Speaking on the sideline of 47th regional climate outlook forum on the
on the island of Zanzibar, Elliot Vhurumuku, an expert in Climate Change
and Vulnerability mapping at WFP-regional headquarters in Nairobi,
Kenya, noted that prices of major commodities in selected markets
(across major parts of East Africa) have increased during recent extreme
events than ever before.
"Slowly but surely, extreme events seem to impact Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) for some agricultural dependent economies in the region such
Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia," Vhurumuku said while referring to the
current situation of droughts and increased food insecurity in the
region.
Latest official reports, released by the World Bank, indicate that the
current situation is especially aggravated by the fact that some
countries such as Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Burundi have conflict
as the major influencing factor for most of the areas and El Niño was an
aggravating factor.
Among other impacts that were observed in the region are the lack of
pasture and water leading to livestock deaths, reduced milk production
and productivity; reduced crop areas and affected cropped areas reducing
harvests; isolated flooding have been observed particularly in Somalia,
Ethiopia and Kenya.
Based on Food insecurity phase index for the period between 2011 and
2015, humanitarian agencies in the East and Greater Horn Africa region
have noted that the frequency of extreme weather events has especially
increased in recent years associated with climate variability
impacting on GDP and contribution of Agriculture to economic growth.
In 2017 alone, the prices of global food, main cereal commodities and
dry beans also remained significantly elevated, because of
malfunctioning markets, trade policies and high food prices, climate
expert said.
Official estimates indicate that extreme years associated with droughts
and floods in the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA) usually coincide with two
climate change phenomenon including El Niño and la Niña.
Reports by climate experts show that la Niña was mostly associated with
the recurrent droughts in many parts across the region especially in
1984, 1988, 1998, 1999, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2016 for southern and
central Somalia, north-eastern and coastal areas of Kenya, south-eastern
Ethiopia and Tanzania and wet conditions in the northern sector.
Yet not all countries were affected by El Niño equally in the region,
experts are convinced that high cereal prices have affected food access
after the agricultural production systems were seriously affected by
this phenomenon resulting in emergencies across the whole region.
"The frequency of extreme weather events has increased in recent years
associated with climate variability impact on GDP and contribution of
Agriculture to economic growth," Vhurumuku said.
Source: PANAPRESS
Comments
Post a Comment