East africa is experiencing the worst drought for 60 years, which has led to the devastation of farmland, failed harvests and livestock deaths. There are many causes of drought in africa, there is need to know the causes in order. Wilhite school of natural resources university of nebraskalincoln national drought management policy workshop, cairo, egypt, 1720 november 2014. Droughts in the middle east and north africa have caused terrible human and economic losses. However, a comprehensive analysis of droughts, including their evolution, complexity, social implications and peoples vulnerability is currently lacking. The region has experienced increasing frequency and severity of drought conditions in recent years as a result of decreased spring. Global integrated drought monitoring and prediction system. However, a comprehensive analysis of droughts, including their evolution, complexity, social implications. Drought management and response in the horn and east africa. Many refugees from southern somalia fled to neighboring kenya and ethiopia, where crowded, unsanitary.
Since then, drought preparedness has constituted one of the focus areas for the fao regional office for the nena. The eac is located in the african great lakes region and has six partner states. A severe drought threatens millions of people in east africa. Drought 8 september 2006 the federations mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. Drought induced famine caused the worst disaster disaster event causing. Drought indices and their application to east africa. Agriculture and food insecurity risk management in africa.
Why is east africa experiencing such a terrible drought. On 10 february the government declared a national drought emergency, with 23 of 47 counties affected. As a result of drought being a major limiting factor in semiarid regions where rainfed agriculture predominates, issues relating to drought management policies and approaches have received much attention amongst researchers. The south african weather service defines a drought as a period of 12 moths when. Robinson 1, xi yang 2 and jungeun lee 1, 1 department of earth, environmental, and planetary sciences, brown university, providence, ri 02912, usa. Drought in east africa the result of climate change and. Investing in localised initiatives to mitigate drought can help the continent to break the cyclic nature of disasters. It is the worlds largest humanitarian organization and its millions of volunteers are active in over 185 countries. Since 2006 hpg has been carrying out research to shed light on ongoing gaps in the international response to drought and explore ways in which policy approaches, funding mechanisms and interventions can be strengthened to mitigate the disastrous impact that drought continues to have in the horn and east africa. Between july 2011 and mid2012, a severe drought affected the entire east african region. The number of food insecure people more than doubled from 1. Rice it is the second most important crop in tanzania and malawi and the third most important crop in kenya and zambia eucord 2002. Africa is a good example of great vulnerability to drought and desertification and a seemingly inability to manage these climate based issues.
The structures of the links in the chain drought, harvest failure, famine are examined. This faith and understanding led them to leave sizable bequests to charities, including lwr. I have just modified 5 external links on 2011 east africa drought. Using the three indices and east africa as a case example, we identi.
In the normally semiarid and arid countries of the region, any reduction in precipitation or increase in temperature can have a significant impact on people, compounding the problems of natural resource management for agriculture, seriously threatening human and. Crop harvests are well below normal and the price of food has doubled across much of ethiopia, kenya, somalia and nearby countries. In the united nations statistics division scheme of geographic regions, 20 territories make up eastern africa. Many refugees from southern somalia fled to neighboring kenya and ethiopia, where. East africa ea has been the primary focus for various drought studies in recent years. Sheep and goats which have died because of the continuous drought situation in somaliland. The 1984 east african drought the risk, impacts, and.
Since 2016, repeated cycles of reduced rainfalls and persisting political instability have led to a significant deterioration in terms of food security and to increasing numbers of internal and cross border displacement. Drought conditions and management strategies in ethiopia. This has created conditions for famine and mass displacement. The report, a dangerous delay, concludes that although drought sparked the east africa crisis, human factors turned it into a disaster. It requires that parties prepare and implement the national action programmes naps to address matters of desertification, land degradation and drought.
In the normally semiarid and arid countries of the region, any reduction in precipitation or increase in temperature can have a significant impact on people, compounding the problems of natural resource management for agriculture, seriously threatening human and animal welfare, and jeopardizing. Reducing drought emergencies in the horn of africa. The last major drought in the region, in 2011, caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. The focus of this article is on challenges and developments of social work in countries of the east african community eac.
Jan 01, 2015 droughts in the middle east and north africa have caused terrible human and economic losses. Even if ultimately the drying trend goes into reverse, east africa faces higher temperatures and decades of disruptive climate change. The modified spi depicted east africa s drought conditions more accurately than the original spi. There is growing scientific analysis suggesting that climate change aggravates their impacts. Pdf on jun 19, 2018, mohamed bazza and others published drought characteristics and management in north africa and the near east find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. With successive large scale droughts in east africa in 201011, 2014, 2015 and the ongoing drought, its easy to assume climate change. We are now in the third year of very low rainfall coupled with high temperatures, which have exhausted peoples ability to cope with drier conditions and scarce and unpredictable rains.
Jul 11, 2017 with successive large scale droughts in east africa in 201011, 2014, 2015 and the ongoing drought, its easy to assume climate change caused by human behaviour does indeed play a role. Drought characteristics and management in north africa and. Said to be the worst in 60 years, the drought caused a severe food crisis across somalia, djibouti, ethiopia and kenya that threatened the livelihood of 9. To facilitate and strengthen the disaster risk reduction and management activities of the eac partner states in line with the hyogo framework for action hfa 20052015, the africa regional strategy for disaster risk reduction and those successor documents. Drought is fast becoming a natural phenomenon in parts of east and south africa. As shown, the 2010 amazon drought 40, 2010 russian drought 16, 2011 texasmexico drought 41 and 2011 east africa drought 9 are well captured by gidmaps. Using the three indices and east africa as a case example, we identified eight assessment criteria to determine the most appropriate index for detecting drought events on a regional basis. Pdf drought characteristics and management in north africa.
Drouggght managementrelated activities and achievements. Drought indices and their application to east africa ntale. East africas drought conditions more accurately than the original spi. Jul 20, 2011 the united nations has declared a famine in parts of somalia, as the worst drought for 60 years forces thousands of people to flee their homes and cross the countrys borders in search of aid. Such interventions, based upon knowledge of the climatology of drought prone regions, may be discussed under three headings. There are very few countries in the region that are untouched by this phenomenon. Due to climate change and associated effects, the duration and intensity of droughts. In addition, the drought of 1920 and 2000 can be said to be the worst drought in the history of the region as it affected all the zones and lasted for more. Projected impacts in east africa vary widely, but without climate change adaptation, eastern africa could lose about two.
Burundi, kenya, rwanda, tanzania, uganda, and south sudan which became the latest member in 2016. Near east and north africa workshop on national drought management policies wmo, unccd, fao, cbd, unwater asiapacific workshop on national drought management icies. This image shows the cumulative effect of the drought on vegetation just as the droughtbreaking rains began to fall in october. Drought in east africa prompts calls to address humanitarian emergency charities launch biggest ever campaigns to tackle creeping disaster in kenya, somalia, uganda, ethiopia published. The weather phenomenon making drought the new normal cnn.
So the conclusions cited above ring alarmingly true. Wmo, unccd, fao, cbd, unwater near east and north africa. A drought means a long period of dry weather during which the lack of rain results in a severe shortage of water. Hence, there is a pressing need for an overview of drought studies in ea. Farmers, traders and consumers across east and southern africa are feeling the impact of consecutive seasons of drought that have scorched harvests and ruined livelihoods. East africa has experienced recurrent drought events in the past few decades. Regional workshop for near east and north africa region, 1720 november 2014, cairo, egypt day 3. Drought monitoring for the middle east and north africa. How to tackle repetitive droughts in the horn of africa.
Projected future aridity is presented based on recent studies and our analysis of model simulations. A shift towards a risk based drought management approach offers opportunities to move away from expensive relief actions. Drought characteristics africa and the near east and. For example, the years 1985, 2003 and 2010 are recorded as major drought years in specific parts of ea fig. Jul 04, 2011 drought in east africa prompts calls to address humanitarian emergency charities launch biggest ever campaigns to tackle creeping disaster in kenya, somalia, uganda, ethiopia published. Is climate change to blame for the east african drought. Near east and north africa countries in march 2000 requested fao assistance at national and regional levels in the formulation of longterm drought managementt t it strategies. Droughtdriven humanitarian emergencies are becoming more frequent in the horn of africa where millions of people in this arid region face chronic water and food insecurity viste et al. Drouggght managementrelated activities and achievements in. Tanzania, kenya, uganda, rwanda, burundi and south sudan are members of the east african community eac. The impact of drought on subsaharan african economies. Severe drought choked east africa, particularly kenya, though much of 2009. These species compose some of the worlds most diverse and biologically.
May 16, 2017 uganda has suffered a quite serious drought recently, and so has rwanda. For many in east africa, the current drought is the worst in living memory. The 3 pillars of drought policy and their linkages monitoring and. Drought characteristics and management in north africa and the near east 45 drought characteristics and management in north africa and the near east the report assesses the occurrence and impacts of drought, the current policies underlying drought management as well as the mitigation measures and responses adopted in the near east and north. East africa drought in pictures global development. Mar 17, 2017 farmers, traders and consumers across east and southern africa are feeling the impact of consecutive seasons of drought that have scorched harvests and ruined livelihoods. East africa drought acute drought conditions are severely affecting over 11 million people in the horn of africa in countries like somalia, kenya, ethiopia, djibouti and uganda. Possible interventions are feasible at the link between drought and harvest failure, to lessen or avert the impact. Implementing drought early warning systems in africa.
In the east african drought history, many drought events have been recorded, especially after the 1980s. Implications for supporting drought crisis management and mitigation measures 47 5. Warehouse receipt system for men and women farmers in niger and tanzania 25. Cnna severe drought threatens millions of people in east africa. In extreme cases these may lead to droughts and humanitarian disasters.
East africa or eastern africa is the eastern region of the african continent, variably defined by geography. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple faq for additional information. Policy response to drought management in kenya starts with the domestication of the global united nations convention to combat desertification unccd after ratifying it in 1997. The modified spi depicted east africas drought conditions more accurately than the original spi. Vogt 1 executive summary of part i western cape province in south africa is going through a severe drought, affecting in particular the. Summary report workshop for the near east and north africa region cairo, egypt 1720 november 2014 background of the initiative drought is the worlds costliest natural disaster and affects more people than any other form of natural disaster. The p4p initiative of the world food programme wfp 24. In chapter 6 the ways to improve on drought management and mitigation are discussed. Drought conditions and management strategies in kenya. The extra amount was a cost to the national economy attributed to poor preparedness and delayed response to this drought episode. Iom east and horn of africa drought appeal 5 context eastern africa is experiencing one of the worst droughts in decades. Droughts are not new to this region, but they are intensifying. Fao water report 45 download pdf the report assesses the occurrence and impacts of drought, the current policies underlying drought management as well as the mitigation measures and responses adopted in the near east and north africa region, with a focus on the agriculture sector.
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