In the years and decades to come, Africa will be the continent most impacted by climate change even though it has contributed the least, according to the Earth Day Network.

The 54 countries of Africa emit only less than 4 percent of global greenhouse gases, compared to the United States which emits nearly 20 percent.

“But despite these low emissions, climate change is wreaking havoc on Africa,” reports the Earth Day Network.

This Earth Day, April 22, marks its 50th anniversary and sponsors are hoping the people of Africa will make it the largest environmental movement on the continent.

At Bread and Water for Africa® we have watched with growing concern annually for the past several years how severe drought and other detrimental effects have impacted agricultural projects by our partners in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, and elsewhere.

Thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa®, we have been able to provide financial assistance to our partner in Zimbabwe, Shinga Development Trust, which operates a gardening operation to provide fresh vegetables and fruits to the children of its Lerato Children’s Village, even during these years of severe drought.

In Kenya, we have worked to assist the Baraka Farm grow produce for the orphaned children at the Lewa Children’s Home and sell the surplus in the local markets to supplement the home’s income.

In Ethiopia, over the years we have partnered with the Yeteem Destitute Children and Mothers Fund to address the severe drought in the Afar region which has decimated crops and killed countless thousands of livestock.

And in Sierra Leone, we have long partnered with Faith Healing Development Organization to promote agriculture, most recently assisting hundreds of female farmers make the best use of their small tracks of land, even in these times of unreliable rainfall.

In addition, it’s not just sub-Saharan Africa that is being impacted by severe drought, but southern Africa as well where climate anomalies suppressed rains in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and other countries in the southern portion of the continent.

And it all that wasn’t bad enough, according to Newsweek February 13, 2020 report, “parts of Africa are currently facing the worst locust swarms in more than a generation, with swarms the size of cities sweeping across countries including Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. The largest swarm recorded so far has been 37 miles long and 25 miles wide.”

in February Kenya suffered a locust invasion of Biblical proportions destroying crops, the worst outbreak in 70 years, reported The New York Times.

At Bread and Water for Africa®, of course we cannot control the weather and hope that the regular rainy seasons that African farmers have relied on for countless generations resume soon.

But what we can do, as we have always done, is provide our partners helping to ensure food security to thousands through self-sufficiency despite the uncertainty that has been facing them for the past several years.

On this Earth Day, we are calling on you to help us educate African farmers how to best manage their land and crops in these troublesome times, and to promote positive and sustainable changes to protect the earth that we all live on.

And at Bread and Water for Africa, every day is Earth Day and today we join with the Earth Day Network in a call to action to rise up and engage the public to educate the people about the severe climate issues facing the entire African continent.

For more information, please visit https://www.earthday.org/africa/.