As climate change intensifies, it is imperative for policymakers to address the escalating loss and damage it inflicts on vulnerable communities in developing countries. In India's Maharashtra state, these impacts are forcing rural families into life-altering decisions and migrations to work in sugarcane fields, where exploitative practices by contractors, including …
In the first study to predict whether different populations of the same plant species can adapt to climate change, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology find that Central European ones die first. The researchers focused on mustard cress which grows across Europe, Asia and Northwest Africa. Surprisingly, …
The number of people experiencing food insecurity in Africa rose from 220 million people to 224 million people this year. The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s regional overview for the year attributes this to changing weather patterns that led to poor harvests, a loss of livestock, conflict and recurrent droughts. Food …
Cape Town - As Capetonians awoke to the first day of further water restrictions on Monday, water outages in various areas continued to plague the city. Parts of Zonnebloem, Glencairn, Constantia, Sea Point and Bellville were among nine locations which the municipality said – on its Twitter alert account – …
After a period of slow growth, agricultural production grew by 8 per cent in 2017. President Kagame, in his State of the Nation address in December, said such performance was realised despite challenges, such as pests like armyworms, and drought in some parts of the country. Rwanda’s agriculture sector has …
Although not considered in climate models, perceived risk stemming from extreme climate events may induce behavioural changes that alter greenhouse gas emissions. Here, we link the C-ROADS climate model to a social model of behavioural change to examine how interactions between perceived risk and emissions behaviour influence projected climate change. …
Weather plays an important role in agricultural production. It plays a major role before and during the cropping season and if the same is provided well in advance, it results in inspiring the farmers to organize and activate their own resources in the best possible way to increase the crop …
In Cape Town, the water crisis isn’t getting any better – and on New Year’s Day, the city of 4 million people will go to new Level 6 water restrictions. That means a 60 percent reduction in water use for agricultural operations, and a 45 percent reduction for urban businesses …
Isiolo and Tana River counties are likely to continue experiencing acute malnutrition until May. This comes about despite the short rains recorded from October to December. In a recently released nutrition update, households in the two counties are unable to meet their minimum dietary requirements and are at a crisis …
County National Drought Management Authority coordinator Francis Koma yesterday said a large population of residents will be struggling to put food on the table. “Kitui people are not waking up nicely in 2018 in terms of food security. There is massive crop failure across the county due to failed rains,” …
Life's tough for many living on the edge of the Sahara desert in Niger, and it's not getting any better, despite the signing of a peace agreement almost 10 years ago. Nomadic Tuareg people suffered war, then drought. And a lack of education is a major obstacle to building a …
This policy briefing focuses on the impact of climate change on livelihoods, development and vulnerability in Kachchh, India. The semi-arid district of Kachchh in Gujarat is known for its erratic rainfall, water scarcity, and droughts. Climate change has intensified extreme temperature and rainfall patterns and also led to changes to …
Although famine was averted in 2017, thanks in part to a massive scale-up in humanitarian assistance, famine remains a looming risk in the coming months and years. Decades of insecurity, political instability, drought and food insecurity have disrupted desperately needed services, devastated human capital and physical infrastructure, and contributed to …
The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of an early humanitarian response and resilience building on humanitarian outcomes in the Tigray and Somali regions of Ethiopia, both in terms of cost savings, as well as the avoided losses that can result from a more proactive response. The …
This paper is a synthesis of the key findings from research undertaken with the BRACED portfolio. The paper makes a number of recommendations for future work and research. The aim of all of the research undertaken was to influence and strengthen the delivery of BRACED programming in South Sudan and …
Southeastern Austria as part of the southeastern Alpine forelands experiences an increase of temperature and a tendency of decreasing precipitation. Especially in summer, the temperature strongly increased by about 0.7 °C per decade since the 1970s. Drought vulnerability under climate change is therefore a key question in this region. Here, …
Sheep farmers around Williston, a rural town in South Africa’s drought-hit Northern Cape, face a tough choice: either truck in costly feed to keep their animals alive or slaughter much of their stock. After at least three years of dryness in the country’s largest province, many have chosen the second …
Tanzania's coffee production is expected to go down in the next harvesting season, due to prolonged drought in the key producing areas, the Tanzania Coffee Board (TCB) said on Tuesday. TCB acting Director General, Primus Kimaryo, said that total coffee production in 2016/2017 is at an average of 50,000 tonnes, …
Workinesh Denda, a stocky middle-aged woman, arranges hand-made stoves in a neat line in a small shop in Ganta Kanachama village, in southern Ethiopia. "Before we had these (stoves) we could barely get by," she said. "Endless drought would destroy our corn and teff harvests, leaving us with nothing to …
The UN Development Program (UNDP) on Tuesday warned that the food security situation in Somali “remains precarious for millions of Somalis, following the fifth consecutive year of drought.” According to the agency, an estimated 6.2 million people need humanitarian assistance, and the number of people living in pre-famine emergency conditions …
Cape Town residents' high water usage over this past week has brought "Day Zero" closer, by more than three weeks. Day Zero is the day that almost all of the taps in the city will be turned off and people will have to queue for water at approximately 200 sites …
