UN Aid Plan for Somalia Amid #AfricaClimateCrisis

Roughly 7.7 million people in Somalia will need assistance and protection in 2022, a 30% rise in just one year, the UN and partners said, launching a nearly U.S.$1.5 billion Humanitarian Response Plan for the country.

The funding will support 5.5 million of the most vulnerable as Somalia faces its third failed rainy season in a row, for the first time in 30 years.

In 2021, three-quarters of all displacement in Somalia was due to flooding or drought, and heavy rainfall led to a national emergency being declared over the country's largest swarm of locusts in 25 years, resulting in a huge loss of vegetation and livelihoods. Somalia used to have flood defence systems appropriate for the seasonal climatic changes but years of underinvestment weakened these systems while climate change has put increasing pressure on them and, in some cases, further damaged them.

Recent projections indicate drought could displace up to 1.4 million Somalis in the coming six months, adding to the nearly 3 million people already displaced by conflict and natural disasters.

Humanitarian coordinator Abdelmoula says at least 1.2 million children under age five are likely to be acutely malnourished in 2022. He warns some 300,000 children projected to be severely malnourished are at risk of dying without imminent assistance.