2023-04-27 07:32:57
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya and Sudan, which form this large peninsula in the east of the continent, have recorded five consecutive rainy seasons since 2020. The consequences are dramatic.
Article written by
Published
Reading time : 1 min.
/2023/04/27/644a24d858f0c_000-337y9ay.jpg)
A historic drought has hit the Greater Horn of Africa since 2020. This climatic episode, the worst in forty years, is the unprecedented conjunction of a lack of rain and high temperatures, which could not have occurred without the consequences human emissions of greenhouse gases, shows a scientific study published Thursday, April 27.
“Climate change caused by human activities has made agricultural drought in the Horn of Africa about 100 times more likely” than before, says a report by the World Weather Attribution (WWA). This global network of scientists assesses the link between extreme weather events and climate change.
More than 20 million people threatened by hunger
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya and Sudan, which form this large peninsula in the east of the continent, have recorded five consecutive rainy seasons since 2020. The consequences are dramatic: millions of head of cattle have been killed, and millions of kilos of crops have been destroyed. According to the UN, 22 million people are threatened by hunger in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia (where there is also an Islamist insurrection).
According to the 19 scientists who contributed to the report, climate change has had “little effect on annual rainfall” recent in the region. However, it strongly influenced the rise in temperatures, responsible for a sharp increase in evapotranspiration which led to record drying of soils and plants.
“It is climate change that has made this drought so serious”, summarized Joyce Kimoutai, Kenyan climatologist contributing to the report, in a telephone briefing on Wednesday. The current situation is described as “exceptional drought”the fourth and final alert level on the American scale.
View comments
1682587227
#historic #drought #hitting #Greater #Horn #Africa #due #global #warming #scientific #study