Droughts are creating new supply chain problems. This is what you need to know

Nov 25, 2022

Economic damage from droughts jumped by 63% in 2021 compared with the 20-year average, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Image: REUTERS/Christian Kraemer

Ewan Thomson

Senior Writer, Forum Agenda

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Supply Chains is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Supply Chains

Listen to the article

Droughts are becoming more frequent and lasting longer, which has dire consequences for transport on key rivers like the Rhine in Germany. Image: ESA.

Discover

How is the World Economic Forum fighting the climate crisis?

A birds eye view of low water levels on the Mississippi, with land surrounding the river.

October 2022: A lack of rainfall caused water levels on the Mississippi to reach lows not seen for a decade, significantly slowing barge traffic. Image: NASA.

Drought has contributed to the Yangtze river shrinking visibly year on year. Image: ESA.

Have you read?

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.