Droughts spanning multiple years have become drier, hotter and more frequent over the past 40 years, according to new research.
The study, published in Science, finds that the global land surface affected by these extreme events has expanded at a rate of nearly 50,000 square kilometres (km2) per year in the past four decades – an area larger than Switzerland each year.
The authors identify multi-year droughts – which can last from years to decades – that occurred around the world between 1980 and 2018.
They find that multi-year droughts can cause significant declines in vegetation in ecosystems such as grasslands. These impacts can also translate into severe impacts for humans, including water scarcity.
Study author Dr Dirk Karger, a senior researcher at the Swiss Federal Research Institute (WSL), tells Carbon Brief:
“Everybody was talking about droughts, [that they] will be more [frequent] with climate change, but there [was] no clear database where we could look. We finally have a good baseline of what is happening…[and] provide a new way of thinking about the impact the [multi-year droughts have].”
Long-lasting drought
“Multi-year” droughts – those lasting at least two years and for as long as decades – can have dramatic impacts on nature and societies.
These long-lasting events can deplete soil moisture and leave rivers, lakes and reservoirs parched. This, in turn, can result in “devastating impacts”, such as massive crop failures, tree mortality or reduced water supply, according to the study.
(For more on the different ways that droughts can be defined, see Carbon Brief’s guest post.)
In recent years, multi-year droughts have occurred around the world, including Chile, the western US and Australia. For example, a 2015 study found that the so-called “megadrought” that persisted in Chile from 2010 to 2019 led to a “marked decline in water reservoirs and an extended forest fire season”.
The new study maps the distribution of multi-year drought events between 1980 and 2018. It identifies droughts by looking at a “drought index” based on changes in rainfall and potential evapotranspiration, which measures the amount of water that escapes the soil and plants into the atmosphere.
The researchers also rank the drought events by their severity – based on a combination of the extent and duration, along with the magnitude of the drought index. Then, they use the index to estimate the impact of multi-year droughts on global vegetation.
They identify more than 13,000 multi-year drought events during the four-decade study period, spanning every continent except Antarctica.
The map below shows the location and characteristics of the 10 most severe events, with the colours representing each individual drought and its length.
The longest multi-year drought occurred in the eastern Congo basin. It lasted for almost a decade, from 2010 to 2018, and affected an area of almost 1.5m square kilometres (km2).
The study finds that the most affected ecosystems by these extreme events are temperate grasslands.
However, not all multi-year droughts result in significant damage to ecosystems.
In the humid tropics, which are home to rainforests such as the Amazon, the lack of rainfall is not strong enough to diminish vegetation. This suggests that plants in those regions might have a “greater resistance” to drought conditions, the authors write.
Boreal forests in the far-northern hemisphere and tundra ecosystems also had a “minor response” to these events. The authors say this is because their vegetation productivity is more dependent on temperature than on the presence or absence of rainfall.
The drought with the most severe vegetation impacts occurred in Mongolia from 2000 to 2011 and reduced vegetation “greenness” by almost 30%.
For Karger, it is difficult to pinpoint the strongest multi-year drought ever because it depends on what aspect is considered: the drought that had the largest extent or the one that lasted the longest. He continues:
“With our database we can easily answer any of these questions, it’s just a matter of what we sought for, since we provide that open source and open data”.
Drivers of droughts
The research reveals that multi-year droughts have increased in size, temperature, dryness and duration.
The global land area affected by this kind of drought increased at a rate of 49,279km2 per year during that time – equivalent to a size larger than Switzerland per year.
The factors behind the intensification of multi-year droughts are increased potential evapotranspiration, decreased rainfall and rising temperatures, the study says.
The researchers note that during multi-year drought events, the “precipitation deficit” – the difference in the amount of rain compared to a baseline over a certain period and region – has surged over time.
For the 10 most severe multi-year droughts, the precipitation deficit has increased, on average, by 7mm per year over nearly four decades.
At the same time, the temperature during these events has increased by 0.26-0.35C per decade.
The study attributes the higher temperatures during multi-year droughts to climate change, noting that the warming “align[s] well” with global changes. It also notes that the years with the largest areas under multi-year drought have followed the El Niño events of 1998, 2010 and 2015.
Dr Maral Habibi, a researcher at the University of Graz, in Austria, and who was not involved in the study, tells Carbon Brief:
“The study clearly illustrates how rising temperatures amplify drought through increased evapotranspiration, precipitation deficits and vicious feedback loops (such as reduced cloud cover exacerbating heat).”
‘More regular’ multi-year droughts
The research says that the most severe multi-year droughts identified in the study “represent valuable case studies to prepare for similar events that may occur more regularly in the 21st century”.
It also says that analysing droughts at a global level, rather than focusing on a single drought event, “paves a more realistic way to develop adequate and fair mitigation strategies”.
Dr Ruth Cerezo-Mota, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) who was also not involved in the study, tells Carbon Brief that the world needs more data, including high-quality and continuous observations, and more investment in science to “understand these dynamic processes”.
Habibi agrees on the need for “enhanced monitoring tools and predictive climate models”. She adds that “investments in AI-driven drought forecasting and cross-border water resource management are also vital” to “mitigate and adapt to the challenges of a warming, drying world”.
The post ‘Multi-year’ droughts have become more frequent, drier and hotter over past 40 years appeared first on Carbon Brief.
‘Multi-year’ droughts have become more frequent, drier and hotter over past 40 years
Saturday, 17 October 2026
7.18 AM AWST
Hi folks! We’re joining you live from the Rainbow Warrior where we will be providing you with updates as our four activists continue scaling and occupying Woodside’s gas platform. The activists are peacefully protesting against Woodside’s latest gas expansion plans, the Browse project, which would see up to 57 toxic wells drilled at Scott Reef.
“Right now our activists are scaling Woodside’s massive Floating Production Unit. They are scaling the South-East pillar and the underside of the Helideck. They’ll be setting up camp soon and have plenty of provisions with them – so stick around!”
5:45 AM AWST
Our RHIBS are in the water! We’ve deployed our four activists and our ship crew on our small fast boats, headed to the gas platform. We’re carrying crew and equipment, plenty of food, all of our safety climbing gear, some big banners, cameras and a whole lot of heart… someone even has something to read after they get settled in.
5:26 AM AWST
Before sunrise activists prepared to launch RHIBS from the Rainbow Warrior.
Looking for a front seat view?
You can follow along with the Live Rainbow Warrior bow cam here!
Looking for more?
Follow us on Instagram for a peek behind the scenes and hear from our Rainbow Warrior crew.
Live blog: Greenpeace activists occupy Woodside gas project to save Scott Reef
Climate Change
Greenpeace activists climb and occupy Woodside’s Scarborough gas project calling on the Australian government to “Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas” and “Save Scott Reef”
PERTH, Saturday 17 October 2026 — Four Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists are scaling and occupying a Floating Production Unit at Woodside’s Scarborough gas project off the coast of Western Australia, displaying banners reading: “Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas. Save Scott Reef.”
- Photos and video available here and here. More will be uploaded throughout the day.
- Content and live updates will be uploaded to a live blog and to Instagram
Early this morning at 05:45 AWST, Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists launched from the Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace’s flagship vessel, scaling and attaching themselves to a Floating Production Unit (FPU), a key piece of gas processing infrastructure at the Scarborough gas field over 200km off the coast of Exmouth.
Woodside has since confirmed it has initiated a temporary shut down of the FPU.
Greenpeace Australia Pacific is occupying the gas platform in peaceful protest of Woodside’s plans to drill for oil and gas at Scott Reef as part of its Browse proposal.
David Ritter, CEO at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “Greenpeace Australia Pacific is taking action today to expose the unacceptable risk to Scott Reef posed by Woodside’s plans.
“Australians love our oceans. Woodside’s reckless Browse gas proposal would turn the magnificent Scott Reef into an industrial gas zone. Woodside wants to drill up to 57 toxic wells around Scott Reef, Australia’s largest oceanic reef, home to nesting green sea turtles, and endangered species like pygmy blue whales and the dusky sea snake; it is a place like nowhere else on Earth.
“Woodside has an alarming track record of oil spills, incidents and environmental neglect, and can’t be trusted with our oceans. From whaling in Albany in the seventies, to Woodside’s threat to Scott Reef today, there’s more than fifty years of history, of Greenpeace taking action off WA’s coasts to protect our oceans.
“There’s no future in new gas projects. Our future is in secure homegrown renewable energy, green industry and exports, where communities and places like Scott Reef are protected — there’s no future in dirty gas shipped offshore.
“The prospect of drilling for oil or gas on the Great Barrier Reef would be considered absolute madness today, but that is exactly the decision before the government: save Scott Reef or risk its destruction at the hands of a gas corporation.”
From aboard the Floating Production Unit, Dr Chris Holden, Greenpeace Australia Pacific activist said: “As a doctor, when I see new fossil fuel projects like Woodside’s Browse project being put forward, I can’t help but think about the impact this is going to have on the health of our communities and planet, and feel a sense of duty to act.
“Not only will this project do irrevocable harm to nature at Scott Reef, it will have a terrible impact on our climate, putting all of our lives at risk.
“On the Rainbow Warrior I’m carrying a copy of the 2025 Lancet countdown report, which warns that health impacts of climate change are worsening, with millions dying needlessly each year due to fossil fuel dependence, growing emissions, and failure to adequately adapt.
“With warnings like this from the leading global health professionals, our government simply can’t allow fossil fuel projects like Woodside’s Browse project to go ahead. It is their duty to do what is in the best interest of our communities.”
Almost half a million people have signed a petition calling on the government to Save Scott Reef and Woodside’s Browse gas project.
-ENDS-
Notes:
- Dial-in, SimSat and Zoom interviews with Geoff Bice, WA Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, currently aboard the Rainbow Warrior, can be organised separately
Media contact:
Greenpeace Australia Pacific media team on +61 406 231 892 or +61 407 581 404
The board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) will decide on Thursday on whether to “provisionally set aside” $20 million for Nepal to deal with some of the effects of the climate-driven flood it suffered in August.
The motion, seen by Climate Home News, has been drafted by a group of board members from both developed and developing countries and so is likely to pass easily at the fund’s first-ever extraordinary board meeting on October 22.
It invites the government of Nepal to submit a proposal for how to use the money, with the board then deciding at one of its regular board meetings whether to approve the proposal or not.
While Nepali officials have described $20 million as merely “symbolic” in the face of the $4.8 billion estimated costs of recovery and reconstruction, it would be the first time the new FRLD – agreed in 2022 months after devastating floods in Pakistan – has set aside money for a specific disaster.
Until now the fund has only taken requests through a single call for proposals, launched at COP30 in Belém last November, that gave countries six months to submit requests.
Most of the 180 projects the FRLD is currently considering are designed to help countries avoid damage from future climate disasters, for example by strengthening responses to floods in Bangladesh and Lagos.
The draft decision says Nepal’s proposal will serve as a pilot for how funding requests can be submitted outside of the fund’s current timetable. That could let governments seek funds quickly after a climate disaster strikes, rather than waiting for the next call.
This arrangement would set the fund apart from other United Nations funds designed for climate adaptation or cutting emissions like the Green Climate Fund.
Climate campaigners from Fill the Fund said the draft decision is “a real step forward” as it is “the first time this Fund has moved to respond to a specific disaster”.
Too little, too late
The FRLD was agreed by governments at COP27, set up and operationalised at COP28 in 2023 but has yet to award any money. The 180 funding requests it is currently considering would cost around $2.8 billion, but it only has $350 million to allocate.
The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has described the amount of money available in the fund as “ridiculously small” and Fill the Fund said $20 million “is a meaningful signal but it is a drop against an ocean of need”.
A glacial rock and ice collapse sent a torrent of water and debris through Nepal and the Chinese-administered region of Tibet on August 26. It killed more than 1,400 people, left thousands more missing and destroyed homes, bridges, roads and hydropower plants. Nepal’s finance and environment ministers quickly appealed to the FRLD board for funds, saying that “time is of the essence”.
Their call was followed swiftly by a letter from developing country FRLD board members urging the board’s co-chairs to organise an extraordinary meeting to allocate funds to Nepal.
But developed countries initially called for an informal consultation rather than a full board meeting. It took a further 45 days for the board’s co-chairs to organise an extraordinary board meeting for October 22 and to draft a motion for adoption.
Fill the Fund called for a permanent way of the fund rapid responding to disasters as “Nepal should not have required historic letters, an informal drafting group and the Fund’s first-ever extraordinary meeting simply to unlock an emergency response. The next country cannot wait two months and a bureaucratic marathon. Speed must be built in, not improvised.”
The post UN’s loss and damage fund set to give Nepal $20m for flood recovery appeared first on Climate Home News.
UN’s loss and damage fund set to give Nepal $20m for flood recovery
Is a Team of Is a Bunch of MAGA Thugs Beating the Snot Out of a Woman a New Low, or Is it What We Now Need to Expect?
