Reports: 60% of UK and European Union land is now Facing Drought Conditions

According to the European Drought Observatory, around 60 percent of land in the United Kingdom and European Union is under drought warnings or alerts. The findings were based on the data from a period of ten days.

The European Drought Observatory said 45 percent of land was now covered by drought warnings, which means there is a deficit of moisture in the soil, and 15 percent of land is under the severe level of alert.

Copernicus, climate monitoring agency of the European Union, said that much of Europe has experienced a drier July, with many local records broken in the western region of Europe for low rainfall, and drought hitting many parts of southeastern and southwestern regions of Europe.

The new data comes as the world is grappling with a food crisis as Russia lifts its blockade of grain exports coming from Ukraine. Supply chain issues and extreme weather have also worsened the crisis, and are likely to persist for some time.

A recent report forecast a drop of 8 percent to 9 percent in the production of the grain maize, soybeans, and sunflowers in the European Union because of the dry and hot conditions over the summer season, which is below the five-year average.

Freja Vamborg, senior scientist at Copernicus, said the hot and dry conditions from the past months combined with low precipitation and high temperature rates seen in many areas have adverse effects on the production of agriculture, and other industries like energy production and river transport.