Africa: Keeping Up with Climate Change - Climate Zoning as a Tool to Fight Hunger
In countries around the world, farming households are facing the wrath of unpredictable climate patterns. This has not only resulted in hunger related deaths, but also in an increase in the number of persons living below the poverty line in many developing countries, especially in Africa where vulnerability is high.
The year 2017 saw over 30 million people facing starvation in East Africa, South Sudan, Yemen and northeastern Nigeria alone, according to reports by Oxfam International. Although these regions have experienced drought conditions in the last three to five years, the intensity and frequency of drought have increased - along with high food loses and hunger. This has threatened the livelihoods of the 80 percent of households in these regions that directly depend on subsistence farming. Some World Bank studies in Uganda show that 10 million people slipped below the poverty line in the last five years. This situation may reverse efforts by development groups to help vulnerable populations out of poverty, especially if nothing is urgently done to reduce the effects of climate change.
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photo credit: CIFOR