SWALIM’s Pivotal Function in Somalia’s Drought Crisis Management
Somalia confronts a critical drought situation after successive seasons with inadequate rainfall. On November 10, 2025, the Federal Government proclaimed a nationwide drought emergency as conditions extended across northern, central, and southern regions. Approximately 2.5 million residents currently inhabit drought-stricken areas, with 4.4 million individuals anticipated to experience acute food insecurity through December 2025. Circumstances are especially precarious in Puntland, where nearly one million people require assistance. Humanitarian efforts have been significantly hampered by insufficient funding, with emergency food aid decreasing from 1.1 million beneficiaries in August to merely 350,000 by November.
FAO SWALIM functions as the cornerstone of drought surveillance and early warning in Somalia. The Combined Drought Index (CDI) combines precipitation, temperature, and vegetation metrics to generate monthly drought severity evaluations. The November 2025 CDI assessment reveals severe to extreme drought conditions impacting nearly all livelihood zones in South and Central Somalia, portions of Puntland, and northwestern Somalilandcaused by substantial rainfall deficiencies and abnormally high temperatures. This assessment directly guides where humanitarian organizations implement water trucking and other emergency measures.
SWALIM’s strategic borehole monitoring platform delivers immediate data on water resources throughout the nation. Collaborators can obtain details on location, depth, operational status, water quality, yield, and cost for each boreholevital information for organizing water trucking operations as surface water sources have depleted. With the next precipitation not anticipated until March/April 2026, SWALIM’s information infrastructure continues to be essential for directing preemptive measures and ensuring limited resources target the most at-risk communities.