DÄV: Dürre, Flucht & mehr: Entwicklungs-Reports, -Reportagen, -Interviews, -Meinungen
Ein aktueller Report der Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) schätzt, dass von allen Menschen, die weltweit in "Lebensmittelunsicherheit" leben, 24% (27 Millionen) in seinen sieben Mitgliedsländern leben: Äthiopien, Dschubuti, Kenia, Somalia, Sudan, Südsudan und Uganda. Flucht vom eigenen Land ist eine schnelle Folge dieses Mangels – von 4 Millionen Geflüchteten und 8 Millionen Binnengeflüchteten insgesamt (nicht allein aufgrund von „food insecurity“) in der Region geht der IGAD aus. Nach eigenen Angaben liegt Äthiopien im Moment bei etwa eine Million Binnengeflüchtete, nach bereits über zwei oder gar drei Millionen in diesem Jahr. Lob für seinen Umgang und sein Engagement für (Binnen)-Geflüchtete gab es vom UNHCR. Mitte September kamen die IGAD-Vertreter der Hornstaaten in Addis zusammen und einigten sich auf 15 Punkte, um dieser Herausforderung zu begegnen.
Den trockensten Sommer am Horn in über 35 Jahren diagnostizierte "Save the Children" und schlug Mitte Oktober Alarm: “Despite efforts by aid agencies and the governments of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya, the hunger situation in the Horn of Africa is rapidly deteriorating, with fears families might soon face an even worse situation than the food crisis of 2017. Although the number of food insecure people across the Horn of Africa is currently lower than at the height of the 2016 -17 drought, the situation looks set to deteriorate with drought anticipated in the coming months.” Schon im September hatte das UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs die international Gemeinschaft um weitere Mittel gebeten. Mehr als acht Millionen Äthiopier bräuchten Nahrung, Unterkunft, Medizin und andere Notfall-Unterstützung: „Ethiopia has to cope with persistent and multi-faceted humanitarian problems, including drought and flooding, disease outbreaks and inter-ethnic violence that has in recent years forced millions of people to flee their homes.”
Vor allem in Somali ist der Blick in die Zukunft düster: „This year the 'belg' rainy season once again failed to bring much needed relief to the drought-striken region. Pastoral communities say they fear for the future of their livelihoods as experts blame climate change.“ Von den geschätzt 500.000 aufgrund der Dürre im Land Geflüchteten werden rund 350.000 in Somali verortet und als „forgotten population“ bezeichnet: „Although they received some humanitarian assistance, including food and water, in the immediate wake of the devastating 2015–2016 drought, most of that initial support has ended. Now the situation is getting worse, especially for women and girls.“ Auch aus dem benachbarten Somalia fliehen die Menschen nach Äthiopien. Dieses Jahr sollen es sieben Mal mehr sein als im Jahr zuvor.
Durch die Dürre vor allem betroffen sind die Pastoralisten: “Pastoralists and agropastoralists are among the most affected by what has become a chronic vulnerability to food insecurity, economic and environmental shocks, and intercommunal resource-based conflicts. Climate change and the combined effects of soil erosion and reduced vegetation cover/deforestation is also leading to biodiversity loss with its longer consequences of loss of indigenous knowledge and information systems on pastoral production and natural resource management, veterinary knowledge, weather forecasting etc.” Die Food and Agriculture Organization versucht hier mit einem Programm dagegen zu halten: „FAO is carrying out treatment campaigns and helping households to sell their animals to generate cash and reduce pressure on limited available pasture. Communities are also being provided with livestock feed and cash transfers to meet other essential needs. Meanwhile FAO has been raising awareness on the Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards (LEGS), a key handbook for designing, implementing and assessing livestock interventions to assist people affected by humanitarian crises.“
Reports
Rotes Kreuz “Drought - Emergency Plan of Action Final Report”: „The consecutive failure of the Belg rains (March to May 2015) and the Kiremt rains (June to September 2015) coupled to El Niño like weather phenomenon resulted in severe food insecurity affecting communities in the north and north-east of Ethiopia. The total number of people affected by the food insecurity at the launch of the emergency appeal was 10.1 million people.“
Mediziner ohne Grenzen “Displacement and humanitarian response in Ethiopia: challenges and dilemmas in complex crises”: „Since the end of 2017, the number of people internally displaced by violence in Ethiopia has risen significantly. As a result, the humanitarian community – including MSF – has suddenly found itself needing to adapt and scale up its response to meet the acute needs in conflict-driven crises."
Refugee Studies Center: “Refugee Economies in Addis Ababa: Towards Sustainable Opportunities for Urban Communities”: „This report examines the precarious economic lives of refugee communities in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, and their interactions with the host community. Addis Ababa has only 22,000 registered refugees, out of a national refugee population of 900,000. They comprise two main groups: 17,000 Eritreans and 5000 Somali refugees. Based on qualitative research and a survey of 2441 refugees and members of the proximate host community, we examine the economic lives of the refugee communities and their interactions with the host community. We draw upon the data to consider the prospects for a sustainable urban response in the context of Ethiopia’s adoption of the new Refugee Proclamation in 2019, which appears to provide refugees with the right to work and freedom of movement.“
The Cash Learning Partnership “The humanitarian currency enabling children’s future - Inter-agency cash roundtable”: „This summary report highlights key presentation insights, and recommendations from the CaLP & World Vision co-hosted inter-agency Cash Roundtable, focusing on how CVA can be an enabler to promote child protection and child wellbeing, based on most recent research, case studies from across the globe against the backdrop of most recent developments, approaches in the humanitarian sector.“
The Conversation: “Parenting in Ethiopia: lessons on raising children under tough conditions”: "Investments made in early childhood last a lifetime, and the earlier in life, the greater the return, according to James Heckman who was awarded a Nobel Prize for economics. Conversely, shocks to child development also can last a lifetime. For example, children who were young at the time of the 1984 famine in Ethiopia are 5cm shorter at adulthood, have lower education and are more likely to have recently been ill."
Ethiopian ATA “EthioSIS: Historical shift to digital soil mapping for targeted fertilizer use”: “After seven years of collecting soil samples from 748 woredas and 62 confluence points in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Soil Information System (EthioSIS) studies have confirmed that the country’s soils have varying levels of fertility status. According to the study, 96% of Ethiopian soils are either acidic or alkaline, and poor in macro and micronutrients like phosphorus, sulfur, zinc, boron, copper and iron.”
Worldbank “Promoting Economic Growth and Shared Prosperity: Improving Livelihoods, Building Resilience and Creating a Better Future for Ethiopians” “Despite significant progress, Ethiopia is still one of the world's poorest countries. While Ethiopia has achieved most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and is making progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), given its low starting point, considerable investment and improved policies are needed to help the country reach its development objectives. With two million youth joining Ethiopia’s labor force every year, creating productive and meaningful employment for this burgeoning workforce requires further economic growth and transformation. Ethiopia’s main challenges are sustaining its positive economic growth and accelerating poverty reduction. While Ethiopia has made progress on poverty reduction, not everyone benefited equally. Compared to rural areas, there was stronger poverty reduction in urban areas. While median incomes have increased, the poorest 10% of the population has not experienced any real increase in income since 2005.”
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) “Land restoration in Ethiopia pays off but climate change necessitates many strategies”: “In the last decade, Ethiopia has invested more than US$1.2 billion annually in restoring landscapes in several regions of the country. But despite its big restoration initiatives, Africa's second-most populous country is still insufficiently tracking how projects have helped to recover and boost ecosystem services, a new study shows. Recent research led by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) takes stock of Ethiopia's major restoration projects and investigates their impact on ecosystem services. Researchers say their work can help policymakers tailor future restoration actions to specific ecosystem needs.”
Reportagen:
Islamic Relief “On the frontline of the climate emergency: Dinto village, Ethiopia”: „The world’s poorest communities are paying the heaviest price for climate change, with many already pushed to the brink. Here, learn how one Ethiopian village is struggling to survive the climate emergency. Severe drought in the Horn of Africa – which includes parts of Ethiopia – has left over 15.3 million people needing urgent humanitarian aid. It is the latest drought to have struck the Horn in recent years, and it has left many communities desperate. Among these is Dinto village. Located in the Charati district, like many villages in Ethiopia’s largely rural Afar region, for generations the community has raised livestock for food and income.“
Xinhua „Women embrace ecosystem conservation in Ethiopia's male-dominated agrarian livelihood”: “It all began when Bekelechi's aging father, who was the only male member of the family, struggled to harvest the farmland, on which his extended family depended for a living. The unfortunate reality was then exacerbated due to the family's financial inability to hire a laborer to help with the farmland, which left the household in limbo over their uncertain future. Albeit the long-standing tradition that excludes women from agricultural activities, young Bekelechi then decided to till her family's plot, igniting an uproar from majority community members -- as she was eventually discarded by her community, including those close family and relatives.”
Deutsche Welle: „Integrative Bildung - Wie eine äthiopische Schule HIV-positive Kinder unterstützt“: „Ganzheitliche Behandlungsmodelle für HIV-positive Kinder sind in Äthiopien weitgehend unbekannt. Doch in einer besonders von HIV betroffenen Region südlich der Hauptstadt geht eine Schule neue Wege. Es ist früh am Morgen in Shashamane, 250 Kilometer südlich von Addis Abeba. Strahlende Kinder rennen durch das Schultor. Bevor der Unterricht losgeht, spielen sie noch eine Weile auf dem grünen Pausenhof. Das Yawenta Children's Center ist alles andere als eine normale äthiopische Schule. 100 besonders verletzliche Kinder bekommen hier kostenlos eine alternative Schulbildung und medizinische Unterstützung. Etwa die Hälfte von ihnen ist HIV positiv.“
Interviews
The Conversation “Internally displaced people need more protection: insights from Africa”: "New figures show that more than 70.8 million people are displaced worldwide – that’s the highest figure ever recorded. Of these, more than 41.3 million are internally displaced. This means that more than two out of three displaced people are not refugees, but remain within their own country. Moina Spooner, from The Conversation Africa, asked Carolien Jacobs to give insights into their lives and what can be done to support them."
Xinhua: “Ethiopian official draws inspiration from China's rural dev't successes”: „China's successful rural development efforts could be seen as a true inspiration to Ethiopia's own rural and overall economic development aspirations, an Ethiopian official said on Wednesday. "China's rural infrastructure development has focused on road, water and sanitation, electrification, and supply of solar energy products thereby helping Chinese farmers transition to industrialization," Jantirar Abay, Infrastructure and Urban Development Advisor to the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on a ministerial portfolio, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Wednesday.“
Meinungen
The National “Millions face starvation if Horn of Africa food supplies aren't protected from climate change”: „Poor people are not given many choices and they’re not having many alternatives in their lives so whatever they are given they will make the best of it, they are not asking for a lot but when they get something they want to take it and make the best of it. But they need the support of their politicians, they need the support of good governance and of social safety nets that can help raise them and get them out of these fragile situations they are in. Climate change is certainly not helping.“
CNBC Afrika - Chef des Botanischen Gartens in Addis: „Ethiopian food and land use systems ripe for transformation“: „The devastating sum of these inefficiencies are more than obvious in Sub-Saharan Africa. New modelling released earlier this month by the Food and Land Use (FOLU) Coalition found environmental degradation, poor diet, inequality and rural poverty are estimated to cost sub-Saharan Africa US$680 billion per year. Inaction is clearly not an option. We either choose a different path, or nature will choose for us. We will not meet global goals designed to support people and the planet if we do nothing.“