Drought is a recurrent and natural event in many areas. Humanitarian organisations can be more effective when they take this into account in their programming. ​

In many areas of the world, severe drought is a recurrent phenomenon. It is possible that in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and elsewhere, droughts are becoming more frequent and intense.

These droughts often occur in contexts where conflict, high food prices, and restrictions on traditional livelihood strategies have already impoverished large sections of the population. Where this is the case, drought can trigger – or greatly intensify – large-scale human disasters.

Kerren Hedlund and Paul Knox-Clarke