Reducing drought emergencies in the Horn of Africa

Evan Thomas; Elizabeth Jordan; Karl Linden; Beshah Mogesse; Tamene Hailu; Hussein Jirma; Patrick Thomson; Johanna Koehler; Greg Collins

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138772

Reducing drought emergencies in the Horn of Africa

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Jul 20:727:138772. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138772. Epub 2020 Apr 18.

Authors

Evan Thomas¹, Elizabeth Jordan², Karl Linden³, Beshah Mogesse⁴, Tamene Hailu⁴, Hussein Jirma⁵, Patrick Thomson⁶, Johanna Koehler⁶, Greg Collins²

Affiliations

¹ Mortenson Center in Global Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, United States. Electronic address: evan.thomas@colorado.edu.
² United States Agency for International Development, United States.
³ Mortenson Center in Global Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, United States.
⁴ Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Government of Ethiopia, Ethiopia.
⁵ National Drought Management Authority, Government of Kenya, Kenya.
⁶ Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

PMID: 32339831
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138772

Abstract

Drought-driven humanitarian emergencies are becoming more frequent in the Horn of Africa where millions of people in this arid region face chronic water and food insecurity. Evidence from the region shows increasing reliance on groundwater supplies, infrastructure and institutional systems in response to decreasing rainfall. Drought emergencies can be mitigated by investing in resilience efforts that make safe water reliably available at strategic groundwater abstraction locations during cycles of water stress. A combination of early warning data, policy reform, asset management and improved rural water supplies and maintenance may enable rapid, responsive, and accountable water governance that is more cost effective than emergency relief and better positioned to absorb and adapt to shocks.

Keywords: Drought; East Africa; Emergency; Groundwater.