Drought catastrophe in southern Africa and in East Africa from 2015

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Deviation in sea temperatures from the average in October / November 2015

The drought in southern Africa and East Africa led to the declaration of a state of emergency in several countries in 2015 and 2016, and in some areas in 2017 as well . The cause is the periodically occurring weather phenomenon El Niño .

Meteorological causes and course

The first signs of an El Niño phenomenon were registered as early as 2014. In 2015, the emerging weather events appeared comparable to the extremely strong occurrence of El Niño in 1997/1998. In 2016, NOAA meteorologists assumed that the current phenomenon might be the strongest ever observed.

The regular consequences of El Niño include lower summer rainfall in the countries of Zimbabwe , Zambia , Mozambique and Botswana , while South Africa , Lesotho and Swaziland are usually hardly affected. In parts of East Africa, however, there is usually increased rainfall.

Droughts prevailed simultaneously in the Middle East , India and South Asia and in Chile .

In May 2016, the meteorological effects in southern Africa decreased sharply.

Effects in Southern Africa

The east of southern Africa was hit hard due to the lack of the usual summer rainfall. Around 14 million people were threatened with famine in February 2016. In large parts of the region there was no harvest, livestock died and rivers and reservoirs dried up. The weakness of the currencies, especially the South African rand , created additional problems from rising prices.

A state of emergency was declared in Lesotho on December 22, 2015, in parts of Zimbabwe in early February 2016, in Swaziland on February 18, 2016, and in Malawi in April 2016. In Lesotho, more than a third of the population was affected by hunger; the government asked foreign partners for help. Almost three million people in Malawi are in need of food aid.

South Africa experienced the worst drought on record, over 100 years ago. Due to the lack of harvests, half of the maize meal needed had to be imported. The province of Free State , in which an average of 44 percent of South Africa's corn harvest is produced, suffered from the drought. In November 2015, around 150,000 people in KwaZulu-Natal were dependent on disaster relief. Drinking water has been rationed in Gauteng Province . In this large metropolitan area, Rand Water's water treatment systems were temporarily unable to meet demand. In the area of ​​KwaZulu-Natal some drinking water reservoirs reached a critical low of their water level. Disasters were declared in November 2015 in five of the country's nine provinces - Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo , Mpumalanga and Northwest . Another three provinces - apart from Gauteng - followed later. In January 2016 there were very high temperatures and heavy rainfall in the region around Johannesburg, whereas in the north-west of the country there was very little rainfall.

Botswana, Madagascar , Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia were also affected. In Zambia, the water level at the Kariba Dam dropped so much that the hydropower plant failed and there were frequent blackouts in the country.

The famine worsened in Malawi. In June 2016, President Peter Mutharika recommended that the hungry eat grasshoppers and mice. In July 2016, the Botswana President and then chairman of the Southern African Development Community , Ian Khama , presented a plan according to which 2.7 billion US dollars are to be requested to ensure food in the affected countries in southern Africa.

In May 2016, the South African Weather Service came to the conclusion that the previously prevailing meteorological phenomena of El Niño are steadily declining and that the climate data are returning to normal. In the second half of the year there was increased rainfall in Lesotho, among other places; However, many people continue to depend on food aid in 2017. 2017 saw the best grain harvest in Lesotho in the last ten years, so the situation continued to ease. According to UN estimates, after further periods of drought, around 500,000 Lesothes were again dependent on food aid in 2020.

Impact in East Africa

The effects also affected areas of East Africa , most notably in Ethiopia and especially in the Afar region . In February 2016, around ten million people were threatened with hunger in the country. In Somalia , too , the lack of rainfall led to a famine that continued in 2017 and led to a conference of donor countries in London in May 2017 . In Kenya , where El Niño usually leads to increased rainfall, there was also largely no rainfall. The drought continued there in 2017, as well as in Ethiopia. In June 2017, the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for help for the drought victims. In December 2017, according to the United Nations World Food Program, around ten million Ethiopians and parts of Somalia were affected by the drought.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joachim Müller-Jung: New chaos between sky and sea. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of July 16, 2015, accessed on February 21, 2016
  2. ↑ El Niño continues on record course in 2016. Spektrum.de from February 8, 2016, accessed on May 9, 2016
  3. ↑ a b Map of the usual area of ​​activity , accessed on February 21, 2016
  4. ↑ SA weather service says El Nino fast decaying. Reuters report at m.ewn.co.za from May 2016 (English), accessed on July 21, 2016
  5. ↑ El Niño: drought leaves millions hungry in Southern Africa. CBS News of February 16, 2016, accessed February 21, 2016
  6. ↑ a b c d e Zimbabwe declares 'state of disaster' due to drought. The Guardian, February 5, 2016, accessed February 20, 2016
  7. ^ Mosisili declares state of emergency. lestimes.com from December 25, 2015 (English), accessed February 20, 2016
  8. ↑ Report at reliefweb.int (English), accessed on May 9, 2016
  9. ↑ a b Malawi declares state of emergency over drought. aljazeera.com from April 14, 2016
  10. ^ UN Lesotho: El Niño related drought. ( Memento from February 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Sipho Kings: Parched Free State hit by mass exodus of farmers. Mail & Guardian of October 16, 2015 (English), accessed February 21, 2016
  12. ^ A b Johannes Dieterich: Drought caused by weather phenomena makes South Africa dry up. Stuttgarter Zeitung of November 21, accessed on February 21, 2016
  13. ↑ a b Sipho Kings: Water restrictions begin in Gauteng. Mail & Guardian of October 28, 2015 (English), accessed February 21, 2016
  14. ^ South African Government: Government on water scarcity and drought . News from November 13, 2015 at www.gov.za (English), accessed on July 31, 2016
  15. ^ Five South African provinces declared drought disaster areas. drought.gov of November 13, 2015 (English), accessed February 23, 2016
  16. ↑ Eight provinces declarde disaster areas due to drought. m.ewn.co.za from June 10, 2016 (English), accessed July 21, 2016
  17. ↑ news24: Rainfall: Is it enough? . News from January 21, 2016 on www.news24.com (English)
  18. ↑ El Nino to worsen drought in Botswana. mmegi.bw of January 18, 2016 (English), accessed on May 12, 2016
  19. ^ El Niño's trail of destruction. Deutsche Welle on February 22, 2016, accessed on February 22, 2016
  20. ↑ Namibia: drought relief cost govt N $ 910 millions. New Era, Windhoek, March 4, 2016, accessed May 12, 2016
  21. ↑ Africa drought fears grip Malawi and Mozambique. Overview at bbc.com in April 2016 (English), accessed on May 1, 2016
  22. ↑ 'Consume mice and grasshoppers', Malawian president tells his famine-ravaged people. thenewsnigeria.com.ng, June 28, 2016, accessed July 21, 2016
  23. ↑ El Nino hit Southern Africa seeks billions in drought aid. ( Memento of July 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Mail & Guardian of July 12, 2016 (English)
  24. ↑ Global Forecasting Center for Southern Africa: Seasonal Climate Watch. June to October 2016 ( Memento from August 29, 2017 in the Internet Archive ). Summary of May 20, 2016 at www.gfcsa.net (English)
  25. ↑ GIEWS Country Brief: Lesotho. reliefweb.int of November 18, 2016 (English), accessed on November 27, 2016
  26. ↑ Lesotho: El Niño-related drought, Office of the Resident Coordinator, situation update No.05 (as of 17 March 2017). reliefweb.int of March 17, 2017 (English), accessed on March 20, 2017
  27. ↑ Lesotho: El Niño-related drought, Office of the Resident Coordinator, situation update No.07 (as of 7 August 2017). reliefweb.int from August 7, 2017 (English), accessed on August 15, 2017
  28. ↑ Lesotho's drought makes 500,000 people hungry, UN says. mynorthwest.com on February 17, 2020, accessed February 17, 2020
  29. ↑ Ethiopia is threatened with famine. Handelsblatt dated February 1, 2016, accessed on February 23, 2016
  30. ↑ a b El Niño linked drought Ethopia's worst in 50 years. NBC News of February 20, 2016, accessed February 20, 2016
  31. ↑ A life-or-death search for water in drought-parched Somalia - in pictures. The Guardian, May 10, 2017, accessed May 12, 2017
  32. ↑ How man makes his own famine. faz.net on February 23, 2017, accessed on May 13, 2017
  33. ↑ Hunger in Africa - Federal President calls for donations. Deutschlandfunk dated June 9, 2017, accessed on June 10, 2017
  34. ↑ WFP: Ethiopia drought emergency situation report. reliefweb.int of December 8, 2017 (English), accessed on February 4, 2018