Samira (16) looks out onto Qolodo camp near Gode in the Somali Region, Ethiopia. Her family owned 45 goats and 10 camels, all of which died during recent droughts.
The nomadic peoples of Ethiopia and Somalia depend on their livestock, migrating across their territory to pasture their animals. Recently, devastating droughts have pushed many nomadic families to the brink. Exacerbated by the climate crisis, the ongoing drought in Ethiopia is entering its sixth failed rain season, the worst in decades. Without water, there is no viable land for pasture. Millions of livestock living in the arid regions of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya have died in recent years, forcing many to abandon pastoralism and move to villages, cities and camps for internally displaced people. According to the Food Security and Nutrition Working Group (FSNWG), between 23 and 26 million people need emergency food assistance across Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.
With many families forced to abandon nomadism and seek aid in climate refugee camps, social structures are weakening, which leads to an array of mental health crises as well as increasing violence against women. Women in nomadic families are often responsible for finding water, and with water resources becoming more scarce, it is women who must bear the great physical and mental toll exacted by the ongoing crisis.
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