| Droughts | Agriculture and food security | Rainfall failure at any stage of crop growth results in crop failure, hence total loss or reduced crop harvest |
| When drought strikes, households may lack sufficient food stocks to see them through the next season’s harvest | ||
| There are diseases and pests that occur after drought, floods and other weather events e.g armyworm infestations are associated with prolonged drought, followed by adequate rains. Incidences of disease and pests on a good growing crop results in total loss or poor yields | ||
| When crop diseases are controlled by use of pesticide, the producer is left poorer due to cost of pesticide as an extra input of production | ||
| Drought leads to poor and inadequate pasture resulting in loss of livestock body condition due to insufficient feed. Nomadic pastoralists therefore move with livestock out of their normal grazing areas in search of pasture and water | ||
| Loss of livestock, especially in ASALs | ||
| Additional costs of livestock maintenance, veterinary costs, supplemental feeding, etc. | ||
| Increased production of fish, adding to overfishing | ||
| Reduction in fish production from aquaculture | ||
| When fish is adversely affected, food security is threatened due to loss of their food contribution | ||
| Water, aquatic ecosystems and associated infrastructure | Increase in the cost of vendor-supplied water in urban areas; more time spent queuing | |
| Increased time spent searching for water in rural areas | ||
| Increased pumping of groundwater in urban areas leading to reduction in borehole yields | ||
| Iincrease in irrigation water demands possibly leading to conflicts in water use rights | ||
| A drop in water level in dams and rivers could adversely affect the quality of water by increasing the concentrations of sewage waste and industrial effluents, thereby reducing the quality and quantity of fresh water available for domestic use | ||
| Health including sanitation and human settlement | A drop in water level in dams and rivers could adversely affect the quality of water by increasing the concentrations of sewage waste and industrial effluents, thereby increasing the potential for the outbreak of diseases | |
| Management of pollution, sanitation, waste disposal, water supply, and public health, as well as provision of adequate infrastructure in urban areas, could become more difficult and costly under reduced water availability | ||
| Reduction in food production leading to famine and deaths | ||
| Malnutrition or diseases will increase as a result of reduced immunity | ||
| Signs of protein-energy malnutrition such as weakness, weight loss and reduced mobility likely to be experienced | ||
| Cases of food toxicity likely since starving people will be tempted to consume unfamiliar foods without taking necessary precautions | ||
| Cases of Marasmus and Kwashiorkor will therefore be prevalent | ||
| Energy and relevant infrastructure | Reduced hydropower production from low water levels | |
| Likelihood of importing higher-cost power from neighbors and provision of replacement generators | ||
| Loss of income from industries that lead to reduced production because of power shortages | ||
| Terrestrial ecosystem including forestry and Tourism | Cost of desalinating groundwater in coastal areas, where seawater has intruded into aquifers | |
| droughts and/or reduction in precipitation would devastate wildlife and reduce the attractiveness of some nature reserves, thereby reducing income from current vast investments in tourism | ||
| Increased tree loss from illegal felling, fires, grazing, diseases |