South China in the midst of its worst drought in 50 years by Rob McElwee
More than one million people in south China are now without water as the country suffers from its worst drought in over 50 years. The Guangxi province, China’s predominant sugar-growing region has been the hardest hit, receiving less than half the average amount of rainfall over the past three months. Water levels in this region have fallen by half from last year, with nearly all of the surrounding cities now facing their worst drought since 1951.
Some of the surrounding regions have seen almost no rain at all, with the drought expected to hit the sugar industry hard. A similar scale water shortage in 2004 resulted in the loss of more than one million tonnes of sugar.
China is frequently hit by severe drought, and suffers from water shortages amounting to nearly 40 billion cubic meters a year. The two major rivers that run through a number of rice growing provinces, the Gan and the Xiang, have dropped to historic lows. The government is setting up a number of water conservation projects to try and ease the current situation.
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