Drought in Sahel

• Sahel = immediate south of Sahara = 10 countries which are demographically different but all face recurrent and increasingly serious drought
• High variability of rainfall
• 'Normal conditions' so mean annual rainfall varies from 100 mm on north edge to 800 mm along southern margins
• Yearly variability attributed to ENSO cycles
• Period of over 40 years with below average rainfall
• Changes in surrounding ocean temperature - temperature of south Atlantic and Indian Oceans increase with a smaller temperature gap
• Climate change decreases rainfall and makes it less predictable
• Socio-economic condition associated with environmental degradation from overgrazing and deforestation+ high levels of rural poverty exacerbated drought's impact
• Desertification: semi-arid regions overcultivated so vegetation dried and land becomes more exposed to erosion
• Rural population densities double every 20-30 years so outstrip food production
• Agriculture = very rainfed = vulnerable to drought
• Political instability meant food aid blocked
• 1999-2000 Ethiopian - Eritrean drought: approx 10 mn people needed food assistance, subsidence farmers crops fell and livestock died which led to famine and hunger
• Commercial farms growing crops such as cotton lose income = unemployment
• Less food but increased demand led to increased prices
• Increased soil erosion = decrease in fertile land = long term issue for farming community
• Clean water unavailable for drinking so increased use of contaminated water and diseases e.g cholera
• Seasonal rivers and water holes dry up so organisms which live in/rely on them may die
• Vegetation dies so animals depending on it for food or shelter might die or migrate
• Increased soil erosion so eroded material washed into rivers or water holes = contamination
• Women and children (usually) travel further for water which means more kids miss school and carry heavy loads = poor education and back problems
• African Sahel occupies a transitional climate zone so is drought sensitive
• Around 85% of mean annual rainfall is concentrated in summer
• Nomadic communities surrounding Abyssinian plateaus face encroachment on farmland and grazing areas as well as obstructions to pastoral migration
• Awash Valley = reduced grazing areas dude to development of cotton growing on state farms
• Increased migration out of Ethiopia and Eritrea (Sahel region) and onto marginal land due to poverty and civil war
• Tigray Region = communication blockages = food security imacted (continued even in late 2020)