Climate-related disasters threaten millions in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Thousands of residents in Somalia have started to flee their villages in search of a better life after three consecutive years without enough rainfall because of climate change.

Ibrahim Abdiyow who fled his home town due to the drought said that community members lost all of their livelihoods due to the magnitude of destruction caused by the drought.

“I did not have camels that can live weeks without drinking enough water. I used to have goats and cattle, when all the wells dried out and grasslands devastated, I fled to Bardhere to get a job but that is not the case now because the town is overcrowded by internally displaced persons who don’t have water, shelter and toilets,” he said.

Abdiyow is not the only one who fled villages to go to the Bardhere district in the Gedo region of Somalia’s southern state of Jubaland.

Suuban Abdi whi is another displaced person said that after walking long distances by foot while carrying her children, they finally arrived at an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp on the outskirts of Bardhere, with some residents believing one day they might get help.

She does not know what climate change is but if it is something related or has contributed to current conditions, she said, it is something no one should not underestimate.

“I have been here in this camp with my kids hoping they will be able to live a better life than the one they had in our villages back in the days, but I realized that the situation is worse but we must be in high spirit and pray for our kids to have a better future which is uncertain now,” she said.

Safiyo Mohamed, an elderly woman, has been in the camp for the last three months.

“I have lost all my livestock, my livelihood. For the last three years, there has been crop failure in our villages and our animals weren’t able to eat. Then, diseases struck, resulting in the deaths of our sources of income,” she said.

Somalia is one of the countries with the lowest CO2 emissions per inhabitant countries. However, for years, it has been battling to curb locust infestation, floods and droughts.

While Somalia’s emissions are historically extremely low, it represents a significant target given the country’s extremely challenging circumstances and constrained resources.

Young environmentalist Abdirahman Ismail said deforestation has more than doubled in the last decade and it “has to stop now or never because too late means to destroy our oxygen.”

In Kismayo, an area devastated by environmental degradation because of its proximity to the Kismayo port, some residents cut trees to make charcoal to trade.

“It is disheartening and unbelievable that the government has not done more to stop this,” said Ismail.