Climate Swiss researchers warn of an increase in droughts in study
Multi-year droughts have become more frequent, more intense and more extensive over the last 40 years. This is reported by Swiss researchers in the journal "Science". The researchers warned in the study that droughts pose a growing threat to nature and humans.
16.01.2025, 20:00
SDA
Between 1980 and 2018, the global land area affected by multi-year droughts increased by an average of around 50,000 square kilometers every year, as the researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) showed in the study published on Thursday in the journal "Science". That is more than the area of Switzerland.
"Multi-year droughts cause enormous economic damage, for example in agriculture and power generation," said Dirk Karger, head of the study, according to a WSL statement on the study.
The reason for this development is the rising temperatures due to climate change, as the researchers explained. These lead to greater fluctuations in precipitation and at the same time increase evaporation from the soil and vegetation.
