2023-04-27 18:11:54
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Human-caused climate change has made agricultural drought in the Horn of Africa “about 100 times more likely”. This is the main conclusion of the World Weather Attribution report, which brings together an international team of climate scientists. Experts point out that the devastating drought that affects this region of northeast Africa would not have happened without the effect of greenhouse gas emissions.
Since the end of 2020, the countries of the Horn of Africa have suffered the worst drought in the last 40 years. The situation is increasingly alarming. Crop failures and livestock deaths have left more than 20 million people at risk of acute food insecurity.
The World Weather Attribution study focused on the three areas hardest hit by drought: southern Ethiopia, Somalia and eastern Kenya.
The scientists analyzed historical climate data, including changes in the region’s two main rainfall patterns. They concluded that the long rainy season, from March to May, is getting drier and that the short season, from October to December, is getting wetter.
The report highlights the strong link between the effects of climate change and the fragility of populations. For this reason, he stresses that, along with the decrease in rainfall and high temperatures, conflicts, state instability and poverty are also responsible for the “devastating impacts” of the current drought in the Horn of Africa.
According to the United Nations, more than 20 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda and South Sudan have been affected.
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