Droughts

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply whether surface or underground. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistentlybelow average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region. Although droughts can persist for several years, even a short, intense drought cancause significant damage for people, animals and plants.
The cause of droughts is easily understood, but hard to prevent. Depending on the location, crop failures, famine, high food prices, and deathscan occur. One of the scariest parts of a drought is the onset time. Unlike other forms of severe weather situations or natural disasters, droughts often develop slowly.
Droughts are caused by adepletion of precipitation over time. Unlike a dry spell, prolonged lack of rain will cause regions around the world to slowly dry out. Because of the slow onset of droughts, their cost is often onlyestimated. Frequently, droughts are billion dollar weather events and are one of the top three threats to population in the world (along with famine and flooding).

1. There are three main ways droughtsimpact lives and communities. First, the economic impacts of drought include losses in the timber, agricultural, and fisheries communities. Many of these losses are then passed on to consumers in theform of higher commodity pricing.
2. Next social impacts include increased chance of conflict over commodities, fertile land, and water resources. Other social impacts include abandonment ofcultural traditions, loss of homelands, changes in lifestyle, and increased chance of health risks due to poverty and hygiene issues.
3. Finally, the environmental impacts of drought include loss in speciesbiodiversity, migration changes, reduced air quality, and increased soil erosion.

DROUGHTS IN MEXICO
According to the BBC - "A severe drought in Mexico that has cost farmers more than a...