Oxfam: We cannot afford to wait for yet another disaster

A year passed since the East African famine, and the Belfast Telegraph lists the lessons learned. Most importantly, early-warnings should be taken seriously and acted upon. In addition, local resilience building, such as local food production support or making food affordable to the poorest is vital in fighting the impacts of climate change and the demographic changes in the poor countries.

Oxfam has led by example with repairing boreholes, handing out tools to farmers and teaching pastoralists to grow crops. Helping people to grow their own food will ensure that they survive extreme drought and enables communities to adapt to climate change. “Governments, donors, the UN and NGOs need to change their approach to chronic drought situations by managing the risks, not the crisis.”