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Lark Walters
Decision Support Advisor, Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) at Chemonics International
Lark Walters is the Decision Support Advisor for the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) at Chemonics International.13 In this role, Walters provides expert analysis and guidance on food security issues and famine risk in various regions.
Professional Responsibilities
As the Decision Support Advisor, Walters is involved in:
- Assessing and communicating famine risks in critical areas
- Providing analysis on food security situations
- Advising on humanitarian response strategies
For example, Walters has recently commented on:
- The confirmation of Famine (IPC Phase 5) in Sudan's Zamzam IDP Camp, emphasizing the urgent need for humanitarian assistance and an end to the conflict.2
- The historically high food assistance needs expected in Southern Africa in 2025, attributing this to the impacts of El Niño on harvests in the region.4
Contact Information
Walters can be reached through the following channels:
- LinkedIn: Username is larkwalters3
- Email: [email protected]
- Skype: larkwalters
- Mobile: 919-824-47425
Lark Walters appears to be a key figure in FEWS NET's efforts to monitor, analyze, and respond to food security crises and famine risks globally.
Highlights
ALERT from my team at FEWS NET: Food security in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya is likely to deteriorate in late 2020, driven by below-average rainfall from October to December (OND).
Food assistance needs in the Horn of Africa are already high, due to recurrent climatic shocks since 2016, the economic impact of COVID-19, desert locusts, and long-term factors. The region is vulnerable to crop failure and reduced livestock productivity in below-average rainfall seasons.
Three climate drivers elevate the likelihood of below-average rainfall: 1) enhanced Indo-Pacific sea surface temperature gradients; and increased likelihoods of 2) a La Niña and 3) a borderline negative Indian Ocean Dipole. La Niña would amplify the Indo-Pacific gradients, increasing the likelihood climatic conditions in OND 2020 may be similar to OND 2016, when poor rainfall resulted in drought.
Research also shows an elevated likelihood of below-average rainfall from March to May 2021. Two consecutive poor seasons would likely result in rapidly worsening acute food insecurity.
Governments and humanitarians should plan for heightened food assistance needs through at least early 2021 and possibly through late 2021.
https://lnkd.in/gKGfJ7q
"Globally, there has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. In the Horn of Africa, scientists have linked climate change to frequent drought conditions.
“Drought is a common disaster we’ve always faced, but the interval has changed. Before, it was a five to seven-year interval between [periods] when we experienced drought. Now that interval has decreased to one to two years,” he said.
A famine in southern Somalia in 2011 killed nearly 260,000 people, and another was narrowly averted in 2017. Northwestern Somaliland and Djibouti were also struck by an unprecedented cyclone last year, bringing a year's worth of rain in only a few days, which killed animals and flooded crops.
This year, rains started late and were insufficient, resulting in drought conditions across Somalia. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network estimates that 2.2 million people will experience crisis and emergency food insecurity through September.
In agropastoral areas, maize and sorghum production is expected to reach only about half of normal levels this year. Meanwhile, funding for food assistance is falling seriously short."
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