Bone dry: A drought in 2015-2016 caused by an El Niño event ravaged through Southern Africa, precipitating
an escalating drought crisis robbing people of jobs and prosperity. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
Across Southern Africa, drought is destroying livelihoods at an alarming rate.
This is not just an environmental crisis. It is an economic emergency that demands urgent action.
According to Continental Drying: A Threat to Our Common Future, a newly released World Bank report, between 600,000 and 900,000 people lose their jobs each year in Sub-Saharan Africa because of water scarcity.
That’s a loss equivalent to 7- 9% of all new jobs created annually. For the two-thirds of the region’s population who depend on rain-fed agriculture, these dry shocks don’t just threaten crops; they threaten survival.
Rural employment drops by 7.4 percentage points when drought strikes, hitting women, older workers, landless farmers and low-skilled labourers the hardest. The impact on landless rural farmers is nearly six times greater than average.
The report delivers a stark warning for the region and the world at large. Our planet is losing 324 billion cubic meters of freshwater every year — enough to meet the needs of 280 million people.
This long-term decline in terrestrial water storage is reshaping economies, threatening livelihoods and accelerating environmental risks. In arid regions, freshwater reserves are falling by up to 10% annually and Southern Africa, identified as a priority region in the report, ranks among regions with the highest water demand stress, driven by low water-use efficiency in agriculture and rising human consumption.
In Southern Africa, the escalating drought crisis robs people of jobs and prosperity. A drought in 2015-2016 caused by an El Niño event ravaged the region, consuming 19% of annual government expenditure in the Kingdom of Eswatini alone, a devastating 7% of the country’s GDP. Drought, once a periodic disruptor, has become a persistent, structural threat to the region’s economic prosperity.
These regional challenges demand regional solutions, grounded in national action. Eswatini’s turnaround offers a powerful example of what works and a blueprint for hope.
Since the watershed drought of 2015–2016, Eswatini has led one of Africa’s most comprehensive risk management transformations, blending cultural wisdom with modern technology.
This approach integrates generations of indigenous knowledge with the World Bank–supported drought monitoring and early-warning systems. For centuries, communities have relied on nature’s cues — such as the calls of the Sangowe and Inkanku birds, to guide the planting season and prepare for times of water scarcity.
Today this wisdom is paired with data-driven tools, detailed contingency planning and policy reforms that secure resources during dry spells.
Together, these efforts position Eswatini not only to withstand future shocks but to lead the region in building resilience.
Eswatini’s efforts are in line with many of the Continental Drying report’s policy recommendations: curbing demand through efficient technologies, building public awareness, supporting aquifer recharge, improving allocation through stronger governance and a focus on water rights and policy reforms.
By introducing drought-resilient infrastructure, enhancing irrigation systems and reinforcing water governance principles, Eswatini is aligning with global best practices to safeguard jobs and food security. Yet Eswatini represents only one piece of a regional puzzle — drought impacts do not stop at borders.
Eswatini’s experience, alongside efforts across the region, points to the need for a collective shift from reactive disaster relief to proactive resilience. This means deepening cross-border collaboration and multi-sectoral approaches throughout Southern Africa.
This vision for collaboration was evident in Eswatini’s landmark recent initiative: hosting the Southern and Eastern Africa DRM Forum and launching a Drought Centre of Excellence in September 2025.
Designed as a permanent hub for research, policy and capacity building, the Centre will strengthen a regional network for resilience.
Convening representatives from 15 countries across Southern and Eastern Africa, the Forum served as an incubator for innovation—facilitating south-south knowledge exchange and forming a new cohort of “drought champions” committed to translating lessons into action.
Recognising that resilience must span generations, Eswatini showcased student art from the Art Never Dries project, featuring murals, conservation flags and a spoken-word performance— nurturing future stewards of the region’s water security
Besides helping countries invest in their water and sanitation, we support projects such as the Southern Africa Drought Resilience Initiative (SADRI), the Regional Climate Resilience Program (RCRP) and the Defying Drought (D2) Impact Program, which when combined with global tools and technical expertise like the Drought Risk and Resilience Assessment (DRRA), are helping to catalyse funding needed to scale up solutions.
The urgency is clear. By aligning policies, sharing data and co-investing in resilience, Southern African nations can transform a narrative of vulnerability into one of strength.
Joint action is essential, where shared risks drive a common resolve to secure prosperity, create jobs and ensure a sustainable future for all. With urgency and unity, we can ensure that drought does not define our future — resilience does.
Satu Kahkonen is the country director, World Bank for South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Eswatini and Anna Wellenstein is the regional practice director for the Planet department for East Africa, World Bank.