Young boy with corn damaged by severe drought, Surallah, Cotabato, Philippines. Since the extreme drought struck farmers report that the harvest is less than one third the normal yield. Since October 2004,the country's worst drought in 50 years has affected around 700,000 people. Greenpeace links rising global temperatures and climate change to the onset of one of the worst droughts to have struck the Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia in recent memory. Scientists from NASA recently warned that a weak El Nino combined with increasing greenhouse gas emissions from the use of fossil fuels such as coal could make 2005 the hottest year since global temperature was recorded in the 1800s.