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Unprecedented levels of hunger in Africa


Eldorado

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"Southern Africa is in the throes of a climate emergency, with hunger levels in the region on a previously unseen scale, the UN has warned.

"Years of drought, widespread flooding and economic disarray have left 45 million people facing severe food shortages, with women and children bearing the brunt of the crisis, said the World Food Programme (WFP).

"Zimbabwe is already facing its worst hunger emergency in a decade, with 7.7 million people – half the population – acutely food insecure. But there is evidence the situation has “deteriorated significantly” over the past few months."

Full report at the UK Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jan/16/un-sounds-alarm-over-unprecedented-levels-of-hunger-in-southern-africa

And at Bloomberg: https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/southern-africa-has-45-million-people-facing-hunger-wfp-says

The World Food Programme: https://www.wfp.org/

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34 minutes ago, Eldorado said:

"Southern Africa is in the throes of a climate emergency, with hunger levels in the region on a previously unseen scale, the UN has warned.

"Years of drought, widespread flooding and economic disarray have left 45 million people facing severe food shortages, with women and children bearing the brunt of the crisis, said the World Food Programme (WFP).

 

They didn't mention why in the article.   

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ROFL

Zimbabwe has a food shortage ? Well QUELLE SUPRIZE ! Perhaps they shouldn't have taken all that farmland off the White Farmers, and given it to their cronies, who let it all rot. :D :P 

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Hmm.. according to the Guardian article, the region has suffered from drought and flooding. 

Drought and flooding ? Ummm........ 

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12 minutes ago, Myles said:

They didn't mention why in the article.   

Hmm.. apparantly in SOME countries, the menfolk have either died of AIDS, or have travelled into South Africa to get work (and hence money), leaving the women to look after the family. 

Curious how South Africa is not suffering food shortages ? 

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I think the severity of the drought (and it's by no means the first in recent years) is such that even the old European run farms would have seen their yields fall - but there is no doubt they would have been producing more food this year, and, indeed, have done so every year this century, had it not been for Mugabe's murderous totalitarian regime.  

And yes, southern Africa has been hit by floods and drought:  all the rain falling at once, instead of spread out other weeks and months.

 

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1 hour ago, RoofGardener said:

Hmm.. according to the Guardian article, the region has suffered from drought and flooding. 

Drought and flooding ? Ummm........ 

Yes, apparently drought and flooding is now a climate emergency, some just get off of this for its own sake.

B)

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1 hour ago, Essan said:

I think the severity of the drought (and it's by no means the first in recent years) is such that even the old European run farms would have seen their yields fall - but there is no doubt they would have been producing more food this year, and, indeed, have done so every year this century, had it not been for Mugabe's murderous totalitarian regime.  

And yes, southern Africa has been hit by floods and drought:  all the rain falling at once, instead of spread out other weeks and months.

 

And yet.. I can only repeat.. South Africa is not experiencing food shortages, despite having a 5-year-long drought in many areas. So what's the difference between - say - them and Zimbabwe ? 

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6 minutes ago, tmcom said:

Yes, apparently drought and flooding is now a climate emergency, some just get off of this for its own sake.

B)

Well, drought and flooding CAN be regarded as a climate emergency. 

I was just pointing out the apparent contradiction. Drought AND flooding ? Perhaps some sort of Water Management and/or irrigation system is in order ? 

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It's not unusual for a large area to be having a drought on one side and flooding on the other.   

Or flooding in April and a drought in July.

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2 minutes ago, RoofGardener said:

Well, drought and flooding CAN be regarded as a climate emergency.

We used to call it a natural disaster.

I wish we still did.

:ph34r:

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1 hour ago, RoofGardener said:

And yet.. I can only repeat.. South Africa is not experiencing food shortages, despite having a 5-year-long drought in many areas. So what's the difference between - say - them and Zimbabwe ? 

South Africa is a richer nation and more able to import food, with less people relying on locally produced staples?   Also South Africa itself has been less badly affected by adverse weather than countries further north.   And they still have a few farms run by (or using methods introduced by) Europeans.   Plus, they are not traditionally reliant on importing the surplus that the European farms in Zimbabwe used to produce ......

Ultimately, whilst recent weather is obviously a major factor here, the real culprit is, thankfully, now dead and rotting in hell.

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1 hour ago, RoofGardener said:

 Perhaps some sort of Water Management and/or irrigation system is in order ? 

You mean like building reservoirs to provide water to irrigate the farms?    But that's soooooooooooooo white.  No can do!  :P 

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2 hours ago, RoofGardener said:

Well, drought and flooding CAN be regarded as a climate emergency. 

I was just pointing out the apparent contradiction. Drought AND flooding ? Perhaps some sort of Water Management and/or irrigation system is in order ? 

Southern Africa is a pretty big region with a variety of biomes. Perhaps a bit large for overall water management or irrigation systems. Kind of akin to suggesting a lot of  Europe couldn’t have drought and flooding, or a water management for the whole region. 

Here’s a fun map of how big Southern Africa is compared to Europe: https://www.africanoverlandtours.com/overland-africa-blog/just-big-southern-africa-compared-europe/

 

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5 hours ago, Essan said:

Ultimately, whilst recent weather is obviously a major factor here, the real culprit is, thankfully, now dead and rotting in hell.

:nw:  

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Well, the UN - cited by the Bloomberg linked article in the Opening Post - immediately blames the food shortages on Global Warming. 

However, there have been droughts and floods in Southern Africa since the beginning of recorded history. There have also been famines.. .LOTS of them, though not necessarily caused by droughts and floods. Most of them seem to be man-made, arising from local tribal wars. 

I'm not saying that everything is rosy in South Africa, but they have made the effort over the decades to build reservoirs, and manage water supplies. They also have an organised and rational farming system, though that IS starting to break down as the ANC government is starting a "land confiscation without reparations" program, a lá Zimbabwe. South African farmers are emigrating to Australia at a record rate. 

The rest of Southern Africa have NOT invested in Reservoirs and Irrigation at any large scale. And THAT is - I would suggest - at the heart of the current "food crisis". 

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2 hours ago, RoofGardener said:

Well, the UN - cited by the Bloomberg linked article in the Opening Post - immediately blames the food shortages on Global Warming. 

However, there have been droughts and floods in Southern Africa since the beginning of recorded history. There have also been famines.. .LOTS of them, though not necessarily caused by droughts and floods. Most of them seem to be man-made, arising from local tribal wars. 

I'm not saying that everything is rosy in South Africa, but they have made the effort over the decades to build reservoirs, and manage water supplies. They also have an organised and rational farming system, though that IS starting to break down as the ANC government is starting a "land confiscation without reparations" program, a lá Zimbabwe. South African farmers are emigrating to Australia at a record rate. 

The rest of Southern Africa have NOT invested in Reservoirs and Irrigation at any large scale. And THAT is - I would suggest - at the heart of the current "food crisis". 

Careful, you are making sense.

:P

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56 minutes ago, tmcom said:

Careful, you are making sense.

:P

I am ? EGADS.... my apologies @tmcom. I shall regibberise my contraflexions immediately ! 

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