Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (PANA) - Droughts across the world are intensifying and have become a “slow onset, silent killer” to which no country is immune, according to the UN’s most senior official working on desertification, drought and land restoration issues.Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification [...]
©- - 03 december 2024 - 15:22:03 - thread Environment (742 words)


Harare, Zimbabwe (PANA) - Nearly six-and-a-half million people in southern Africa are starving because of an “historic drought” linked to last year’s El Niño, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.In an appeal for help, the World Food Programme, WFP, said that more than 27 million people’s lives from Lesotho to Zimbabwe [...]
©- - 16 october 2024 - 04:32:45 - thread Environment (211 words)


New York, US (PANA) - As nearly 40 per cent of land across the planet is degraded with more acres lost every second, governments, businesses and communities must galvanise action to reverse the damage and protect Earth, the UN chief said in a strong message for the World Day to [...]
©- - 16 june 2024 - 07:12:52 - thread Environment (577 words)


Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - Droughts and floods in southern Africa stemming from El Niño have left millions of people food insecure, warns World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain during a recent visit to Zambia – the epicentre of the crisis. The droughts have destroyed harvests in areas where 70 [...]
©- - 23 may 2024 - 05:11:02 - thread Environment (472 words)


New York, US (PANA) - The UN and aid partners are assisting Malawi’s efforts to respond to a severe drought in the African nation which has prompted the government to declare a state of emergency. So far, 23 out of 28 districts are on alert, amounting to around nine million people, [...]
©- - 29 march 2024 - 05:24:46 - thread Environment (202 words)


Washington DC, US (PANA) - Until recent rain fell in the Horn of Africa, more than 9.5 million animals died from prolonged drought, eroding the livestock trade. The De-risking, Inclusion, and Value Enhancement of Pastoral Economies Project, is designed to protect pastoralists against heavy financial losses and improve their access to [...]
©- - 02 september 2023 - 11:56:52 - thread Environment (941 words)


Niamey, Niger (PANA) - Just before noon in Satara, a remote village in Niger’s southwestern Tillaberi region, the thermometer is already hovering near 40°C. The unpaved road to the village is bumpy and sandy. For people living here, however, the path and the intense heat are part of daily life. High temperatures [...]
©- - 18 june 2023 - 04:48:16 - thread Environment (950 words)


Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - As millions of people in the Greater Horn of Africa have already “suffered the longest drought in 40 years”, parts of the region are bracing for a fifth consecutive failed rainy season, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has reported. The forecast for October to December, issued at the [...]
©- - 27 august 2022 - 05:22:40 - thread Environment (540 words)


Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) - Humanity is “at a crossroads” when it comes to managing drought and accelerating ways of slowing it down must happen “urgently, using every tool we can”, said the head of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on Thursday, calling for a global commitment to [...]
©- - 13 may 2022 - 05:16:36 - thread Environment (876 words)


Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Ethiopia’s eastern Somali Region has been hit by three consecutive below-average rainy seasons, worsening the already deteriorating humanitarian situation for around 3.5 million people, more than half the local population. As a result of the drought, Zeineba, 60, was forced into the most difficult decision of [...]
©- - 26 april 2022 - 09:39:50 - thread Environment (544 words)


Mogdishu, Somalia (PANA) - The Horn of Africa is experiencing the worst drought since 1981, and a shortfall in aid funding is putting the lives of millions of Somalis in danger. Standing in front of his makeshift home in a camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in southern Somalia’s Luuq district, [...]
©- - 29 march 2022 - 05:18:18 - thread Environment (632 words)


Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – Tanzania is likely to be hit by drought and with possible far-reaching adverse impact on key economic sectors, the authorities said on Thursday. According to the Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA) the areas to be affected include trade, tourism and wild animals, agriculture and food security, [...]
©- - 29 october 2021 - 13:38:27 - thread Environment (298 words)


Antananarivo, Madagascar (PANA) - More than one million people in southern Madagascar are struggling to get enough to eat, due to what could become the first famine caused by climate change, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).  The region has been hit hard by successive years of severe drought, forcing families in rural communities to [...]
©- - 22 october 2021 - 05:46:52 - thread Environment (816 words)


Luanda, Angola (PANA) - Millions of people in southern Angola are facing an existential threat as drought aggravated by climate change continues to ravage the region, International has warned. The organization highlighted how the creation of commercial cattle ranches on community land has driven pastorallist communities from their land since the end [...]
©- - 22 july 2021 - 05:15:27 - thread Environment (549 words)


Mogadishu, Somalia (PANA) - The Somali Federal Government, in consultation with the United Nations has declared drought conditions in the country following delayed and poor successive rain seasons and harsher, warmer weather. More than 80 per cent of Somalia is experiencing moderate to severe drought conditions, with the worst-affected areas including parts [...]
©- - 28 april 2021 - 11:39:53 - thread Environment (250 words)


Mogadishu, Somalia (PANA) - Somalia is bracing for record levels of population displacement due to drought, which is affecting parts of the Horn of Africa country, uprooting thousands of people, an aid agency warned on Wednesday. “Once again Somalia is facing the prospect of serious drought. Water and pasture resources are [...]
©- - 21 april 2021 - 16:46:15 - thread Environment (421 words)


Maseru, Lesotho (PANA) – The Kingdom of Lesotho has signed an agreement with an African Union (AU) specialized agency, mandated to address persistent climate risks and scale up national disaster risk management and financing efforts, the African Risk Capacity (ARC) said on Friday. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed between the [...]
©- - 23 october 2020 - 20:21:29 - thread Environment (537 words)


Praia, Cape Verde (PANA) - The Cape Verdean government Wednesday declared "an emergency access to water" until October 2020 throughout the country due to drought accumulated in recent years , an official source told PANA here. The situation will cause temporary water supply restrictions during this period, the source said. This decision, [...]
©- - 08 january 2020 - 23:53:23 - thread Environment (474 words)


Maseru, Lesotho (PANA) - Devastating drought in the southern African nation of Lesotho has left more than half a million people facing severe food shortages and tens of thousands “one step away from famine”, UN humanitarians said on Friday, in an appeal for funds.  The $34 million flash appeal will support more [...]
©- - 20 december 2019 - 18:57:20 - thread Environment (547 words)


Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) – A weather expert with Botswana Department of Meteorological Services (DMS) has allayed fears of another dry season after the recent  drought affected most parts of the country, killing both domestic and wild animals. Esther Verana Jansen said on Tuesday that weather observations from October until now show [...]
©- - 17 december 2019 - 18:35:16 - thread Environment (256 words)


Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi has said that his government dug 18 boreholes for wildlife in a bid to address the ongoing regional challenge of drought. Addressing a consultative meeting in Mogoditsane in the outskirts of the capital, Gaborone, on Monday, President Masisi said he was in constant [...]
©- - 21 october 2019 - 15:01:29 - thread Environment (188 words)


New Delhi, India (PANA) – The 14th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP14) of the UN Convention for Combating Desertification (UNCCD) ended in New Delhi on Friday on a highly successful note, with a major breakthrough to make the Sustainable Development Goal target of achieving land degradation neutrality by [...]
©- - 13 september 2019 - 11:03:54 - thread Environment (560 words)


Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - Burkina Faso's head of state, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, has stressed the urgent need to promote a new ecological balance in the Sahel and West Africa.   "There is an urgent need to promote a new ecological balance in the Sahel and West Africa, including coordination [...]
©- - 12 september 2019 - 11:32:00 - thread Environment (454 words)


Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - Botswana experienced low rains in the 2018/19  season which has led the semi-arid land- locked country to feel the early than always pinches of drought in 2019. The effects of climate change have brought water stress in Maun region and the scarceness of water is causing human [...]
©- - 24 august 2019 - 15:20:57 - thread Environment (274 words)


Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The Burkina Faso President, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, on Saturday launched a tree planting campaign in the regional grove of the Central East, the Presidency announced in a statement. By putting the plants in this grove, President Kaboré has officially launched the reforestation campaign, edition 2019. [...]
©- - 10 august 2019 - 14:00:34 - thread Environment (138 words)


Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, will Saturday preside over the launching ceremony of the first edition of National Tree Day (JNA), marking the beginning of the 2019 nation's reforestation campaign.   The event will take place in Tenkodogo, in the Central East region.    The [...]
©- - 09 august 2019 - 18:25:45 - thread Environment (193 words)


Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Drought in the Horn of Africa has left about 11.7 million people severely food insecure and over 785,000 children severely malnourished in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Uganda, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday. In a snapshot for June [...]
©- - 21 june 2019 - 12:39:58 - thread Environment (254 words)


Mogadishu, Somalia (PANA) — Aid agencies have launched a Drought Response Plan for Somalia, seeking US$710 million for urgent and sustained resources to avert a major crisis, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday.   The UN and other agencies require the US$710 million to provide critical, life-saving assistance [...]
©- - 20 may 2019 - 19:39:49 - thread Environment (469 words)


Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - To strengthen resilience in the Horn of Africa against natural hazards like drought, which can lead to cattle losses and increased food insecurity, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is supporting pastoralists in northeastern Kenya’s Mandera County to grow pasture for livestock, a UN [...]
©- - 21 november 2018 - 22:25:15 - thread Environment (474 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Although heavy winter rains have brought some relief to drought-stricken Cape Town, famous salvage expert Nick Sloane is pressing ahead with his plan to “capture” an iceberg and drag it to South Africa. Sloane and his team are planning to identify a floating iceberg [...]
©- - 13 july 2018 - 13:10:39 - thread Environment (320 words)


Rome, Italy (PANA) - The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for a fundamental shift in the way drought is perceived and managed in the Near East and North Africa region. The UN food agency said in a new report issued on Friday that a more pro-active approach [...]
©- - 15 june 2018 - 11:03:54 - thread Environment (647 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – The Minister of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Zweli Mkhize, on Tuesday declared that the drought that has gripped the country has been declared a national disaster. The move triggers the release of US$600 million for Western Cape, Northern Cape and [...]
©- - 13 march 2018 - 11:38:14 - thread Environment (240 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Cape Town, which has experienced a major drought on Wednesday, received a welcome reprieve with news that its taps will not run dry this year. Just two months ago, residents were told that due to the worst drought the city had seen in over 100 [...]
©- - 07 march 2018 - 13:45:18 - thread Environment (286 words)


Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – In the aftermath severe rainfall deficits recorded by the end of January 2018 across the Southern African region, countries are undertaking assessments to ascertain the impact, which is expected to be significant, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said [...]
©- - 27 february 2018 - 19:49:55 - thread Environment (426 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – The Western Cape, which is facing its worst drought in history, has called on President Jacob Zuma to declare a national disaster if the city of Cape Town runs out of water. Current projections are that taps in the port city will run dry on [...]
©- - 24 january 2018 - 08:09:52 - thread Environment (188 words)


Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - Southern Africa continues to recover from the disastrous 2015/2016 El Niño-induced drought, which by January 2017 affected about 41 million people across the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday. In its Humanitarian [...]
©- - 27 november 2017 - 17:01:56 - thread Environment (312 words)


Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) – The United Nations and its humanitarian partners in Kenya have appealed for US$106 million to scale-up their response to the most urgent needs resulting from the egregious effects of the drought in northern Kenya. “We as the UN family and the humanitarian community stand with the Government [...]
©- - 08 september 2017 - 06:05:20 - thread Environment (303 words)


Mogadishu, Somalia (PANA) – In the wake of a severe drought in Somalia that has displaced more than 800,000 people, the United Nations migration and development entities are helping the Horn of Africa country enhance its national drought response capacity. As part of such efforts, the Government, the International Organization for [...]
©- - 05 august 2017 - 09:41:08 - thread Environment (326 words)


Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - An estimated 761,000 Somalis have been internally displaced by drought between November 2016 and June 2017, with more than 22,000 displacements recorded between 1 and 23 June this year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Regional Office for Southern and Eastern Africa [...]
©- - 04 july 2017 - 12:29:20 - thread Environment (438 words)


Rome, Italy (PANA) - Investing in preparedness and building the resilience of farmers is fundamental to facing situations of extreme drought, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva said on Monday. "Saving livelihoods means saving lives - this is what building resilience is all about," he said [...]
©- - 19 june 2017 - 12:04:50 - thread Environment (749 words)


Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The UN Migration Agency (IOM) is appealing to the international community for USS60 million to help displaced people and the communities hosting them in four of the worst affected countries in East Africa and the Horn of Africa. The four countries are Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia, [...]
©- - 09 june 2017 - 11:24:32 - thread Environment (589 words)


Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - The World Bank has extended a US$145.5 million loan to Botswana for construction of water reservoirs, which are expected to cushion the semi-arid southern Africa country from future droughts, Finance Minister Kenneth Matambo said on Thursday. Over the past two years, Botswana suffered a severe El Nino-induced [...]
©- - 18 may 2017 - 15:27:40 - thread Environment (141 words)


New York, US (PANA) - To meet the emergency needs of over a million Somalis affected by drought, the UN International Migration Organization (IOM) has appealed to international donors for US$24.6 million in funding. Humanitarian agencies were worried that the situation has started to look increasingly similar to the 2011 famine [...]
©- - 04 march 2017 - 05:11:45 - thread Environment (189 words)


Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – Despite robust food supply conditions, droughts are worsening food security across swathes of East Africa, and access to food has been dramatically reduced in areas suffering civil conflicts, a new United Nations report has found. “This is an unprecedented situation. Never before have we [...]
©- - 02 march 2017 - 20:03:41 - thread Environment (304 words)


Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – Commending the Ethiopian Government and humanitarian partners on the response to last year's El Niño drought that left 10.2 million people needing food assistance, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien have said the international community must show “total solidarity” with [...]
©- - 30 january 2017 - 09:33:06 - thread Environment (846 words)


Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Sunday visited Ethiopia's drought-stricken region of Oromia where he witnessed first-hand efforts under way to battle the effects of one of the most powerful El Niño events in recorded history. Saying that he was “very moved,” Mr. Ban visited a health [...]
©- - 01 february 2016 - 05:51:04 - thread Environment (708 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South Africa is experiencing its worst drought in more than a century, leaving crops ruined and threatening raise food prices. There are growing calls for government to declare a natural disaster. Provincial dam levels are down in all provinces, standing at 57% of capacity as [...]
©- - 15 january 2016 - 10:52:45 - thread Environment (277 words)


New York, US (PANA) - The UN has stepped up its efforts to mitigate the effects of the worst drought to strike Ethiopia in 30 years, with an appeal from the heads of four UN humanitarian bodies for massive international funding now to pre-empt the high risk of death and [...]
©- - 09 december 2015 - 13:41:56 - thread Environment (571 words)


New York, US (PANA) - Ethiopia is experiencing its worst drought in 30 years, with levels of acute need across all humanitarian sectors having already exceeded levels seen in the Horn of Africa drought of 2011, and which are projected to become far more severe in 2016, according to a [...]
©- - 27 october 2015 - 16:38:08 - thread Environment (507 words)


Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The African Risk Capacity Insurance Company Limited, a financial affiliate of the African Risk Capacity (ARC) of the African Union (AU), said Friday it will pay US $25 million in drought insurance claims to three countries of the Sahel this month. Mauritania, Niger and Senegal, [...]
©- - 23 january 2015 - 17:21:43 - thread Environment (435 words)