VIDEO - Faced with what locals say is the worst drought in a decade, Somali herders who lost their flocks to starvation are moving to the Somaliland town of Berbera. There they are joined by another kind of refugee -- people fleeing fighting in the south. But the port's ageing infrastructure delivers barely enough water for its ever-expanding population. Duration: 01:46 (AFPTV / R. Elmendorp)

By Boris Bachorz – Thu Nov 26, 6:15 am ET NAIROBI (AFP) – From prolonged droughts to melting ice caps to heavy flooding and unpredictable weather patterns, climate change effects are already wrecking lives in Africa, the continent that pollutes the least. Around 23 million people currently face starvation across east Africa as successive failed rainy seasons have decimated crops, livestock and devastated livelihoods. Residents of Turkana, a region of northern Kenya withered by severe drought, recently found respite when an NGO bought off their emaciated livestock and slaughtered them to feed the starving. “It’s the worst drought since 1969, the year when the dromedaries died,” recalled Esta Ekouam, a grandmother who has no idea how old she is. Across the border in Ethiopia, poor harvests have left millions at the mercy of relief aid. “The weather has changed, it’s not as it used to be before,” lamented Tuke Shika, a farmer in southern Ethiopia. “The rains are increasingly erratic and we are getting less and less yields.” Experts say the east African drought is the worst in decades. …

Climate change already a reality in Africa