The European Union has warned that drought and water scarcity are no longer distant risks but a present danger, with one senior official declaring that the crisis is 'already' affecting lives across the continent and beyond.
The warning came as the bloc called for stronger global action to restore degraded land and protect water resources at the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP17), which opened this week in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and runs until 28 August.
