drought

World Drought and Desertification Day

June 17 is widely regarded and observed by countries as World Drought and Desertification Day. Its purpose is aimed at raising awareness of the presence of desertification and drought highlighting method of preventing desertification and recovery from drought.

This day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/49/115 on January 30. 1995 after the day when the United Nations Convention to combat desertification 1

This year’s theme, “Restoration, Land, Recovery. We build back with healthy land” is specifically about a green planet, sustainable development, health and welfare of the people more especially in a post covid time

“Land restoration can contribute greatly to post-COVID19 economic recovery. Investing in land restoration creates jobs and generates economic benefits, and could provide livelihoods at a time when hundreds of millions of jobs are being lost,” Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) said ahead of World Day to Combat Drought and Desertification.

“If countries can restore the nearly 800 million hectares of degraded land, they have pledged to restore by 2030, we can safeguard humanity and our planet from the looming danger,” Mr Thiaw added. According to the world body, “one million species of plants and animals out of a total of eight million species are now at risk of extinction. Biodiversity loss is not just an environmental issue: it’s a developmental, economic, security, social and moral issue.” He stated.2

In Nigeria, the major causes of drought according to the Journal of political sciences & Public Affairs in its topic,” Historical Analysis of the Economic Effect of Drought on Tropical Forest Management in Northern Nigeria as written by Nwokocha Chibueze listed as natural causes and human activities as its major factor.

” Large numbers of inhabitants of the drought prone areas are small arable farmers, who depend mostly on the highly variable rainfall for crop cultivation and maintenance of their herds. The causes of drought can be the nature of the changing weather patterns which often seen via uncontrolled buildup of heat on the earth’s surface, meteorological changes which result in a reduction of rainfall, and reduced cloud cover, all of which results in greater evaporation rates. Another cause is the over active participation of human activities which affects the climatic condition of the land and forest. These human activities are bush burning, deforestation, overgrazing and poor cropping methods, reduction of water retention in the soil, and improper soil conservation techniques, which lead to soil degradation.” 3

Women’s role in land use is very key and pivotal. Quoting the Gender Action Plan, “Women are strategic agents of change and play a central role in the use and care of land resources, in particular in land-dependent communities.’ 

“Women rely on land resources to provide the household needs for food, water and energy, which makes them more dependent on natural resources than men; yet most women neither own nor have control over these resources. Less than 20 per cent of land holders worldwide are women, and only 13 per cent of the land users who make the major decisions on agricultural land are women. On the other hand, women are a significant labour force and are guardians of valuable traditional and indigenous knowledge on land use. But these advantages do not benefit them. Globally, women make up 43 per cent of the agricultural labour force.

“In many poor countries, more than 95 per cent of all economically active women work in agriculture. In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, women hold 10 per cent of the credit available to smallholder agriculture. Similarly, female farmers receive only 5 per cent of agricultural extension services, and only 15 per cent of agricultural extension officers are women”. 4

In Nigeria, women have established more defined roles in agriculture and are involved in agricultural production, processing and utilization. A woman’s role in the agricultural sector is significantly affected by socio-economic factors such as income, education and access to infrastructure. In order for agriculture to advance in Nigeria, gender specific policies and services tailored to women in the value chains should be developed.

According to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, “women account for 75 percent of the farming population in Nigeria, working as farm managers, and suppliers of la-bour. Though women constitute a large portion of the farming population, women’s possibilities in agriculture are hindered by formal and traditional rules. Generally, the extent of gender involvement in agricultural production varies across ethnic groups in Nigeria. Nigerian women farmers work alongside with their male counterparts with some clear distinctions in activities between them. In most cases, the men execute the tedious tasks such as land clearing and felling of trees, gathering and burning of bush, and making ridges, while the women engage in planting. In addition, women also participate in weeding, harvesting, on-farm processing, and selling of farm produce. Generally, women are rarely connected with agricultural export crops such as cocoa, rubber, cotton, but rather involved with the production of food crops such as maize, cowpea, melon, pepper, cassava, and vegetables. In some cases, women participate in small scale animal production including small ruminants, poultry and aquaculture.” 5

While drought and desertification may not be widely reported in the South East Nigeria, women are largely excluded in the decision and planning activities in land use. They are also not allowed access to land right and land inheritance.

Generally speaking, drought has a vast effect on mass starvation, famine and cessation of economic activity especially in areas where rain fell agriculture is the main stay of the rural economy. Forced human migration and environmental refugees, deadly conflicts over the use of dwindling natural resources, food insecurity and starvation, destruction of critical habitats and loss of biological diversity, socioeconomic instability, poverty and climatic variability through reduced carbon sequestration potential are common knowledge of the causes of drought. By extension, insecurity issues as is seen by the migration of herders into the hinterland and its attendant issues of violent and deadly clashes.

The effects of drought on the condition of women as enumerated in a paper by Wilfred Tichagwa listed the potential impacts of drought on material conditions of life as they affect rural women. The rationale for focusing on rural women is two-fold. First rural women are backbone of the rural economy and as such, any changes in condition of women of which will affect their performance in economic activities will inevitably affect the performance of the rural economy as a whole.

“The second point is that, at household level women are too large extent responsible for food provision and overall survival strategy of the family. The effects of drought are therefore important to the extent that it undermines the woman’s efforts to fend for their families. Crop failures caused by drought result to food deficit in terms of household’s needs. Also, there will be little or no crop surplus for sale, therefore income from this source is reduced or even wiped out completely.

“Some of the social impact is the increased migration of men, women and unaccompanied minors. Increased risk taking with many women and girls forced to engage in sex for food or money, marry early or be exposed to increased violence from spouses, unwanted pregnancies’ and STI’s.

“Many young women lose hope and have a reduced ability to move beyond crisis mode and identify alternative income sources to meet household needs.

 Increased school drop-out as girls must allocate more time to search for transport water for household consumption. Reduced access to water for consumption and personal hygiene.” 6

There is need to strengthen women’s participation in land rights and access to resources as well as integration of women into decisions and planning activities in land use especially at the rural level, to eradicate extreme poverty.

 

Key facts:

  • As of 2018, 170 countries were affected by desertification, land degradation and/or drought.
  • Countries have pledged to restore 1 billion hectares of degrading land by 2030 at an estimated maximum cost of US1.67 trillion dollars
  • Half of these pledges are commitments by 115 countries under the Convention
  • COVID-19 stimulus packages have dedicated about 2.5 percent, on average, to green activities
  • Costa Rica, which is hosting the global observance event this year, once faced the threat of desertification, but turned the situation around and became the first tropical country to halt and reverse its deforestation and forest degradation.

 

 

References

 

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Day_to_Combat_Desertification_and_Drought#cite_note-2
  2. https://www.unccd.int/actions17-june-desertification-and-drought-day/2021-desertification-and-drought-day
  3. https://www.longdom.org/open-access/historical-analysis-of-the-economic-effect-of-drought-on-tropical-forestmanagement-in-northern-nigeria-2332-0761-1000214.pdf
  4. https://smartwatermagazine.com/blogs/agueda-garcia-durango/what-does-desertification-and-women-have-do-each-other
  5. https://sahelcp.com/the-role-of-women-in-nigerian-agriculture/
  6. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4030186
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