John Vidal in the Guardian argues that ‘to pin this crisis on drought or climate change is wrong. This is an entirely predictable, traditional, man-made disaster, with little new about it except the numbers of people on the move and perhaps the numbers of children dying near the cameras. . . . ‘Aid agencies and … Continue reading
The new moon, which when sighted begins the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (photo on Flickr by On Being). As Ramadan begins this week, it is estimated that some 1.4 million Somalis are ‘internally displaced’, with an average of more that 12,000 people displaced every month this year due to drought. Most of these people … Continue reading
Herding in Debub Omo, Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Region, southern Ethiopia (photo on Flickr by CharlesFred). ‘There is a famine in the Horn of Africa. . . . It is at times like this that we get a lot of half-baked commentary about famine. We are told that the problem is drought, or over-population, or … Continue reading
Camel herding between Kenya’s northern towns of Moyale and Isiolo (photo on Flickr by azulnocturnal). ‘At a streetside kiosk in Isiolo, the price of camel bones for soup has jumped 250 per cent this year to 100 shillings ($1.10) a kilo, straining the pockets of many in the drought-hit eastern Kenyan town. In a bitter … Continue reading
Updated information as of 29 July 2011 by the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on the drought in the Horn of Africa (illustration credit: FEWS NET and OCHA). Food insecurity remains at emergency levels across parts of the Horn of Africa, famine … Continue reading
Landscape of Kenya (photo on Flickr by Tim Cronin/Center for International Forestry Research). Former Wall Street Journal veteran reporter Roger Thurow, now senior fellow for Global Agriculture and Food Policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, last Friday (29 Jul 2011) described the paradox of great harvest and great hunger existing at the same time … Continue reading
Return to traditional agricultural approaches—William G Mosley A recent op-ed in the Washington Post, on the topic of the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa, argues that ‘while reactions of grave concern over this unfolding tragedy are natural, its causes are not. . . . The semi-arid Horn of Africa and the entire Sahelian … Continue reading
Elderly woman, Kenya (photo on Flickr by Curt Carnemark / World Bank). ‘. . . “For pastoral families, livestock is their life. If they lose their animals, they have no way of feeding their families, and they’ll need food aid to survive. And even once the crisis passes, if their livestock have died, they’ll have … Continue reading
Launch of the Humanitarian Appeal 2011 (photo on Flickr by United Nations Information Service / Jean-Marc Ferre). ‘Humanitarian agencies and donors agreed at an emergency meeting in Rome on 25 July that the response to the crisis must address the immediate needs of the desperate population and help build resilience to avert similar crises in the … Continue reading
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) reports on emerging food security conditions related to drought and other climate crises (image on the ReliefWeb website by the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the United States Agency for International Development Famine Early Warning Systems). The first food to arrive in famine-struck Mogadishu, … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 