MALINDI, Kenya: The ongoing drought in Eastern Africa has been made worse by human-induced climate change, which also made it much likelier to occur in the first place, an international team of climate scientists concluded.
The report Thursday came from World Weather Attribution, a group that seeks to quickly determine whether certain extreme weather events were influenced by climate change. Nineteen scientists from seven nations assessed how climate change affected rainfall in the region.
“Climate change caused the low rainfall in the region,” Joyce Kimutai, principal meteorologist at the Kenya Meteorological Department said. “Climate change has made the drought exceptional.”
The scientists analyzed historical weather data, including changes in the two main rainfall patterns in the region alongside computer model simulations dating back to the 1800s. They found that the long rains season — March through May — was turning drier and the short rains season — typically October through December — was becoming wetter due to climate change. The report also said a “strong increase” in evaporation from soil and plants due to higher temperatures had worsened the drought’s severity.
They called the region’s experience with drought “one of a kind.”
Friederike Otto, senior climate scientist at Imperial College London and the leader of the study, said it underscored how climate change’s effects “strongly depend on how vulnerable we are.”
While climate change has made drought more frequent and extreme in the Horn region, the scientists acknowledged that previous failed rainy seasons, high temperatures, conflict, fragile statehood and poverty are also to blame for the “devastating impacts.”
The United Nations said more than 20 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda and South Sudan have been affected by the drought, with more than 2.2 million displaced in Somalia and Ethiopia and severe maternal risks to hundreds of thousands of expectant or breastfeeding women.
Rod Beadle, head of relief and humanitarian affairs at Food for the Hungry, said almost 15 million children are exposed to acute malnourishment.
“Despite the recent rains in North Kenya, the pressure from previous failed seasons makes for a dire situation. The flooding has impacted livestock and many pastoralists lost their primary livelihoods. The drought conditions have resulted in severely compacted soil that cannot absorb the water; hence the floods are more severe. The country is also facing severe outbreaks of cholera and other diseases as more refugees arrive,” Beadle said.
Development gains in the countries have been offset by a long history of natural disasters, famine and disease, said Guyo Malicha Roba, a food security expert who heads the Jameel Observatory, which works on food insecurity issues in dryland nations.
Roba said the food situation in the region’s drylands has addressed by raising money and with food distributions from governments and humanitarian partners, but more work needs to be done to use early-warning systems to respond more quickly to “food shocks.”
Scientists: Climate change worsened Eastern Africa drought
https://arab.news/6zpw7
Scientists: Climate change worsened Eastern Africa drought
- Report Thursday came from World Weather Attribution
- Called region’s experience with drought “one of a kind”
Britain needs to step up defense spending faster, says Starmer
- Britain’s budget watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, said last year that raising defense spending to 3 percent of the GDP would cost an additional £17.3 billion a year ($24 billion) in 2029-30
LONDON: Britain should step up and accelerate its defense spending, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday, following a report that the government was considering bringing forward its target to spend 3 percent of economic output on defense.
Britain, which has warned of the risks posed by Russia, said in February 2025 that it would lift annual defense spending to 2.5 percent of the GDP by 2027 and aim for 3 percent in the next Parliament, which is expected to begin after an election due in 2029.
The BBC reported that the government was now exploring ways to reach the 3 percent target by 2029. It said no decision had been taken but the government recognized current plans would not cover rising defense costs.
HIGHLIGHT
The BBC reported that the government is now exploring ways to reach the 3 percent target by 2029.
Asked whether he would bring the target forward to 2029, Starmer echoed comments he made at the Munich Security Conference, where he said Europe had united to support Ukraine with the supply of weapons and munitions and to strengthen military readiness.
“We need to step up. That means on defense spending, we need to go faster,” Starmer told reporters on Monday. “We’ve obviously made commitments already in relation to that, but it goes beyond just how much you spend.”
Latest NATO estimates show that Britain spent 2.3 percent of the GDP on defense in 2024, above the alliance’s 2 percent guideline. But like other European countries, it has faced US pressure to spend more to protect the continent. Struggling with high debt and spending commitments, the government last year cut its international aid budget to fund the hike in defense spending to 2.5 percent of GDP but is yet to publish an investment plan with spending priorities, something that has frustrated the defense industry.
Britain’s budget watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, said last year that raising defense spending to 3 percent of the GDP would cost an additional £17.3 billion a year ($24 billion) in 2029-30.
Finance Minister Rachel Reeves has struggled to stay on track with her plans to repair the public finances. The BBC said the Finance Ministry was believed to be cautious about the new defense spending proposals.
A government spokesperson said Britain was “delivering the largest sustained increase in defense spending since the Cold War.”
