28 February 2017 – The United Nations last Monday said drought in the Horn of Africa “is generating a humanitarian crisis of alarming proportions”. In its latest sitrep, the UN World Food Programme says pasture and water resources are “critically low” across the region, resulting in significant livestock deaths and crop loss in Ethiopia, Somalia and northern and coastal Kenya.
Pastoralists are trekking further afield with their animals and “distress migration” is reported between or within Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda, where grain prices are rising.
A new drone shoot by the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) has illustrated the climate-related challenge facing northern Uganda, as well as the legacy of community-based actions to increase resilience developed from 2011 to 2015 as part of the Partners for Resilience (PfR) alliance (CARE Nederland, Cordaid, the Netherlands Red Cross, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, Wetlands International and their national partners who include the URCS).
Edit shows (with selected time-codes):
Otuke
(Pastoralists arriving from drier areas)
00:05 Cattle walking through the bush
-Herder with spear
-Cattle jump across dried-up brook
-Close-up of boy herder
-Pastoralists walking through the bush
-Longer shot of cattle grazing
Kotido
(Younger men have left for Otuke with their animals)
00:35 Soundbite (Langi) Lamar Oboya, 40, village elder from Lokomebu sub-county, translation: ‘There is no water [in Kotido] and it forces our animals to go to west to find water’
-Women sitting the shade
Abim
(Between Kotido and Otuke, on the pastoralist route)
00:47 Aerial shot along dried-up river
Kotido
(Virtually empty manyatta or settlement which pastoralists have quit because of lack of water)
01:02 Still of landscape
-Aerial across manyatta in Lokomebu sub-county
-Second directly overhead aerial of manyatta
Otuke
(Where many pastoralists are heading; darker areas have been burnt by herders to encourage grass)
01:24 High shot of wetland landscape
-Overhead of cattle moving
Soroti
01:52 General views of URCS PfR beneficiary Betty Among, 55, an orange-grower in Kamuda sub-county
-Soundbite (English) Betty: ‘If a drought comes I start preparing for planting my seeds. It helps me a lot on the side of money. You don’t use too much money, and it helps also on the side of nutrition.’
-Sequence of Betty tending to her orange grove
Katakwi
(Maintenance of rainwater-harvesting infrastructure by the Red Cross)
02:41 Aerial of ‘Ailikonye Valley Tank’, Ngariam sub-county, where URCS recently conducted de-siltation
-Soundbite (English) URCS staff Emmanuel Okiror: ‘We de-silted this valley tank basically on two proper reasons. First of all, to reduce the amount of water that reaches [floods] people’s households that would destroy people’s crops and houses. And also being a community that is pastoralist this facility be used as a watering point for the animals’
-Cutaway of livestock in the bush
-Soundbite (English) Charles Areba, farmer: ‘So the dam has helped us in various ways, especially economic activities. It helps us grazing animals, watering our animals’
-Cutaway of livestock drinking from the valley tank
-Sequence of flood-resistant houses being constructed after URCS guidance
Otuke
(Model farms)
03:55 Descending aerial over pineapple field starting to be planted (from the right)
-Farmer Patrick Okello, PfR CARE beneficiary, walking in field with pineapple
-Close-up of pineapple
04:13 Soundbite (Langi) Patrick, translation: ‘CARE helped us identify drought-resistant crops that can survive these harsh conditions. The weather has not been friendly, but we’re sure of earning something [with pineapples], winning bread at the end of the day, much as the general harvest is not good’
-Apiarist Teddy Akello, PfR CARE beneficiary, in her village (improvised hives behind her)
-04:43 Soundbite (Langi) Teddy, translation: ‘My fear is that with this dry spell the rain might resume late and it will affect farming. So I’m banking on the hives in case the bad weather continues. It’s honey we harvest and take to the market to sell and get money for our needs’
Amuria
05:28 Aerial across general drought-resistant cassava field
05:39 Aerial across PfR-supported (Cordaid) drought-resistant cassava field
Soroti
05:47 Fisherwomen working in wetland with wicker pots, catching mudfish and catfish
05:55 Close-up fisherwomen
05:59 Aerial across brick-making settlement in a seasonal wetland
06:08 Aerial across dried-up and burnt seasonal wetland
Amuria
06:15 Aerial depleted river whose banks have been settled by pastoralists
06:20 Ends
