Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
assessment was trying to prevent the problems from getting worse, and could also be
used to try to prevent similar impacts in future refugee camps. Second, it is a form of
SEA. It takes a broad-brush view of an issue affecting an entire country, and does not
focus on site-specific problems. The solutions that it proposes are similarly large-scale.
The case study also highlights the interrelationships between social and environmental
impacts. This is often particularly striking in developing countries where social customs
have evolved over thousands of years to help preserve environmental capacities. In such
circumstances, social disruptions can lead to severe environmental repercussions and
vice-versa. This case study is heavily based on UNEP et al. (2000) and ReliefWeb
(2001).
9.9.2 The problem
Guinea is a western African country the size of the UK, with 7.7 million inhabitants. It is
one of the world's poorest countries, with a life expectancy of under 50 years. Since
1989, Guinea has had a steady influx of refugees from the neighbouring countries of
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau due to conflicts in those countries. About
400,000 refugees lived in Guinea in 2001. 1 In contrast to many other countries, which
have settled refugees in large segregated camps, with corresponding alienation between
citizens and refugees, in Guinea the refugees were generally allowed to settle
spontaneously and peacefully around local towns and villages, leading to dispersed
settlement patterns. Many Guinean households accommodated refugees, and the situation
was, until recently, one of social integration and peaceful cohabitation. Many refugees
lived near their country of origin, in the south-east and south-west of Guinea.
The large influx of people has presented Guinea not only with an economic burden—
Guinea was able to balance its national budget before the refugee crisis but is no longer
able to do so—but also with an environmental one. In rural areas the higher demand for
natural resources such as arable land, wood and water caused by the greater population
has led to:
• shortening of the fallow period. Traditional bush management allowed for long fallow
periods to restore soil fertility, but increasing demand for arable land has shortened
this, leading to soil depletion, reduced yields and generally unsustainable agricultural
practices;
• conversion of swamps into agricultural areas. This has affected streams and water
sources. For instance, clearing of trees for the Kaliah refugee camp resulted in the
drying up of the water source for the nearby village of Berecore. It may also affect
migrating birds;
• destruction of the forest cover and forest degradation because the present rate of wood
taken for charcoal, firewood and construction materials does not allow the biomass to
recover: it is not sustainable; and
• loss of indigenous plant and animal species due to destruction of the forest ecosystem,
the practice of burning grassland and bushes to clear land for cultivation and
intensified hunting to meet food demands for the larger population.
In urban areas the environmental problems include:
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