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Ecological Degradation
The role we play and its effect on the people of Kenya
As we speak, Kenya is undergoing the worst drought it has experienced in its fifty years since independence. Some of the worst struck areas have not seen rain in over a year and a half, and according to OXFAM, the regions of East Africa and the Horn have experienced drought conditions for a crushing five years. In Kenya, the second consecutive failure of harvests throughout the country means that widespread famine is expected next year.
Few people now seriously question that global warming is a major factor in the deteriorating environmental situation in East Africa. While drought has always been a factor in this part of the world, but food emergencies in sub-Saharan Africa occur three times more often now than in 1985 (OXFAM). According to the most recent World Bank report, the developing world will bear the brunt of the damage brought on by global warming over the next fifty years (75-80%) even though it produces less than a third of all greenhouse emissions (of which sub-Saharan Africa is less than 4%). Please take a moment to think of all the decisions you’ve made over the last five years that have resulted in huge amounts of carbon being released into the environment: taking a plane ride, getting in a car, purchasing things that have been transported from abroad). Statistically speaking, the child who will not survive this ongoing drought brought on by global warming in East Africa will have contributed thousands of times less carbon emissions than the average child born in the West, who will remain largely unaffected.
The point being that the moral call to action is particularly strong when it comes to food security and drought resistance in East Africa, because we are part of the problem. It is important that we all make decisions that reduce our carbon footprint, as this will mitigate the harm we do to the people most affected by global warming in the future. But reduction is only half the answer, because half the damage is already done. Alleviating that harm will require taking concrete steps to improve the ability of those most vulnerable to adapt to an environment which has already changed. That will mean investing in systems that improve drought resistance such as irrigation and water catchment, facilitating the ability of farmers to switch to drought resistant strands of their crops, and the development of famine early warning systems. T he nations of East Africa cannot do this by themselves, nor should they. The causes of this problem are global, and it requires a global response.
References and Further Readings:
http://www.oxfam.ca/what-we-do/emergencies/horn-of-africa-food-crisis-2008
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/217/46236.html
http://green.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090929/sc_afp/climatewarmingunassistancenetherlands.html
http://en.chinagate.cn/economics/wb/2009-09/16/content_18537502.htm
http://www.iied.org/human-settlements/media/study-shatters-myth-population-growth-major-driver-climate-change
For a powerful view into how global warming is destroying the way of life of Kenya’s pastoralist people (the Turkana and Maasai):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8321575.stm
In the spirit of not telling the one story, please remember that the reality depicted in this video is particular to Kenya’s pastoralist peoples who make up 18% of the population. When watching videos like this, it is important to bear in mind that it does not apply to the remaining 82% who have very different, more industrialized way of life and who struggle with drought in their own way. |
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