What can we do about drought?

Water shortages are getting worse with climate change. In the Horn of Africa, long periods without a rainy season have created a dire situation. The World Food Programme says up to 20 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia could be pushed into hunger by the end of the year. Somalia, which has already witnessed decades of conflict, extreme weather and disease outbreaks, is being particularly hard-hit.

Experts believe droughts will become more frequent, longer and more intense, so what can be done to reduce their impact and the damage they inflict? Could there be a global solution to this global problem?

Ruth Alexander speaks to Michael Dunford, the United Nations World Food Programme’s regional director for East Africa; Dr Balgis Osman-Elasha, a climate change and green growth expert and regional co-ordinator for the African Development Bank, in Tunisia; and emeritus professor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, Donald Wilhite, who founded the National Drought Mitigation Center in the United States.

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

(Picture: A woman standing next to her water containers and bottles of water. Credit: Getty/BBC)

Producer: Elisabeth Mahy