Millions Are Facing Hunger as Madagascar Sees Worst Drought in 40 Years

Admin GHRTV

Aug 1, 2021 - 12:42 Updated: Aug 1, 2021 - 16:54

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Millions Are Facing Hunger as Madagascar Sees Worst Drought in 40 Years

Two children in Belo Tsiribihina, Madagascar. Photograph: @Gemmafjam

Célinne Bodinger

Environment and Human Rights Coordinator

GHRTV

Global Human Rights Defence

Image retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/JOIhSxuAcWQ

Southern Madagascar faces its worst drought in 40 years, challenging close to 1.14 million people's right to life, health, food, education, and more due to severe famine.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), 14,000 people are currently in the 5th and most severe phase of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) labeled as the "Catastrophe" or "Famine" phase. In this phase, starvation, death, and destitution are obvious - humanitarian assistance is urgently required. By October 2021, this number is expected to double, further emphasizing the urgency of the situation.

Deforestation, an old issue in Madagascar, also exhausts the soil, causes erosion, and turns fertile land into wasteland. After three consecutive dry years, the lean season in September 2020 became the starting point of the worst drought in 40 years. The average annual rainfall in Madagascar is declining while average temperatures are rising.

The situation in Madagascar is beyond alarming. Families have to take extreme measures, like engaging in child labor, to survive. Furthermore, children are missing school due to hunger, and there have been reports of people eating clay. With the 2021 harvest expected to be cut in half, international assistance and humanitarian aid are not only critical but a human rights obligation.

Two United Nations agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), sent out a warning in May to bring international attention to the issue and are further calling for US$ 5.5 billion in urgent funding for food aid and livelihood support. Together with FAO, the government is assisting thousands of farming families through providing rapidly growing vegetables, training in drought-resilient farming strategies, and harvest loss reduction.

According to Tamara Léger, Amnesty International's Madagascar Programme Advisor, the situation in southern Madagascar "is yet another reminder to all states, and particularly those most responsible for the climate crisis, about their obligation to protect people by urgently reducing emissions." Ensuring that human rights are protected, especially in the context of climate change, is not a local issue but a global responsibility.

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