Nairobi, Feb 11 (IANS): The European Union has provided $4.13 million to support a joint project to protect vulnerable communities in the Greater Horn of Africa from the devastating impacts of climate extremes, conflict, and displacement, the World Food Programme (WFP) said.

The project will support 450,000 vulnerable people in Ethiopia and Somalia for two years by reducing the impacts of forecasted shocks before they become crises through capacity strengthening of weather agencies to provide timely, accurate forecasts, enabling better community and government response, the UN agency said on Monday.

"Increasingly frequent and intense climate extremes such as droughts and floods are compounding existing drivers of hunger such as conflict, displacement and economic instability," Rukia Yacoub, WFP's deputy regional director for Eastern Africa, said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

"As livestock and crops perish, livelihoods are lost, and hunger deepens," the statement said. "Early action saves lives, builds people's resilience to face future crises, and eases the strain on limited humanitarian resources."

The project will be implemented by the WFP, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Climate Prediction and Applications Centre of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development and the Danish Refugee Council, according to the statement, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Horn of Africa, located in the easternmost part of Africa, is one of the world’s most conflict-prone and fragile regions. The Horn of Africa has a long history of protracted conflict, violent extremism, and weak governance and hosts a large number of refugees and internally displaced people. It is also one of the world’s poorest regions, with an estimated 57 million people living in extreme poverty.

The long-term impacts of COVID-19, climate change, protracted conflict, the war in Ukraine and reduced funding globally are all contributing to food insecurity in the Horn of Africa. The hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa is reaching unimaginable proportions as 23 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are highly food insecure and face severe hunger and water shortages. Relentless drought and high food prices have weakened people’s ability to grow crops, raise livestock and buy food for their families.