Water Spouts will speak volubly and endlessly about all the issues concerning water. The ongoing degradation, and growing scarcity, of the water supply here in the US, and the rest of the world. The continued absence of potable water in so many parts of the world. The work being done by NGOs, and charities, in the third world, to help alleviate the situation. The emphasis on WASH ( Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene ) so health and healthy water are maintained. "Water Spouts" will spout it all out.
Climate change may pose a much more serious threat to the world's poor than existing research has suggested because of spikes in food prices as extreme weather becomes more common, Oxfam said on Wednesday.
More frequent extreme weather events will create shortages, destabilise markets and precipitate price spikes on top of projected structural price rises of about 100 percent for staples such as maize over the next 20 years, the charity said in a report.
Droughts in the U.S. Midwest and Russia this year have helped to propel prices for maize and soybeans to record highs and United Nations food agencies this week said that world leaders must take swift action to ensure that food-price shocks do not turn into a catastrophe that could hurt tens of millions of people.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that the 2007/08 price spike contributed to an 8 percent rise in the number of undernourished people in Africa.
"For vulnerable people, sudden and extreme price hikes can be more devastating than gradual long-term rises to which they may have more chance of adjusting," Oxfam said in a report.
"Though the price spike and coping strategies may be short-term, the impacts are often felt across generations. An increase in malnutrition can cause stunting and reduce developmental potential in young children."
Oxfam added that existing research, which considers the gradual effects of climate change but not extreme weather, significantly underestimates the implications of changing weather patterns.
The charity insisted there is an "urgent need for a full stress test of our fragile and dysfunctional food system" and called for a reversal of decades of underinvestment in small-scale sustainable and resilient agriculture, as well as urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"Climate change could lead to a permanent increase in yield variability and excessive food price volatility, however, which could leave many poor countries with potentially insuperable food security challenges," Oxfam said.
Although a repeat famine is unlikely, the situation in East Africa remains dire despite recent rains.
Increased rainfall has reinforced some East African croplands — for
now — and a drop in cereal prices has also helped, but these gains
remain fragile, experts say. Many communities in the Horn of Africa are
still struggling to recover from last year’s devastating drought and
famine, and they continue to face water and food deficits this year.
“More than 9 million people still remain in need of emergency
assistance, and conditions may deteriorate further as the major rains
and harvest are forecast to be below average,” a United States Agency
for International Development (USAID) spokesperson wrote in a statement
to Circle of Blue. “The United States continues to be deeply concerned.”
Food security in the region is largely dependent on seasonal rains,
which in recent years have failed at worst and performed inconsistently
at best.
For example, rains from June through September have decreased
approximately 15 percent to 20 percent over the past 20 years in
southern Ethiopia, according to an analysis by USAID’s Famine Early
Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). Furthermore, precipitation across
the Horn during last year’s main rainy season, from April through June,
amounted to only 30 percent of the 15-year average (from 1995-2010)
in some areas, according to data compiled by the United Nations Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and FEWS NET.
2011 Crisis / 2012 Reprieve
Poor performances like this led to the Horn’s worst drought in 50 years,
which last year withered crops, killed livestock, and pushed up food
prices — conditions that eventually led to the widespread food crisis.
By the end of July 2011, the United Nations had declared famine in parts
of Somalia, which was further aggravated by political instability that
blocked the delivery of aid.
Above-average rains from October through November of last year helped
restore crop production and pastoral conditions, USAID’s spokesperson
wrote to Circle of Blue. In Somalia, the resulting harvest decreased the
number of people needing life-saving aid from 4 million to 2.3 million,
and the United Nations then declared the famine to be over, OCHA
reported in February.
But the report also warned that food stocks from that harvest could run low by May.
This year’s primary rains — beginning in April — have, so far, been
uneven in distribution and timing. Northern and central Somalia have
received only delayed and erratic rains, but pasture and water
conditions are now average or above-average in most areas of southern
Somalia, according to USAID. Water supplies have also been replenished
in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas of Ethiopia’s Somali Region, parts
of southern Tigray Region, and in the North Wollo, South Wollo, and
Oromiya zones of Amhara Region.
It is unclear how long these advances will last, however.
“Crops fed by these rains are reported to face serious risks, due to
the forecasted cessation of the rains resulting in a shortened growing
period,” USAID’s spokesperson wrote. “Acute water shortages are already
present in southwestern regions of Ethiopia, impacting water
availability for people, their livestock, and crop production. For
example, the sweet potato crop that typically helps smallholder families
through the hunger season is expected to be severely reduced, creating
food deficits early in the year.”
International Aid
In March, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) appealed for $US 50 million
to strengthen the Horn of Africa’s resilience to drought, saying that
continued international aid is key to avoiding another crisis.
Overall, aid agencies have requested $US 2.78 billion for the Horn,
but only 24.1 percent has been funded, according to OCHA’s most recent Humanitarian Bulletin.
USAID committed $US 120 million last week, bringing its total
contributions to $US 1.1 billion since the onset of the 2011 crisis.
“This assistance is targeted to avoid the crisis from escalating in
Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia where the lateness and insufficiency of
rains are expected to have a significant negative impact on crop
production,” USAID’s spokesperson wrote to Circle of Blue.
The combination of international aid, improved rains, and lower food
prices mean it is unlikely that the Horn of Africa will experience a
repeat of last year’s famine, according to USAID.
“The situation continues to be serious, but forecasts at this point
do not indicate a food crisis of the same severity as in 2011.”
