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Growing food insecurity: Rice production to drop by 40 percent in 2017
Extreme drought followed by floods in Sri Lanka has hit large swaths of cropping areas, threatening the food security of more than 900,000 people in Sri Lanka, said a joint report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN World Food Program (WFP).
Drought conditions in 2016 and early 2017 led to widespread crop failures, especially the rice paddy – the country’s staple food. Total paddy production in 2017 is forecast at 2.7 million tons, about 40 percent less than the last year’s output.
Other crops, including various pulses, chillies and onion, which rely mainly on rainwater, were also heavily damaged by the dry weather, increasing food insecurity, said the report.
The situation was exacerbated by subsequent heavy rainfalls in May. Floods and landslides in the south-western parts of the country caused deaths, large population displacements and damage to infrastructure. The rains did not ease the water supply constraints in the drought-impacted north-central and eastern parts of the country.
Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria face major humanitarian crisis —UN
Excerpts from UN humanitarian chief’s statement to the Security Council on 10 March 2017:
Yemen
It’s already the largest humanitarian crisis in the world and the Yemeni people now face the specter of famine. Today, two-thirds of the population – 18.8 million people – need assistance and more than 7 million are hungry and do not know where there next meal will come from. That is 3 million people more than in January. As fighting continues and escalates, displacement increases. With health facilities destroyed and damaged, diseases are sweeping through the country.
South Sudan
The famine in South Sudan is man-made. Parties to the conflict are parties to the famine – as are those not intervening to make the violence stop. More than 7.5 million people need assistance, up by 1.4 million from last year. About 3.4 million people are displaced, of which almost 200,000 have fled South Sudan since January alone. A localized famine was declared for Leer and Mayendit [counties] on 20 February, an area where violence and insecurity have compromised humanitarian access for years. More than one million children are estimated to be acutely malnourished across the country; including 270,000 children who face the imminent risk of death should they not be reached in time with assistance. Meanwhile, the cholera outbreak that began in June 2016 has spread to more locations.
Somalia
In Somalia, more than half the population – 6.2 million people – need humanitarian and protection assistance, including 2.9 million who are at risk of famine and require immediate assistance to save or sustain their lives, close to 1 million children under the age of 5 will be acutely malnourished this year. In the last two months alone, nearly 160,000 people have been displaced due to severe drought conditions, adding to the already 1.1 million people who live in appalling conditions around the country.
Nigeria and the Lake Chad region
10.7 million people need humanitarian assistance and protection, including 7.1 million people who are severely food insecure. Humanitarian partners scaled up their response to reach the most vulnerable groups threatened by violence, food insecurity and famine, particularly in North-Eastern Nigeria.
Kenya
Over 2.7 million Kenyans are now food insecure, a number likely to reach 4 million by April.
Famine looms in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen – UNICEF
Almost 1.4 million children are at imminent risk of death from severe acute malnutrition this year, as famine looms in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, UNICEF said today.
“Time is running out for more than a million children,” said UNICEF Executive Director. “We can still save many lives. The severe malnutrition and looming famine are largely man-made. Our common humanity demands faster action. We must not repeat the tragedy of the 2011 famine in the Horn of Africa.”
In northeast Nigeria, up to 450,000 children face severe acute malnutrition is expected this year in the conflict-affected states.
In Somalia, drought conditions are threatening an already fragile population battered by decades of conflict. Almost half the population, or 6.2 million people, are facing acute food insecurity and in need of humanitarian assistance. Up to 270,000 children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year.
In South Sudan over 270,000 children are severely malnourished amid conflict, poverty and insecurity. The total number of food insecure people across the country is expected to rise from 4.9 million to 5.5 million at the height of the lean season in July…
In Yemen 462,000 children are currently suffering from severe acute malnutrition – a nearly 200 per cent increase since 2014.
The report comes just a day after famine was declared in parts of Unity state in southern South Sudan, where 20,000 children live.
UN OCHA has declared that a famine exists in two regions of southern Somalia, and warned that the famine could soon spread to the rest of southern Somalia.
A famine is declared when three measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger coincide: “at least 20 per cent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 per cent; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.”
Severe drought, failed harvest, years of civil war and now economic collapse have placed 100,000 people in the southern South Sudan at risk of starvation, with an additional one million people on the brink of famine, according to UN agencies.
Tens of thousands have already perished.
More than three million people have been forced from their homes.
Many are living in UN refugee camps across the country.
One and a half million have fled across the border to neighboring countries.
Famines have been declared previously in southern areas of Sudan in 2008; in Gode in the Somali region of Ethiopia in 2000; in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 1996; in Somalia in 1991-1992, and Ethiopia in 1984-1985, according to WFP.
The worst drought in living memory is killing humans and animals alike across the East African region.
Charity workers report cases of women collapsing from hunger and being attacked by starving hyenas. [Welcome to Planet Earth!]
“They fell down, malnourished, and we understand they were then set on by the animals,” said a charity representative.
Scores of goats, kettle, and even drought-resistant camels have already died in the drought-plagued Somaliland.More images…
“Malnourished mothers are unable to breastfeed their babies, and farmers are feeding cardboard boxes to their animals because there is no grass left for grazing,” said the report.
“I spoke to families who had 500 or more animals three months ago, and now are left with 20 or fewer,” said a British politician.
“For people who rely on their animals for meat, milk and trade, it’s the equivalent of losing your entire life savings.”
Drought conditions that previously hit every seven to 10 years are now an annual occurrence, she said.
A Relief spokeswoman said there was a “terrible sense of deja vu” after a drought killed more than 250,000 people in southern Somalia in 2011.
[Republic of Somaliland (pop: 4.5m) is a self-declared state internationally recognized as an autonomous region of the Federal Republic of Somalia (pop:11.5m).]
‘Worst drought in 100 years’ parching paddy fields across the country
The worst drought in 100 years continues to damage crops and agricultural fields in N. Korea, said the State news agency KCNA.
At least 136,200 hectares of paddy fields, or about a third of the total, are drying up across the country, said the report.
“The granaries including North and South Hwanghae provinces and South Phyongan and South Hamgyong provinces have been badly damaged,” said the report.
“Drought dries up rice-seedlings in nearly 80 percent and 58 percent of paddy fields in South and North Hwanghae provinces.”
“According to the State Hydro-meteorological Administration, no rainfall has been witnessed in North and South Hwanghae provinces, added the report. “Water level of reservoirs stands at the lowest, while rivers and streams getting dry.”
In 2014, the country experienced its lowest rainfall in 30 years.
Up to 600,000 people, or 2.3% of the population, died as a result of North Korean famine between 1993 and 2000, according to a report.
Drought, Coffee Rust Threaten Food Security across Large Areas of Central America
Poor harvest caused by drought and coffee rust threaten food security across large swathes of Central America, severely affecting millions of people in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador, according to Famine Early Warning System (FEWS).
Poor harvests caused by severe drought and “the reduction in coffee-sector income for day laborers, and a more rapid than usual increase in the prices of some staple foods, extremely poor households across large areas of Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador will experience a rapid deterioration in their food security in early 2015. Atypically high levels of humanitarian assistance, possibly the highest since Hurricane Mitch in 1998, will likely be required in order to avoid a food crisis,” reported FEWS.
Large swathes of central America have been experiencing severe drought since May, with the rainfall accumulation being up to 75 percent below average.
Estimated losses to basic grains for the 2014 harvests of Primera crops. † For Honduras, the reference year is 2010/11. Source: Prepared by FEWS NET with data provided by national Ministries of Agriculture, and estimates
“Primera crops are estimated at between 9 and 75 percent, while losses incurred by subsistence farmers located in the worst-affected areas are expected to exceed 70 percent. Forecasts by the XLIV Central American Climate Outlook Forum indicate below-average rainfall will continue through November in all four countries, meaning that Postrera harvests are also likely to be below-average,” said FEWS.
Honduras
The Government of Honduras declared a state of emergency for drought in the dry corridor in July, 2014.
As of last month, up to one million people (about 190,000 families) have been affected by the drought.
EXTREME WEATHER & CLIMATIC EVENTS MAJOR DISASTERS MASS DISPLACEMENTS SCENARIOS 444, 101, 070, 066, 023, 09, 04, 03 .
Extreme climatic events, related conflicts displace 144 million in the Horn of Africa
Some 144 million people have been displaced in the Horn of Africa region between 2008 and 2012 due to the mega disasters caused by climate change, according to a joint report by the Institute for Environment and Human Security of United Nations University, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
The new report by said thousands of people in the Horn of Africa are at risk of being displaced across borders as extreme weather increases in frequency.
“As extreme weather increases in intensity thousands are at risk of being displaced. Many of the displaced receive some assistance, but the support varies. There is a need for more predictive protection and assistance. We must start in the hardest affected regions,” according to NRC spokesperson.
Sudanese Famine 1993. A vulture patiently awaits a starving Sudanese child to die, dated March 1993. Pulitzer Prize winning photo by the deceased photojournalist Kevin Carter.
The majority of those displaced in the four-year period fled from floods, storms and wildfires and other impacts of climate change, said the report.
Most of the victims remained in their own countries as internally displaced people, but many fled across the borders to neighboring countries.
“Drought forces people to leave their homes in Somalia and Ethiopia and flee to Kenya, Egypt or Yemen. Most of those fleeing are pastoralists, small scale farmers and agro-pastoralists,” said the report.
The impact of climate-related disasters are intensified by ethnic and political discriminations, according to the report, which cites armed conflict and lack of humanitarian access in Somalia as major contributing factors to worsening conditions caused by the drought and famine.
People are forced to cross borders when Extreme Weather Events flood their habitat, or destroy their crops, said the report.
“Individuals leave for another country for a variety of reasons, but in many cases the driving factor is related to the loss and deterioration of livelihood,” said representative from UNU.
South Sudan is weeks away from worst famine in recent African history: UN
Unless comprehensive action is taken to address hunger in South Sudan before the planting season ends in May, the country faces one of the worst famines in African history, UN agencies have said.
“If we miss the planting season, there will be a catastrophic decline in food security,” said Toby Lanzer, the Deputy Special Representative to the Secretary-General for the UN Mission in South Sudan. “What will strike that country, and it will hit about seven million people, will be more grave than anything that continent has seen since the mid-1980s.”
Based on the UN assessment, the crucial planting season in South Sudan will end in less than 5 weeks.
South Sudan: 7 Million at Risk of Hunger and Disease
Video clips and photos taken in the hot spots of South Sudan since conflict erupted there on 15 December 2013. Posted on YT by Toby Lanzer.
THE GREAT HUNGER OF THE 1840s THE EMPIRE AND THE POTATO BLIGHT .
Sick Politicians, Diseased Crops
More than one million Irish people starved to death and another million emigrated from Ireland during the The Great Irish Famine (an Gorta Mór) between 1845 and 1852.
The Great Hunger, which saw about 25 percent of the island’s population disappear, is also known as as the Irish Potato Famine because more than one-third of the population was then solely reliant on the cheap crop, which was decimated by a blight.
Ironically, Ireland was still producing and exporting more than enough grain crops to feed the entire population. Up to fifty shiploads of food produce left the country each day.
Today, the Great Famine is regarded by many historical academics as an act of either direct or indirect genocide.
Skibbereen (An Sciobairín), County Cork, Ireland. Illustrations by James Mahony (1810-1879), for Illustrated London News 1847.
Famine dead had ‘mouths stained green’
The Famine dead are remembered in the Irish folk as having mouths stained green—their last meal was grass.
Locust plague threatens livelihoods of 60% of Madagascar population
Locust infestations is threatening the livelihoods of 13 million Malagasy, about 60 percent of the population, nine million of whom entirely depend on Agriculture.
The locust could wipe out food crops and livestock grazing lands and destroy the peasant families’ ability to provide for themselves, said the FAO.
“The heart of the locust plague is in the country’s southwestern region – an area prone to drought and cyclones, where more than 80 percent of the people live below the poverty line. In February 2013, Cyclone Haruna flooded rice fields in the region’s coastal areas – rice production is central to Madagascar’s economy – causing significant damage while also creating ideal breeding conditions for locusts. ”
More than 1.5 million hectares, some two-thirds of the country, could be infested by locusts by September 2013, said FAO.
A locust plague can last more than a decade, if left untreated, progressively intensifying each season. Tens of billion of locusts devastate food crops, as well as grazing lands, which are vital for keeping livestock healthy and productive.
Adult Migratory Locusts can multiply quickly, forming highly mobile groups and swarms. Depending on its size, a swarm – made up of millions of locusts – can eat up to 100 000 tonnes of green vegetation per day. A locust plague – which is what Madagascar is now facing – means thousands of swarms. That translates to billions of locusts. —FAO
Image of the Day: Hundreds of billions of plant-devouring insects hit Madagascar island.
The worst locust plague to hit Madagascar in 6 decades
A severe plague of locusts has infested about half of Madagascar, threatening crops and raising concerns about food shortages, according to FAO, a UN agency. FAO image viaBBC.
“Nearly 60% of the island’s more than 22m people could be threatened by a significant worsening of hunger in a country that already had extremely high rates of food insecurity and malnutrition,” said FAO.
“The last one was in the 1950s and it had a duration of 17 years so if nothing is done it can last for five to 10 years, depending on the conditions.” FAO locust control expert told BBC Focus on Africa.
“Currently, about half the country is infested by hoppers and flying swarms – each swarm made up of billions of plant-devouring insects,” the FAO said.
“FAO estimates that about two-thirds of the island country will be affected by the locust plague by September 2013 if no action is taken.”
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DISASTER CALENDAR – March 28, 2013— SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,080 Days Left
Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.
SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,080 Days Left to ‘Worst Day’ in the brief Human History
Refugee population in southern Ethiopia exceeds 150,000
“Decades of conflict and drought have driven nearly 983,000 Somali refugees into the region, most of them hosted in Kenya, Yemen and Ethiopia. Another 1.36 million Somalis are internally displaced within the country,” UNHCR reported.
“New arrivals continue to cite insecurity inside Somalia as their reason for flight. In a new development, some refugees say they fled in fear of possible forced recruitment or military conscription. Others cite fear of potential revenge killings in the wake of renewed fighting. These circumstances, combined with last year’s famine in Somalia, eroded many people’s traditional coping mechanisms and forced them to seek asylum across the border.”
Other Global Disasters, Significant Events
Kyrgyzstan. Extreme rain events southern Kyrgyzstan have triggered widespread flooding and massive landslides, destroying or damaging hundreds of homes, roads, bridges and other infrastructure in several towns and villages, reports said.
Flooding have also destroyed crops and buried farm animals.
Kenya. Heavy rains throughout Kenya have triggered flash floods and lightening, killing or injuring about 80 people and causing large-scale destruction of homes, farmlands and infrastructure.
The extreme weather has also left at least 2,000 families homeless.
10 million threatened by hunger as Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger declare states of emergency
Niger (pop: ~ 16million) is the worst affected country with almost half of its population left without enough to eat.
Disaster Calendar 2012 – February 20
[February 20, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016. SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,486 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History
The Sahel, Africa. Ten million people are threatened by hunger across the Sahel, as Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger declare states of emergency.
“Nearly half of Niger does not have enough to eat. The 5.4 million people struggling to stay alive are part of a wider crisis affecting at least 10 million people across the swath across Africa that borders the Sahara, known as the Sahel,” said a spokeswoman for Mercy Corps.
“This is the third time in the last decade the people of the Sahel have faced severe food shortages.”
Other Disasters
Global. Wildfires kill about 339,000 people each year, according to a new study.
The fires consume about 450 million hectares, an area half the size of Canada.
Urban air pollution kills about 2.4 million people globally each year, said The World Health Organization (WHO); however, the true figure may be 10 times as many.]
About 157,000 of the deaths caused by wildfires occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and 110,000 deaths in southeast Asia.
The study suggests a link between climate and wildfire mortality.
El Niño years, when the surface ocean temperature rises in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, claim an average of 532,000 lives, twice as many as the cooler La Niña years, averaging 262,000 deaths per year.
High temperatures and drought destroying crops in southern Mozambique
Two southern Mozambique provinces of Gaza and Inhambane are plagued by worsening drought and high temperatures, following earlier deluge.
Disaster Calendar 2012 – January 16
[January 16, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016. SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,521 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History
Mozambique. Continued worsening drought and heat are destroying crops in two provinces of Gaza and Inhambane [combined population: ~ 3 million] in southern Mozambique.
In Massangena, the worst-hit district in Gaza Province in southwest of the country, farmers are facing extreme hardship.
In December 2011, famine was reported in Magude District of Maputo Province and in six districts of Gaza province, where malnutrition in both adults and children became widespread and continues.
In contrast, the northern and central regions of the country are experiencing excessive rains which are threatening to ruin the crops, Radio Mozambique reported.
Heavy rains ruined the second harvest season in 2010, and the first season in 2011, followed by the onset of a severe drought in 2011.
“We first had much rainfall destroying crops, now the drought is destroying crops,” the Administrator of Magude, was quoted as saying.
[August 4, 2011] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016. SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,686 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History
In view of the continued hacking and censorship of this blog by the Internet Mafia, the Moderators have decided to maintain only a minimum presence at this site, until further notice.
FIRE-EARTH will continue to update the 2011 Disaster Calendar for the benefit of its readers.
The Blog Moderators Condemn in the Strongest Possible Terms the Continued Removal of Content and Hacking of FIRE-EARTH and Affiliated Blogs by WordPress!
Somali famine spreads to 3 new regions
Death rates and acute malnutrition levels have surpassed famine thresholds in the Balcad and Cadale districts of Middle Shabelle, and among the refugee populations in Mogadishu and the Afgoye corridor: U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization
The worst drought in decades has affected about 12 million people across the Horn of Africa leaving 3.6 million people at risk of starvation in southern Somalia.
About 30,000 children under the age of 5 have died from starvation in the last 3 months in southern Somalia alone, according to the US government. Some 640,000 Somali children are currently acutely malnourished, the UN said, and the death toll is rising.
10.7 Million People Caught Between Drought and the UN Corruption
UN declares a famine in southern Somalia
Famine has been declared in two Southern Somali areas, amid the worst drought conditions in at least Half a century.
Some 10.7 million people have been affected in East Africa, with about 750,000 Somalis seeking refuge to neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya.
UN NEEDS MORE MONEY (!)
“Famine in Somalia has killed tens of thousands of people in recent months and could grow even worse unless urgent action is taken, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Wednesday. FAO has appealed for $120 million for response to the drought in the Horn of Africa to provide agricultural emergency assistance.”
“Hundreds of people are dying every day and if we do not act now many more will perish,” said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf.
The famine is expected to spread throughout southern Somalia in the next couple of months, FAO said.
Prolonged severe drought has led to declaration of famine in two southern region. Image source: SAACID-ORG
Drought, Hunger and Refugees
Somalia. The levels of malnutrition among young children fleeing Somalia’s drought are so high that they drop dead on their way to or within a day of arriving at relief camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, the UNHCR said. See Worst drought in living memory gripping Horn of Africa.
UNHCR has estimated that more than a quarter of Somalia’s 7.5 million population are now either internally displaced or living as refugees in neighboring countries.
“The massive influx of Somali refugees into neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia continues unabated. Relentless violence compounded by devastating drought has forced more than 135,000 Somalis to flee so far this year. In June alone, 54,000 people fled across the two borders, three times the number of people who fled in May.” UNHCR said.
“There are now more than 750,000 Somali refugees living in the region, mostly in neighbouring Kenya (405,000), Yemen (187,000) and Ethiopia (110,000). Another 1.46 million are displaced within Somalia.”
Drought in the Horn of Africa.Various UN agencies have had ample time and budget to prevent (respond to) the humanitarian crisis in the drought stricken regions. So why did they fail, again?
By this time next year, extreme climate could devastate parts of the U-S, leading to famines, epidemics and civil strife
USDA declares parts of 16 states as natural disaster areas due to drought
Drought continues to increase in intensity and coverage across the southern and central Plains,and parts of the southeast, NWS/CPC forecast.
Drought will persist and expand from central and southern Texas eastward along and near the Gulf Coast through the southern Atlantic Seaboard.
Drought is forecast to also persist in the central and southern Plains, and expand into south-central Nebraska and northwestern Kansas, and from the southern Rockies, central Great Basin into central Nevada… Read full forecast here.
Meanwhile…
NEW Snowstorm pushes more snow toward the upper Midwest
“Snow will develop today ahead of a storm system dropping down into the Plains. The heaviest snow is expected to fall from central Minnesota down through northeast Iowa and northwest Illinois. 3 to 5 inches of snow is expected to fall over this area by Thursday morning with lesser amounts to the northeast across western Wisconsin.” NWS – Weather Forecast Office.
Fire Earth 