Somalia takes lessons from frequent drought

Somalia may have been pummelled by drought for five straight seasons, but officials in Mogadishu say the people here won’t give up yet. And Khadija Mohamed Almakhzoumi, the Federal Minister for Environment and Climate Change said this week the three-year dry weather, sometimes punctuated with sudden floods, has forced her government to relook at its climate change policy.

Last month, the Federal Parliament passed the Environmental Management Bill, setting the stage for Somalia’s first ever policy on a ‘just transition’ in climate change. The idea, she argued, is to ensure all climate-related transitions in Somalia borrow from best practices around the world, but by basing on local realities.