Proceedings 13th-ICDD-Conference-proceedings-13th-International-Conference-on-Development-of-Dryland-Areas

A major proportion of the Horn of Africa is dryland. Though the population of this area has the highest growth in Africa, the traditional, low yield, rain-fed agriculture is unable to meet a constantly growing demand of primary goods. In this insecure situation, climate variability plays an important role, resulting in a worsening of land degradation and flood hazard. Analysis of the main climatic parameters over 1901-2015, using gridded data, showed the most striking change is temperature; it increased, particularly after the 1960s, in all the studied countries, i.e. Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. By contrast, rainfall trends were not so evident. Rainfall erosivity, expressed through the R-factor of the USLE, showed a moderate decrease in Eritrea, stability in Djibouti and a slight increase in Somalia. Aridity is a common condition in all the three countries. The De Martonne aridity index values indicate irrigation as indispensable for all the three, but particularly in Eritrea. The Horn of Africa is affected by several climate-related disasters, such as droughts and floods, whose frequency and effect on people have remarkably increased in the last two decades. Though the recent climate variations are evident, it seems they are not the only reason for the onset of such worrying situations, which are analysed with a focus on the Wabe Shebelle river for the flooding hazards.