adminair, the right to decent uncrowded shelter.
In addition to these, biologist Dr Paul Ehrlich in his book The Population Bomb adds other bizarre rights such as the right to limit families and the right to have grandchildren.
Undoubtedly, most of these rights have come under pressure from the effects of global warming and climate change. The right to eat has been replaced by hunger, famine and droughts.
There is need for more and more food in a world yet harvests are becoming less and less. Clean drinking water is a nightmare.
The United Nations estimates that 75 percent of the world’s population does not have access to clean and safe drinking water. Poisonous gases from industrial and auto-mobile pollution now passes for the air we breathe.
The right to decent and uncrowded shelter is not a right any more. It is safe to consider this a luxury because the world’s expanding population is demanding more houses, more food and more of everything. The world’s population has ballooned from a mere five million in 8000BC to around 500 million in 1650AD.
To this day six billion people now inhabit the earth, most of the faster growth having taken place since the start of the 19th century.
Assuming global population doubles every 35 years, it is estimated that the world’s population would reach 60 000 trillion in 900 years’ time.
By then, experts say the earth will be full and “everything in the visible universe will be converted into people, and the ball of people will be expanding with the speed of light.”
So what is the problem of surplus human beings on earth? Ask China and India, the two equally share 2,5 billion or more than a third of the world population. China has had to force its citizens to cut
the number of newborns to just one child per family.
In India’s main commercial cities such as New Dehli, Calcutta and Mumbai everywhere you look there are people. However, the most obvious impact of overpopulation is that it puts pressure on everything especially the necessities and amenities of life including the environment.
Imagine what it means for the population of a country to double say in 20 years.
In order just to keep the living standards at the current already inadequate levels, a nation like Zimbabwe would have to double its food supplies.
The amount of power, the capacity of the transport system must also double. Thankfully, the right to limit families and have grandchildren is still within control of the human race. But the prospect of
underdeveloped African countries, already burdened by weak and inefficient agriculture systems, remains uncertain in face of climate change and pressures arising from population growth.
The way that people eat, yes the way we eat, is now a major concern in the revolution to turn planet earth green. This is the concept of sustainable consumption, which aims to inspire people to live sustainable lifestyles and eat responsibly.
While most of Africa goes hungry, the developed world consumes a disproportionate amount of the world’s resources – in other words – they are overfed. In Zimbabwe where the population is estimated to have grown by 2,6 percent per annum since 1980 and also experienced rapid urbanisation, the challenge is not just to double food production.
The quality of food is important. It must be able to meet most of the values of a perceived balanced diet.
Zimbabwe has added five million more mouths to feed in the last three decades, piling pressure on its already stretched public systems and shrinking food output. The population bomb is also ticking in other developing countries that are at risk of doubling their population in shorter cycles.
Malnutrition and malnourishment are major concern areas in Africa, and the risk of climate change induced droughts, floods, and longer, dry and hot spells pose a great danger to future food supplies.
Population growth can only add misery to the hazards emanating from global warming and climate change, particularly on agriculture.
” . . . The battle to feed humanity is already lost, in the sense that we will not be able to prevent large scale families,” says Dr Ehrlich.
In view of this, I want to look at the Chiredzi pilot project, Coping with Drought and Climate Change and how it can be adopted by other communities in similar ecological regions to try and help develop strategies that improve food security and self-reliance.
Scientists have agreed global warming will increase the frequency of droughts in Zimbabwe.
Future community based response to global warming and climate change will be crucial because it has been established that climate change cannot be stopped although risk can be minimised.
Findings from the Chiredzi project
Results show that drought is the main climatic hazard affecting Chiredzi district. Community participatory drought risk analysis shows that the district is prone to early, mid-, terminal, seasonal and extreme droughts that can last for up-to four years in succession.
Smallholder farmers in the project area ranked the terminal, seasonal and the extreme drought types as the ones having the worst impact on their livelihoods. Sensitivity analysis on crops shows Chiredzi becoming unsuitable for maize, sorghum and cotton production under the worst climate change scenario where temperatures rise by up to 5°C and rainfall declines by about 50 percent by 2050.
The best-case scenario shows the whole district remaining suitable for the production of the three crops. For livestock, both goat and cattle production show high sensitivity to decline in rainfall and a rise in temperature projected under the worst-case scenario.
The study shows that climate variability and change vulnerability “hot-spots” for Chiredzi district span the southern sections of the district.
Areas affected include the communal areas of Sangwe, Matibi 2 and Sengwe to the extreme south, as well as the Gonarezhou National Park.
Rain fed cropping systems and livestock production systems based on cattle were identified as the most vulnerable livelihood systems. Therefore optimising rain fed crop production has potential to benefit a number of households.
Priority adaptation measures for Matibi 2 communal lands were identified as developing village seed banks of traditional and improved drought-resistant crops or varieties.
Small grains play an important role in the smallholder farmers of Matibi 2’s lives. One measure to reduce vulnerability to droughts is improving small grain production in Chiredzi district.
This would increase food security, utilising a three-pronged approach: 1) to increase the crop mix, 2) to promote the use of drought-tolerant varieties, (3) to promote local seed multiplication and village seed-banks.
Promoting rearing of drought-resistant local breeds of cattle, goats and donkeys. – Due to their importance as the family’s emergency fund and savings, livestock ownership can contribute significantly towards coping with drought.
Promoting irrigation development – It has been widely accepted that in arid to semi-arid lands such as Chiredzi district, irrigation may be the only way to guarantee a crop.
Explore wildlife opportunities for rural households – Chiredzi district is a wildlife sanctuary.
Consultations with communities in Matibi 2 revealed that the area has limited scope for multiple land use options that include wildlife.
However, the Coping with Drought and Climate Change project could explore the possibilities of rural communities using wildlife as a buffer during times of drought in those areas of Chiredzi where such opportunities exist – such as the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park and Save Conservancy areas.
Enhance livelihood options – In the future, less dependence on natural resources would help reduce vulnerability to severe droughts.
However, Chiredzi will remain an agrarian economy for several decades to come. In the meantime, some value-added economic activities could be introduced.
Agro-processing, eco- or agro-tourism, promoting traditional handicrafts, and other measures could help to diversify livelihood options.
Another needed measure to support sustainable livelihoods is the availability of savings and credit mechanisms for rural communities.
These findings are part of those established by the UNDP-EMA funded drought adaptation pilot project in the lowveld.
The population growth is definitely piling up more challenges on us in the face of global warming and climate change, challenges we should tackle head-on.
What are you doing to protect the environment against climate change? Let me know.
God is faithful.
Let’s share ideas on the climate story.
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Online Reporter