Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
3
Drought, famine and desertification
In recent years, the world's attention has been
drawn time and again to the Third World nations
of Africa, by the plight of millions of people who
are unable to provide themselves with food, water
and the other necessities of life. The immediacy
of television, with its disturbing images of dull-
eyed, pot-bellied, malnourished children,
skeletons of cattle in dried-up water courses, and
desert sands relentlessly encroaching upon once
productive land, raised public awareness to
unexpected heights, culminating in the
magnanimous response to the Live Aid concerts
of 1985. Not unexpectedly, given the
requirements of modern popular journalism and
broadcasting, coverage of the situation has often
been narrow, highly focused and shallow, lacking
the broader, deeper investigation necessary to
place the events in a geographical or
environmental framework. For example, the
present problems are often treated as a modern
phenomenon, when, in fact, they are in many
ways indigenous to the areas involved. The
inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa have suffered
the effects of drought and famine for hundreds
of years (see Table 3.1). It is part of the price
that has to be paid for living in a potentially
unstable environment.
Current episodes seem particularly
catastrophic, but they are only the most recent
in a continuing series. In dealing with the
situation, the media have tended to concentrate
on the problems of famine and its consequences,
while most of the aid being supplied has, of
necessity, been aimed at alleviating hunger.
However, while famine may be the direct cause
of the present suffering and hardship, it is, in
reality, a symptom of more fundamental
problems. Elements of a cultural, socio-economic
and political nature may contribute to the
intensity and duration of the famine, but, in areas
such as the Sahel, the ultimate causes are to be
found in the environmental problems associated
with drought and desertification. The former,
through its impact on plants and animals,
destroys the food supply, and initiates the famine;
the latter, with its associated environmental
changes, causes the productive land to become
barren, and ensures that the famine will persist,
or at least recur with some frequency. Together,
drought, famine and desertification have been
Table 3.1
Wet and dry spells in Africa south of the
Sahara
Source:
After Nicholson (1989)
