Self-declared state wants to shift much of its population to the coast as grazing land fails

It is often said that climate change will hurt the world’s poorest people first. Nowhere is that potentially truer than in Somaliland, an unrecognised state in the Horn of Africa sandwiched between an expanding desert and the Red Sea.

A prolonged drought has killed 70 per cent of the area’s livestock in the past three years, devastating the region’s pastoralist economy and forcing tens of thousands of families to flee their grazing land for urban camps, according to authorities.

Climate change is leading to higher average temperatures and greater rainfall variability, with a pronounced effect on agricultural productivity and the suitability of major crops in Ethiopia. Farming households with tenure security are more likely to choose to access credit and to invest in their land by planting trees and longer-term crops, and by reducing soil erosion—for example, via terracing. Such investments can help farmers mitigate risks related to heavy precipitation, such as soil run-off or crop failure.

True resilience relies on connecting the dots. Connecting the dots between nature, climate and energy. Connecting the dots between land-use, energy and agriculture, between livelihoods, natural resources, economic growth, social development and conservation, between people and the impacts climate change has on their lives.

By: David Humphreys

Date: 13 January 2017

Source: Chinadialogue

By: Lou del Bello

Date: 12 January 2017

Source: IRIN

Living in the Kenyan slum of Mukuru is hard enough, but when it rains it’s downright miserable. Streets flood, sewage overflows, homes are inundated. 

After each bout of torrential rain, Nairobi’s largest informal settlement is left a little shabbier, a little poorer, the community more insecure.

By: Mike Gaworecki

Date: December 20th 2016

Source: Mongabay.com

There’s already ample evidence of the ways environmental degradation can contribute to the spread of infectious diseases, and now a recent study provides an example of how the disruptions to an ecosystem caused by deforestation and other land-use change can help spread a bacterial pathogen.

By Desta Gebrehiwot
Date: November 15th 2016
Source: AllAfrica.com / The Ethiopian Herald

The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) stressed the need for rehabilitating dry lands in order to cope with the negative impacts of climate change, land degradation and drought.

Date:November 16th 2016

Source: FAO Press Office

FAO unveils new global framework for action on water scarcity at COP22 summit

By: Isabel Malsang
Date: November 13th 2016
Source: AFP

Paris (AFP) - Diplomatic wrangling this week will make the headlines in the fight against climate change, but experts say a bigger but largely unseen battle is set to unfold on the world's farms.

Agriculture holds the double distinction of being highly vulnerable to climate change but also offering a solution to the problem, they say.

By: Justus Wanzala
Date: November 11th 2016
Source: AllAfrica.com / Ethiopian Herald

ANALYSIS

Land degradation already affects millions of people, bringing biodiversity loss, reduced availability of clean water, food insecurity and greater vulnerability to the harsh impacts of climate change.

By: Kota Sriraj
Date: November 10th 2016
Source: The Pioneer

Fast desertification of lands must be stopped. The ‘Green Wall of China Project’ can be a guiding line for the Indian Government to halt desertification across the country. For this, prompt legislative measures should be initiated