Why in news ?

The report titled “Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction: Special Report on Drought 2021” was published on June 18, 2021 by UNDRR (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction). It will be a part of discussions at vital UN climate talks called COP26, scheduled to take place in Glasgow in November 2021.

About:

• As per the report, Drought is a hidden global crisis which can become “the next pandemic” if no urgent action is taken on water & land management and tackling climate emergency.
• About 1.5 billion people are directly affected by drought this century.
• Economic cost was roughly estimated at $124bn. However, True cost is likely to be many times higher as these estimates do not include much impact in developing countries.
• Most of world will be with water stress in next few years and demand will outstrip the water supply during certain periods.
• Report highlights, drought is now widespread and by end of this century most of the countries will experience it in some form.