African sun splits piece by piece

Africa is still battling with darkness which presents itself to the continent in various anarchic ways. Despite the deep stance of defense and strong arms that do not want to let go its sharpest weapons and shields, it is slowly loosing its brightness and warmth.

Africa has brave soldiers namely, scientists, doctors, scholars and even social workers putting in all efforts to restrict death from crossing the line which could mean the extinction of lives.

Equivalently, darkness has its own soldiers specially trained to manifest themselves through poverty, disease, unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation, insecurity and unemployment with the commander- in -chief named, climate change.

Poverty and climate change

According to International Labor Organization, poverty is deeply entrenched in the world with nearly three billion people living on the equivalent of US$ 2 a day or less, 500 million in Africa, making up roughly three-quarters of the African population.

According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty in the some of the poorest villages on earth away from scrutiny and public eye of the world. They lack needs like proper diet, proper shelter and proper medical care.

On the other hand, the soldier named poverty and lack of access to alternative fuel sources makes 80 percent of Africa’s population to rely on bio-mass to meet domestic needs. Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia are good examples whose majority rural population relies on wood for fuel while over 80 percent of urban population depends on charcoal.

This trend sets a catalyst for climate change to open fire when trees are fell and none are replaced or rather what the scholars name, reforested. These trees are felled down for economic reasons in most African nations culminating from the long-term effects since the bombing by poverty. Forest management practices are facing endless hurdles especially when majority of the population depend on these forest resources.

Disease and climate change

Even though it is expedient not to generalize issues that are not duly proven, disease has been implicated by many writers as a problem enhanced by climate change. Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world.

Health implication of climate change is essential in Africa where control of diseases has been and is still awkward in some nations because of poverty prevalence, inadequate health facilities, availability of few health practitioners and poor administration.

Health decay in these places may be exacerbated by climate change impacts. An increase in temperature along with adequate rainfall, for example, enhances the spread of malaria and dengue.

Malaria is one of Africa’s worst endemic diseases of the tropical and poor countries. According to UNDP, every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide.

On the other hand an estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS.

Water, sanitation and climate change

World wide, water problems affect half of the human population.  In developing countries, one billion people have inadequate access to water. Rivers are running dry, rainfall is hardly predictable and when it rains, the disaster at hand is inevitable.

The World Health Organization has estimated that climate change over the past 30 years may have led to the death of 150,000 annually and posited that climate change may lead to malnutrition, infectious diseases and diarrhea.

Millions of women spend several hours day collecting water for domestic use while close to half of all people in developing countries suffering at any given time from a health problem is caused by water and sanitation deficits. Many households in Africa lack access to clean piped water.

Sadly to say, Africa sees close to two million children dying yearly as a result of water borne disease specifically diarrhea.

Just alike, education is a key asset in gaining employment value as well as economic development; 443 million school days each year are lost due to water related cases.

Relatively, slum dwellers experience the worst kind of problems related to disease due to lack of proper sanitation and drainage systems. When rainy seasons begin, cases of cholera, typhoid and diarrhea are widely common, with alarming rates of infections and deaths.

Insecurity and climate change

Political scientists say that in order for a state to function efficiently and effectively, it needs to coordinate four capabilities namely; Regulative, defensive, rejuvinative, symbolic and extractive functions.

Mostly, in Africa, failed states have always been able to foster one or two of these functions while those that are still fighting their way to being stable lack one or two of these functions.

The functioning of each state depends on its people and resources. Therefore, unfavourable impacts on the people and resources will affect state functioning.

When climate change elicits food insecurity, drought, diseases, and poverty, state and regional stability must also be affected.

For example, according a UNEP report on the Sudan-Dafur conflict, it suggests that the conflict has been catalyzed by climate change and environmental degradation. Changes in climate resulting to desertification have tremendously increased pressure on land and water resources.

Consequently, historical enmity on religious or racial grounds has emanated forcing people to migrate into areas occupied by others. Thus, even though climate change may not be the direct cause of conflict, its contributory role must be understood and avoided.

While the African sun still shines each day, it is only a matter of time before cracks of darkness start clouding the rays of hope that illuminates each person’s hopes. It is inevitable that we find solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change based on the realities of the people on the grass root level.

 

African sun splits piece by piece

Africa is still battling with darkness which presents itself to the continent in various anarchic ways. Despite the deep stance of defense and strong arms that do not want to let go its sharpest weapons and shields, it is slowly loosing its brightness and warmth.

Africa has brave soldiers namely, scientists, doctors, scholars and even social workers putting in all efforts to restrict death from crossing the line which could mean the extinction of lives.

Equivalently, darkness has its own soldiers specially trained to manifest themselves through poverty, disease, unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation, insecurity and unemployment with the commander- in -chief named, climate change.

Poverty and climate change

According to International Labor Organization, poverty is deeply entrenched in the world with nearly three billion people living on the equivalent of US$ 2 a day or less, 500 million in Africa, making up roughly three-quarters of the African population.

According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty in the some of the poorest villages on earth away from scrutiny and public eye of the world. They lack needs like proper diet, proper shelter and proper medical care.

On the other hand, the soldier named poverty and lack of access to alternative fuel sources makes 80 percent of Africa’s population to rely on bio-mass to meet domestic needs. Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia are good examples whose majority rural population relies on wood for fuel while over 80 percent of urban population depends on charcoal.

Dry lands in dry times

This trend sets a catalyst for climate change to open fire when trees are fell and none are replaced or rather what the scholars name, reforested. These trees are felled down for economic reasons in most African nations culminating from the long-term effects since the bombing by poverty. Forest management practices are facing endless hurdles especially when majority of the population depend on these forest resources.

Disease and climate change

Even though it is expedient not to generalize issues that are not duly proven, disease has been implicated by many writers as a problem enhanced by climate change. Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world.

Health implication of climate change is essential in Africa where control of diseases has been and is still awkward in some nations because of poverty prevalence, inadequate health facilities, availability of few health practitioners and poor administration.

Health decay in these places may be exacerbated by climate change impacts. An increase in temperature along with adequate rainfall, for example, enhances the spread of malaria and dengue.

Malaria is one of Africa’s worst endemic diseases of the tropical and poor countries. According to UNDP, every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide.

On the other hand an estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS.

Water, sanitation and climate change

World wide, water problems affect half of the human population.  In developing countries, one billion people have inadequate access to water. Rivers are running dry, rainfall is hardly predictable and when it rains, the disaster at hand is inevitable.

The World Health Organization has estimated that climate change over the past 30 years may have led to the death of 150,000 annually and posited that climate change may lead to malnutrition, infectious diseases and diarrhea.

Millions of women spend several hours day collecting water for domestic use while close to half of all people in developing countries suffering at any given time from a health problem is caused by water and sanitation deficits. Many households in Africa lack access to clean piped water.

Sadly to say, Africa sees close to two million children dying yearly as a result of water borne disease specifically diarrhea.

Just alike, education is a key asset in gaining employment value as well as economic development; 443 million school days each year are lost due to water related cases.

Relatively, slum dwellers experience the worst kind of problems related to disease due to lack of proper sanitation and drainage systems. When rainy seasons begin, cases of cholera, typhoid and diarrhea are widely common, with alarming rates of infections and deaths.

Insecurity and climate change

Political scientists say that in order for a state to function efficiently and effectively, it needs to coordinate four capabilities namely; Regulative, defensive, rejuvinative, symbolic and extractive functions.

Mostly, in Africa, failed states have always been able to foster one or two of these functions while those that are still fighting their way to being stable lack one or two of these functions.

The functioning of each state depends on its people and resources. Therefore, unfavourable impacts on the people and resources will affect state functioning.

When climate change elicits food insecurity, drought, diseases, and poverty, state and regional stability must also be affected.

For example, according a UNEP report on the Sudan-Dafur conflict, it suggests that the conflict has been catalyzed by climate change and environmental degradation. Changes in climate resulting to desertification have tremendously increased pressure on land and water resources.

Consequently, historical enmity on religious or racial grounds has emanated forcing people to migrate into areas occupied by others. Thus, even though climate change may not be the direct cause of conflict, its contributory role must be understood and avoided.

While the African sun still shines each day, it is only a matter of time before cracks of darkness start clouding the rays of hope that illuminates each person’s hopes. It is inevitable that we find solutions to mitigate and adapt to climate change based on the realities of the people on the grass root level.

 

Socially drought demeans, economically aid is politicized

Young children in the drought stricken countries in horn of Africa are likely to suffer the long effects of malnutrition including poor brain development.

Health officials working at the refugee camps say that most young children arrive at the camp exhausted, weak with intense malnutrition and diarrhea. They have to be fed intravenously because they cannot eat solid food.

The UN has appealed for another 1.4 million dollars to combat the drought in the coming three months, whereas more than 12 million people are at risk of death and starvation.  The UN has also declared three more parts of Somalia as famine struck areas including the capital city of Mogadishu.

Women have had to walk for as much as 400km in order to arrive at the world’s biggest refugee camp, Daadab. Upon arrival at the camp, the situation is not as easy as they thought because of the increasing number of refugees trickling in the camp by thousands.

Halima, who has come all the way from Mogadishu, holds her three year old daughter very tenderly in her arms. Her child is malnourished, weak, diarrheas and vomits the little she can take in. Halima says she is just clinging to a wish that her child will survive.

“Many innocent people are dying including children. I have come all the way from Mogadishu because the situation there is too difficult. I cannot express what is happening there in words,” she said.

Halima is just one among the many who are facing the brunt of famine. Many have buried their children and are too stressed to talk about it. At a distance one can clearly see tiny graves of children who did not survive.

Most media houses, NGOs and other donor organizations cite it as the worst droughts since the 1950s and security concerns in southern Somalia as the main reasons for the crisis.

It is clear that countries must act immediately to address the crisis in the Horn of Africa, while the agencies involved should work to ensure immediate supply and distribution of food aid. In that regard, the same countries should work towards finding the underlying causes of the crisis as they seek longer-term solutions.

Drought is not a new environmental condition for much of Africa but a recurring one. While climate change may be exacerbating the crisis, the semi-arid Horn of Africa has long experienced erratic rainfall.

Nonetheless, traditional livelihoods in the region are making it a practice in their daily lives to better deal with situations when rainfall is not dependable. They are unfolding their conservative practices to better attain food security in the region.

Long distances in search of water

For instance pastoralists in the Northern parts of Ethiopia are selling off cows and donkeys to buy animals that are more resistant to drought such as sheep, goats and camels. Others have decided to embrace farming and use conserved water to irrigate their crops during dry times.

The practice works but the main challenge falls under the prices whereby cows are becoming cheaper than goats and sheep making it difficult for most pastoralists to afford the change of livestock.

“If the government or any other agency could sell us animals like sheep and goats and at the same time buy our cattle, it would be better to survive in these tough times,” said Yael, who has been a pastoralists for most of his adult life.

Just last year, KTN- Kenya’s private media house- aired news on how some communities were so inflicted by hunger that they had to kill man’s best friend, the dog and survive on its meat for up to three days. Life is never easy in these parts of the world.

This could have been a warning sign that things were turning for the worst, but during that time, scandals were all over the region. Food aid was being politicized, some was being stolen by people in charge and some sold to make profits.

Experts claim that influence from the West especially the US is what makes the situation worse in Somalia. According to them, food aid was always given without discrimination in most parts of Somalia but nowadays, the US is making a point of blocking food aid to reach or be distributed in areas dominant by the Al shabaab.

Consequently, many innocent people living within the domain of Al Shabaab influence are suffering the brunt of some policy makers.

Whereas some travel long distances to get whatever food aid they can, some are less fortunate and are killed while trying to escape the strongholds of the terror group, others succumb to the ferocious pangs on drought. These are lives that can be saved if only these Western entities could make decisions based on the moral of humanity.

Africa should not be blamed for what is happening to us, the droughts and famine especially in the horn of Africa used to exist but let us not forget that communities used to adapt to them through various means and support.

So why this is happening as the worst drought in nearly 60 years is further enhanced by climate change in which Africa contributes less.