Drought in Africa
Africa has faced regular drought conditions for centuries. The 1980
famine in Uganda was, in terms of mortality rates, one of the worst
in history. Nearly one quarter of the population died, including 60%
of the infants. In 1984 there was large scale drought that occurred in
Ethiopia and an estimated 900,000 people died as a result of the
famine.
Since 2000 droughts have continued with major food crises in Niger
in 2005-06, in the Horn of Africa in 2006, in West Africa in 2010 and
2012 and in Eastern Africa in 2011-2012.
In June 2012 it was estimated that 1.5 million children in the Sahel
region face starvation.
The effects of the drought
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Drought.jpg
© Tomas Castelazo 2007.
Student tasks
1. Click on the link to watch the video from March 2012, relating to a potential catastrophe in
the Sahel region of West Africa.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17308936
2. Read the article from January 2012, reporting the drought of 2011 in East Africa.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16606021
3. Read the article from March 2012 warning of a humanitarian disaster in West Africa.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17308913
4. Give reasons that have been suggested for the high death rates in East Africa in 2011.
5. List the reasons to explain why Oxfam has launched an emergency appeal for West Africa.
6. Explain how physical factors result in regular drought conditions in Africa.
7. Investigate human factors that contribute to the impact of drought conditions.
Start with this link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/weather_climate/weather_human_activit
y_rev6.shtml
8. Explain the difference between food aid and development aid.
9. Why is development aid considered to be more important for long
term sustainability?
10. Select either Oxfam or save the Children. Give examples of the
work they are doing in Africa today. Choose one project and prepare
a PowerPoint presentation to explain to your class why you think it is
so valuable.
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Drought in Africa
The countries of the Sahel
The shaded zone shows the approximate area of the Sahel using a northern limit of 200 mm and a
southern limit of 600 mm, of mean 20th century annual rainfall.
© T L Miles 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sahel_Map-Africa_rough.png
The climate of Agedez, Niger
Temp °C
Rainfall (mm)
Jan
20
0
Feb
23
0
Mar
27
0
Apr
31
1
May
34
6
Jun
34
9
Jul
32
41
Aug
31
72
Sep
32
13
Oct
30
0
Nov
25
0
Dec
21
0
Based on data from http://www.worldclimate.com
Rainfall variability in the Sahel 1900-2010
© Benedikt.Seidl 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sahel_rainfall_timeseries_en.svg
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Drought in Africa
Teaching notes
This activity can be used within topics covering water, drought, hazards, development and
sustainability etc.
The video clip and BBC articles provide up to date information and compare the drought and
resultant famine in West Africa to that of East Africa.
Students:









watch a video clip
read and answer questions based on BBC articles
investigate physical causes of drought
explain how human factors contribute to the impacts of drought
compare different types of aid
look at the work of Oxfam and Save the Children
consider sustainability
carry out internet research
present a project case study to the class.
Activity 5 can be used as a group or class discussion.
Activities 6 and 7 can be used as a group activity.
A data sheet has been provided as an optional second sheet for this resource. Specific activities
for the students have not been based on this page. Some suggested activities are:

Atlases or Google Earth/maps could be used to identify the countries of the Sahel. Similarly
Agedez could be located in Niger.

A climate graph could be drawn for Agedez using the provided climate data. Additional
climate statistics for Agadez, in Niger are available from:
http://www.worldclimate.com and/or
http://www.weatherbase.com/

The rainfall variability graph could be used to generate discussion as to the recent increased
frequency of droughts in the Sahel. Students may need an explanation of the scale where
positive index values, e.g. 1950-70 indicate wetter than average years and negative index
values, e.g. 1970 to 1990 the extremely dry years.
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