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Information about Murray Darling Basin How serious is the drought? Very serious. This is the worst drought on record in the Murray-Darling Basin since record keeping began in the 1890s. Some parts of the Murray-Darling Basin have been in drought since 2001, and storage levels are so low that it will take many years of above average rainfall to recover. How does it affect South Australia? South Australia, the driest state, is located at the end of the river system. We need large amounts of water to flow into the River Murray from up-stream so that we have enough to live on, to run our farms, businesses, and look after the environment. In recent years, the River Murray system has received extremely low inflows. The current record low amount of water flowing into our state means there is less water available for all users. Nearly 4000 South Australian irrigators source their water from the River Murray. Their supply has been severely restricted, causing hardship for our agricultural and horticultural industries and regional communities. And so on...

Child eye from the Guardian, 5 minute clip about the impact of drought on the nomadic pastoralists of northern Kenya.

Changing vulnerability and managing risk through using high technology to determine insurance payouts for drought affected animals in northen Kenya.

Stunning pictures of the impact of drought on the Turkana people of northern Kenya.

A useful page with hazard maps showing probability of drought within this region

Map which shows affected countries and reports about drought in the Horn of Africa.

Drought article from National Geographic with the usual stunning photos

Nick Bryant from the BBC reports on drought and the impact of poor resource management on water availability within the MDB.

A detailed look at the causes and responses to food issues in the Horn of Africa - drought is a key element of the problem.

The numbers affected in April 2008

Rains return to the Murray Darling Basin but the squabbling over water - which is like gold in this area - continues.

The MDB Authority was established recently to provide integrated management of the water resources of the MDB