Both Pastoralists and Arable Farmers Impacted by Kenya's More Severe, Erratic Droughts
The Super El Nino of 2015 to 2016 wrought droughts and floods around the world, yet it is its sister La Nina that is now fuelling drought and hunger in East Africa.
IPS spoke with Macharia Kamau, Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and an expert on climate change and El Nino and La Nina.
“Climatic events have taken on a rather different pattern now because of climate change,” said Kamau.
These events, such as the current drought in East Africa, are becoming “more severe,” “less predictable” and are happening “more often,” he said. “Those three things put everyone who is on the path of these climatic events at higher risk.”
Kenya’s current severe drought, exacerbated by the recent La Nina, has left over two million people in Kenya without enough to eat.
Ian Southwell