Europe’s summer drought is so extreme that desertification is a growing threat

Small boats stand idle on cracked ground in a shriveled side channel of the Danube River in northern Serbia, where the water has receded into a couple of shrinking ponds under pressure from extreme drought and heat.

Fish circle in the shallow waters.

“This is all we have, these two little ponds that are full of juvenile fish,” fisherman Dusan Jovanovic said.

He said the fish are in danger because there is too little water and its temperature is over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

“If they start to die, they will all die at once,” Jovanovic said.

Persistent drought and scorching heat this summer have ravaged ecosystems and businesses across the region, from a lake in Slovenia and the side channel of the Danube in Serbia, to fish farms in Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary.

The fish industry has been hit especially hard, with damage estimated in the millions of euros (dollars).

This is adding to the already high toll caused by problems with energy and water supplies, devastated crops , losses in river traffic and trade.

Finding themselves unprepared for this year’s crisis, countries and businesses are now pondering ways to minimize the effects of future extreme weather events that scientists have tied to human-induced climate change.

Hungary’s fish die as entire country faces extreme drought Around 99% of Hungary’s lands are currently under severe or extreme drought conditions, according to the national meteorological service .

Desertification, a process where vegetation recedes because of high heat and low rainfall, threatens much of the Great Hungarian Plain .

Among the most affected are Hungary’s roughly 27,000 hectares (67,000 acres) of fish ponds.

The country’s Agriculture and Food Economy Ministry said last week that “persistent heat and water shortages” had led to 1,588 hectares (3,924 acres) of those ponds drying out, causing the deaths of nearly 280 metric tons of fish at 20 farms.

The estimated revenue loss from the damage was 1.3 billion forints ($4.2 million), the ministry said.