Droughts Essay
Geography essay – suggest why droughts , such as the one shown , have severe impacts on people and the environment
Droughts are a shortfall or deficiency of water over an extended period of time, usually at least a season. Droughts can cause severe impacts on the environment and people living in the countries of the droughts. There are three different types of droughts – agriculture drought (This is where rainfall deficiency is linked to plant growth) , hydrological drought – (lesser amounts of water passing through a river catchment area will created lag effect.) and socio economic drought (As societies increase and develop, so does their water demand).
A severe impact that droughts have is affecting agriculture and percentage of yield. Having a lack of water supply means that there is less water for plants to grow,a long with evapotranspiration, which causes soil to be very dry, which yet again inhibits plant growth. As a result of reduced agriculture , this effects farmers income as it becomes reduced, therefore prices for food increases , therefore there will be more chance of hunger. In 2002 sub-Saharan Sahel region food production decreased by 15%, which is a clear example about how droughts can lead to lack of food .Loss of money is a great economic impact , in france 7 billion pounds was lost due to the drought because of lack of agriculture.
Furthermore, droughts have severe impacts on the environment as they can cause wildfires and bushfires.Droughts reduce the amount of water within the earth therefore trees will dry and die , this means that it easier for a drought to spread. An example of a wildfire would be in france, motorist fires in France created 25,000 wildfires , destroying 650,000 hectares of forest. This therefore reduced air quality with possible long-term human respiratory diseases, leading to deaths. Also as result of damage of forestry, ecosystems can be damaged, destroying whole species and limiting habitats surviving species have.
Droughts are a shortfall or deficiency of water over an extended period of time, usually at least a season. Droughts can cause severe impacts on the environment and people living in the countries of the droughts. There are three different types of droughts – agriculture drought (This is where rainfall deficiency is linked to plant growth) , hydrological drought – (lesser amounts of water passing through a river catchment area will created lag effect.) and socio economic drought (As societies increase and develop, so does their water demand).
A severe impact that droughts have is affecting agriculture and percentage of yield. Having a lack of water supply means that there is less water for plants to grow,a long with evapotranspiration, which causes soil to be very dry, which yet again inhibits plant growth. As a result of reduced agriculture , this effects farmers income as it becomes reduced, therefore prices for food increases , therefore there will be more chance of hunger. In 2002 sub-Saharan Sahel region food production decreased by 15%, which is a clear example about how droughts can lead to lack of food .Loss of money is a great economic impact , in france 7 billion pounds was lost due to the drought because of lack of agriculture.
Furthermore, droughts have severe impacts on the environment as they can cause wildfires and bushfires.Droughts reduce the amount of water within the earth therefore trees will dry and die , this means that it easier for a drought to spread. An example of a wildfire would be in france, motorist fires in France created 25,000 wildfires , destroying 650,000 hectares of forest. This therefore reduced air quality with possible long-term human respiratory diseases, leading to deaths. Also as result of damage of forestry, ecosystems can be damaged, destroying whole species and limiting habitats surviving species have.