Madagascar drought pushing people into starvation

Madagascar has been hit by one of the worst droughts in the region in 40 years, affecting over 1 million people the United Nations has said, warning that the country is facing a severe humanitarian crisis that needs urgent attention.

2 million Kenyans face severe drought, with many at risk of starvation as a crippling drought stalks northern counties. Already many domestic livestock and wild animals have succumbed to thirst and hunger.

Climate change has led to a dramatic increase in droughts and floods around the world over the past 20 years, says the secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, presenting a report on the evolution of water issues related to climate.

In Madagascar, some of the country's highest authorities are accused of bankrolling teams to create fake profiles on Facebook which then share biased or false information for political gain. These fake Facebook accounts stir up controversy, sing the praises of President Andry Rajoelina and criticise journalists and opposition politicians. The communications minister, accused of playing a key role, denies any wrongdoing. Our correspondents report.

Some days, all Tsimamorekm Aly eats is sugary water. He's happy if there's a handful of rice. But with six young kids and a wife to support, he often goes without. This is the fourth year that drought has devastated Aly's home in southern Madagascar. Now more than one million people, or two out of five residents, of his Grand Sud region require emergency food aid in what the United Nations is calling a "climate change famine."

In northern Kenya, the ribs of dead sheep and donkeys stretch towards the blazing sun as parched herders trudge past, a day's march from water. The value of their skinny goats is falling as fast as the prices scrawled on the sacks in the market are shooting up. "Goats are unsellable, cows are even worse to sell and our children are starving," Moses Loloju, an Isiolo herder who volunteered to help distribute food donations from the county government. More than 465,000 children under five and over 93,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are malnourished in the northern region, the U.N. says.

While countries from all over the world gather for COP26, "climate change famine" shows no sign of abating in southern Madagascar, where crippling droughts have left families starving, paying what the United Nations describes as the "highest price" of malnutrition induced from climate change. Africa, responsible for just 3% of global emissions, is seen as the most vulnerable region to climate change, as evidenced by Madagascar's droughts this year . African leaders demanded at the Glasgow conference that wealthy countries responsible for the bulk of carbon emissions make good on an earlier pledge to provide $100 billion a year to help poorer countries cope. Climate change is battering the Indian Ocean island and several U.N. agencies have warned in the past few months of a "climate change famine" there. Rainfall patterns in Madagascar are growing more erratic – they've been below average for nearly six years, said researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

In September, Kenya declared the drought in the country a national disaster. Many users have used social media to show their support, with the hashtag #PrayforKenya. However, many of the images are out context, or just simply out of place. Also, did a movie from 1963 really predict the Omicron variant? We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

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The island of Madagascar is on the brink of a famine the UN says is caused by climate change. Farmers are forced to forage for food as their crops fail to grow.

Food insecurity in Kenya is a rapidly growing issue as the country's drought conditions could lead to an estimated 2.1 million citizens facing starvation, according to the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA). The dry conditions have impacted agricultural harvests that are an essential food source for Kenyans.

The tropical storm struck Madagascar's eastern coast at full force. Officials have warned it could inflict "significant and widespread damage."