Crop failure compounds drought crisis in Afghanistan

Crop failure compounds drought crisis in Afghanistan

Ongoing drought in northern, northeastern and western Afghanistan is likely to push 1.5-2 million more people into food insecurity this autumn, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP).   This is in addition to the seven million country-wide already facing food

Exceptional drought across the United States

Exceptional drought across the United States

More of the United States was in exceptional drought in July 2011 than in any other month in the past 12 years, according to the National Climatic Data Center. The worst of the drought is spread across Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and parts of Arizona, Colorado,

Grasshopper population spiking across Texas

Grasshopper population spiking across Texas

Texans just can’t catch a break this summer. In the midst of this historic drought now there’s a grasshopper problem. A large seasonal population of grasshoppers is taking ranchers’ land. The pests are eating the grass intended for cows and other animals.The drought

Dust over the Gulf of Aden

Dust over the Gulf of Aden

Thick dust blew off the coast of Somalia and over the Gulf of Aden in early August 2011. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image on August 4, 2011.The dust plumes are thick enough to

Severe drought hits SW China

Severe drought hits SW China

Some 50,000 people are suffering from a severe drought that has plagued parts of south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local flood control and drought relief authorities said Sunday. Several counties in the cities of Baise and Hezhou have received little

Russia battles fires amid tropical heat

Russia battles fires amid tropical heat

Russia on Thursday sweltered in abnormally hot summer weather as the emergency services sought to control expanding countryside blazes to prevent a repeat of last year’s devastating wildfires. The central city of Volgograd was Russia’s hottest city with temperatures

Worsening drought threatens the Mauritania’s livestock

Worsening drought threatens the Mauritania’s livestock

An association of cattle breeders from south-eastern Mauritania on Tuesday called for urgent government assistance as a worsening drought threatens the region’s livestock. Normally it should be 40 days into the rainy season, but this year the lateness of the rain is

Receding Aral sea sees some recovery

Receding Aral sea sees some recovery

The size of the Aral Sea has long hinged on the Amu Darya, which flows from the high Pamir Mountains in central Asia, across the desert, and into the southern sea. While two rivers empty into the lake—the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya—the Amu Darya is the largest and

Severe drought causes famine in East Africa

Severe drought causes famine in East Africa

Drought has plunged East Africa into the worst food security crisis Africa has faced in 20 years. More than 11.5 million people are currently in need of food aid in Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia. The number is projected to rise, and this image illustrates