As Governments Miss Climate Goals, Drought is Already Devastating Parts of Africa
Two other reports this week from U.N. agencies compounded these woes. An analysis by the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change found that few countries had adjusted their climate pledges since a major U.N. climate conference last year held in Glasgow, Scotland. This year's conference is set to be hosted in Egypt next month. Another study by the World Meteorological Organization found that methane emissions are rising faster than ever. The evidence raises "questions about humanity's ability to limit the greenhouse gas that is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the near term," my colleagues reported.
Advances have been made — the world is weaning itself off coal, while the governments of major emitters Australia and United States have recently enacted significant legislation to reduce emissions. But it's not happening fast enough. "Global and national climate commitments are falling pitifully short," U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said in a video message this week. "We must close the emissions gap before climate catastrophe closes in on us all." No matter Guterres's constant entreaties, the necessary political urgency is not on show in much of the world.... And so, my colleagues wrote, "the world is barreling toward a future of unbearable heat, escalating weather disasters, collapsing ecosystems and widespread hunger and disease."
In some places, that future is now. The Horn of Africa and many parts of East Africa are in the midst of a devastating drought. A fifth consecutive rainy season has failed and analysts expect the sixth — starting next March — to also be a dud. As fields go fallow and millions of livestock die of thirst, there is a staggering crisis of hunger in countries throughout the region. According to the U.N.'s World Food Program, some 22 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya are at risk of starvation.... Close to 8 million people — roughly half [Somalia's] population — have been impacted by drought. Up to 6.7 million people across the country may face food insecurity by the end of the year.
