We Built an Algorithm to Predict How Climate Change Will Affect Future Conflict in the Horn of Africa: Here’s What We Found

Jul 6, 2022 | Jannis Hoch, Niko Wanders, and Sophie de Bruin
View Original

The Horn of Africa, on the eastern coast of the continent, is currently being battered by an intense and sustained drought thanks to which around 20 million people are going hungry. And, given the ongoing armed conflict in the region – particularly in Somalia and Ethiopia – safely getting nutritious food to these hungry people has become even more challenging.

This isn’t the first time these two situations have coincided in this region, but this time they’re both worsened by high wheat prices – thanks to the war in Ukraine and export embargoes in India affecting access to traditional foods such as porridge.

Whether directly or indirectly, both drought and conflict can be linked to climate change. It’s of course vital to tackle these problems now. But if we don’t simultaneously address the long-term impacts of climate change too, any efforts we make in the present will be in vain.