East Africa Food Crisis: 48 Hours of Action
This weekend, Daily Kos is participating in 48-Hour Fundraiser hosted by environmental websites and nonprofit organizations to benefit the 12 million people struggling for survival in the East African countries of Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. Last week, the United Nations announced famine -- already declared in two districts -- is likely to spread throughout southern Somalia. This week, the UN issued a warning that food insecurity in northern Uganda is sufficiently alarming to raise the possibility that the country might become the fifth nation impacted by the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in sixty years.
Also participating in this weekend of action are 350.org, Oxfam International, WiserEarth, tcktcktck, deSmog Blog, MIT Climate CoLab, BPI Campus, Climate Change: The Next Generation, RedGreenAndBlue.org, Cool HIVE, and MedicMobile.
Over the course of the weekend, experts in the field of humanitarian assistance will join environmental writers to outline the history of the region and detail how geopolitics, colonialism, ongoing civil wars, climate change and geographic vulnerabilities have combined to create the perfect storm now ravaging East Africa.
Each participating organization is choosing its particular group for donated funds. Daily Kos is donating our funds to the work of Oxfam in the Horn of Africa.
In a recent article, Horn of Africa Drought: Climate change and future impacts on food security, Oxfam International outlines the myriad problems contributing to the current situation and details recommendations on avoiding catastrophic levels of global warming and improving food security and strengthening climate resilience.
It is no coincidence that the worst affected areas are those suffering from entrenched poverty due to marginalization, conflict and lack of investment. While severe drought has undoubtedly led to the huge scale of the disaster, this crisis has been caused by people and policies, as much as by weather patterns. An adequate response to the current crisis must not only meet urgent humanitarian needs, but also address these underlying problems.
Beyond the debate on climate change’s role in the current crisis in East Africa, one thing is clear. If nothing is done, climate change will in future make a bad situation worse. Urgent action is required at global and local levels if today’s food crisis is not to be a grim foretaste of future hunger and suffering.
Downloadthe Oxfam paper Horn of Africa Drought: Climate change and future impacts on food security
Schedule of Daily Kos Diaries - August 6th and August 7th
- Saturday, August 6th - PST
6-10: Una Spencer
10-12: FishOutOfWater
12-3: rb137
3-6: wader
6-9: A Siegel
9-12: Oke
Overnight: boatsie
6-8: blue jersey mom
8-10: Daisy Carlson (CoolHIVE.org)
10-12: 350.org
12-2: Ellinorianne
2-4: Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse
4-6: JekyllnHyde
6-9: jlms qkw
9-12: Enough Project
Overnight: Chacounne
Stop by during the weekend to support the work of these organizations, working together to accomplish what we can.