Midlands 103 Reporter Travels To The Horn Of Africa To Cover Drought And Flooding Issues

Reporter Lynsey Dolan has travelled to Somaliland, a country in north-eastern Africa.

Nine Irish independent radio stations have banded together to support coverage of the important international issues of drought and flooding, challenges which have long caused major disruption and hardship in the developing world, and which are increasingly impacting Ireland and Europe.
 
The independent stations decided to dispatch an experienced news reporter to cover the impact of climate change in the Horn of Africa.
 
Reporter Lynsey Dolan has travelled to Somaliland, a country in north-eastern Africa.
 
Somaliland is a semi-arid region, having experienced extended drought in recent years, as well as flooding.  Areas that the reporter will see in Somaliland include climate-smart agricultural techniques such as distributing drought-resistant seeds and tools, building dams, repairing gullies, harvesting rainwater, and work to limit damage when the floods arrive.
 
The visit is being co-ordinated with humanitarian organisation Concern. Concern's Richard Nunn said:  "Concern is working with these communities to help them adapt as the impact of climate change continues to intensify.  Our work includes climate-smart agriculture, supporting communities to access water, including rainwater harvesting and resilience building. We are currently working with communities to prepare for El Niño and to protect farmland from the devastating floods if and when they arrive."
 
"We warmly welcome the opportunity which this visit presents to explain to Irish radio listeners the scale of the challenge which climate change poses and the measures that can be taken to help those impacted by it."
 
Lynsey Dolan is highly experienced in covering Irish and international issues.  She works as a broadcaster with Newstalk, Today FM and Network News in Ireland, and has in the past covered issues in Africa.
 
Lynsey commented:  "Droughts and flooding are very important issues for those affected in Somaliland and it is great that listeners to the nine stations will be able to hear first-hand details from people on the ground."
 
The stations participating in this initiative are Midlands 103, Midwest Radio, KCLR 96FM, Radio Kerry, Radio Nova, Ireland's Classic Hits, Shannonside Northern Sound, South East Radio and WLR FM.  The stations are all Members of the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland.  Independent radio stations have a massive listenership reach in Ireland, and provide extensive public service content.
 
Lynsey Dolan saw first hand how climate change is affecting people's lives in this breakaway territory.

She has spent the past week visiting various projects in urban areas, where the impact is felt most, with the lack of water becoming a serious problem in small communities where people are suffering from the lack of rainfall, which is affecting their farms and families
 
 In a region called Baroma, one of the newest projects is a unique plan called the 'Watershed' 

The watershed is a project in a local community where people got together with a specialist brought in by Concern to see what could be done to harvest water.

An underground storage facility was built and dug by hand with picks and shovels; the debris from the work was moved by wheelbarrows.

The idea was when any rain came, the water flowed into the underground tank, where it was filtered and stored for the drought season, and would last communities up to 3 months, so there was access to fresh water.

I spoke with one of the workers, Umer, through an interpreter; this is how he describes life before the watershed: