Madagascar facing worst drought in 40 years
Arid conditions and high temperatures are contributing to a growing emergency in Madagascar, with the country in the grip of one of its most severe droughts in living memory.
The island nation of Madagascar is currently suffering its worst drought in 40 years, as low rainfall levels continue to plague the country. With hunger an imminent and severe problem, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has stated that 400,000 people are at risk of starvation.
The current drought has been gradually building over the last 3 years, with conditions not seen since 1981. It is a continuation of a concerning trend, as 5 out of the last 6 years have seen below average rainfall levels in the southern half of the country.
Speaking at a recent news conference, Lola Castro – WFP’s regional director in southern Africa – said, “What we are seeing in southern Madagascar is the impact of climate change at its worst. We have had five years of consecutive drought and people are losing their livelihoods.”
She went on to say that after visiting Madagascar recently she had “never seen anything this bad” except in 1998 in what is now South Sudan.
A climate crisis
The droughts are a direct result of changes in rainfall patterns. Extreme weather events are expected to become more frequent in Madagascar in the future, particularly in the south-west of the country. In addition, the south-east is predicted to suffer from more frequent cyclones.
The rising temperatures and sporadic rainfall have had devastating consequences on local agriculture. Many people in southern Madagascar live subsistence lifestyles, owning farms which largely rely on rain-fed irrigation from streams and rivers. However, the past year has seen the vast majority of these dry up, with crops such as maize and manoic failing completely.
As the WFP reports, many people have turned to less than ideal options for sustenance, living on raw cactus fruits, leaves and locusts. In some regions, the country’s famous baobab trees have been converted into makeshift water reservoirs, as shown in the above video, in an attempt to provide local communities with much-needed water.
The devastating “red wind”
The problem has been confounded by unusual weather phenomena known locally as “tiomenas”, or “red winds”. These are periods of violent wind, which whip up dust and sand storms that can sometimes be large enough to block out the Sun. The tiomenas severely damage cropland by suffocating plants and preventing seedlings from growing.
According to experts at the national meteorological service in the capital, Antananarivo, the conditions which cause tiomenas only used to occur during the trade winds, which blow from May until October. Now, they occur all year round, and are being exacerbated by drier soils and deforestation – which exposes more of the soil. With the situation in Madagascar becoming desperate, the U.N and the national government have launched an appeal for help.