Southern Madagascar (the Grand Sud) is facing a deteriorating food security crisis, exacerbated by exceptionally low levels of rainfall over the last two years. In an area with 90% of the population living below the poverty line, this recent drought has contributed to tens of thousands facing severe famine-like conditions.
The scientists with the WWA studied the effect of climate change on the lack of rainfall leading to the Cape Town Drought and found that it made the event about three times more likely.
A quickly deteriorating food security outlook in Somalia triggered international humanitarian appeals in 2016. In this analysis we investigate the roles of climate change and El Niño in the observed very low precipitation using both climate models and observational data.
In Kenya, the distressing numbers associated with the ongoing drought continue to mount. As of February 2017, the drought has affected 23 of 47 counties. The cost of maize has risen by a third in the past year, while production of the staple crop has plunged.
South east Brazil experienced profound water shortages in 2014–15. Anthropogenic climate change was not found to be a major influence on the hazard, whereas increasing population and water consumption increased vulnerability.