Uruguay’s agricultural emergency persists as drought conditions intensify in 2023
Image credit: Paz Arando
Uruguay is grappling with a worsening drought crisis that has left 75 000 people affected across five departments and hit the agricultural sector hard.
Uruguay is currently facing a worsening drought crisis that has affected 75 000 people across five departments, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The dry spell, which has been ongoing since 2018 in several agricultural areas, has been exacerbated by a lack of rainfall in most parts of the country.
The Uruguayan Institute of Meteorology (INUMET) has forecasted that the expected rainfall from December 2022 to February 2023 will be below average.
In response to the crisis, the national government has declared a state of agricultural emergency across the entire country, effective until the end of April, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MGAP).
This ongoing drought has severe impacts on the affected communities, particularly those relying on agriculture for their livelihoods. The government and aid organizations are working to provide support and relief to those impacted by the crisis.
References:
1 Uruguay – Drought (IFRC) – February 2, 2023
The Watchers team and our contributors bring the latest on extreme weather, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, space weather, and all things science. We're all about making sense of the natural world and keeping you informed on what’s happening. Got a tip or a question? Hit us up using the form at newstips!
Published in the last 24 hours
- Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines sits about 7,000 miles from California, yet after it erupted in 1991 the whole planet cooled by about 1°F for nearly two years, because the sulfur it blasted into the sky formed a thin haze that bounced sunlight back into space Epicenter
- A tangled sunspot cluster about 93 million miles away doubled in size in a single weekend earlier this month and fired 20 solar flares in one day, and forecasters gave it a small chance of producing an X-class flare, the most powerful kind the Sun is known to unleash
- A ring of wind spinning about 19 miles above the Arctic, far higher than any passenger jet flies, has started breaking apart weeks earlier than ever recorded, and forecasters say the cold it was holding in place could spill into the US and Europe within weeks
- US flights resume after FAA lifts nationwide ground stop that lasted more than four hours
