Increase forest respiration, thereby releasing further CO2 into the atmosphere (Adams, 2010). Drought differs from aridity, which is characterized by a dry climate with low precipitation and high evaporation losses. Coordinated actions of the international community are urgent in order to address the root causes of disasters and to significantly increase national, local and community capacities to reduce their vulnerabilities (ISDR, International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, 2007).
Australia drought in 2002, was the most severe drought in last 100 years, it was associated with El Niño1, the irregular warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean that occurs about once every three to seven years. Most major Australian droughts over the last 100 years are associated with El Niño (Trenberth, 1997).
The Horn of Africa drought crisis of 2011 affected 13 million people, pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities were the worst affected it mainly affected southern Ethiopia, south-central Somalia and northern Kenya (IFRC, 2012). The pastoralist core of the crisis was a challenge to Governments and humanitarian agencies that have weaker relationships and less developed humanitarian expertise with pastoralist communities than with agriculturalist communities, and that struggle to align necessary cross-border strategies (IASC, 2012). The drought of 2011—the driest year on record in many affected areas—struck deep into an already fragile economy. It ramped up a chronic livelihoods crisis into a tipping point of potential disaster by putting extreme pressure on food prices, livestock survival, and water and food availability. At the root of the crisis was a chronic vulnerability that saw many poorer pastoralist and farming communities facing almost constant crisis and regular shocks of various types (IASC, 2012).