How does global warming cause drought in the Horn of Africa? Research says… | World news
The worst drought that has hit the Horn of Africa could not have happened without global warming, according to a new report released Thursday from the international group of climate scientists.
“Human-induced climate change has made agricultural droughts in the Horn of Africa about 100 times more likely,” sums up a report from the World Weather Organization (WWA).
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“The ongoing nuclear drought would never have happened without the impact of greenhouse gas emissions,” he added.
Since the end of 2020, countries in the Horn of Africa – Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan – have been suffering from the worst drought in 40 years. The widespread drought has resulted in the death of millions of cattle and destroyed crops.
WWA’s research is based on three regions hit hardest by drought: southern Ethiopia, Somalia and eastern Kenya.
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While climate change has little effect on the average annual rainfall in the region, “higher temperatures have increased evaporation from soil and crops, which makes soils more dry”. according to 19 scientists who contributed to the WWA report.
Without this effect, the region would not have experienced an agricultural drought – when crops and grasses are affected by dry conditions – in the past two years,” the summary added.
“Instead, widespread crop failures and livestock deaths have put more than 20 million people at risk of severe food insecurity.”
WWA said that, for its rapid analysis, “scientists look at changes in rainfall in 2021 and 2022 in the affected area, covering southern Ethiopia, southern Somalia and eastern Kenya”.
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“They found that climate change is affecting rainy seasons in opposite directions. Longer rains are getting drier, with shorter rains now twice as likely, while shorter rains are getting cooler. because of climate change,” he added.
“This cold display in the short rain has recently been masked by the La Nina weather pattern, which reduces the rainfall in the short rain.”
Joyce Kimutai, a Kenyan scientist who contributed to the report, told AFP: “It’s time we do and work differently. Central to this process is to change and improve our systems.
“We need to innovate across and across food systems, increase collaboration, involve vulnerable groups, make better use of data and information, as well as integrate new technologies and traditional knowledge.”
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The WWA network, organized by leading climate scientists, has built a reputation in recent years for its ability to estimate the extent to which climate change has contributed to extreme weather events.
Its results are published as a quick text, without going through the long peer review process required by scientific journals, but using approved methodological methods.
