Climate change turbo-charging Somalia’s problems but there's still hope | BBC News

Somalia may be one of the poorest countries in the world and beset by violence, but it is “fixable”, according to its top climate official.

The country has been torn apart by more than 30 years of overlapping conflicts - including an Islamist insurgency, a civil war, and a series of regional and clan confrontations.

Yet Abdihakim Ainte, the Somali prime minister’s climate advisor, still regards his country as “as story of potential - of promise”.



#Somalia #BBCNews

[RomanAlekseev-cqng]

How mass corruption and wars have anything to do with climate change? They are not exploding nuclear bombs every weekend

[michael]

Somalia has many problems, climate change is pretty low on this list. Mentally ill BBC at it again

[beautifulseattle]

Somalia has had drought and conflicts for at least 100 yrs or more.

[OldScientist]

So drought was worse in Somalia 40 years ago...when the effects of human activity were less.

[alordswatchman]

Countries that are thousands of years old and still living in the stone ages has nothing to do with climate fluctuations.

[ducaysanyousef]

As a Somali girl, I can confirm that our biggest problems are the lack of government, corruption, absence of patriotic leaders, a harsh culture that doesn’t align with Islamic values, and tribalism. Climate change is one of the least pressing issues we face. 👀👀👀👀👀👀🤚

To my fellow Somalis in the comments, please don’t be offended by what I’ve said. We need to acknowledge our weaknesses and work on improving ourselves, instead of constantly waiting for international assistance!

[DerekBjornsonn]

I worked for a Danish NGO in Somalia for three years. Climate change is the least of their problems. The West should stop fear mongering about climate change and talk about the real problems in Somalia, like endemic corruption. Any money American and European taxpayers spent on Somalia is laundered out of the country. A high-ranking government official we worked with returned to Somalia in 2017; by 2019, he had bought a house for his mother in Malmo, Sweden, and started a trucking business with his brother in Dallas, Texas. By 2022, when a new government was elected, he packed up and left and returned to his home in the United States.

[Desperate-Drive]

If you live in the desert dont expect to live in a castle

[Censortubes]

Ah yes the last thing on these people’s minds is what you claim is the issue. Not the corruption or 30 years of wars.

[boris]

The far left BBC with the fraudulent climate religion - what a pathetic combo. 😂😂😂

[OldScientist]

Horn of Africa, Somalia specifically, World Bank data shows annual rainfall is on an upward trend, and the climatic period 1931-1960 had far lower precipitation in all seasons than the period 1991-2020. Somalia's climate is wetter than in the past.

[JohnFrenchMSc]

I'm Stepping over corpses daily on my way to work because of climate change here in the UK 🇬🇧 and the whole experience has just been truly heartbreaking and horrifying 💔 😢

Your thoughts and prayers are much appreciated 🙏🏻

[khadijahansari]

Are we forgetting who drew the borders of africa?

[Nik-zfxl]

Help from international community???
Where does these help amount is going.
Just like gaza, it may be in the hands of terror outfits. ...
Ismail haniya was a billionaire without doing any business other than terrorism

[BobBob-cnyy]

No one living in Somalia all living in London on the d h s .

[alexanderrutland]

The reasons why we hear about the "effects of climate change" regarding Somalia is because it is a poor country with minimal infrastructure. I imagine that climate change would affect Saudi Arabia in a very similar way given that is is also an arid land in the same region. The difference is that Saudi is a wealthy country that can afford air conditioning, irrigation, desalination etc. and therefore we don't hear about is as there is no problem. This is a problem of economic development rather than of weather events.

[GrandpaVince]

Somalia is a beautiful city located in the golden country of africa

[titteryenot]

Every time I see Justin Rowlatt he’s in some far-away land he took a jet plane to get there in. This is the dude that doesn’t stop preaching to us all about ‘manmade climate change’. His carbon footprint must be off the charts compared to the average Joe he is proselytising to. Nice.

[OldScientist]

The famine in the Horn of Africa is endemic not because of climatic factors but because of bad governance and poverty. If you compare these regions to the Gulf States, the climate of the Gulf is similar, although even drier, but the latter have a much higher standard of living due their wealth of fossil fuels and better social organisation. What the Horn of Africa needs is a good dose of reliable energy from fossil fuels to raise their living standards.

[TinoMartinelli]

Most comments here are absolutely toxic. Please turn the comments off; don’t give the climate change deniers a forum.