Tuesday June 07, 2005

Climate change : Drought

peakoil.com -> bbc.co.uk :

England and Wales have had their driest November to March period in 30 years, Met Office figures reveal. The dry spell spanned two complete seasons across most of the UK with five consecutive months of below-average rainfall ... parts of central and south England had just 60% of their average rainfall.

peakoil.com -> planetark.com, abcnews.go.com :

The rate of rural suicide in Australia is amongst the highest in the world as farmers battle the stress of years of drought, failed crops, mounting debt and slowly decaying towns ... the Land newspaper recently ran a drought headline - "The cost: suicide every four days" ... after surviving a catastrophic 2002-03 drought - the worst in 100 years - many farmers thought they'd never see such hardships again. Yet 2005 is shaping up as a return to those horror conditions, with dams bone-dry and sun-baked farmlands cracking ...

gulf-times.com :

"I've never experienced having no crops sown at this time of year in my 30-odd years on the land," [Australian farmer] Donges said. "(And) I've never experienced two bad years in a row." "If it turns out to be the mother of all droughts then there's going to be a lot of pain. This is the crunch year. People have been tightening belts (but) nobody can prepare for this. It's not written in the record books. It's uncharted waters." ... Donges points across the valley to the brown hills beyond. "Normally this time of year it would be all green here," he said amid the choking dust ...

peakoil.com -> planetark.com :

Spain had the driest September-to-March period this year since records started in 1947, and there has been very little rain since then ... Spain's drought-hit wheat crop is expected to shrink by a third from last year and the barley harvest by 40 percent ... one farmers' union said in some southern areas, where the harvest started in May, the drought had reduced yields so much that the grain was not worth harvesting ... water reserves stand at just 59 percent of capacity.

taipeitimes.com :

In what is said to be one of the worst droughts in 60 years, water consumption will be strictly regulated as reservoirs begin to empty ... water is being rationed in half of Spain to save it for domestic use, as parts of the country suffer the worst drought for 60 years ... weeks before the tourist season starts, swimming pools are empty, city fountains are turned off and golf courses have been ordered to reduce watering ...

guardian.co.uk :

Portugal has accused Spain of stealing its water as the two Iberian countries battle a drought that has seriously reduced levels in rivers flowing across their border ... Portugal has demanded €6m (?4m) in compensation from Spain after levels of water in the Douro river have fallen below limits established in a bilateral agreement. The source of many of Portugal's big rivers start in Spain ... Portugal is experiencing its worst drought for 60 years, with reserves along the Douro down to around 50% just as the summer starts.

news.ft.com :

Thailand's economy contracted for the first time since 2001 in the first quarter of this year as the catastrophic December tsunami, drought and rising oil prices took their toll, the country's national planning agency said yesterday ... the government figures show drought took a heavy toll. Agricultural output contracted by 8.2 per cent year-on-year, the fifth consecutive quarter of agricultural contraction. Crucial rice and sugar cane production were hardest hit, while fishery production also shrank as a result of lower shrimp exports.

(2005-06-07 22:10:45 SGT) [Env] Permalink

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