Four Dimensions of Climate Change in Africa's three most populated countries of Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Egypt.
Explore and Understand Africa Through Her Food and Culture
Climate Change in Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Egypt.
1. Nigeria 2015 population estimated 181.5 million
2. Ethiopia 2015 population estimated at 99.3 million
3. Egypt 2015 population estimated at 89.1 million
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| Accessing the soil for growing crops in Africa |
According to the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, climate change will affect
all four dimensions of food security: food availability, food accessibility,
food utilization and food systems stability.
It will have an impact on human health, livelihood assets, food production and distribution channels, as well as changing purchasing power and market flows. Its impacts will be both short term, resulting from more frequent and more intense extreme weather events, and long term, caused by changing temperatures and precipitation patterns.
It will have an impact on human health, livelihood assets, food production and distribution channels, as well as changing purchasing power and market flows. Its impacts will be both short term, resulting from more frequent and more intense extreme weather events, and long term, caused by changing temperatures and precipitation patterns.
Change in climate may
affect the availability of certain food products, which may influence their
price. High prices may make certain foods unaffordable and can have an impact
on individuals’ nutrition and health.
Many crops have annual cycles, and yields fluctuate with climate variability,
particularly rainfall and temperature. Droughts and floods are a particular threat
to food stability and could bring about both chronic and temporary food uncertainty.
Both are expected to become more frequent, more intense and less predictable because
of climate change.
What's the big deal?
Nigeria agriculture and desertification
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| Oko planting seeds on his family's farm |
Nigeria is the continent’s leading consumer of
rice, one of the largest producers of rice in Africa and at the same time one
of the largest rice importers in the world. Rice and wheat crops use more water
than all other crops put together. When it is dry, the crop water needs are
higher than when it is humid. In windy climates, the crops will use more water
than in calm climates. Many rice varieties are grown in Nigeria, some with a
short growing cycle of 90 days and others with a long growing cycle 150 days.
This has a strong influence on the seasonal rice water needs.
Nigeria is also the
largest producer of cassava in the world, with about 50 million metric tons annually
from a cultivated area of about 3.7 million ha. Nigeria accounts for cassava
production of up to 20 percent of the world, about 34 percent of Africa’s and about
46 percent of West Africa.
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| Carrying water home |
Desertification is
the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of
drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture. The region north of Nigeria
is generally regarded as the most desertification prone area of the country and
states within the region have often been described as desertification frontline
states. They include Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina,
Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara States.
Some villages and major access roads
have been buried under sand dunes in the extreme northern parts of Katsina,
Sokoto, Jigawa, Borno and Yobe states. In addition, many rivers and lakes have
silted, leading to rapid drying up of water bodies after the rains.
Ethiopia
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| Hauling water |
In Ethiopia, where
about 4 out of 5 people depend on agriculture for their livelihood, the effects
of the El Niño-induced drought in 2015 and 2016 were devastating. Between 50 percent
and 90 percent of crop production was failed. Particularly in 2016, rains
failed in southern and southeastern Ethiopia were households are entirely
dependent on livestock for their food and income. Ethiopia is also host to one
of the largest refugee populations in Africa.
Most affected regions in Ethiopia
1. Oromia: Borena and Guji Zones and lowlands of
Bale Zone
2. SNNP: South Omo and Segen Zones, lowlands of
Gamogofa Zone
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| Drought in Ethiopia |
3. Somali: Southern zones, including parts of Fafan,
Dollo, Jarar, Korahe, Nogob and Shebele
March and April, gu
and genna rains spring rains represent the main source of rainfall in the most
affected regions in Ethiopia by the current drought however, in 2017, the rains
are below normal in amount and temperatures above-average.
This would mean a
third year of poor rainfall and the rains are unlikely to sufficiently regenerate
pasture and water points critically needed for affected pastoral and agro
pastoral households to recover.
Egypt Climate Change and conflicting water rights
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| Egyptian agriculture is almost entirely dependent on irrigation. |
Egypt has little effective rainfall, it is
predominantly desert, arid, and semi-arid rangelands divided into 4
major physical regions; The Nile Valley and Delta, Western Desert, Eastern
Desert and Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is one of the oldest agricultural
civilizations; the River Nile allowed a sedentary agricultural society to
develop thousands of years ago.
More than 90 percent of Egypt is desert; it has
only one main source of water supply, the Nile River. Egyptian agriculture is
almost entirely dependent on irrigation. The shortage of Nile waters is a major
factor due to Egypt’s agriculture uses around 85 percent of the freshwater
resources. Growing water demand, driven by population growth and foreign land
and water acquisitions, are straining the Nile’s natural limits.
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| Egyptian mother and son |
Seasonal summer monsoonal rains in the Ethiopian
Highlands are the source of much of the Nile waters, through the Blue Nile. The
Nile is the world's longest river flowing 4,613 miles or 6,700 kilometers
through 10 countries in northeastern Africa; Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan
and Egypt.
In 1929, The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty granted Egypt veto power over
construction projects on the Nile River or any of its tributaries. The 1959 Nile Waters Agreement, which Egypt and
Sudan signed, gave Egypt 75 percent of the river’s flow, 25 percent to Sudan
and none to the other countries.
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| Collecting food for animals in Egypt |
On March 23, 2015, leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia,
and Sudan met and signed the Khartoum declaration or the “Nile Agreement,” which
helps to resolve conflicts over the sharing of the waters of the Nile River
between the three African countries. However, Ethiopia began construction of the
Grand Renaissance Dam in 2015 and set to open in 2017, the dam will be the
largest dam in Africa.
Expected temperature increases in Egypt range
from 1.5°C to 4°C by 2050 moreover, the Ethiopian highlands and the equatorial
lakes region are important for Egypt’s water supply due to their influence on
the flow of the Nile it will become very difficult for Egypt to maintain its
share in water consumption.