01/11/2021 - If current rates of global warming continue, up to 8 percent of the world's population – twice as many people as today – could be threatened by extreme droughts by the end of the 21st century. This is the key finding of a comprehensive study by an international team of scientists, including Jacob Schewe, Anne Gädecke, and Dieter Gerten from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Without effective climate change mitigation and resource maintenance, the authors argue, global water shortages could have disastrous ramifications. Dry lake in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso (photo: Yoda Adaman/Unsplash) “If we continue to destabilize our climate, the amount of freshwater accumulated in snow, ice, rivers, lakes as well as reservoirs, wetlands, soil and groundwater, will reduce dramatically – particularly in regions like the Mediterranean, South America, or eastern North America” explains co-author Jacob Schewe, leader of the research group “Climate change impacts on human population dynamics” at PIK. “This means much more frequent, severe and extreme droughts, with all the consequences for human livelihoods, food security, and development at large.”