Drought is one of the likely consequences of climate change in many regions of the world. Together with an increased demand for water resources to supply the world's growing population, it represents a potentially disastrous threat to water supplies, agriculture and food production, leading to famine and environmental degradation. Yet predicting drought is fraught with difficulty.

The aim of this book is to provide a review of the historical occurrence of global drought, particularly during the twentieth century and assess the likely potential changes over the twenty-first century...