The international community pledged, this Wednesday (24th), at the UN, to donate US$ 2.4 billion (R$ 11.9 billion, at the current exchange rate) – of the US$ 7 billion (R$ 34.7 billion ) needed – to alleviate famine in the Horn of Africa caused by a historic drought and ongoing conflict.
“Famine was averted” thanks to the efforts of local communities, humanitarian organizations and donor support, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
More than 32 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia depend on humanitarian aid to survive, after the worst drought in 40 years, with no rain in the last five years.
The pledged aid will be used to bring food, water, medical and nutritional care, and protective services to communities most affected by a combination of factors such as drought, conflict and economic downturn.
But that money is insufficient, warned the UN, which estimates the cost of humanitarian aid needed by the region over 2023 at US$ 7 billion.
If that amount is not reached, “emergency operations will be paralyzed and people will die”, said the secretary general of the United Nations, António Guterres, at the opening of the donors’ conference.
The Horn of Africa – a region formed by Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya and Sudan – is the epicenter of one of the worst climate emergencies in the world, according to the UN.
Its inhabitants “are paying an exorbitant price for a climate crisis they did not cause,” Guterres declared.
While recent rains are starting to ease the drought, they are also causing floods that have already affected more than 900,000 people, the UN said. And the El Niño phenomenon can generate more displacements, deaths and illnesses at the end of the year.
However, it will take years for the region to recover from the historic drought, so representatives of NGOs, states and experts are looking for lasting solutions for the population to adapt to climate change.
According to a study published at the end of April by the World Weather Attribution (WWA), the drought is the result of an unprecedented combination of lack of rain and high temperatures, a direct consequence of gas emissions that fuel global warming.
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