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Bronwyn: I don't think things can change in the midst of chaos because everyone's fighting for survival in that mode and it's understandable why. The people in Somalia are not the ones contributing a lot to climate change themselves, they're feeling the impacts of it from other countries.
Narrator: Bronwyn Tucker is a professor of the Environmental and Sustainable studies department at Guilford College. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “climate risks are appearing faster and will become more severe sooner than previously expected”. This has led to a dramatic increase in extreme weather conditions such as droughts, floods, hurricanes, and wildfires. These impacts have left people in Somalia in a dire state with hundreds of thousands of people becoming displaced in search of food and water with over 4 million people currently facing acute food insecurity. This means every year over half of the population is left undernourished causing infant mortality rates and severe health problems such as malnutrition, malaria, and tuberculosis to skyrocket.
Bronwyn: In Somalia specifically there's been such a positive feedback loop of okay conflict and then crisis so I don't have enough food and I'm fighting for food and then I'm degrading the environment because of how I'm trying to get food or burn down trees to make fuel and that creates more conflict and shortage and then greater environmental degradation so it's all kind of moving toward that same path of challenge where if there was a moment where they could feel like they had enough and didn't have to fight for it maybe there could be a moment for a discussion about what could be next.
Narrator: The main concern is the ongoing malnutrition because it's such an immediate health concern nobody has the foresight to plan short term relief and long term sustainability to slowly reduce the problem all together. Data has consistently showcased Somalia’s extreme weather, facing major droughts and floods, but other issues such as their governmental system have created barriers to reduce food insecurity as well. According to the US government, Al-Shabaab is a terrorist clan militia that has violently fought for control over Somalia's federal government for decades. This has made it much harder for the government to implement long term infrastructure due to their lack of power and control. With the contagious outbreaks, droughts, food shortages, floods and other governmental safety issues it makes it nearly impossible to only tackle one issue at a time.
Bronwyn: Well I think if you asked anybody hungry they'd say please feed me first before we make long-term plans but that only lasts so long right? And there's that phrase you can give a man a fish or you can teach a man a fish and I think it's not even necessarily about teaching because these people know how to farm they know how to do these things but the world is changing around them and there's also a lot of conflict. If a country is struggling so much that they just can't meet their people's immediate needs that's when aid comes in so that they can then have the space to think long term and that's what's tough.
Narrator: Exactly these are everyday people who are clawing to meet their basic needs. They don't have time to be concerned with environmental impacts or long term effects. They're living one day at a time trying to support their families and themselves. And since 80% of the population is employed in agriculture and it's also 70% of its total GDP the lack of yield is extremely concerning for them. Somali people are forced to focus on themselves. The amount of food available is extremely limited and the food that is accessible in proximity is even more unattainable for them price wise. Evidence consistently shows that the changes needed to offset food insecurity are too large for the citizens to make themselves, it’s up to the government to make large-scale systemic reforms.
Bronwyn: I don't blame a lot of people in the world who are doing things that are really causing negative consequences to our planet when they're just trying to survive. I would do the same thing if it meant taking care of my children.
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Narrator: Programs from the European Commission and the United States have been supplying immediate relief for food and water but these programs won't help the country sustain itself long term because of the changing climate. And while the US provides aid, they contribute greatly to the issue of increased climate change as well. The aid they give can’t even compare to how much they influence the root problem. In 2020, China accounted for 27% of total greenhouse gas emissions and the US alone accounted for 13.5% globally as well. People don’t realize that it's not just huge corporations impacting climate change either. Their daily tasks like shopping, driving, and showering actually have an impact too. Not to mention the amount of food waste and overconsumption that accounts for 44% of the average household's yearly carbon emissions. There's multiple avenues of decreasing our personal carbon footprint, many of which have been successfully used in specific cities and even entire states.
Bronwyn: Live simply so that others may simply live. I love that idea of you know what do I need versus what i want and how do my wants impact others needs. So rather than being self-serving or taking more than you need if you have that sense of community that you want to take care of and then you trust that community even if you're only impacting your immediate area and you're not affecting the whole world I think to be sustainable you have to trust other people to kind of be in on the plan long term because when you're thinking about your immediate needs and just surviving who cares about tomorrow and the environment right but if you can trust that you have a community of people that will work together towards something that will be long term good you can make short term sacrifices as long as you're meeting your basic needs.
Narrator: A community of any size can work together to make change when there's trust and motivation within it. Despite China’s authoritative government many environmental activists have come together to protest their countries climate change impacts. We’ve also begun seeing examples of this in areas like Boston, Massachusetts as well where they've increased the use of public transportation by threefold, greatly reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by single family vehicles. Columbus, Ohio has also started initiatives to increase the amount of solar energy sources used creating 4000 jobs related to the projects as well. The United States and China must work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate global negative environmental impacts while Somalia must work to implement sustainable agriculture techniques so they can adapt to the damages that have already been done.
Bronwyn: The children growing up in those places are learning a lot by doing with their parents and maybe the internet's not as valuable but as climate change affects things and they have to adapt and maybe it will be valuable to see what other crops can be more drought resistant or water catchment methods to be more resilient when floods come and capturing some of that rain when the droughts coming in so education and information about infrastructure to support those types of fluctuating events would be valuable but in general I think the cultural knowledge is what we need to preserve.
Narrator: And agriculture is also very group effort based, one person isn’t maintaining an entire farm so community is vital. It’s important to recognize the impacts that individualism has when most of the agriculture in Somalia is maintained by family units. And agriculture knowledge is passed down informally through generations but the impacts of climate change make it a lot harder to adapt to the environmental changes. Utilizing sustainable farming techniques to bounce back the agriculture sector is the only thing that could truly reduce food insecurity rates as evidence shows increased rates of crop production in Africa when using them. The short term solutions have already been drained. Charitable aid just can’t continue at the rate Somalia needs it.
Bronwyn: If it is sustainable ag it has to be good for the earth and then it's going to be inherently good for you because if you're taking care of the soil and having strategies that improve the land the land's going to be more productive for you. Specifically I think Somalia could plant more vegetation that's protected so that it was helping to stabilize soils during their floods and also this would allow them to regenerate more renewable resources for fuel since they're using a lot of biomass or wood for cooking and heating and then having the extra vegetation would also help retain water so that when they have they have the rains it can be more deeply soaked into the ground and held in the ground so that when droughts come it's not so easily lost or it's not run off of the soil surface it can actually penetrate and all these things would lead to enhanced food production because you're having healthier soils.
Narrator: Utilizing the tree crops that are native to Somalia to protect other more sensitive crops is extremely helpful as it benefits multiple aspects of the land. According to the USDA, agroforestry protects other smaller crop species, helps reduce soil runoff, improves soil health, produces more food to harvest, and even reduces carbon and other greenhouse gases. This data has been consistent across the US and in other countries in Africa as well. Another option would be crop rotation which purposefully cycles specific crops that benefit each other one after the other.
Bronwyn: Especially as climate change becomes more prominent, it's important to seek out different types of crops that can be adaptable.
Narrator: Another humanitarian program that has been a huge success is the building of earth dams which store large amounts of the runoff water from the floods. Earth dams are one of the best infrastructures because they stop flooding in homes and farms and also store water for the drought seasons. Again, this can also prevent soil runoff too. While the capacity of these initiatives has been limited, with further donations even more of these are being built. The government must start implementing these programs if they want the possibility of recovering as a whole.
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Bronwyn: They're not the ones who are going to mitigate the climate change, they're going to be the ones that have to adapt and other countries are going to be the ones that have to make major changes that can actually mitigate or reduce the impacts of climate change.
Narrator: And that's exactly what we're seeing in countries like Somalia right now. Countries in the Global North like the United States and China need to seriously reconsider what federal regulations need to be put in place to mitigate climate change impacts so other countries stop feeling the damages. And like I mentioned before, people in both countries are pushing their governments to change with different initiatives and protests.
Bronwyn: You can create a little microcosm of good things happening and then if things go really well maybe you're an example for other communities or maybe another community can trust your community and you can work together. Because we're not looking out for others we're generally looking out for ourselves when we're taking action that is negatively impacting them. I don't want to make people feel guilty for what they've already been doing but help them feel empowered to do some things that might make changes in a positive direction.
Narrator: Because most people think that their individual actions can't have a ripple effect but one action can change a community which can change a town which can change a city and it just keeps expanding because change is achievable in any community. If people begin to realize the damage they are doing and strive to make change within their own community, we could have a healthier earth and that would help countries like Somalia achieve long term sustainability too. Maintaining earth dam infrastructures, kick starting community building initiatives, and helping farmers adapt to the weather are all things that can slowly build up the trust and wellbeing of the people in Somalia.
Bronwyn: I'm hoping that it's a success story where maybe the country figures out we're going to have to figure this out on our own and this is not how we want to live and we want to make sure we have resources for our people and innovate to be creative to adapt to climate change
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Narrator: This podcast was produced by Isabella Maietta for the Spring 2025 Global Health Course at Guilford College.