Drought in Australia: Causes, Impacts And Responses

Nature of Droughts

National Geographic defines a drought as “an extended period of unusually dry weather when there is not enough rain.” However, this is only one factor in the broad term of drought as there are four different types of droughts.

1. Meteorological drought: when there has been a decrease in precipitation than normal over a period of time
2. Agricultural drought: when soil moisture is decreasing faster due to evo-transpiration than it can be replenished.
3. Hydrological drought: minimal amount of water in water sources such as streams, rivers, reservoirs, etc.
4. Socioeconomic drought: when demand for water exceeds the supply

Causes of Droughts

Australia is the second-driest continent in the world and is subject to El Nino and La Nina events that alternate approximately every four years. The most recent event was an El Nino in 2015 which is commonly associated with the drier than average conditions in the east of Australia. It occurs when the sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean becomes a lot warmer than average causing a shift in the atmospheric circulation. Usually trade winds blow from east to west across the Pacific Ocean, however in El Nino events often the trade winds are weakened or even reversed. This causes reduced rainfall, warmer temperatures, increased frost, reduced cyclones, later monsoon onset, increased fire danger and decreased alpine snow depths.

Another cause for droughts in Australia is the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). This is the cause of the movement of lots of air above the Indian Ocean. However, this past year the Indian Ocean off Western Australia was cooler than average. If the water in the ocean is cooler than average it is referred to as a positive IOD, causing drier and weaker winds reducing rainfall resulting in droughts in Australia.

Other causes for droughts include people overusing water, the ratio of population to available water is unbalanced, not receiving precipitation, the river upstream of an area running out of water. infrastructure blocking water sources and pollution from humans

Australia Case Study

Drought Impacts

Economic Impact: The image provided is a ground-level shot of starving sheep. This portrays that as drought affects the soil moisture there is no water for grass to grow, therefore there is no feed nor water for the animals thus reducing livestock numbers. With reduced numbers of livestock farmers incomes are reduced. This in conjunction with having to buy in feed creates reduced farm income. To still have enough money to live on, farmers sell their malnourished livestock and let go of staff. This hinders Australia’s economy as unemployment rates rise, local processing and food industries suffer from lack of resources and Australia cannot export wool to other countries. Drought has an enormous impact on Australia’s economy which is growing weaker and slower as the drought continues.

Environmental Impact: The image is an oblique aerial shot of an empty dam. The drought caused the dam to empty as the rate of the water evaporating to the water being replenished was too great. As depicted, the dam is cracked and dry, as there is no moisture in the soil due to lack of rain because of the drought. This is a huge environmental impact as there is no water for the plants surrounding the dam to grow, and water for animals.

Social Impact: The image is a ground-level shot of the trees painted blue for the farmers who have committed suicide as a result of the drought. Farmers are under immense stress and anxiety because of the lack of rain for many months. They are being forced to buy extra feed for their livestock, but as there is no rain crops cannot grow making feed harder to come by. in conjunction with this there is no water for livestock to drink. Farmers are being forced to sell their land and livestock as they simply cannot afford to keep it. This causes farmers to have mental health issues regarding lack of income, losing the land they have grown up on and also worked so hard to keep. They are often living in isolated areas where they are lonely and unable to seek help. The suicide rates for farmers is 20 in every 100 000 people but they are often too afraid to seek help due to the stigma that they do not need it. It is not only men who feel there is no other option other than taking their life, but women as well. Studies have shown that children whose parents have tried to commit suicide, begin to have suicidal thoughts. Droughts have such a great social impact but people who do not live in rural areas are oblivious to it.

Drought Responses

Individual response to drought: https://www.nswfarmers.org.au/NSWFA/Posts/The_Farmer/Environment/Drought_Affected_Farmers.aspx

Currently 99 % of NSW is in drought, and farmers are trying to get through learning from past droughts. The recent summer was the driest it has ever been with farmers feeding livestock and dams drying up, however farmers have learnt from the past and continuing their jobs and making management decisions depending on the drought so there is still fodder and grain to be found. Wayne and Lynette Culverson are a couple living in drought on three properties worth 295 hectares north of Orange. They are struggling to feed their sheep, their dams are drying up, so they are forced to buy hay from Victoria because there is no availability in NSW, they have to not join their ewes and begin selling their stock. His previous experiences with drought has taught him to look after his and Lynette’s mental health, supporting each other through this tough time. The government has begun to provide assistant measures for farmer and are providing low interest loans, and repayment free period for to cover freight costs. Terry Smith runs a station between Broken Hill and Menindee says ‘conditions are getting of hand’ as they cannot even put stock agistment. The kangaroos are also becoming a major problem, but Terry has hope that it “will rain one day”.

Group response to drought:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-16/where-has-drought-aid-been-allocated/10378278

In the states affected by the drought the councils are supporting and aiding their local farmers. As nearly all of NSW is in drought the councils are discounting water prices, providing rate exemptions and free hay bales. In Gunnedah the council has given 285 bales of hay to local farmers as well as voting to donate the bales coming from the long grass at the airport. They are also offering movie tickets to donate to farmers in need of support and they donated 2.2 ML of non-potable water to the community. Gunnedah’s sister city, Lane Cove council, has begun to assist in drought relief, and are talking about what support can be given. 23 % of the community in Lane Cove are volunteering to help with drought affected areas as well as being encouraged to take holidays in regional areas to increase local economies. Other NSW councils are beginning to put in place water saving measures for their communities and offering farmers water free of charge. For example, in Lithgow they are making water half price to farmers within their local area. The government is also adding financial aid to drought affected farmers and their communities. It is not just in NSW but local governments in Queensland have begun assisting to combat the drought.

Government response to drought:

Councils offer aid to drought-stricken farmers

The State and Federal governments have agreed that the drought is a ‘severe drain on the economy’ and they were going to offer aid. They have offered concessional loans to farmers so they can improve the infrastructure on their farms. The Federal Government puts $1.8 billion towards drought aid and drought preparedness. It is believed that these loans are working so well as the government is allowing the farmers to switching to lower interest rate loans. The Federal government is giving a further $15 million to the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal which is slowly giving money to local communities so they can improve facilities and having activities to bring people together in this tough time. The State government is paying a large amount of money to go into transport subsidies and waivers on State fees like council rates and car registration. NSW has spent about a billion dollars on drought preparedness, emergency relief and mental health surfaces. They are also offering transport subsidies to help farmers to transport livestock to the market. Whereas banks are beginning to keep branches open in areas where they were going to close, offer discount loan rates, deferring payments, allowing offset on the interest and waivers for costs that increase or extend loans. They are also making donations to charities such as the Red Cross and Rural Aid.

Further Recommendation:

Individual: Strategies that individuals can undertake for droughts in NSW are restricting water usage, like showering under three minutes once daily and not using water to wash driveways or pavements instead using a broom except if absolutely necessary. They also should wash their cars less regularly only once every two months on grass. Another strategy that individual should do is support their family and friends through hardships. During drought because during drought they have less water than average and using less water makes that minimal amount of water last longer. They need to understand that during drought their mental health is unstable and that drought impacts people’s mental health and makes them depressed and anxious. If they are ever feeling overwhelmed and depressed because of the hardships during the drought, they need to know how and when to seek help. Hope and a positive mentality is the best way to cope and to get through the hardships of drought.

Group: Councils can encourage local farmers to use drip irrigation to use less water with the same benefits as previous methods. They can reduce the price of water for farmers so they can afford to buy more as they need more because during drought there is lower than average rainfall. They can also raise awareness in communities that do not understand the impact of drought in rural areas Advertisements could be run to convey the effects on drought and the impacts it has on the country, communities and individuals. They can also fund facilities in isolated areas to help the mental health of farmers which is becoming a worse issue. Other groups like charities can raise money to send to drought affected areas so farmers can afford to buy feed for their livestock and water for their crops. For example, sending hay to rural towns in desperate need for feed for their livestock.

Government: The government could implement laws for water usage, so people are more likely to abide by them. For example, people cannot water their lawn between 10 am in the morning and 5 pm in the afternoon because the sun is the hottest during the day and the water will not have any affect during that time. The government can also send funds to local communities for mental health facilities for farmers suffering depression and anxiety during the drought. They can also fund drought aid for drought affected farmers so they can survive this tough time. They can also fund the advertisements that councils run illustrating the consequences of drought. Another strategy that the government could undertake to help in the drought is send money to charities that are drought orientated, so they can send more to farmers in need. This is important so that Australia’s economy does not slow down and weaken as many farmers have a fluctuating income during the drought.