YDS 2021 in Review

The Central Asian drought’s unprecedented severity and duration indicate the
growing impacts of climate change on vulnerable areas and people within the
region, with flow-on effects on supplies and prices hitting poorer regions and
populations hardest. Worse, the future is expected to see conditions further
deteriorate and more prolonged drought conditions, further impacting the region.
In particular, the droughts have highlighted the impacts and devastation for farmers
on multiple fronts. Without adequate water, their fields remain unirrigated and
begin to die, with both yield and ongoing soil quality negatively affected. The rising
summer heat has also had huge impacts on grazing animals, who now lack water
and food amid high temperatures. In 2021, the result has been mass die-offs of
thousands of animals in livestock herds across Central Asia, with many farmers
forced to resort to feeding wet cardboard to their animals. But even cardboard
began running low in some regions. Disturbing images of emaciated horses have
since emerged in multiple countries, along with animal corpses strewn in fields. With
climate change and drought conditions likely to continue in future years, the
ramifications of the effects this year will continue to be felt by the region, financially
and emotionally.
S h o r t a g e s o f b o t h f o o d a n d w a t e r h a v e l e f t f a r m e r s l i t t l e o p t i o n
b u t t o f e e d l i v e s t o c k w h a t e v e r t h e y h a v e t o h a n d .
P H O T O : P A U L M I K H E Y E V / R E U T E R S
Temperature extremes besides droughts are also further impacting the
environment, and likely to continue to have effects in the region. For example,
P A G E 5 7 | 2 0 2 1 B Y Y D S