Droughts in Asian Least Developed Countries: Vulnerability and sustainability

Abstract

Cite this article as: M Alimullah Miyan, Droughts in Asian least developed Countries: Vulnerability and sustainability, Weather and Climate Extremes, http: //dx. AbstractDroughts occur both in developed and developing countries with significant impacts and are exacerbating in frequency, severity and duration. Over exploitation of water resources, weather variability and climate change are mostly responsible for such exacerbation. The impacts of droughts encompass the global ecosystem as a whole but vary from region to region. Least developed countries (LDCs) becoming the worst sufferer of the impacts due to physical, social and economic as well as knowledge and skills differences. The increasing biophysical vulnerability contexts and intensity in the Asian LDCs causing adverse effects on food security, human health, biodiversity, water resources, hydroelectric power generation, streams, perennial springs and livelihood. Drought is also responsible for increasing pollution, pests and diseases and forced migration and famine. Information indicates monsoon has become erratic contributing to up-scaling of droughts. South and Southeast Asian LDCs like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia and Lao PDR under the monsoon climatic zone have also been suffering from increasing droughts arising out of delayed and changing distribution patterns of precipitation. Prolong dry spells increase the frequencies of wildfire in grasslands, forests and range-lands. The rain-fed crops of the plains are facing challenges from soil-moisture stress with projected droughts. Droughts causing migration of fishes, and marine anadromus species are having adverse impacts on spawning habitats. Reduction in annual surface runoff is decreasing the ground and surface water with negative effect on agriculture and water supply for industrial and domestic sectors. As droughts are exacerbating the consequences are accelerating. However, traditionally people are adapting with the changing situations applying indigenous knowledge and practices for sustainable living. This paper reflects on prevalence and impacts of droughts, existing coping mechanisms, initiatives to combat impacts and further doubles in the context of Asian LDCs.

Rising Precipitation Extremes across Nepal

“…Further, this increase in the dry period can negatively impact crop yield and hydropower generation and can, moreover, elevate respiratory-related health problems in Nepal by increasing the concentration of particulate matter in the air. Since the frequency and scale of the forest fires in Nepal and other regions are also strongly related to the length of dry spells [112], the rise in CDD will aggravate such events, endangering wildlife and causing huge socioeconomic losses.…”

Satellite-Based Run-Off Model for Monitoring Drought in Peninsular Malaysia

“…Recent studies have linked rainfall deficits, soil thermal stress and vegetation growth and mortality to drought [2,3,[5][6][7]9,11,12,15,20,25,[27][28][29][30][31][32]36,[50][51][52], highlighting the need for operational drought monitoring systems that can show drought intensity, location and extent [16]. In response, this study devised an operational procedure and algorithm, a run-off model, from TMPA rainfall and MODIS evapotranspiration products for spatiotemporal drought assessment (Figures 3 and 4).…”

A Region at Risk:

“…As shown in Figure 3.7, energy supply risks in the hydropower sector arise from the combination of higher water demand and a decline in water availability due to droughts and glacial melt (Dai 2011;Immerzeel, van Beek, and Bierkens 2010;Miyan 2015;Vivekananda 2011;Zhao, Ding, and Moore 2014). SLR can have destructive effects on grid infrastructure in coastal urban areas (Brown, Hanson, and Nicholls 2013;Satterthwaite et al 2007).…”

“…In South Asia, societies are likely to face aggravated water and food insecurity related to increasing droughts (Miyan 2015) and the destabilization of the Himalayan water tower (Scheffran 2014) which currently supplies water to 1.3 billion people living in the basins of the great Asian rivers (Blondel 2012), as discussed in Part 2 of this report. The Brahmaputra and Indus river basins would be the most affected by the changes in the Himalayan hydrological system (Immerzeel, van Beek, and Bierkens 2010;Vivekananda 2011).…”