CARE Update August 2007

2007 headlines have been dominated by extreme weather conditions ? from severe flooding in Britain, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, to temperatures of 45˚C sparking fires in the Mediterranean, and drought in Eastern Africa. Read how CARE has been responding to such climate behaviour in Africa and Asia.

Drought is probably not the first thing springing to mind here in soggy Britain, but for millions of people in West Africa, this is an every day reality. As a recent report explains however, drought is in fact a trigger for many preventable food crises, and it is now high time for governments to act to alleviate some of the causes of devastating famine and change strategy in the region.

As a way of addressing these issues, CARE is part of the Sahel Working Group ? a coalition of major aid organisations focusing on the southern edge of the Sahara desert, in particular Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger ? three of the world?s five poorest countries. Their report ?Beyond Any Drought?, launched in July in collaboration with the International Institute for Environment and Development, identifies the underlying factors that make people in the region vulnerable to food shortages, and warns that unless these factors are addressed, there will be more and worse food crises.

Vanessa Rubin, Africa Hunger Advisor for CARE?s UK office, says that people blamed the 2005 crisis that affected 3 million people in the region on locusts, droughts and high food prices. But, as she explains, these were just triggers. ?The real cause of the problem was that people there are chronically vulnerable. Two years later, they still are.? This is because poor farmers and pastoralists have been marginalised, women lack rights and access to healthcare, education and property, and traditional ways of life are being eroded.

?Poor farmers and herders buy up to 60% of their food from the market but prices fluctuate wildly, even in times of plenty,? says Vanessa. ?When people are forced to take on debt or sell assets such as land or livestock to buy food, they wave goodbye to the very things that help them to cope with the challenges of living within the region.?

The Working Group acknowledge that unless an entirely different joined up approach is adopted for the region by governments and donor agencies alike, history will repeat itself. It?s about building local resilience ? like strengthening land rights, knowledge and empowering people ? that will reduce vulnerability longer term.

To download the full report, click here.

In the same continent, yet at the other end of the spectrum, Sudan has been experiencing the worst flooding in living memory. Excessive and unusually early rain has caused the Nile to flood in the north of the country, and with no end to the crisis in sight, it is feared that up to 2.4 million people in 16 Sudanese states could be affected.
CARE has been distributing supplies to almost 200,000 people, including 60,000 blankets, 32,000 sleeping mats, 2,300 cooking sets, 4,000 non-food relief packages, and is working to restore over 800 latrines in the Khartoum area. The relief effort is being coordinated in partnership with UNICEF and the United Nations.

Similarly, in Asia, the worst flooding in a decade has affected large areas of Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal, where CARE has been working, and is currently on the ground delivering aid;

? Cyclone Yemyin caused extensive damage to southwestern Pakistan in July, with widespread rain, wind and flash flooding affecting up to a million people, destroying 80,000 homes - leaving at least 370,000 people homeless and hundreds dead. CARE has been working in partnership with local organisations, providing emergency packs including water purification items, hygiene kits and kitchen sets to 5,000 of the most vulnerable families, as well as mobile medical health services and sanitary facilities.

? In Bangladesh, after rains left nearly half of the country underwater and threatened its capital, Dhaka, in early August, CARE joined in search and rescue operations and food distribution efforts. CARE is helping to reach 25,000 flood-affected families, and plans to send 20 teams with medical supplies into the affected areas. 

? In Nepal, where recent floods and landslides have affected nearly half the country and approximately 270,000 people, CARE has begun distributing dry food rations to some of the country?s poorest communities.  CARE is working to prevent the outbreak of disease and to provide clean drinking water, basic shelter materials and emergency food rations to 3,575 affected families. 

? And in India, where millions of people have been affected by the devastating floods, CARE is working with partners to provide emergency relief to more than 20,000 people in West Bengal, another 30,000 in Orissa and nearly 11,000 people in Bihar - a region where CARE has been running several development programs in partnership with the local governments.

One thing is certain ? whether natural or man-made, extreme weather patterns are no longer one-off occurrences but are increasingly regular events around the world, and challenging the work of development agencies such as CARE.

To read more about CARE?s response to the recent flooding, please visit www.careinternational.org.uk