Climate Change Affecting Poverty And Economy In Africa

Families in the Southern and Eastern parts of Africa have barely recovered from erratic rain only to be hit by drought and food shortages after. The food crisis have come at such a massive scale that an estimated 50 million Africans in 13 different countries are said to be at risk.

#Risingtemperatures posing #threat to global #foodsecurity @NeilCIAT#Maize #Africa #Drought https://t.co/TvVWCFpDGk pic.twitter.com/yQojPnUyIa

— Climate Vulnerable (@TheCVF) June 23, 2016

The United Nations said that the food crisis was brought about by the El Nino weather cycle and has since ruined crops and dried up water supplies, eventually killing livestock, which led to severe malnutrition across southern and eastern Africa, as reported by ABC.

On top of this, the UN also predieted that food shortage will peak by December, and the Humanitarian crisis could continue until well into 2017.

Newsweek also said that East Africa is already the hungriest place on the planet, with one in every three people liviing without suffiicitent access to food. Climate change is threatening to compound the interests by raising temperatures and distrupting seasonal rains, which the farmers heavily depended on.

Not only is the effect of climate change affecting the amount of food Africans put on the table -- it is hurting their economy as well, considering that farming is Africa's primary form of employment -- and lost agricultural productivity could affect the money they need for road improvement, schools, clinics, and other necessities.

By now, New Times reported that economic predictions say at least $2.7 trillion would be needed by Africa to mitigate the problems, and another $488 billion is needed for adaptation to climate change, which should be met by 2030 -- and according to the World Bank, current estimates show Africa to need $5 to $10 billion per year to adapt to global warming -- before it becomes too late.