One of the long predicted consequences of global warming is increasing drought and subsequent spreading of deserts. This trend has already been observed in arid areas such as sub-Saharan Africa were some subsistence agriculture is still possible. But for the first time, the scenario of spreading deserts has been quantified using a supercomputer climate model developed by the British meteorological Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction & Research. The results of the study are not good news. It shows the drought severity index for extreme drought rising from 3% to 30% of the Earth's land surface by 2100. Severe drought conditions rise from the current 8% to 40% of the Earth's surface. A third of the planet will be uninhabitable because agriculture will not be possible. Hundred of millions are living in these regions now.
The short rains did not arrive in East Africa last year. The continent is brown and littered with animal carcasses from the Horn to Zanzibar. But we know its just the devilish computers that are scaring us, right?
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