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Encourage commercial logging to grow Kenya’s forest cover – report
Posted by AlertNet: Katy Migiro on November 5th, 2012
AlertNet: Kenya should encourage private businesses to grow trees for charcoal and timber to increase its forest cover rather than relying on the rehabilitation of indigenous forests, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Kenya Forestry Service (KFS) said on Monday.
Deforestation is a major problem in Kenya and its agriculture-dominated economy is highly vulnerable to drought. Less than 6 percent of the country is under forest cover although the 2010 constitution aims to increase this...
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E.Africa should be prepared for further food insecurity –weather forecasters
Posted by AlertNet: Katy Migiro on February 13th, 2012
AlertNet: East Africa, still battling a hunger crisis, should be prepared for another dry spell and further food insecurity due to the persistence of La Niña weather conditions that last year brought severe drought to the region, weather forecasters have warned.
"La Niña conditions are expected to persist until March to May 2012,' the World Meteorological Office said on its website on Sunday.
March to May is the main 'long rains' season for the region, which farmers and livestock herders depend upon...
Herders receive first drought insurance payouts in Kenya
Posted by AlertNet: Katy Migiro on October 21st, 2011
AlertNet: As part of an innovative new scheme, 650 herders in northern Kenya received their first drought insurance payouts for the loss of thousands of cows, camels, goats and sheep on Friday.
Up to a third of livestock in Marsabit District are estimated to have died during the current drought, which has affected over 13 million people across the Horn of Africa.
"It's terrible that we are seeing this level of loss, but gratifying that the policies are doing what they are supposed to do, which is to...
World leaders to sign charter to end extreme hunger
Posted by AlertNet: Katy Migiro on September 23rd, 2011
AlertNet: World leaders will sign a 'Charter to end Extreme Hunger' in New York on Saturday, while calling for more funding to resolve the hunger crisis in East Africa which is affecting 13 million people.
Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga will be the first official to sign the charter at a press conference also attended by rock star-turned-humanitarian Bob Geldof and the United Nations' most senior humanitarian official, Valerie Amos.
The charter, which was drawn up by aid agencies and civil society...
Somali refugees in drought-hit Kenya brace for floods
Posted by AlertNet: Katy Migiro on September 14th, 2011
AlertNet: After running from drought and famine, some 200,000 Somalis living in the world's largest refugee camp in Kenya are likely to be hit by floods, the Kenya Red Cross said on Tuesday, warning that climate change is making it increasingly difficult to know where disaster will strike next.
The Kenya Red Cross predicts that 700,000 people in Kenya will need emergency aid, such as food and medical care, due to flooding between October and December. About 30,000 are likely to be displaced.
Most of...
Leaders of famine-hit Horn of Africa point fingers while they feast
Posted by AlertNet: Katy Migiro on September 13th, 2011
AlertNet: The band played a popular tourist tune as the wine flowed and the guests queued to pile their plates from the heaving buffet, offering a choice selection of meats and salads from one of Nairobi's finest hotels.
"Well, there's certainly no hunger here,' joked Jeffrey Sachs, the American economist famed for his theories on ending poverty, as he queued for lunch.
The Kenyan president, seated at the high table between the Ethiopian and Somali heads of state, looked bored, cleaning his teeth with...
Four ways to prevent famine in the Horn of Africa – experts
Posted by AlertNet: Katy Migiro on September 1st, 2011
AlertNet: Future famines in the Horn of Africa could be prevented by commercialisation of existing research findings and increased investment in livestock and agriculture, experts in Kenya said at the opening of a three-day meeting on the regional food crisis.
Almost 13 million people across Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti are experiencing hunger due to prolonged drought, with famine killing tens of thousands in the worst affected parts of Somalia.
"Livestock management and farming condition in...
Kenyans call for domestic action against drought
Posted by AlertNet: Katy Migiro on July 28th, 2011
AlertNet: A woman holds her malnourished child inside a ward at the Wajir district hospital, 800km (500 miles) north of Kenya's capital Nairobi, July 13, 2011. News that the number of Kenyans in need of food aid will increase from 2.4 million to 3.5 million by September has provoked calls for government dismissals and outpourings of shame in the Kenyan press.
Millions of people in the Horn of Africa have been plunged into a food crisis by severe drought. In Kenya, food shortages have reached critical levels...
Aid scant in Somalia’s “worst drought in 20 years”
Posted by AlertNet: Katy Migiro on May 14th, 2011
AlertNet: A Somali refugee carries water at the Dagahaley camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border, April 3, 2011. Hunger in Somalia is likely to worsen as "one of the worst droughts in recent memory' intensifies and humanitarian funding is scant, aid agencies said on Friday.
"This drought is so serious, worse than others in recent years, that even the camels in some communities are dying,' said Geno Teofilo of Oxfam Novib, one of the 31 agencies issuing Friday's statement.
"Some of them (Somalis)...
Online seed selection tool launched to help fight hunger in Africa
Posted by AlertNet: Katy Migiro on November 13th, 2010
AlertNet: The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has launched an online cropping calendar to guide the aid community in giving appropriate seeds in the wake of floods, droughts and other natural disasters.
Seed aid is a growing business, with private companies and donors ramping up their donations to developing countries in recent years.
"Where there is an emergency they need to know quickly when the next planting season is and what crops will be grown," an FAO spokeswoman told AlertNet....