PLANET IN PERIL

USA TODAY While most attention has focused on the lingering drought in California, a "flash" drought has spun up in the past few weeks across much of the South, from Texas to the Carolinas. STORY HERE.

(BBC News) North Korea says it is facing its worst drought in a century, sparking fears of worsening food shortages. Story here.

Agro News California is the fourth largest cotton producing state in US, and production there depends heavily on irrigation. 

Common Dreams Despite historic drought, Governor Jerry Brown has not put restrictions on oil drilling and fracking, but is focusing on urban usage of water. Story here.

Winnipeg Free Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. - For a second straight year, the federal government said Friday it won't send any of its reservoir water to the Central Valley, forcing farmers in California's agricultural heartland to again scramble for other sources or leave fields unplanted. Story here.

the guardian Many residents are hoarding water in their apartments – and some are even drilling homemade wells – as they prepare for possible rationing. Story here.

Inside Climate News Human-caused global warming will create conditions more severe than any in past 1,000 years, new research shows. Story here.

Washington Post A dam  which supplies water to 45 percent of Sao Paulo. (Getty Images)  ATIBAIA, Brazil — Seen from a micro-light aircraft, flying low near this small town in Brazil’s interior, the scale of the water crisis blighting São Paulo, a megalopolis 40 miles away, was frighteningly clear. Four of the five reservoirs in an interlinked system that supplies 6.5 million people, more than a third of its metropolitan population, were vividly depleted. Caked red banks of exposed earth showed just how low the water levels had fallen.   Story here.

AlterNet A poor, rural community in California's agricultural belt has run out of water. Story here.

National Science Foundation Extreme atmospheric conditions responsible for drought more likely to occur in current global warming. Story here.

Los Angeles Times Drought conditions may have leveled off across California, but nearly 100% of the state remains in the third-harshest category for dryness, according to the latest measurements.  Story here. Puddles of water are all that remain in some areas of the San Gabriel River's West Fork in the Angeles National Forest, revealing the effects of the prolonged drought. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 

SF Gate California's great Central Valley aquifer and the rivers that feed it, already losing water in the changing climate, are now being drained because of the drought, leaving water levels at… Details here.

House of Commons April  16, 2013 Elizabeth May:  Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister told this House that Canada legally withdrew from the treaty to combat drought and desertification because it was “ …not an effective way to [use] taxpayers’ money”. The cost of the treaty, $300,000 a year, is roughly equivalent to half the cost of a G8 gazebo or 109 days of the care and feeding of a rented panda, less than 4% of the PMO office budget, a third the cost of shipping an armoured vehicle to India, or two days of government advertising to tell us how happy we should all be with the way the government is spending our money. By what criteria is that spending more effective than pulling our weight in the world to confront drought and expanding deserts? Hon. Julian Fantino:  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to the criteria. That is making Canada's assistance more effective and efficient so we can dedicate those resources to the people most in need. We are

Photo Credit:  Kevin Pluc The federal government recently  pulled out of an important global  treaty: the  UN Convention to  Combat Desertification . It’s aimed  at fighting drought, a problem that  affects almost  30 per cent of Earth’s  land surface and threatens the  well-being of more than a billion  people worldwide, including in our  Prairie provinces.   Every year, the cumulative effects of overgrazing, over-cultivation,  deforestation,  poor irrigation and increasing extreme weather events  – including those that  cause drought – permanently degrade close to  10 million hectares  of land.  This has led to a creeping loss of places  where food can easily be grown.