A UNESCO project on the role of Holocene Environmental Catastrophes in Human History has taken an interdisciplinary approach to examining civilizations' response to drought.
1 October 2012: The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has reported on an International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) project on the impacts of extreme events, such as drought, on civilizations, and how ecosystems and civilizations recover.
The project, the Role of Holocene Environmental Catastrophes in Human History, is an inter-disciplinary investigation into the relationships between civilizations and ecosystems.
The project analyzed an event 4,200 years ago, when rainfall diminished in the Nile River basin for six decades. The extended drought resulted in 100 years of political turmoil, but resulted in a policy response by the new Egyptian pharaohs to increase investment in irrigation infrastructure and grain storage. [UNESCO Press Release]