Friday, April 28, 2023

Climate Change Is a Major Cause of Current Drought in Horn of Africa

The Washington Post published on 27 April 2023 an article titled "Climate Change Caused Catastrophic East Africa Drought, Scientists Say" by Sarah Kaplan. 

Drawing on a study by World Weather Attribution, the author says that East Africa's worst drought in at least 40 years would not have happened if not for human-caused climate change.  A litany of other issues compounded the crisis: local conflict, high food prices triggered by the war in Ukraine, and global economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

World Weather Attribution published its report on 27 April 2023 titled "Human-induced Climate Change Increased Drought Severity in Horn of Africa."

It concluded that climate change has made events like the current drought in the Horn of Africa much stronger and more likely; a conservative estimate is that such droughts have become about 100 times more likely.