Human Climate Crisis Fueling Horn of Africa Drought - Study

The region is suffering its worst drought in 40 years after five consecutive years of below-average rainfall. New science has shown that the devastating drought in the Horn of Africa would not have happened without the impact of the human-made climate crisis. Dry it directly affected about 50 million people in the Horn of Africa and another 100 million in the wider area. Approximately 20 million people are at risk of acute food insecurity and potential famine. The region has been suffering its worst drought in 40 years since October 2020, with dry conditions punctuated by short periods of intense rain that have often led to flash floods. There have been five consecutive below-normal rainfall seasons. At least 4.35 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and at least 180,000 refugees have fled Somalia and South Sudan to Kenya and Ethiopia, which were also affected by drought. According to a study by the World Weather Attribution group of scientists released Thursday the ongoing drought would not have occurred without human actions that changed the climate. This is because the lack of rainfall, as well as higher temperatures caused by global warming, have made the region's soil and grasslands much drier than they would normally be by increasing the evaporation of moisture from the ground and plants. The study found that recent rains would not have led to drought in a world that was 1.2°C cooler, and that climate change conservatively estimated that droughts like the current one would be about 100 times more likely to occur. Friederike Otto, senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London, said: "This study shows very strongly that drought is much more than just a lack of rain and that the consequences of climate change depend strongly on how vulnerable we are. One of the main findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's recently released summary report is that we are much more vulnerable than we thought. (Fiona Harvey, Support the Guardian)