Monday, November 08, 2021

AP PHOTOS: ‘If they die, we all die’: Drought kills in Kenya


By BRIAN INGANGA

Mohamed Mohamud, a ranger from the Sabuli Wildlife Conservancy, looks at the carcass of a giraffe that died of hunger near Matana Village, Wajir County, Kenya, Monday, Oct. 25, 2021. As world leaders address a global climate summit in Britain, drought has descended yet again in northern Kenya, the latest in a series of climate shocks rippling through the Horn of Africa. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The withered carcasses of livestock are reminders that drought has descended yet again in northern Kenya, the latest in a series of climate shocks rippling through the Horn of Africa.

As world leaders address a global climate summit in Glasgow, pastoralists watch their beloved animals suffer from lack of water and food. Yusuf Abdullahi says he has lost 40 goats.

“If they die, we all die,” he says.

Herders supply water from a borehole to give to their camels near Kuruti, in Garissa County, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Herder Yusuf Abdullahi walks past the carcasses of his forty goats that died of hunger in Dertu, Wajir County, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Kenya’s government has declared a national disaster in 10 of its 47 counties. The United Nations says more than 2 million people are severely food insecure. And with people trekking farther in search of food and water, observers warn that tensions among communities could sharpen.

Wildlife have begun to die, too, says the chair of the Subuli Wildlife Conservancy, Mohamed Sharmarke.

“The heat on the ground tells you the sign of starvation we’re facing,” he says.

The daughter of a herder family stands in the doorway of their hut near Kuruti, in Garissa County, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Rangers from the Sabuli Wildlife Conservancy supply water from a tanker for wild animals in the conservancy in Wajir County, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
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Experts warn that such climate shocks will become more common across Africa, which contributes the least to global warming, but will suffer from it most.

“We do not have a spare planet in which we will seek refuge once we have succeeded in destroying this one,” the executive director of East Africa’s Intergovernmental Authority on Development, Workneh Gebeyehu, said last month while opening a regional early warning climate center in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

A boy stands near the rotting carcass of a camel that that died of hunger which people had burned to stop the bad smell, in Belif, Garissa county, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A herder boy who looks after livestock quenches his thirst from a water point in the desert near Dertu, Wajir County, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta agreed.

“Africa, while currently responsible for a negligible amount of total global greenhouse gas emissions, is under significant threat from climate change,” he said at the center’s opening. The continent is responsible for just 4% of global emissions.

Kenyatta was among the African leaders speaking at the global climate summit as they urged more attention and billions of dollars in financial support for the African continent.

The children of herders walk past cattle carcasses in the desert near Dertu, Wajir County, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
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Herder children who look after their family's camels cool off and fill plastic containers with water from a water point in the desert near Dertu, Wajir County, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Girls look after their family's camels as they drink from a water point in the desert near Dertu, Wajir County, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Rangers from the Sabuli Wildlife Conservancy try to control a camel as it transports a tank of water to supply to wild animals in the conservancy in Wajir County, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Women wait with their containers for a water distribution from the government near Kuruti, in Garissa County, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A herder tends to his camels as they drink from a water point in the desert near Dertu, Wajir County, Kenya. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Follow AP’s climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate

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