Climate change 'poses drought risk for Africa'
Climate change could pose a new threat to food-insecure Sub-Saharan Africa,
according to the USAID Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET).
Christopher Funk, a geographer-climatologist from the University of
California Santa Barbara and member of FEWS NET, presented their draft
Climate Change Impact Report at the annual meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston, United States,
last week (15 February).
The warming of the Indian Ocean and increasingly El Niño-like weather
causing variable rainfall could potentially produce drought across most of
eastern and southern Africa.
Agricultural land in Africa is increasing, but yield per acre is still low,
according to the report. Cropland has only increased by half while the
population has doubled over the past 25 years. If this gap continues to
grow, the effects of the drought will be amplified.
But Funk said that mitigation options are available. "A modest increase in
yields of 15 per cent [per acre] per decade could overcome the anticipated
declines in production due to rainfall." This growth would even make
sub-Saharan Africa more secure than it is today.
Funk said that the use of technology in farming will be a greater
determinant of food security than climate change.
But climate-induced drought may have other effects beside increased food
insecurity. For example, drought in the Horn of Africa is driving a large
part of the population into areas that are more at risk of flooding.
Contact information | n/a |
---|---|
News type | Inbrief |
File link |
http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=4249&language=1 |
Source of information | SciDev.Net |
Keyword(s) | climate change, drought, floods |
Subject(s) | RISKS AND CLIMATOLOGY |
Relation | http://www.semide.net/topics/climatechange |
Geographical coverage | Africa |
News date | 25/02/2008 |
Working language(s) | ENGLISH |