Newly arrived refugees in Ifo camp at Dadaab, in Kenya, have been eagerly waiting to collect water from Oxfam's newly installed taps. Many refugees have walked to the camp from Somalia, some 60 miles away, and have little food to eat. People who arrive at the camp receive an initial kit and food ration to last them for ten days. But they will not be officially registered until mid to late September. Meaning those who arrive today will have ten days food to last the next 60 days.Credit: Jo Harrison/Oxfam
As the UN officially announced yesterday the deaths of tens of thousands due to the worst drought in 60 years in East Africa, the World Food Programme today begins airlifting highly nutritious foods into the two districts in Somalia where famine has been declared, according to Al Jazeera's Horn Of Africa Drought Coverage.
Al Jazeera also reports that the International Red Cross has successfully delivered 400 tonnes of food to areas of southern Somalia which are controlled by al-Shabab fighters, who are still denying famine exists in the region.
According to World Vision, meteorologists forecast no substantial rainfall well into 2012; and the drought, with an epicenter in Somalia, has now spread to a fourth East Africa country: Tanzania. Kenya and Ethiopia have for some time been identified as major drought regions. Drought conditions are also present in Eritrea and Djibouti.
Al Jazeera also reports that Jacques Diouf, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), told diplomats in Rome yesterday immediate action is mandatory to avert a serious escalation of the crisis, which currently impacts close to 13 million. "The catastrophic situation demands massive and urgent international aid," he said.
As airlifts begin, the WFP (along with other international relief agencies) says it still faces serious restrictions to access areas under the control of al-Shabab. French food minister Bruno Le Maire says Somali famine victims traveling towards life in Kenya describes their route as "a road of hope, but also a road of death".
Meanwhile, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is urging the relocation of Somali refugees to Kenya's Dadaab Ifo2 camp. MSF is expressing grave concerns over the inadequacies at Ifo3, which lacks adequate access to basic needs of food, water and sanitation, while just a few kilometers away another camp, Ifo2, "is already equipped with boreholes, latrines and showers, electricity, some shelter, and schools".
Furthermore, this camp has no hospital structure, which will force MSF to refer patients in need of hospitalization or inpatient therapeutic feeding to either the Dagahaley camp or Ifo camp hospitals, both of which are already operating beyond full capacity because of widespread malnutrition and other medical issues among the rapidly swelling refugee population.
Last night, UTV's July 25 Famine Journey reported on the 30 day journey of Somalis to the Dadaab camp, which has grown during this disaster to the size of a small city. Watch the video here
Somalia, 2011: An armed soldier monitors children and women in a food distribution queue, at a displacement camp in Mogadishu, the still-embattled capital. Famine has been declared in two areas of southern Somalia, part of a drought and nutrition crisis that now threatens 11 million people in the Horn of Africa. UNICEF and partners are rapidly expanding assistance throughout the region. © UNICEF/Kate Holt
Horn of Africa aid caravan too late, again
(Reuters) - A besuited U.N. official wearing well-buffed shoes crouches in the orange dust near a cluster of huts in northern Kenyan, and, as his tie wafts in the breeze, raises an iPad and carefully films the rotting carcass of a cow.
Since drought gripped the Horn of Africa, and especially since famine was declared in parts of Somalia, the international aid industry has swept in and out of refugee camps and remote hamlets in branded planes and snaking lines of white 4X4s.
This humanitarian, diplomatic and media circus is necessary every time people go hungry in Africa, analysts say, because governments -- both African and foreign -- rarely respond early enough to looming catastrophes.
West, Russia divided on U.N. council climate role
In light of the effects of climate change on drought conditions and the declaration of famine in East Africa, US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice is urging the UN Security Council to immediately address "the clear-cut peace and security implications of a changing climate."
Speaking while negotiations on the statement were still deadlocked, Rice charged that the message of the council's silence to countries threatened by climate-induced disasters would be "in effect, 'Tough luck.'"
"This is more than disappointing. It's pathetic. It's shortsighted, and frankly it's a dereliction of duty."
View the satellite animation depicting 16 weeks of soil moisture levels in the Horn of Africa, including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. The latter nation, which lies along the Horn’s eastern edge, hasn’t seen rain in two years and almost 80 percent of its livestock have perished as a result. An ongoing two-decades-long war and prolonged famine also haven’t helped.
From Buzzfeed:45 Reasons Why You Should Donate $1 To People In Somalia
Let Them Grow Rice: Building Resilient Self Sustaining Communities
Today's Sahel Blog, Climate Change, the Sahel, and Predictions of a Troubled Future in Africadiscusses CGIARs recent report Mapping Hotspots of Climate Change and Food Insecurity in the Global Tropics which details climate change's impact on agricultural output in African nations.
The search for local sustainable solutions to address food security in light of severe weather and climate change is ongoing in the region. Nigeria's The Nation Friday reported that African Rice recently signed a MOU with the African Union to move towards sustainable food security on the continent. Currently, African nations import 40% of the rice they consume. A methodology which utilizes research and innovate development policies coupled with capacity building is being examined to develop and sustain using of underutilized agricultural land and water resources.
An African Rice report suggests that sub-Saharan Africa has tremendous potential to develop "rainfed lowland rice areas, augmenting the area under irrigation, and raising yield levels in farmers’ fields through diffusion and adaptation of rice technology to local conditions."
Upland rice farming is constrained by frequent drought, low soil fertility (due to deficiencies of nitrogen and phosphorus) and soil acidity. Weed competition constitutes the most important yield-reducing factor, followed by drought, blast, soil acidity and low soil fertility. Many of the poorest rice farmers depend on the upland ecology. Typical average rice yield under upland growth conditions is about 1 t/ha. With the use of robust varieties, and improved management practices to rebuild soil fertility and capture rainwater, there is potential to increase yields in the uplands by 2 to 4 t/ha.
Lowland rice cultivation offers great prospects for expansion, intensification and diversification. Estimates of available rainfed lowland areas range between 138 Mha and 238 Mha. The soils in lowland ecologies are generally less fragile and floodwater conditions promote the growth of nitrogen-fixing bacteria and blue-green algae that produce enough nitrogen to sustain 3 t/ha rice yield year after year.
Pocket change for Somalia
An article and streaming video provide fascinating analysis of what is happening on the ground in Somalia, as youth begin to rally to address the crisis and work towards developing a self-sustaining and local plan to deal with the climate change, self governance, international assistance, and the potential of the people themselves to find solutions which ensure a future without debt. "The Somali people have leaders intent on changing this paradigm in the long term" ... "Its more than just texting $10, we have to look at the role of our own countries in creating these problems..."
With famine driving more Somalis to Kenyan refugee camps, social media users rally to financially support victims. But, are the donations really benefiting those in need?
As a result of a record-setting drought and mass famine, thousands of Somalis are reportedly admitted daily to the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. Recently, the United Nations declared a famine in two provinces of southern Somalia with nearly four million people “in crisis.” Humanitarian Coordinator Mark Bowden says the food shortage could spread to all of southern Somalia in two months. However, limited resources are available to people leaving Somalia and seeking aide in Ethiopia and Kenya, and some observers say the aide is inadequate.
By some estimates, foreign countries and international organizations send approximately $1 billion in aide to Somalia each year. As famine continues to affect the East African country, some online users are organizing to provide financial support for victims. The money donated is usually intended to develop humanitarian and security projects, but contributors may not be able to track how the money is actually spent.
Climate Change and Food Security
In Article 2 of the UN Convention on Climate Change, the parties advise that GHG stabilization must be within a timeframe sufficient to ensure food production is not threatened. Taking into account the that climate variability and change have been more extensive and rapid than anticipated, the need for adaptation has been forced into the forefront, given the fact that by 2050 there will be an addition 3 billion people relying of the world's natural resources.
Following COP16, The Committee on World Food Security (CFS), requested the High-Level Panel of Experts on food security and nutrition (HLPE) review existing assessments and initiatives on the effects of climate change on food security and nutrition, with a focus on the most affected and vulnerable regions and populations and the interface between climate change and agricultural productivity, including the challenges and opportunities of adaptation and mitigation policies and actions for food security and nutrition Source: Climate Change and Food Security in the Context of the Cancun Agreements: Submission by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to the 14th session of the AWG‐LCA, in accordance with paragraph 1 of the Bali Action Plan. March 2011. Bangkok, Thailand.
According to the IPCCs 2008 Fourth Assessment Report, rainfed agriculture, which currently provides roughly 90 percent of Africa’s staple food, will be severely impacted by a projected median temperature increase of between 3.2 degrees and 3.6 degrees Celsius by 2080. East Africa is actually one of the sub-Saharan countries where rainfall is expected to increase due to climate change, making the devleopment of infrastructure to deal with water storage, tilling and highly efficient soils and draining systems a top priority in the region.
The IPCC Working Group 1 report, however, determines that the number of drivers determining the global food supply make it impossible to quantify with certainly the exact impact of a changing climate. Experts have determined the following impacts are most likely:
Increasing extreme weather – droughts, floods, , heat waves – will disrupt agricultural yields and production
• Increases in temperature and in the frequency, intensity and distribution of precipitation will inflict both heat and moisture stressors on agriculture and livestock, especially in subtropic regions
• Increasing soil erosion, landslides, invasions of pests and water runoff will severely threaten agriculture
• In regions where poverty is most extreme and social infrastructure most lacking, the impact of climate change will be much more devastating.
At last December’s UNFCCC talks on the impact of climate change on global food security, experts stressed the need to ensure small scale indigenous farmers, who grow over 70% of the world’s agriculture, have the tools and resources to grow enough food to sustain themselves These rural farmers, who reside mostly in Africa and India, traditionally receive no subsidies from governments bedded down with big pesticide and agribiz are rapidly emerging as the sole candidates to feed a projected 370 million hungry people by 2090.
If you are interested in participating in the Africa Famine Blogathon, please indicate in comments below.
Tomorrow's diarist: rb137
HELP! Kos EcoJustice Team Africa Top 3 Choices for Donations to Horn of Africa Crisis
• Save the Children
• MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES/Doctors Without Borders
• The World Food Programme: Fill the Cup: (THE WFP needs $200 million just to meet this year's needs in the Horn of Africa.)
ADDITIONAL IDEAS
• Care International
• UNICEF: Donate to Save Children in Horn of Africa Crisis
• FreeRice- donates 10 grains of rice to the WFP for each answer you answer correctly.
• The HungerSite - Click to give free food.
• WFT: 10 Ways You Can Help
East Africa Famine Facts
• 12 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance
• Over 2 million children under the age of five who are suffering from malnutrition; 480,000 are severely malnourished
• UN declares famine in two regions of southern Somalia
• Women are disproportionally affected by the drought as they are the last to eat when food is limited.
• Aid response nearly $1 billion short of what is needed
What is a Famine
Most major aid agencies - the FAO, the WFP, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, Save the Children UK, CARE International, the European Commission Joint Research Centre and Oxfam - only describe a crisis as a famine when the situation on the ground reaches level five on the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) system. This means:
* at least 20% of the population has access to fewer than 2,100 kilocalories of food a day
* acute malnutrition in more than 30% of children
* two deaths per 10,000 people, or four child deaths per 10,000 children every day
There are three different categories of famine -- supply-based, food consumption-based and mortality-based -- and five definitions: (See Wikipedia: Famine Scales). The Levels range from Level 1 (Food Secure) to Level 5 (Extreme Famine). Currently, the UN has established a Level 3 (Famine) exists: a situation in which mortality rate ranges from 5-10,000 per day.
Clear signs of social breakdown; markets begin to collapse; coping strategies exhausted and survival strategies (migration in search of help, abandonment of weaker members of the community) adopted; affected population identifies food scarcity as the major societal problem.
Magnitude scale:
Category A: Minor Famine: 0-999
Category B: Moderate famine Mortality Range:1,000-9,999
Category C: Major famine 10,000-99,999
Category D Great famine 100,000-999,999
Category E Catastrophic famine 1,000,000 and over
Resources
•BBC: What you Need to Know
• Q&A: BBC
• Al Jazeera Horn of Africa (english)
• How Bad is the Horn of Africa Drought: AlertNet Q&A:
• PBS Newshour: PhotoEssay: 7/11
• Guardian Interactive Horn of Africa Drought Map
• Why doesn't a drought go away when it rains?
• Oxfam: Food crisis in Wajir, Kenya
• Fighting Famine in Southern Africa: Steps out of the Crisis. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) recently released a report outlining sustainable options for ending hunger and poverty, tailored to address famine in Africa.
Coverage @ KOS
This is the latest in a series of diaries covering the Horn Of Africa Crisis. Please provide links in comments below to other diaries omitted from coverage below. This series is being run through the Ecojustice Group.
boatsie on 7/25: East Africa Famine: World MUST Act NOW!
boatsie on 7/23: Famine in East Africa: "For the first time in my career .... I cried"
HoundDog on 7/22: Al Qaeda Linked Militants Vow to Block Humanitarian Aid To Starving Somalis: Part 2
HoundDog on 7/22: Worst Drought in 60 Years Brings Famine To Millions in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Aid is Blocked
boatsie on 7/22: Somalia: "This is the Children's Famine"
The Troubador on 7/22: My Cousins are about to Die
rebel ga on 7/18: Worst Drought In 60 Years For Somalia, Kenya And Ethiopia!
boatsie on 7/14: East Africa Drought: You say La Niña & I'll say ... HELP!
boatsie on 7/12: East Africa: Famine II
boatsie on 7/11: Famine Threatens 11 Million in Horn of Africa
GlowNZ on Sunday, 7/10: People are Starving
Stranded Wind on Sunday, 7/10: Somalia's Dying Time
Social Media
Twitter: #HornofAfrica, #drought, #famine
Facebook: Horn of Africa
MapSourcing
Regional Drought Response Plan: East Africa Droughts.
6:59 PM PT: Oxfam: Dadaab diary: Fleeing famine in Somalia 7/22 http://firstperson.oxfamamerica.org/...
Already the largest in the world with more than 360,000 people, the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya continues to swell with Somalis fleeing famine. Across East Africa, especially in northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia, and south central Somalia, a drought and food crisis is affecting 12 million people.
Following are some of the impressions of Oxfam’s JJ Singano who is helping to provide water and sanitation services in Dadaab—and worrying about what the future will hold for people seeking safety there.
7:00 PM PT: MSF: Somalis fighting for survival http://www.facebook.com/...
7:01 PM PT: MSF TUmbler w/latest on Horn of Africa drought http://doctorswithoutborders.tumblr.com/...