy prices skyrocketing and left countries scrambling to exploit domestic energy. However, low river levels and warmer water temperatures have also hindered power generation in some areas. Water shortages have reduced Italy’s hydropower production, with the energy potential stored in water reserves remaining at about half the level of recent years. Water levels in reservoirs for hydropower have dropped in nine countries, including Serbia, Montenegro and Norway. Nuclear operator EDF last week cut power output at a plant in southwestern France due to high river temperatures in the Garonne, with half of its 56 reactors already out of service due to maintenance or corrosion problems. Image: Dry weather in Spain is fueling fires like this blaze in Verin last week. Photo: Felipe Carnotto via Reuters Image: A World War II bomb discovered in the dried-up bed of the Pau River Parched Spain now has “extremely favorable” conditions for wildfires, while the wildfire risk is high to extreme in most of Portugal. Climate collapse is making Mediterranean drought more intense and more likely, although it is not responsible for all droughts. The causes of drought are complex, but climate change affects it in two main ways. It concentrates rainfall into smaller and more intense bursts, making containment more difficult. Warmer temperatures evaporate more water – and heat waves, which are “one-way” linked to global warming, also increase demand as people try to cool off. Watch the Daily Climate Show at 3.30pm Monday to Friday and The Climate Show with Tom Heap on Saturday and Sunday at 3.30pm and 7.30pm. All on Sky News, the Sky News website and app, YouTube and Twitter. The show explores how global warming is changing our landscape and highlights solutions to the crisis.
