2012 had a very severe drought in the Sahel, the
semiarid region of Africa that lies between the Sahara and the savannas.
Countries included in this region are
Senegal,
Mauritania,
Mali,
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳ðž¤ðž¤²ðž¤¢ 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to th ...
,
Niger,
Nigeria,
Chad,
Sudan, and
Eritrea.
Droughts
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
in the Sahel occur quite often and tend to reduce the already meager water supply and stress the economies of developing countries in that region.
Future droughts of the Sahel region
The droughts are becoming increasingly more common, worse and more threatening due to
global warming.
A possible explanation to the aridity trend is the supplements of an oceanography phenomenon called
El Niño.
An idea is that evaporation is occurring at higher rate due to the change in
Sea surface temperature, this then impacts the amount of rain the
Sahel region receives
Another factor to keep into consideration is the response of our atmosphere to stimulants like greenhouse gases and carbon emissions.
Societal impacts
Mass famine
Valerie Amos
Valerie Ann Amos, Baroness Amos, (born 13 March 1954) is a British Labour Party politician and diplomat who served as the eighth UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Before her appointment to t ...
, UN Humanitarian Chief during 2012, released a statement during the year stating that over 15 million people were malnourished in West Africa and the
Sahel region.
The main contributor to the famine was the drought of Sahel, ensued from a combination of failing crops and
El Niño.
Mauritania and
Chad recorded a loss in crop yield of over 50% when compared to 2011. Food reserves in the areas affected were very low and combined with corn prices soaring by 60-85% compared to averages over the last five years. In Chad alone this food crisis affected some 3.6 million people.
In places like
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳ðž¤ðž¤²ðž¤¢ 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to th ...
over 2.8 million were suffering from famine and in Senegal over 800,000 did not have enough to eat.
External links
* FAO,
the 2012 Sahel Crisis'
* SOS Children 2012,
Sahel drought'
* ''The Guardian''s Poverty Matters Blog May 2012
Baaba Maal: people in the Sahel region need food and water now* ABC News, May 2012
UN: 18 Million in West Africa to Go Hungry in 2012* CNN, June 2012
References
2012 meteorology
2012,Sahel
Drought,Sahel
Drought,Sahel
Drought,Sahel
Drought,Sahel
Drought,Sahel
Drought,Sahel
Sahel
Climate change
Climate change and the environment
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