Living Climate Change 2025: stories from East Africa

Across Eastern Africa, severe climate events, including drought and flooding, are driving . Families find that their traditional ways of life, such as farming and herding animals, are at risk from long droughts followed by torrential flooding - with often devastating impact.

Our 2025 Living Climate Change film series highlights the human impact of climate change in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia - displacing and dividing families, and contributing to child marriage. It also examines people's efforts to understand, adapt and respond to this new and difficult reality.

We're working across all three countries to understand how people perceive and are impacted by climate change in their everyday lives, and what solutions they see for adapting and coping. And we're working with local broadcasters and climate scientists to ensure that audiences receive timely, accurate, trustworthy information in ways that make sense and allow them to take action to protect their lives and livelihoods.

Paul鈥檚 story, Kenya
Paul, a farmer in Samburu County, Kenya, lives with his wife and seven children. In 2020, he lost 14 of 15 cows and all his goats but one to severe drought - leaving his family without food or income, and driving his decision to send his 13-year-old daughter to be married in exchange for a dowry. Now, bitterly regretting his decision, his hopes are pinned on eldest daughter Ng鈥檃sunye as she works to finish her secondary education and improve her job prospects.
Maka's story, Ethiopia
Maka Musa is a mother of 12 living in Gulufa village, southern Ethiopia. She remembers when farming flourished with abundant harvests of sorghum, barley, onions, and green peppers. But because of reduced rainfall linked to a changing climate, their way of life has been severely impacted.
Mohamed's story, Somalia
Mohamed talks about how his family were forced to move from a rural area to the city of Hargeisa because of the changing climate, which made farming impossible. He talks about his struggles to find work and hopes for the future..
Jawar's story, Ethiopia
Jawar Umer in Gorbo Kebele, Mieso District recalls how his family once enjoyed a good life with plenty of milk, butter, and a thriving farm. However, amid severe drought linked to climate change, their cattle herd has decreased from 30 to just one, and they now rely on aid to survive. Water is scarce, rivers are drying up, and crop cultivation has become challenging. Jawar says that with the right support to adapt, his family could have avoided migration, maintained their farm, and ensured their children could attend school.

Our Living Climate Change project is supported by . DOWN2EARTH is an EU Horizon 2020 Project funded under grant agreement No 869550

Watch more from Living Climate Change

Mosquitoes in the mountains, Nepal
Mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases like malaria used to be confined to low-lying areas of Nepal. But in the last three years, there have been over 900 cases of malaria in the mountain regions. Parbati Bhat, who has been a community health volunteer for 38 years, says treating malaria cases has now become a new part of her role.
The flood that took everything, Kenya
The consequences of extreme and unpredictable weather conditions can take a severe toll on mental health, as well as physical health. Pastoralist Lomilio Ewoi Erot lost his livelihood when his herd of hundreds of goats was swept away in a flood; he speaks of his struggles with mental health after becoming unable to provide for his family.
Feeling the heat, Bangladesh
Increasing temperatures, particularly in big cities like Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, have profound effects on human health. Nazma Begum, who lives in a slum in Dhaka, described the impact of working 14 hours a day in an overheated garment factory, while others suffer from skin conditions and heatstroke.
When snow becomes rain, Nepal
Climate change is destabilising food production in many parts of the world. Angyel Jung Bista, an apple farmer in the village of Kabgeni in Nepal, struggles to grow apples as warmer weather, heavy rainfall and floods pollute the water, prevent apples from growing, and contribute to the spread of waterborne diseases.
The long walk to water, Kenya
Pregnant Kenyan mother Esther Elaar walks over two hours a day to get to a water source, then carries a heavy, 20-litre jerrycan all the way home again. Prolonged droughts and changing weather patterns driven by climate change have made everyday life an increasing struggle for people in northern Kenya. Women in the region have noticed an increase in miscarriages and stillbirths which they attribute to the extreme conditions.
Salt in the water, Bangladesh
In coastal regions in Bangladesh, increased levels of salt in fresh water are contributing to reproductive health problems and cardiovascular diseases. Shabjan Begum, who lives in a fishing village on the southern coast reliant on the saline water for food, water and fishing, knows these health risks first-hand, through her own experience and that of her family and neighbours.