current campaigns
Kenya: dried up rivers
left: this area was once a river bed.
centre: emergency feeding during the 2005 food crisis.
right: goats provided to school children by MRDF partners.
In October 2005, the rains failed in Northern Kenya. Again. In the district where MRDF partner Samburu Integrated Programme (SIP) works, people could not remember exactly when they had last seen rain, but it was not for at least two years.
?The major effects of climate change in the area have been in the form of unprecedented changes in the weather conditions, in terms of rainfall patterns and occurrence of drought,? explains SIP?s Programme Manager Thomas Lekesike. Lack of rainfall has a devastating impact on communities where most people make a living by keeping cattle, and livestock serve instead of currency. Economic security is lost when animals die of hunger or thirst.
However, even when delayed rains do come, it can be too late: "The long and heavy rains experienced after the 2005 famine in Kenya were blamed for the emergence of the Rift Valley Fever," explains Thomas. "This swept the northern parts of the country, killing 200 people and a huge number of livestock." In 2005's famine, SIP provided emergency food to save the lives of some of the most vulnerable ? children, elderly people and pregnant women.
Climate change means that droughts are becoming more frequent and more prolonged, simply providing emergency aid is not enough. So SIP is working with local people to develop new ways of making a living, so that they are not entirely dependent on cattle. This includes keeping camels, which need less water than cows, training in bee-keeping and providing small-scale loans for women to set up their own businesses.
The effects of climate change are widespread and jeopardise people?s access to food, water and good health. Floods, droughts and extreme weather have always been a problem for farmers, but global warming makes these events more frequent and more severe.
Find out more about the impact of climate change on MRDF partners in El Salvador and Ghana
