CSU #5

CSU #5 Agriculture

Article Title:  When the desert devours the lake

Dated: April 6, 2013

Published in the Toronto Star

By:  Raveena Aulakh

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/04/06/when_the_desert_devours_the_lake.html

Summary

Aulakh’s article is about desertification using Lake Chad as one example. Lake Chad, a freshwater lake, located on the edge of the Sahara Desert spans four countries Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria.  In the 1960s, Lake Chad was 38,000 square kilometres. Now, Lake Chad is a fraction of what it once was at 1,300 square kilometres. The reason for the rapid reduction in lake size is because of the Sahara desert, which is steadily growing and moving south at a rate of about 48 kilometres per year. This trend is causing malnutrition, mass migration, conflict and deaths.

                  Aulakh interviews several experts who support the idea that desertification is one of the most visible impacts of climate change and a global issue that should be taken very seriously. The impacts of desertification are far reaching. Desertification is permanent. Land that was once fertile can no longer be used to grow crops or graze animals, and is ultimately abandoned. Desertification is not only the result of climate change, but has other contributing factors such as over cultivation, overgrazing, deforestation, damming of rivers that feed lakes for hydroelectric schemes and poor irrigation techniques.

Desertification is occurring around the globe, but is a more severe problem in Africa because climate varies so greatly, no access to fertilizers to restore soil nutrients due to poverty and because of high population. Villages have disappeared and their inhabitants have been forced to migrate to the cities where live is often worse. When people do not leave their villages, conflict over pastures and wells occur.

There are few plans in place by governments to address the problem. There is a UN organization United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Canada recently withdrew from the organization. It was the only country to do so. The reason given by a government official was that too much time was spent meeting and little funding and effort was going to on-the-ground work.

Some positive examples do exist. The Keita Project in Niger, started in 1984 to reverse land degradation and eventual desertification, is such an example. To address falling levels of rain, about 5,000 square kilometres of barren land into a thriving garden for various crops, livestock and trees. The following actions were taken:  planting trees, digging wells, constructing weirs, damming streams, building terraces and bunds, deep plowing of the land and erecting dune fences. New skills were introduced to the community such as planting cash crops and producing traditional handcrafted goods for sale. Another example of reclaiming land is in China’s Loess Plateau. The plateau covers more than 620,000 square kilometres in central and northern China and is highly vulnerable to soil erosion. About 20 years ago, millions of trees were planted, small-scale dams were built and some areas became no grazing zones. This enabled huge bands of Plateau land to be saved. The article concludes by stating that while positive steps have been taken elsewhere, It may be too late for initiatives of these types to be used to save lake Chad.

Analysis

 The article highlights the importance of sustainable agricultural practices in the face of ever-increasing climate change. The shrinking of Lake Chad and the loss of the fertile land that once bordered it is cited as one of the world’s most extreme examples of desertification. With desertification, land loss is permanent. Therefore, action to save remaining land is urgent and stopping practices such as deforestation, damming, poor irrigation techniques, over cultivation and over grazing is essential especially in the face of reduced precipitation due to climate change.

Examples of limiting desertification in Niger and China are provided which indicate that action has successfully been taken in the past to combat desertification.  However, in both of these instances steps were taken over twenty years ago when the effects of climate change were not nearly as significant as they are today. Given that the Sahara is moving southward at a rate of 48 kilometres per year, delay in taking action means that portions of fertile land will be lost forever.

There is a great human cost associated with deforestation that Aulakh and the experts she interviewed focus on. As land and resources become scarcer, this gives rise to conflict over limited pastureland for grazing and access to water. Additionally, lack of farmable land and water becomes a push factor for migration. Economies based on subsistence agriculture are wiped out and rural populations are forced into urban areas to a foreign way of life and into low paying jobs. Furthermore, the overall security of the food supply is threatened. This endangers people in poorer countries who are often already malnourished and susceptible to disease.

Experts interviewed for the article stress that this is not simply a problem in the areas that are currently affected. It is a global problem. Clearly, desertification is a complex problem that requires local government intervention and where countries, such as Africa, lack the technological and financial resources to take action international support will be required. The article mentions the withdrawal of Canada from the UN organization, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) established to deal with desertification around the world. Canada is the only country to withdraw at this point. Leadership will obviously be required if desertification in to be stopped.