For people in the Horn of Africa, the dangers of climate change are not a vague, far-off threat. People in the Somali Region of Ethiopia, like many others in Kenya and Somalia, are now enduring near-constant severe drought. Despite bearing no responsibility for the factors driving climate change, they are suffering the effects and struggling to survive.
The drought in this region is part of a trend. Across eastern, southern, and central Africa, Oxfam estimates that 52 million people in 18 countries are facing up to crisis levels of hunger as a result of weather extremes, compounded by poverty and conflict. In Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, more than 750,000 people have been displaced by conflict and 350,000 have been displaced by extreme weather. Globally, on average more than 20 million people a year were internally displaced by extreme weather disasters over the last 10 years 87 percent of all people internally displaced by all disasters during this period.
2019 Oxfam America Inc. All rights reserved.