Scientists say east Africa will get wetter, so why is it drying out?
The long rains, one of two wet seasons that quench the thirst of the East African region, failed this year for the second time in a row. Lack of water, withering crops and starving cattle plunged Somalia, Ethiopia and parts of Kenya into a food crisis that the countries are not prepared for.
Humanitarian assistance has helped and will be needed well into 2018. But in war-affected Somalia and South Sudan famine has emerged; in Ethiopia aid money is running short after repeated droughts; and in Kenya the shortage of resources is giving rise to land conflicts.
For these countries, the ability to plan ahead is undermined by a mystery that has climate scientists puzzled. Most models suggest that global warming should be making the Horn of Africa wetter than in pre-industrial times. But as local weather data and dry streams on the ground testify, year after year the region is getting drier.
CIFOR