Effects of Climate Change on Drought Events (eBook)

Essay from the year 2020 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Meteorology, Aeronomy, Climatology, grade: 1,0, National University of Ireland, Maynooth (Geography), course: Climate Change, language: English, abstract: In this paper the anthropogenic and also meteorological droughts will be discussed with the effects and problems they arise and how they may be affected by climate change. Additionally, two example cases namely Kazakhstan and South Africa demonstrate how these countries struggle with water stress and droughts. After this, droughts as a positive process response system will be examined to understand the areas that need to be considered when thinking about drought early warning systems and managing water stress due to drought events.

It is commonly acknowledged that the increasing population and economic growth lead to a growing water demand. Especially arid and semi-arid regions suffer from water stress, which is mainly caused by human activities. Since it is widely agreed on that water stress is man-made, it is interesting to discover what role climate change plays in the decrease of water resources and with it in detail the potential of causes for more severe drought events.