Heat renders parts of Africa 'not suitable' for life, says EU official

Rising temperatures are making many parts of Africa inhospitable for humans and have rendered locals’ traditional way of living “unsustainable,” a senior European humanitarian official said Tuesday.

“Many countries in the Sahel and many countries in the Horn [of Africa], notably Somalia, are reaching temperature levels, which make part of the country actually not suitable to be lived in,” Andrea Koulaimah, director for sub-Saharan Africa at the European Commission’s humanitarian department, told the European Parliament’s development committee in Brussels.

“That is going to have to be discussed in those countries amongst their own leadership also, to see what kind of model they want for the future, how much are they ready to leave the traditional way of living because it is simply not sustainable,” Koulaimah said. “A lot of parts of Somalia, of northern Kenya, parts of Ethiopia, are simply becoming too inhospitable because of climate change — climate change to which these countries are contributing very little in terms of emissions.”

By the numbers: Speaking at a hearing on food security in the Sahel and East Africa, Koulaimah said that 34.5 million people are in food crisis in the Sahel, with almost 3 million people in pre-famine conditions — a fourfold increase compared to 2019. In East Africa, four failed rainy seasons have meant the worst drought in at least 40 years, with an unprecedented fifth failed season on the way, she said.

“The drought is already affecting 36.1 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya,” Koulaimah said. “While the region has previously suffered from periodic droughts, what we see now is that these drought conditions risk becoming a semi-permanent state as a result of climate change, with severe humanitarian consequences year after year.”