Drought costs the world more than $300 billion each year, the United Nations warned Tuesday in a report published on the second day of international talks on desertification in Saudi Arabia.
Fuelled by "human destruction of the environment", drought is projected to affect 75 percent of the world's population by 2050, the report cautioned.
It said the crisis has already exceeded $307 billion in costs annually around the globe.
The warning coincides with a 12-day meeting in Riyadh for the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), seeking to protect and restore land and respond to drought amid ongoing climate change.
The UN urged investment in "nature-based solutions" such as "reforestation, grazing management, and the management, restoration and conservation of watersheds" to cut the price of dessication and benefit the environment.
Marked by devastating droughts in Ecuador, Brazil, Namibia, Malawi and nations bordering the Mediterranean, which sparked fires and produced water and food shortages, 2024 is on course to be the hottest year since records began.
"The economic cost of drought extends beyond immediate agricultural losses. It affects entire supply chains, reduces GDP, impacts livelihoods, and leads to hunger, unemployment, migration, and long-term human security challenges," Kaveh Madani, a co-author of the UN report, said.
"Managing our land and water resources in a sustainable way is essential to stimulate economic growth and strengthen the resilience of communities trapped in cycles of drought," Andrea Meza Murillo, a senior UNCCD official, said.
"As talks for a landmark COP decision on drought are underway, the report calls on world leaders to recognize the outsized, and preventable, costs of drought, and to leverage proactive and nature-based solutions to secure human development within planetary boundaries," she added.
Japan witnesses warmest autumn on record
Japan has recorded its warmest autumn since records began 126 years ago, the weather agency said, delaying the country's popular displays of seasonal foliage into December.
"This year was 1.97 degrees Celsius higher than usual... making it the hottest autumn since 1898, when statistics began," the Japan Meteorological Agency said Monday on their website.
Between September and November, the temperature was 2.4 degrees Celsius higher than usual in Tokyo, 2.9 more in the central city of Nagoya and 1.2 warmer in northern Sapporo city.
The weather has delayed the country's autumn foliage season -- when tourists flock to see leaves turn vibrant reds and yellows.
In Kyoto, a railway company known for running trains through forests of illuminated maple trees at night has extended its schedule because leaf colours are not changing as quickly as usual.
According to the Japan Meteorological Corporation, the best time to see the autumn leaves in Tokyo is around December 5 and in Osaka on December 9, both later than usual.
Japan recorded its joint-hottest summer on record this year as extreme heatwaves, which scientists say are fuelled by climate change, engulfed many parts of the world.
The famous snowcap of Mount Fuji was absent for the longest recorded period this year, not appearing until early November, compared with the average of early October.
Climate scientists forecast that 2024 will almost certainly be the hottest year on record.
Australia has meanwhile sweltered through its warmest spring on record, the country's weather bureau said Sunday, with temperatures 2.08 degrees Celsius above the average.
Australia's previous hottest spring -- running between September and November in the Southern Hemisphere -- was recorded in 2020.