Food Security Outlook in Eastern and Horn of Africa reg

Food insecurity in the eastern Horn of Africa is expected to worsen as a result of less rain than previously forecast falling in the key March-to-May season. The US Agency for International Development's Famine and Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) warned [ http://www.fews.net/docs/Publications/SR_EA_MarchMay_Forecasts3_040312.pdf ] that rainfall in this period would be 60-85 percent of the long-term average and that there was a 30 percent chance of the lower figure materializing. "An expansion in the size of the food insecure population and an increase in the severity of food insecurity is likely," FEWS NET said in an 3 April report. The report warned of "significant impacts on crop production, pasture regeneration, and the replenishment of water resources" in a region that in 2011 suffered one of its worst drought-related food crises in decades. March to May is the major rainfall season for pastoral and agricultural areas of northern Kenya and Ethiopia and parts of Somalia, and accounts for 50-60 percent of annual rainfall in the region. In an effort to prevent future weather shocks translating into new humanitarian crises, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional body, and international development partners, have launched an initiative to strengthen resilience in the region. "We have mobilized funds [US$340 million] to support resilience programmes, and while the problems cannot be solved overnight, it is important to appreciate the need for long-term investments in such areas as education, water, and the need to identify problems early and deal with them in good time. People need to be helped to recover quickly from disasters," Kristalina Georgieva, European commissioner for international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response. Political commitment from IGAD member countries, apart from development partners' support, will play a crucial role in creating sustainable solutions to help people cope with the effects of the region's recurrent droughts, according to Sileshi Getahun, Ethiopia's minister of agriculture, in whose country some 3.2 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Time to "stand up and be counted" "We [regional governments] can't talk about the same thing [drought] over and over and yet do nothing to help people. This is the time for regional governments to stand up and be counted," Sileshi said. The UK's development minister, Stephen O'Brien, said: "Resilience programme support is an important part of humanitarian support and response and provides a more sustainable way to deal with disasters." Among things to be prioritized will be the provision of drought-resistant seeds, water, education, investing in weather forecasting technology, and scaling up nutrition programmes. Solving the various conflicts in the Horn of Africa, which have seen thousands of people displaced and many more killed, will be crucial in improving the ability of people in the region to be resilient in the face of disasters, Mahboub Maalim, executive secretary of IGAD, said. "In the face of disasters like drought and famine, people's livelihoods are disrupted and efforts towards halting the various conflicts we see [in the Horn of Africa] cannot be ignored, because people can't cope when conflicts persist," he said.

The Question of Common property Regime in Kenya

Kenya public property are so often than not manage in a disintegrated and isolation. The issue in question is the ongoing debate regarding the Nairobi Northern Bypass; the government intends to build connecting Mombasa Road to Langata Road in Nairobi. Listening to the argument fronted by the conservationist and the government, one may wonder what exactly happen to the common property regime in Kenya. Road is a public property, government does not build the road to use, Road are build by the government to be used by the citizen of Kenya who ideally are the subject of the government under the law. Likewise, the game parks are also the property of the citizens of Kenya and are statutory managed by the government on behalf of the good citizen of Kenya. It is therefore safe to justify that both the road and the game park are common properties which the government are entrusted to manage and maintain on behalf of citizen of Kenya The problem The conflict we have witness manifest in heated debate whether the part of the game park ought to be ceased for the constructions of the bypass is a sign of failure by the both government and the conservationist to adhered and recorgnise common property in Kenya. A property right is the exclusive authority to determine how a resource is used, whether that resource is owned by government, collective bodies, or by individuals. All economic goods have a property rights attribute. This attribute has four broad components: 1. the right to use the good 2. the right to earn income from the good 3. the right to transfer the good to others 4. the right to enforcement of property rights. The concept of property rights as used by economists and legal scholars (see property for the legal concept) are related but distinct. The distinction is largely seen in the economists' focus on the ability of an individual or collective to control the use of the good. For example, a thief who has stolen a good would not be considered to have legal (de jure) property right to the good, but would be considered to have economic (de facto) property right to the good It is therefore follows that property such as road and game park are not only common property but also very important. Citizen of Kenya ought to see how the common property regime can be included in property use in Kenya. The selective and isolation kind of property management in Kenya only hurt our economy and does not add value to the livelihood of Kenya. I reckon that the game park is important, but also aware that the road is equally as important as the game park.