Experts have expressed their worries over prolonged drought currently ravaging the Horn of Africa.
They said years of failed rains have not only led to massive displacement of the communities, but has fueled conflicts.
"Drought being experienced in the region is hitting communities, economies and ecosystems", said Dr. Pamela Kaithuru, an expert with the Kenya Meteorological Department.
Unfavourable weather conditions have also led to high food prices "which continue to impede food availability and access".
According to her, more than 58 million people in the vast region were "in conditions of food insecurity".
The meteorological expert added that the situation would worsen this year (2023) especially in Ethiopia, Somalia and parts of Kenya.
Dr. Kaithuru adds that as a result of the on-going drought and other impacts of climate change, there was a notable increase in health related challenges.
This, she explained, was more pronounced with psychological and mental well being of individuals and vulnerable communities.
The situation, she went on, was aggravated by the fact that most economies in the Greater Horn of Africa were much dependent on weather and climate.
"The worsening crisis shows how climate change threatens the lives and livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people", she said.
Worse, she pointed out, is the hidden stress individuals within these areas go through.
The region is currently struggling from the vagaries of climate change manifest in extreme events of prolonged depressed rainfall.
Dr.Kaithuru’s assertion agrees with the State of the Climate in Africa 2021 report by World Meteorological
Organization (WMO).
The report indicates that Africa’s climate has warmed more
than the global average since pre-industrial times (1850-1900).
It showed that extreme weather and climate change were undermining human health and safety, food and water security.
Also impacted are socio-economic development activities as result of rainfall patterns disruption, and shrinking of key lakes, which threaten to aggravate conflicts and displacement.
The alarming scenario follows a survey by experts commissione by the Nairobi-based African Coalition of Communities Responsive to Climate Change (ACCRCC).
They have called for urgent action to lessen the stress and hazards due to the ongoing withering droughts in the East and Horn of Africa.
Recently the drought management agency in Kenya issued a statement on the worsening drought situation in the East African country.
It said the situation remained critical following failed rains in October-December last year, coupled with four previous consecutive failed rainfall seasons.
Much of the drought is blamed on climate change, a phenomenon associated with global warming over the planet.
However, for Africa, it would be a spill over from other parts of the world as the continent accounts for only about 2 to 3 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change largely manifests in temperature increase, heat waves, extensive floods, tropical cyclones, prolonged droughts and sea level rise.
Currently only 40 percent of the African population have access to early warning systems to protect them against extreme weather and climate change impacts.
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