Drought in Africa: Causes, Effects, and Recommendations

Running head: DROUGHT IN AFRICA
Drought in Africa
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1DROUGHT IN AFRICA
Introduction
Pastoralists in Eastern Africa especially the Horn of Africa have been following the
changes in the seasons and the movements of their animals traditionally, for cultivation.
However, the effects of severe drought-like conditions here have compelled many people
residing here to move, with their hardly being any water for them and their animals to drink, let
alone to bathe (McNally et al., 2016). This essay will analyze the situation of drought in East and
Sub Saharan Africa in detail, it will provide an overview of the efforts being made by the
international and regional authorities and local communities to bring the situation under control
and will conclude with recommendations for the same (Vrieling et al., 2016).
Literature Review
The situation of drought in Africa is quite threatening to the survival of people in the
surrounding areas as water is the most important pre-requisite for the human race. In the article
entitled “Examining the relationship between environmental factors and conflict in pastoralist
areas of East Africa” as written by Ayana et al. (2016), the region of East Africa is known for the
frequent occurrences of drought. Such recurrent occurrences of drought has led to the rise of
tension in the pastoral community of East Africa. People in this region depends upon water
sources in order to carry out their daily activities. According to the author such shortages of
water has led to the outbreak of conflicts in the region. Thus the main purpose of the article is to
prove that any adverse changes in the environment has a predictive indication of any conflictual
situation.
The condition of droughts in the sub-Saharan region of Africa has been aggravated by the
effect of El-Nino on the area. The article “Impact of climate change and El Niño episodes on

2DROUGHT IN AFRICA
droughts in sub-Saharan Africa” written by Gizaw and Gan (2017), looks in to the correlation
between the impact of drought on the humanitarian crisis. In this article, the Palmer Drought
Severity Index has been used in order to determine the changing pattern of drought occurrences
during the time period of 1971 to 2000 in order to make predictions for the future. According to
the authors of the article, several areas of South Africa and West Africa are expected to become
much drier in the future while the areas of East Africa are expected to become wetter.
The article titled “Drought tolerant maize for farmer adaptation to drought in sub-Saharan
Africa: Determinants of adoption in eastern and southern Africa” written by Fisher et al. (2015),
talks about the impact of climate change on the production of maize. The areas where maize is
frown in Africa accounts for around four percent of the land mass. The severe occurrence of
drought has a negative impact on this production of maize by decreasing the production by
nearly twenty five to thirty percent. According to the authors, in order to improve the security of
food for the basic subsistence of the people, a project has been launched by the name of the
Drought Maize for Africa. The aim of this project is to create around one hundred and sixty
maize varieties which are drought tolerant.
Findings and Analysis
The severe threat of droughts in the continent of Africa, especially in the regions of East
Africa and the sub-Saharan areas, have posed a great challenge to the entire international
community. The effects of climate change has been faced by the world for a long time but its
manifestation on the surface of the earth has been slow. Towards the end of the twentieth
century, the manifestations of climate change became more apparent in the form of increase in
the level of sea water, melting of polar ice caps and the frequent changes in the climatic
conditions of the world (Franchini & Mannucci, 2015). Africa is a continent surrounded by water