Drought Crisis Avoidable, But for Poor Governance

Once again Ethiopia is being devastated by the recurring scourge of drought and famine, which has become an annual spectacle of human catastrophe that victimises millions and causes widespread displacement. The Ethiopian government has mustered the courage to announce the destruction caused by this atrocious drought to local and international aid agencies as part of its almost annual plea for help.

It would be fair to ask why the repeated suffering of people from persistent drought did not serve the government as a warning to plan, organise, and implement strategies ahead of time to minimise the devastating effects of this disaster. Had there been an effective strategy and plan to tackle the problem from the onset, lives could have been saved and suffering reduced.

It appears that there is a tendency on the part of both past and present governments of the country to shift the blame and responsibility for lack of a quick response and sustainable solutions to the international community. In all fairness, the primary responsibility rests with the Ethiopia government. Yet, the international community might have a moral obligation to help victims.

Announcing the existence of a crisis to the international community is one thing, while taking responsibility for the repeated failure to act is quite another.  The international community should not be used as a scapegoat for a persistent national problem that cries out for domestic solutions.

This is a question of good governance or the lack of it. The incompetence of the government to effectively deal with this problem has become a monumental case in point on how the devastating challenges of drought are yet to be addressed by local and national governments.

The calamity of drought-caused famine has disastrous consequences for the people it directly affects. The rest of the public is morally and psychologically tormented from having to witness these vicious cycles of misery that are being inflicted on their fellow citizens. The effort to wiggle out of responsibility by blaming the international community, however, is reprehensible and even exposes the glaring failures in meeting its national obligations.

The disturbing fact of rainfall irregularities and shortages, accompanied with the subsequent suffering of people, has not been given the attention it deserves. The facts on the ground suggest that the ever decreasing frequency of drought affecting the Somali Regional State should have sent a warning signal to seek lasting solutions.

It remains to be a puzzle that such a massive suffering of people failed to call for the government to plan, organise, and implement lasting strategies.

This is not to suggest that the phenomenon of famine-caused harm is blamed on one country and its government alone. The devastation is caused by callous human activity and exacerbated by the myopic development agendas of governments of the different countries in the region. Certainly, every country that does not take into account the environmental effect of economic development would suffer the consequence. As political gains underpin most of the economic decisions made by governments, the risk of advancing development over ecosystem degradation would be pronounced.

Environmental experts indicate that human activity, under unchecked economic development, has helped to disrupt the balance of nature to such an extreme extent that the carrying capacity of the planet is waning irredeemably. The worst part of the environmental abuse is yet to be felt as we collectively ignore to heed the warning shots that nature is sending out in the form of floods, droughts, and unseasonal warm weather. Everything is being felt close to home, like the distant shores of China and the melting icecaps of the Antarctic, albeit differently.

What is striking is the fact that Ethiopia, which was selected to articulate the strategy for rampant environmental destruction in Africa in the recent environmental summits in Denmark and Mexico, has a development strategy that includes the leasing of large amounts of forest land for foreign investors.

These investors clear the land to harvest agricultural produce and export it to their markets, while the devastation of indigenous plant and animal life in the locality is treated with total disregard. All the talk that Africans are victims of disproportional western abuse of the environment to satisfy the insatiable mass consumption is easily forgotten when it comes to an internal neglect to the destruction caused by large scale clearing of forest lands.

All local actions contribute to the ecosystem everywhere, and it would be unjustifiable to sideline responsibilities for the sustainable management of the environment. The consequences of such a decision would be felt collectively, as nature responds to any wanton disregard, in its own way.

The argument by some developing countries like China, which says that developed countries have damaged the environment for far too long and developing countries are unfairly being asked to curtail their economic development to save the environment, seems to suggest that developing nations deserve an equal share in the destruction of the environment. It is illogical at best, unintelligent at worst.

This precisely fits in with an effort to match developed countries in their utter indifference to the environment. It also demonstrates a wish to advance self interest in total neglect of the environmental calamities that humanity would be forced to inherit.

No country in the world is immune to the responses of. Our economic development efforts should not be a mirror image of the industrialised countries, when it comes to environmental destruction. Instead, we must learn from their mistakes.

Nature has no measured dispensation of disasters equal to the destruction caused by different countries. The system that sustains life on Earth is intrinsically interwoven. Indisputably, degrading one part of the system would have calamitous consequences for all others.

Renowned scientists proclaim that the planet is tittering on the verge of complete destruction as a result of human activity.  Therefore, any economic development strategy that does not take into account the demands of nature is unsustainable. Leaving the country vulnerable to frequent natural phenomena, like the current drought.

By Temesgen Zewdie

Temesgen Zewdie – A former Member of Parliament.

© 2007 AddisFortune.com