Picture: The graphic shows Somalians trying to find food. Clearly they are not having much luck considering that the kids are carrying sticks and the mother is carrying the only significant amount of food.
Summary: Somalia has had trouble in the past with famines and deforestation of their forest isn't helping out their latest famine. Experts say that chopping down trees,especially in places familiar to famines, it makes it harder on people. People affected by this include the poor and especially those who are depend extremely on agriculture. Lets not forget that in places like Somalia, water is not that easy to get a hold of, this making the famine much worse. The growth of population also plays a major factor in this famine. The more people there are, the more people there are to feed. On the other hand, the dry lands near Somalia provide crops that can sustain these droughts and famines, making it a little bit easier. However, even with the help, this Somalian famine could claim the lives of 750,000 people or more, in the next four months alone.
Opinion/Reflection: I was shocked to see how severe a famine can be. Of course, I had never been part of one, but it still really took my breath away. The U.S. is not home to many famis, but places like the Horn of Africa (places near Somalia) are home to many. It also surprised me how many lives a famine can take.
Questions:
1- Why isn't other countries helping Somalia out as much?
2- Why aren't things like this brought to people's attention more often?
3- Why are places like Somalia and Niger home to so many famines?
4- What is a way I can help the famine in Somalia today?
Opinion/Reflection:
ReplyDeleteI think everyone knows about the problems in poor, starving parts of Africa. Espcially, since i go and visit Africa every summer. I never have been close to the areas affected though. A famine is a sireous problem, and i wish powerful countries would do more to help Africa. Everyday people are dying of starvation and disease.
Expansion:
On this website i found some studies about deforestaion and how it effects the famine.
http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0914-moukaddem_famine.html
Ask More Questions:
What is causing deforestation in Somalia?
Opinion/ Reflection:
ReplyDeleteI think that this is a huge problem, and needs to be fixed, or at least helped! Although they have crops that can sustain some droughts, that is not enough to help these people. There are so many people dying because of starvation or other things, in a such a quick amount of time. There are many people living here in Somalia, and it's horrible to see the all of them dying to famines. Also with the deforestation, that doesn't help this problem either. Other countries could chip in and help all these poor people here in Somalia. I just don't think it's fair to them that they can lose their lives. Someone needs to help!
Expansion:
http://www.cifor.org/fileadmin/fileupload/media-release/12Sep_Horn_of_Africa.pdf
This is a website I found that also talks about deforestation. Somalia is not the only country being hurt by this. Ethiopia, Kenya and plenty more are being affected. Trees are a source of protection to these countries, and help them get their food. This is for sure something that needs to be helped, and more trees need to be planted to save these peoples' lives!
I wonder how we could help this problem. It is such a tough one because how can we tell people to control the population, however it seems like that is the best way to solve this problem. I hope with creative farming we can solve this problem.
ReplyDeleteOpinon/Reflection:
ReplyDeleteI haven't read so much about this topic, and I just gave some thought to it after this article... So many people know people are starving, and dying out there... But no one knows how many. 750,000 IS A LOT OF PEOPLE JUST IN SOMALIA! Thats an alarming and unacceptable rate of people dying. We need to take some action. We need to do something. We can't just sit around waiting for someone to take the lead, we need to start with at least Somalia then maybe move on to other worldwide areas who are suffering from huge horrible problems like these.
Expansion:
http://www.sprol.com/2009/06/charcoal-fuel-deforestation-somalia/
This website has great information about all the bad problems deforestation is bringing up in Somalia!
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/Somalia.htm
This website has all the statistics you need to know about Deforestation in Somalia, and how many forests / trees are cut down!
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=14156&Cr=xxx&Cr1=
This website actually put this deforestation situation on the "TOP 10 STORIES THE WORLD SHOULD HEAR MORE ABOUT" Ironic right?
Here's a way you can help with the famine in Somalia today!
http://www.unicefusa.org/?gclid=CN-Q04L_nasCFQHf4Aodvgryiw
QUESTION:
What other life affecting issues are Somalia juggling with right now?
Opinion/Reflection:
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is..WOW!!! I can't believe how terrible this actually is! Just by looking at the picture you can see that there is no food for miles and miles off in the distance. Like Mike said, the mother has most of the food for her family. If you think about that, it isn't even that much to begin with and it seems to be only plants and no meat. In my opinion, this problem should be helped so we can at least try to fix it. Some of the plants are able to stay alive during these major droughts, but that number of plants are very low. With the population getting bigger, that means more and more people need food which will lead to an even greater famine. These Somalians are basically on a race to find food to survive! Since we live in a very privliged country, I believe that we should work our best to stop the famine by shipping food over to Somalia and by helping them with farming. Maybe we can help make some kind of hitech greenhouse that would work in their climate? Too many people are dying and I can't stand hearing about it! We have to help!
Expansion:
I don't think that things like this are brought to peoples attention more often because it is happening in alot of other countries besides Somalia. In a way, I feel that some people may just not care enough to let people know about it. I think that the only way to help get rid of the famine is by using the news and spreading the word. More people will want to help if they know how bad the famine is. All you need is one person who cares enough, then they can spread the word and all of the sudden the whole world cares!