Rising temperatures are set to heighten heat stress across several nations in the Horn of Africa, as warned by the Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC) of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional organization. In its latest report, ICPAC projected that at least six countries in the region would experience increased heat stress.
“Most regions in Sudan, South Sudan, parts of Eritrea, Ethiopia, central and southern Somalia, as well as north-western and eastern Kenya, will face cautionary heat stress levels,” the ICPAC statement highlighted.
According to the forecast, temperatures in some of these areas could surge to as high as 38 degrees Celsius in the coming weeks, with many parts of the Greater Horn of Africa expected to experience warmer-than-usual conditions. These extreme temperatures are part of a growing trend of climate abnormalities in the region, which include both unusually high and low temperatures, droughts, and intense rainfall—phenomena linked to climate change.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and IGAD have expressed concerns over how adverse weather patterns are impacting food security. Currently, around 67 million people in the Horn of Africa are at risk of starvation due to climate-related challenges.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has called for nearly $49 billion in global humanitarian aid to assist the 187 million people in urgent need of help worldwide.