Ten million people in the Horn of Africa have been hit by the worst drought in 60 years, with some areas on the verge of famine and thousands on the march in seach of food and water, the UN said Tuesday.

A poor rainy season coupled with rising food prices have led to severe food shortages in countries including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda.

Cattle and sheep are dying at high

This report draws attention in countries that are particularly vulnerable to climate change. While producing the smallest amount of greenhouse gases, Africa is one of the continents most vulnerable to climate change, and with the greatest lack of adaptive capacity. Burundi and Somalia, which are the focus in the report, are considered among the ten most vulnerable countries in the world.

In 2007, the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC authoritatively established that human-induced climate change is accelerating and already has severe impacts on the environment and human lives. Although there is not a mono-causal relation between climate change, disasters, displacement and migration, the existence of a clear link between the phenomena is increasingly recognised.

For centuries, Adam Abdi Ibrahim's ancestors herded cattle and goats across an unforgiving landscape in southern Somalia where few others were hearty enough to survive. This year, Ibrahim became the first in his clan to throw in the towel, abandoning his land and walking for a week to bring his family to this overcrowded refugee camp in Kenya.

Governments are at their wits

The sun somehow feels closer here, more intense, more personal. As Philip Lolua waits under a tree for a scoop of food, heat waves dance up from the desert floor, blurring the dead animal carcasses sprawled in front of him.

Somalia and Sri Lanka are among the countries at greatest risk from climate change, while the US and Japan are within the top 15 nations least at risk.

Africa and much of South Asia face extreme risk from climate change but top carbon polluters will be relatively shielded from its ravages, according to a ranking of 166 countries obtained by AFP on Wednesday.

Sri Lanka is among much of South Asian and African nations that face extreme risk from climate change but top carbon polluters will be relatively shielded from its ravages, according to a ranking of 166 nations obtained by AFP yesterday.

The human impact of climate change

The number of people displaced by conflict and natural disaster in Central and East Africa is now more than 11 million, the United Nations said on Monday.

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