Famine in the Sahel When did the famine(s) take place? - February – August 2010 Where did the famine take place? - - Large scale, drought-introduced famine occurred in Africa’s Sahel region and many parts of the neighboring Senegal River Area. Mali, Northern Cameroon, Niger and Sudan South of the Sahara desert What were the causes of the famine? Physical - Long-term decline in rainfall in southern Sudan Between 1970 and 1993 the region recorded 20 years of severe drought Increased rainfall variability Increased use of marginal land leading to degradation Over 80% of the region’s land is degraded Flooding – destroying farmland Social - High population growth (3%) linked to use of marginal land (overgrazing, soil erosion, soil compaction) High female illiteracy rates (65%) Increased threat of AIDs Lack of protection against shock price rises Agricultural - High variable per capita food production; long-term the trend is static Static or falling crop yields Low and falling fertiliser use (compounded by falling export receipts) Lack of a food surplus for use in crisis Economic - High dependency on farming (70% of labour force – 37% of GDP) Dependency on food imports (13% of consumption 1998-2000 – whilst exporting non-food goods e.g cotton) Limited access to markets to buy food or infrastructure to distribute it Debt and debt repayments limit social and economic spending High military spending takes focus away from food security What were the impacts of the famine? - 18 million in west Africa are on the brink of starvation High food prices and conflict have exacerbated the impacts In just three years the number of people facing starvation has increased form 3.6 million to 10.5 million In Chad, 2 million require food aid. In Niger 7.1 million people are hungry with nearly half considered highly food insecure because of loss of livestock and crops coupled with surge in prices Eastern parts of Mali and Northern Cameroon have been badly affected by failed rains – situation was described as critical. In Mali the military coup of March 2012 brough an abrupt halt to 20 years of stable democracy How was the famine managed? (consider international organisations, governments and NGOs) - - - - The period between the harvests (May – September) the World Food Programme (WPF) gave food to between 5 and 6 million people each month through its nutrition and food security programme In 2012, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) helped more than 5.2 million people through support to off-season food and crop production, soil and water conservation and rehabilitation projects, and desert locust control and monitoring. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) mobilised its resources and assisted communities in need. Donors have pumped US$971 million into the region since the end of 2011; and when compared month by month to the drought response in 2010, more money came in and sooner, with big announcements from multilaterals such as the UN Central Emergency Response Fund ($80 million) and the European Union humanitarian funder ECHO in November (ECHO and the European Commission have provided $410 million for the food crisis).The USA then gave $315 million Many national governments led on the response, and nutrition systems are now in place in most Sahelian countries Governments that several years ago, sought to hide or gloss over malnutrition as they deemed it shameful, are now confronting it With some three million Sahelian children estimated to suffer from moderate acute malnutrition (MAM), the World Food Programme (WFP) has expanded its regular food security role to incorporate the prevention of MAM, reaching 3.7 million children and their mothers with fortified supplementary food WFP distributed cash or vouchers to 2.1 million people as of the end of September, making it the biggest emergency cash distribution the organization has ever attempted. NGOs also stepped up cash distributions across the region What can be done to relieve the threat of famine in the Sahel?0 - - The UN food relief agency requires $470 million for the next six months to continue operation in the Sahel The Government funded school feeding programme jointly implemented by the WFP provides nutritious meals to 700,000 children and has been vital for creating jobs and strengthening the local economy, although the situation remains dire In 2022 the UN released an additional $30 million from its emergency humanitarian fund to boos the humanitarian response in four countries How successful is the management of famine in the Sahel? - - - - Early warning worked: Early warning reports came out in October in some places, and before December national governments (other than Senegal and Gambia) had recognized the early warning signals and reacted to them, and response scaled up from January onwards. Donors have pumped US$971 million into the region since the end of 2011; and when compared month by month to the drought response in 2010, more money came in and sooner, with big announcements from multilaterals such as the UN Central Emergency Response Fund ($80 million) and the European Union humanitarian funder ECHO in November (ECHO and the European Commission have provided $410 million for the food crisis).The USA then gave $315 million - funding is still at just 59 percent of the $1.6 billion estimated needs. Niger stands out, raising the alarm in October and using sophisticated early warning systems. It scaled up the nutrition response system that has been going since the 2010 crisis, scaled up nutrition training as part of its national nutrition protocol, and is now ahead of the game resilience-wise. The country has nearly halved the death rate of under-fives since 1998. Niger has made the most progress, from denial in 2005, to undergo “a revolutionary change in attitude and lead agencies in setting up nutrition research, prevention and response. Chad has also made significant progress taking on a nutrition protocol, setting up referral systems, and training hundreds of health workers in nutrition.
