Amid Drought, Somali Pastoralists Watch Their ‘Sources of Life’ Perish.
With 17 million people crippled by drought in the Horn of Africa, Samuel Hall researchers and photographer Ashley Hamer explain the realities of climate-induced displacement in Somalia on World Refugee Day.
Somalia has consistently produced one of the largest refugee and internally displaced populations in the world, due to a combination of conflict, environmental degradation, drought and famine.
Having been a herdsman all his life, Ahmed, who knows no other means of making a living, lost 90 percent of his 150 animals as a consequence of the current drought in the Horn of Africa.
With experts noting that climate change may be contributing to more severe droughts in the region, the situation in Somalia highlights the need for prompt and comprehensive climate change action.
Our research in these areas has proven that it is pivotal to explicitly recognize the environmental drivers of displacement that are creating forced migration within countries and across borders.
But the first steps of tackling environmental displacement will require understanding the impact on communities and addressing their specific needs.
Sahara did not lose all of her family’s livestock, but her family itself has been torn apart by the crisis.
Sahara and her three children traveled to an IDP camp earlier this year.
But Somalia is not the only country facing displacement challenges as a result of severe climatic events.