Somalia: The Challenge in Resilience Between Dry and Wet Seasons

 

Somalia: The Challenge in Resilience Between Dry and Wet Seasons

Somalia is a country located in the horn of Africa’s continent. It borders the Gulf of Aden in the north, Djibouti in the northwest, Ethiopia in the west, Kenya in the southwest and the Indian Ocean in the east, and it shares maritime boundaries with Yemen. If it is not the first, it is the second country in the region with the longest coastline (Africa). In fact, the country has two rivers, Jubba and Shabelle, which originate in Ethiopia and flow to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, respectively.

Somalia’s economy is based on two sectors: agriculture and livestock. People who live around the two rivers plant crops, taking advantage of the rivers’ water flow to cultivate and farm agricultural crops. Although some of the residents in that area are Agro farming and do both cultivation and livestock herding. The country is divided into two seasonal climates, northern and the centre part of the country is semiarid and the population lives there are mostly pastoralists, keep herding camels, goats, and a few sheep, but the other parts cultivate and do farming crops and feed the rest of the country.

The country’s climate and weather are characterized by one season, summer, which is the sunny season of the year. The rainy season is just a few months, but two rivers provide irrigation for cultivation and livestock during the rest of the dry seasons. There are three rainy seasons, Gu’, Xagga, and Dayr, that most pastoralists and farmers noted and kept a conceptual calendar. However, as previously stated, the country’s climate seasons have been shifting frequently during the last 5–10 years.

Climate change has disrupted the country’s climate season, and things are no longer as they had been. There aren’t enough rainy seasons for Gu, Xagga, and Dayr, thus the wet seasons have turned dry, and the rivers have dried up due to low and insufficient rainfall, which has reduced river flow. The dry rivers made it difficult for farmers to obtain adequate water to cultivate agricultural production, which diminished domestic food supply and increased foreign food substance imports. Pastoralists, on the other hand, suffer from the dry seasons, which cause plants to dry up, no grass to feed their livestock, and no water to drink.

Natural Disasters: Droughts and Floods

Flooding is defined by the dictionary as the overflow of water onto normally dry ground. When ocean waves break onshore amid heavy rains, this might happen. Floods affect both persons and communities, with social, economic, and environmental effects, according to the Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist. However, it is based on the vulnerability and importance of the natural and built environments they influence, as well as their location, length, depth, and pace.

Floods hit the country in late April. On May 7, 2021, heavy showers of rain triggered major flash floods in Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia. Floods in the Jowhar district, Middle Shabelle region, in June 2021, displaced 66,000 people from 27 communities, devastated more than 40,000 hectares of agriculture, and damaged 82% of WASH infrastructures, according to UN OCHA. Massive flooding in the Belet Weyne, Hiran Region was also caused by river bond breaks, which displaced over 22,000 residents and demolished 1,235 hectares of agriculture.

Other districts in the Lower Jubba region that have been severely drowned include Buur Hakaba, Bu’aale, Jilib, Kismaayo, and Lower Shabelle Region. Afgooye, Marka, and Banadir regions are also included. Hundreds of people have been reported to have been evacuated due to flooding in the Ceerigaabo and Hargeysa areas in the country’s north. According to UN OCHA, humanitarian aid partners increased their efforts to reach at least 82,000 impacted individuals with life-saving assistance such as food, water and sanitation, hygiene, health, and shelter. According to the report, Somalia — 400,000 Affected by Floods says UN — FloodList. floodlist.com/africa/somalia-floods-may-June-2021

The heavy rains that overflow the rivers break the bonds of the rivers and water flows into the cultivated area with crops and swept the farmed products, local farmers are too fragile and unable to protect their fields from floods, which means that their hard-earned crops are easily destroyed by floods, and the destroyed crops are the only food and vegetable sources for the community, resulting in a food shortage of supply in the community. The country lacks strong competent agricultural public institutions capable of assessing and forecasting weather and climatic seasons, enabling it to prepare against less severe natural shocks.

A drought occurs when an area or region obtains less rain than usual. Insufficient precipitation, whether rain or snow, can result in decreased soil moisture or groundwater, reduced streamflow, agricultural damage, and a general water deficit. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, the drought’s effects occur in a number of ways. Farmers who lose money because of the drought, or herders who may have to spend more money to feed and water their livestock, are two examples of economic consequences. Drought has an impact on the environment and society in addition to the economy. Plants and animals, like humans, rely on water. Drought can reduce their food supply and harm their habitats. (DROUGHT: (noaa.gov))

According to the Somali WASH Cluster, 2.6 million Somalis are suffering water shortages as a result of the country’s severe drought. Water shortage and drought conditions have contributed to rising water prices, resulting in displacements, diarrheal mortality, and starvation in many regions of Somalia. Gedo, Bay, Bakol, Lower Jubba, Galgadud, Mudug, and sections of Bari, Nugaal, Sool, Sanaag, Togdheer, and Hiraan are now the hardest hit regions.

Furthermore, the intensifying drought has resulted in water shortages, crop failures, and a large number of livestock migration and deaths. This comes only two years after a horrific drought that cost hundreds of thousands of lives, put a further burden on communities, strained the humanitarian response, and displaced over 300,000 people. As of December 17, more than 3.2 million people had been affected by the drought in 66 of the country’s 74 districts, with 169,000 displaced in search of drinking water, food, and pasture. Drought conditions have been extremely serious in Jubaland, Southwest and Galmudug states (central areas), as well as sections of Puntland. (reliefweb.int, 2022).

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness and resilience refer to the capacity of the land to adapt, recover, and remain flexible to disturbances in terms of changing rainfall patterns while providing biomass (food, feed, fuel, fibre), maintaining its regulating functions and rendering ecosystem services. Gunderson and Holling (2001) define resilience as the capacity of a system to undergo disturbance and maintain its functions and controls. Soils of good quality are key to a resilient system, as the soil is the central link between the atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere.

However, to build resilience against drought and floods, hence producing more food and fibre per drop of water, various strategies can be followed. Soil-water management practices lead to more water being conserved and thus reduce drought and flood risk, resulting in higher yields. Soil-water management is the way forward for alleviating rural poverty and improving the livelihoods of the rural poor. However, soil-water management alone will not solve all problems. There is a strong need for integrated management with genetic, natural resources and socio-economic components (Building Resilience Against Drought and Floods: The Soil-Water Management Perspective)

In conclusion

Somalia is a post-conflict country with several economic and political recoveries in place. Resilience is a key goal for economic and environmental hazard recovery. For the reason of environmental shocks, Somalis become internally displaced people (IDPs) twice a year. There must be two primary players who will contribute to a resilient system that is effective and efficient. The domestic commitment and contribution from the local private sector are very supportive; private organizations and local foundations should establish a Fund for resilient investment and pledge to the budget.

Government agencies and public organizations must design long-term strategic plans for an effective resilience strategy, as well as a budget and visibility analysis of the resilient system.

With donors and international assistance, the majority of funds are being held until shocks occur and an emergency response is declared; nevertheless, this is not the best way forward for the country’s economic recovery and reforms. Humanitarian funds should be shifted into a resilient stage, and international aid partners must collaborate with the national strategic plan.