Climate emergency: Millions at risk of famine and disease in Somalia

Somalia is on “the frontline of the global climate emergency” with the forecast of a fifth consecutive failed rainy season putting millions at risk of famine and disease, the United Nations has warned.

At least 41% of the country’s population is expected to face acute food insecurity through December, with parts of southern and central Somalia projected to be in famine between October and December 2022 if assistance is not scaled up and sustained, according to the latest situation report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.1

It is anticipated that the UN will make a formal famine declaration—which must meet strict criteria—later this year, the first significant one anywhere in the world since Somalia’s famine a decade ago.

“The crushing effects of …