Unpacking Data on Kenya Drought: 'Prepare for More'
Climate scientists from multi international agencies, on 23 March 2017, released a detailed study of the Kenyan drought, whose main message is: prepare for more.
The scientists shared their findings at the conclusion of a three-day conference in Nairobi that brought together representatives from the government, private sector, Red Cross Red Crescent Movement and other humanitarian agencies.
The study says there’s a detectable ‘climate signal’ – a measure of the influence of human-induced climate change – in the atmospheric temperatures behind the drought. Data indicates they were “higher than they would have been without the influence of climate change,” according to a summary of the scientific findings made available online.
The summary cites a January 2017 FEWSNET report noting recent “hotter than normal temperature accelerated forage and water depletion across most of the pastoral and marginal agricultural areas.”
The team, however, found no strong influence of climate change on rainfall in Kenya – regarded as the main determinant of surface water – but say they cannot exclude small changes in the risk of poor rains linked to climate change.
Ollivier Girard/CIFOR