A grim United Nations report has revealed that escalating droughts, intensified by global warming, have caused widespread wildlife deaths across Africa and the Amazon Basin over the past two years. Released on July 2, 2025, the Drought Hotspots Around the World 2023–2025 report warns of starvation, heat stress, and human-led culling wiping out animal populations, altering ecosystems and deepening human-wildlife conflict.
Published by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and the US National Drought Mitigation Center, with support from the International Drought Resilience Alliance, the report links these extreme conditions to a combination of long-term climate heating and the El Niño phenomenon, which caused global temperature spikes in 2023.
Wildlife Losses Across Africa
Eastern and southern Africa have seen some of the most severe impacts. In Kenya’s Amboseli region, six lions were speared in June 2023 in retaliation for killing livestock an act linked directly to the ecological pressure of drought. The report notes that traditional coexistence between the Maasai people and wildlife has been fractured by growing stress on both humans and predators.
In Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, over 100 elephants died in the 2023–24 summer due to severe drought. Many became trapped in dried-up waterholes in a desperate search for water. Zimbabwe and Namibia responded by announcing large-scale culling in September 2024 to provide meat for communities affected by food shortages. The plan allowed hunting of hundreds of elephants, zebras, antelopes, and even hippos.
In Botswana, a herd of hippos was reported trapped in mud along the Thamalakane River in April 2024 as water bodies vanished. Nearby Zimbabwe recorded 19 hippo deaths from starvation, highlighting the depth of the crisis.
Amazonian Crisis: Heat and Drought Disrupt Aquatic Ecosystems
The Amazon Basin has suffered severe biodiversity loss, particularly in aquatic ecosystems. In September 2023, over 200 endangered Amazonian river dolphins died in Lake Tefé due to soaring water temperatures that reached up to 39°C. Thousands of fish also perished. A similar event occurred in 2024, with juvenile dolphins again washing up dead as water levels dropped.
Experts warn that such repeated events will permanently alter fish populations and ecosystem functions. The report also documents increased poaching of Amazonian manatees during low river levels, with the mammals being forced into exposed areas and becoming vulnerable to illegal hunting.
A Pattern of Climate-Driven Collapse
These events represent more than isolated tragedies they reflect a pattern of ecological collapse under extreme climate stress. From elephants dying of thirst to aquatic die-offs in the Amazon, the data underscores how intensifying heat and drought are dismantling ecological balance.
The report calls for urgent investment in drought resilience, better water access for wildlife, improved enforcement of anti-poaching laws, and restoration of ecosystems degraded by repeated droughts. It also highlights the need to address underlying climate drivers, including fossil fuel emissions and deforestation.
As temperatures continue to rise and droughts grow more severe, the world may witness more devastating losses unless bold climate action is taken quickly and globally.