Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
theoretical, although most of the relationships
can be shown to be statistically significant.
Certainly, in the study of drougmht, it has not
been possible to establish physical relationships
which would allow increasing aridity to be
predicted with any accuracy. However, it seems
probable that future developments in drought
prediction will include consideration of
teleconnections, particularly those involving
time-lags, established in conjunction with the
improvement of general circulation models
(Oguntoyinbo 1986).
combination of drought and unsuitable
agricultural practices created desert-like
conditions.
Many of the problems associated with
drought, famine and desertification stem from
humankind's inability to live within the
constraints of an arid environment, and one
solution would be to restrict activities in drought-
prone regions. Given existing political, cultural
and socio-economic realities, such an approach
is not feasible in most of the affected areas.
Unfortunately, many of the alternative solutions
are short-term in their impact—of necessity in
many cases—and, in some areas at least, may be
setting up even greater difficulties in the years to
come. In short, solutions to the problems of
drought, famine and desertification are unlikely
to be widely available in the foreseeable future,
and the images generated throughout sub-
Saharan Africa in the last two decades are likely
to recur with sickening frequency.
SUMMARY
In many parts of the world, low precipitation
levels combine with high evapotranspiration
rates, to produce an environment characterized
by its aridity. Under natural conditions, the
ecological elements in such areas are in balance
with each other and with the low moisture levels.
If these change, there is a wholesale readjustment
as the environment attempts to attain balance
again. The early inhabitants of these areas also
had to respond to the changes, and, as long as
their numbers remained small and their way of
life nomadic, they coped remarkably well. As
human activities became more varied and
technologically more sophisticated, as the way
of life became more sedentary, and populations
increased, the stage was set for problems with
aridity. Environmentally appropriate responses
to aridity were no longer possible, and the effects
of drought were magnified. The failure of crops
and the decimation of flocks and herds caused
starvation and death. In some areas, the
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Mortimer, M. (1989)
Adapting to Drought:
Farmers,
Famines and Desertification in West
Africa,
Cambridge, Cambridge University
Press.
Royal Meteorological Society (1989) 'Special
Africa Issue':
Weather,
44(2):, London: Royal
Meteorological Society.
Steinbeck, J. (1958)
The Grapes of Wrath,
New
York: Viking Press.
UNCOD (1977)
Desertification: Its Causes and
Consequences,
Oxford: Pergamon Press.
