Drought in south-west China and the Mekong basin

Dead shellfish are all that remain of the lake in Damoguzhen County, Yunnan Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk The irrigation well and canals at Hongshiyan Village are empty. Without water, the tobacco and rice crops have been decimated Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk Ruan Jixian, kneels in a dried up reservoir in Hongshiyan Village, Yunnan Province. 'The old folk say it has never dried up in their lifetimes' Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk A farmer heads off on her ox cart with a load of earth removed from the lake bed, which locals believe will replenish the nutrients in their parched croplands Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk A solitary man and an ox cart travel across an area where locals went fishing less than a year ago in Damoguzhen County, Yunnan Photograph: Jonathan Watts/Guardian Photograph: Jonathan Watts/guardian.co.uk A villager carries water from a well, that is not fit for human consumption according to local media, for her cattle at the drought-hit Shilin County of Kunming, Yunnan province. China will deliver 1.42m tonnes of grain to drought-stricken provinces, including 300,000 tonnes of wheat, 580,000 tonnes of corn and 540,000 tonnes of rice Photograph: China Daily/Reuters Photograph: China Daily/guardian.co.uk Villagers drive their ox carts to fetch water in the drought-stricken Reshui town of Xuanwei City, south-west China's Yunnan Province. The drought has been ravaging in south-west China for months and has left 20 million residents with drinking water shortage Photograph: Lin Yiguang/AP Photograph: Lin Yiguang/guardian.co.uk Pupils collect water distributed by the local government at a school in the drought-hit Luoping County of Qujing. Forecasters see no signs of it abating in the short term Photograph: Stringer/China/Reuters Photograph: Stringer/China/guardian.co.uk A farmer waters his small patch of vegetables outside his house surrounded by parched earth. Vast areas of terraced fields that should be lush with the vital winter crop of corn, sugar, onions and other produce look instead like deserts Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Peter Parks/guardian.co.uk A farmer walks up a dusty track with spares for his broken-down tractor in Qixingcun Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Peter Parks/guardian.co.uk Buffaloes rest on the dried bed of a reservoir in Shilin county. A total of about 3.56m hectares of crops and millions of livestock in China have been affected by severe drought Photograph: AFP/AFP Photograph: AFP/guardian.co.uk A worker pumps out water from a newly dug well Photograph: AFP/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: AFP/guardian.co.uk Villagers wait to collect water from a pond in the drought-hit Anxi village, Chongqing Municipality Photograph: China Daily/Reuters Photograph: China Daily/guardian.co.uk Villagers dig a well to collect water. More than 400 engineers and workers are digging wells in south-west China's Guizhou province to seek drinking water for people and livestock Photograph: China Daily/Reuters Photograph: China Daily/guardian.co.uk Villagers receive donated water at Qinglong county Severe drought hits South West China - 03 Apr 2010 A total of 240 thousand bottles of water donated by Beijing residents were distributed Saturday to villagers of Qinglong county and Pu'an county tore by a severe drought since August 2009. Photograph: KPA/Zuma/Rex Features Children climb a mountain carrying bottles of water on their way home at Guoditang village in Liupanshui city Photograph: AP Photograph: guardian.co.uk The farmer Phia Paokhammacham's fishes on the drought-hit rice field as his son waits Photograph: Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Hoang Dinh Nam/guardian.co.uk A Cambodian farmer with his cow on a dry rice field in Takeo province, Cambodia. The first ever Mekong River Commission summit to discuss the low water levels in the Mekong started on 2 April 2010 in Hua Hin, Thailand. The four day summit drew leaders from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam to discuss and safeguard the future of the river Photograph: Mak Remissa/EPA Photograph: Mak Remissa/guardian.co.uk