Madagascar: Severe Drought could Spur World’s First Climate Change Famine.
M2 PRESSWIRE-October 22, 2021-: Madagascar: Severe Drought could Spur World’s First Climate Change Famine
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RDATE:22102021
More thanonemillion people in southern Madagascar are struggling to get enough to eat,due to what could become the first famine caused by climate change, according to the World FoodProgramme(WFP)
The region has been hit hard by successive years of severe drought, forcing families in rural communities to resort to desperate measures just to survive.
Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world, has a unique ecosystem which includes animals and plants found nowhere else on the planet. The country experiences a dry season, usually from May to October, and a rainy season that starts in November.
Daily life disrupted
However, climate change has disrupted the cycle, affecting smallholder farmers and their neighbours, said Alice Rahmoun,WFPCommunications Officer in the capital, Antananarivo, speaking toUN Newson Thursday.
"There is of course less rain, so when there is the first rain, they can maybe have hope and sow some seeds. But one little rain is not a proper rainy season," she said.
"So, what we can say is that the impacts of climate change are really stronger and stronger....so harvests fail constantly, so people don't have anything to harvest and anything to renew their food stocks."
Varying impacts
Ms. Rahmoun was recently in southern Madagascar, where WFP and partners are supporting hundreds of thousands of people through short and long-term assistance.
The impact of the drought varies from place to place, she said. While some communities have not had a proper rainy season for three years, the situation might be even worse 100 kilometres away.
She recalled seeing villages surrounded by dried-out fields, and tomato plants which were "completely yellow, or even brown", from lack of water.
Surviving on locusts
"In some areas they are still able to plant something, but it's not easy at all, so they are trying to grow sweet potatoes. But in some other areas, absolutely nothing is growing right now, so people are just surviving only eating locusts, eating fruits and cactus leaves," said Ms. Rahmoun.
"And, just as an example, cactus leaves are usually for cattle; it is not for human consumption."
The situation is even more dire because, she added, "even the cactus are dying from the drought, from the lack of rain and the lack of water, so it's really, really worrying".
Families barely...
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