Drought - Past and Projected Global Impacts on Area and Population
The Art
The Graph
Population and land area exposed to extreme drought expected to double by end of this century.
“Terrestrial water storage (TWS) is the sum of continental water stored in canopies, snow and ice, rivers, lakes and reservoirs, wetlands, soil and groundwater … TWS drought can therefore be considered to be a combination of agricultural, ecological and hydrological drought. The proportion of the global population exposed to TWS drought is projected to increase with ongoing climate change (Figure 4.19). By the late 21st century, under RCP6.0, the global land area in extreme-to-exceptional TWS drought is projected to increase from 3% to 7% …, with increasing uncertainty over time. Combined with a medium population growth scenario (SSP2), this leads to the global population in this level of drought increasing from 3% to 8%, again with increasing uncertainty over time. Hydrological droughts can also be driven by direct human impact via water abstraction ...”[cites omitted]
IPCC Chapter 4: Water/ Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptiation and Vulnerability
Featured art was created by stacking the graphs in Figure 4.19 above.
