Drought: Case Study of the 1968-1974 Sahel Drought

The 1968-74 Sahel Drought in Africa was perhaps the most devastating drought in recent world history. Despite its magnitude though, the Sahel drought was formed from the similar natural and anthropogenic causal factors. Scientists studying during the period determined that because northern hemisphere oceans were cold, rainfall in the Sahel was also to be low. Further studies conducted during 1996 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change further substantiated this claim.
In particular, studies on the formation of the drought demonstrated that periodic "injections" of fresh-water from glacial melting deposits decreased proportional salinity, thus stabilizing the water columns and effectively reducing the deep convection of heat by the Atlantic thermohaline circulatory body. This essentially decreases surface evaporation and through global wind currents, causes drought in the Sahel region. Additionally, due to unimpeded human induced uprooting of trees and soil for building development, soil lost its ability to retain water.

Consequences

During the approximate 6 years of drought, between 100,000 and 250,000 people perished, nearly 5.5 million were displaced and the agricultural bases of 5 countries crumbled (Ethiopia, Sudan, Mali, Niger and Chad).

In political, economic and sociological terms, this Sahel drought was utterly destructive. During the approximate 6 years of drought, between 100,000 and 250,000 people perished, nearly 5.5 million were displaced and the agricultural bases of 5 countries crumbled (Ethiopia, Sudan, Mali, Niger and Chad).

According to data collected and culled by researcher Camilla Toulmin in her paper, "Livestock losses and post-drought rehabilitation in sub-Saharan Africa," the Sahelian region also suffered extensive damage to cattle, sheep and goats, losing between 15-45% of each group. This effectively meant in Niger, a country in the afflicted region, cattle decreased from nearly 4.50 million head to 2.25 million. This contributed to a massive hindering of economic development in this region, limiting investment in the respective nations. Additionally, national governments of this region lost tax revenue following the drought, to a degree of nearly 3%. On a more microscopic level, Chad, for instance, had a per capita GNP of $120 US Dollars, one of the lowest in the world.

Citizen Response

As the drought was a long term (6 year) event, citizens were unable to take measures to protect themselves with their homes. Thus, approximately half the individuals in the Sahelian region took flight from their rural communities to more developed urban centers. Thos in Chad fled to N'Djamena, those in Ethiopia took refuge in the capital city, Addis Ababa and many fled to lesser-affected Mali and to countries in the Central African Empire.

Government Response

In this particular drought, government response was limited for a multiplicity of factors, most related to monetary reasoning. First, because economies in the Sahelian region at the time were not very developed, thus preventing adequate monetary assistance to afflicted individuals and starving communities. Additionally, with droves of people entering the urban centers seeking refuge, overcrowding became an immense problem, which went unresolved by national governments of the region. This inability to address overcrowding led to development and easy proliferation of diseases like malaria. In terms of response to the physical occurrence, governments of Chad, Ethiopia and Niger dug channels from urban centers to rural farmlands in an effort to diffuse water, but these efforts failed as the sweltering heat in the region limited progress of the channels' development and their effectiveness.

Sources Consulted

Sources