Long Chile drought raises profile of climate impacts
Subject Drought and agriculture. Significance In the last three months, emergency decrees prompted by lack of water have been issued in more than one-third of the country’s 16 regions as a result of the ten-year drought, which has worsened in 2019. The emergency decrees are focused on ensuring access to drinking water for people in rural areas, providing fodder and water for livestock, and implementing irrigation projects for small and medium-sized farms. Impacts Hydropower represents about 30% of Chile’s energy matrix but there is sufficient backup from other sources to avoid outages. The drought has raised public awareness on the future impacts of climate change on Chile. A warmer and drier future may lead to migration to the country’s south in the longer term.