IB DP GEOGRAPHY
DROUGHTS- HORN OF AFRICA
AFTER A CONTINOUS LACK OF RAIN
IN LATE 2010
Olivia Stroobants, Kathianna Oppenhuizen
& Cicely Blain
REGION’S POPULATION & ECONOMY
Eritrea, Djibouti,
Ethiopia
and Somalia
REGION’S POPULATION & ECONOMY
Region’s population – 110 milllion people
(estimation)
 13 Million people affected

DJIBOUTI
774,389 (July 2012)
 Economy based on service activities
 Most food is imported due to inadequate rainfall
limiting crop growth
 Exports: re-exports, hides (blankets) and skins,
coffee
 Very few natural resources and industry
 Unemployment rate of nearly 60% in urban areas

ETHIOPIA
93,815,992 (July 2012)
 Economy based on agriculture, accounting for
almost 50% of GDP, and 85% of total employment
 Agricultural section often affected by droughts
and poor cultivation factors
 Coffee is critical to the Ethiopian economy with
exports of some $350 million in 2006
 Exports: coffee,gold, leather products, live
animals, oilseeds

ERITREA
6,086,495 (July 2012)
 command economy under the control of the sole
political party
 Nearly 80% of population involved in subsistence
agriculture
 About 20% in services and industry
 Exports : livestock, sorghum, textiles, food, small
manufactures

SOMALIA
10,085,638 (July 2012)
 Economy mainly based on livestock remittance
transfer companies and telecommunications
 Agriculture is most important sector, livestock
provides about 40% of the country’s GDP
 Exports: livestock, bananas, hides, fish, charcoal,
scrap metal

PREPARATION OF POPULATION FOR
DROUGHTS
Droughts occurred after two very dry seasons
(‘failed rainy seasons’)
 The Famine Early Warning Systems Network,
started noticing the droughts in August 2010
 In January 2011 the American ambassador of
Kenya ‘declared disaster and called for urgent
assistance.’
 Food supplied to region by USA, but not enough
 Farmers very badly affected also due to
increasing food and fuel prices
 Resulted in increased poverty

VULNERABILITY OF POPULATION
Ethiopia & Kenya suffering partly due to poor
land management strategies, poor sanitation,etc
little they can due
 People from Somalia (15,000 per month) are
fleeing to camps in Ethiopia & Kenya – overfull –
suffering from droughts
 Walking long distances to these camps
 Many people – children dying of starvation

PROBABILITY OF DROUGHTS IN THE HORN
OF AFRICA

High probability
40% likelihood in Eastern and Western Ethiopia and
Western Kenya
 45% likelihood in other parts of Ethiopia and Kenya
 20% likelihood in Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia
thanks to the Gulf of Eden and the Red Sea

Due to arid & semi-arid climates
 The Horn of Africa is expected to experience

Drought
 Locust infestation
 Flooding
at least once or twice per year.

HOW OFTEN HAS THIS HAZARD OCCURRED
IN THE PAST?
Occurs annually or bi-annually but the most
severe cases were in;
 1983-1985
 1991-1992
 1998-1999
 2011 – the worst case of drought in the Horn of
African for over 60 years.

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES BY THE
COMMUNITY AND THE GOVERNMENT
The following initiatives have helped to prevent droughts and
help the community to recover following a drought:
 Pastoralist Livelihoods Initiative (PLI)
 Enhanced Livelihoods in the Mandera Triangle/Southern
Ethiopia (ELMT/ELSE) programme,
 Regional Resilience Enhancement Against Drought
(RREAD) programme
 UNEP
 UNDP
 ‘Doctors without borders’
SPATIAL EXTENT OF THE DROUGHT IN 2011

Kenya
3.2 million
 350,000
people camp
at Dadaab


Ethiopia


Somalia


3.2 million
2.6 million
Djibouti

100,000
Uganda
 Sudan
 South Sudan

CAUSES OF THE DISASTER
The Horn of Africa experienced its worst drought
in more than 60 years following two failed rainy
seasons.
 the main climatic trigger for the droughts is La
Niña

IMPACTS OF THE DISASTERS
Drought affects the four dimensions of food
security: availability,
stability, access and utilization
 Drought impacts on agriculture
 Drought on human health
 Drought ranks as the single most common cause
of severe food shortages
 droughts cause displacement of people,
 migration and loss of human life

MAGNITUDE, DURATION AND SPEED OF
ONSET OF THE DROUGHT
RESPONSES & PERCEPTION TO THE
DISASTER
In the Horn of Africa especially, drought is part
and parcel of daily life.
 The drought had been mounting for a year, but it
wasn’t until the crisis peaked over the summer
that the news media and most international
donors took notice.
 Donors and national governments proved unable
to address the crisis effectively in its early stages.

FUTURE ACTIONS TO REDUCE FUTHER
DROUGHTS & RISKS



Horn of Africa Drought needs sustainable solutions to
prevent a reoccurrence of this situation in the medium and
long-term
Investing in the restoration and maintenance of the Earth's
ecosystems can have a key role in countering climate
change as well as climate-proofing vulnerable economies.
Adaptation Measures:
 supporting the restoration of Kenya's Mau forest
 to help introduce new policies in Ethiopia, that will
assist pastoralists in managing climate change risks
and shocks in six districts
 councils to help improved drought resilience and water
security
BIBLIOGRAPHY


http://www.google.nl/imgres?q=horn+of+africa&hl=nl&sa=X&rlz=1C1AFAB_enNL441&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid
=SH33fh46Q4zjtM:&imgrefurl=http://carbon-based-ghg.blogspot.com/2011/07/eleven-million-at-risk-in-hornof.html&docid=P3kXnrxsJE2xxM&imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ch6skjGRhI/TibR4N2yksI/AAAAAAAAOv0/4BO09AS26Fo/s1600/Africa_%25252528Horn_region%25252529.png&w=341&h
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0591341382&page=1&tbnh=147&tbnw=200&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0&biw=1366&bih=667 – map 2

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
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
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
http://www.globalissues.org/article/796/east-africa-food-crisis#Earlywarningsystemshadpredictedthismonthsearlier

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
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
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
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
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
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
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
http://www.beyondintractability.org/node/739

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