Indian Niño brings devastating drought to East Africa

A severe drought threatens millions of people in East Africa. Crop harvests are well below normal and the price of food has doubled across much of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and nearby countries.

Sea surface temperature anomalies during Indian
Ocean Dipoles. Arrows indicate wind direction, white
 patches are areas with more clouds and rain.

The last major drought in the region, in 2011, caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. They are becoming more frequent and more intense – and each has a disastrous impact on the economies of nations and livelihoods of people.

So what is causing these droughts? And why are they becoming more common?

At least part of the explanation lies with a climate phenomenon known as the “Indian Ocean Dipole”. The dipole, often called the Indian Niño due to its similarity with El Niño, is not as well known as its Pacific equivalent. Indeed, it was only properly identified by a team of Japanese researchers in the late 1990s.

Read Rob Marchant’s story on Indian Climate Dialogue -  “Indian Niño brings devastating drought to East Africa.”

Kenya builds wind farms, we procrastinate and argue

H

ere in Australia we continue to procrastinate and argue about wind farms, while in other countries, in this case Kenya, they just get on a build them.

We procrastinate and argue,
other countries simply get
 on with the task and build.

ClimateProgress tells us that Kenya has started work on a wind farm that will provide one fifth of the county’s power needs.

“Last week Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta broke ground on a major renewable energy project for the country and for the African continent as a whole: a 310-megawatt wind farm some 300 miles north of the capital city of Nairobi.

”The farm, which will consist of 365 turbines when fully completed in mid-2017, will be the largest in Africa — overpowering Morocco’s Tarfaya wind farm, currently Africa’s biggest project with 131 turbines. It is also expected to provide around 17 percent of Kenya’s power demand,” ClimateProgress reports.

Read the story - “Kenya’s New Wind Farm Will Provide Nearly One Fifth Of The Country’s Power”.