Focus on the Climate Crisis in Somalia
Climate change in Somalia is characterized by recurrent drought and regular flooding which leads to failed crops, loss of livestock and Somalia’s chronic food insecurity. Climate crises threaten Somalia’s socio-economic progress by increasing water and food scarcity, the need for humanitarian assistance, displacement and the degradation of traditional livelihoods.
Last year, the United Nations announced a “famine projection” for parts of southern Somalia due to the ongoing drought and subsequent water scarcity, failed crops, and widespread food insecurity. According to the World Food Programme, the number of people facing famine in Somalia is ten times higher than it was just five years ago. Due to the compounding effects of widespread conflict and climatic shocks including drought and floods, an estimated 8.3 million people will need humanitarian assistance and 1.3 million more were displaced this year.
Climate change is creating the ‘new normal’ in Somalia - with more arid landscapes, unstable water and food supplies, and more climate-induced displacement. However, USAID is working to help communities increase their climate resilience and mitigate the impact of climatic shocks. USAID Somalia recognizes the need to build long term resilience capacities at the individual, household, community, and system level interventions. By implementing layered and integrated interventions which respond to urgent household needs while building skill sets to help rebuild their lives and deal with future shocks including nutrition and health support, cash transfers, and access to water.
USAID reaches 4.1 million people per month with emergency food assistance, safe drinking water and emergency health care to treat malnourished children. USAID also couples these interventions with key resilience activities which help local communities to plan for and withstand future climatic shocks through livelihoods that are less climate-dependent. USAID provides climate-smart agriculture training, access to water for farming, linkages to financial services to enable communities to increase their own food production and water management to build resilience against recurrent shocks.
These integrated interventions provide people with a range of local coping strategies that can help them reach for other resources when drought and other climatic shocks impact their ability to survive and thrive.
