There is already a water shortage, and farmers say they have lost a large part of their crops.
The amount of groundwater has already dropped to an alarmingly low level in parts of southern Europe. Both an unusually warm May and several years of dry summers affect the drought.
The situation is particularly difficult in Spain, southern France and Italy. In addition to groundwater, the water levels of rivers and reservoirs are also low, which again makes it difficult to irrigate farms and use hydropower.
According to researchers, Europe is threatened by another record-warming summer in a row. According to climate scientists, last summer was the warmest in 500 years.
– The drought will be even stronger this summer, says a professor at the University of Alicante in Spain Jorge Olcina.
The worst situation is in Spain. It’s so dry there that even the rain doesn’t help, according to Olcina.
Spanish Minister of Agriculture Luis Planas has appealed to the European Union for emergency aid.
Climate change increases drought
Elsewhere are also suffering from drought. The Horn of Africa is experiencing its driest state in decades, and in Argentina, drought has already destroyed soybean and corn crops.
The background is climate change. The average temperature of the Mediterranean Sea has risen by 1.5 degrees in 150 years.
– This is exactly what climate change will bring about, just as we have predicted, climate change professor Hayley Fowler from Newcastle University says.
Although climate change has been warned for a long time and countries have been urged to prepare for its effects, agriculture is suffering.
According to the researchers, many farmers lack water-saving irrigation technologies and have not switched to crop varieties that are more drought-resistant.
– Governments and companies are very late. Some of the companies don’t even want to change their operating model, but continue consumption in the old model, waiting for technology to provide a solution to the water shortage, climate scientist and director of the French Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute Robert Vautard says.
In France, last winter was the driest since 1959, and four French regional governments have already introduced a state of emergency due to the drought.
In Portugal, up to 90% of the land is currently suffering from drought. The number has increased fivefold since last year.
In Spain, the drought is so severe in parts of the country that the authorities have had to bring drinking water to the citizens by trucks.
Some of the farmers say they lost 80% of their harvest.