Record Drought Imperils Food, Copper Output in Southern Africa
Zambia has declared protracted dry spell a national disaster as price of staple food surges.
Dried earth in the Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe.
Photographer: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP Photo
A swathe of southern Africa about the size of France suffered the driest February in decades, killing crops and precipitating a power shortage that threatens to hit copper mines in a key producing region.
Last month, large parts of Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe had the least rainfall — or close to it — since records began in 1981, early data from the University of California Santa Barbara’s Climate Hazards Center show. The center based its preliminary appraisal mainly on satellite-based rainfall estimates, with a final assessment due next week that will include more rainfall gauge observations.