Enviromental Issues

Introduction

“The landscape is a wreck. Until 20 years ago it was thick, dry forest teeming with wildlife, and plants and trees that local people used for all aspects of their lives. Now it is dust and bits of scrub”

This is how Michael McCarthy described an area of Burkina Faso in the “The Independent” newspaper in December 2002.

The environmental disaster which he described is repeated in the countries of Africa’s Sahel region, the arid lands to the south of the Sahara which are faced with drought and turning to desert. Burkina Faso has suffered as much as anywhere in the Sahel as a result of:

1. Climatic change
2. Rapidly increasing numbers of people
3. Rapidly increasing numbers of livestock
4. The use of wood as the major source of fuel.

Climatic Change.

A study of the climate of Burkina Faso over the last 30 years shows that the volume of rain has decreased from 500mm to 400mm in the north and from 1400mm to 1100mm in the south of the country. A decrease of 20%in the north and almost 22% in the south of the country.

This crisis is also referred to as “climatic degradation”, “desertification”, “aridification”, etc is characterized by

• A drop in rainfall.
• An increase in extreme temperatures.
• The disappearance of “demanding” plant species, and/or the appearance of other more resistant species.
• Significant wind deflation and corrosion.
• The increasing occurrence of exceptional events (severe droughts, floods, severe sandstorms, etc.).

What has caused this change in the climate?

In the “New Scientist” in June 2002 it was stated that:

“Emissions spewed out by power stations and factories in North America and Europe may have sparked the severe droughts that have afflicted the Sahel region of Africa. The droughts have been the worst the world has ever seen, and led to the infamous famines that effected Ethiopia in the 1980s”

It is thought that the sulphur, soot, organic carbon, ammonium and nitrate produced when fossil fuels are burnt, the “greenhouse gases” are altering the climate on a global scale. As these compounds move through the atmosphere, they create aerosols that effect cloud formation, altering the temperature of the Earth’s surface and leading to shifts in regional weather patterns. This connection between pollution and climate change is still speculative, but it is interesting that during the past few years, the droughts have become less severe, a change that could be put down to the “clean air” laws in North America and Europe that reduced sulphur dioxide emissions in response to another environmental crisis, acid rain.

Rapidly increasing number of people.

In 1975 there were 5.6 million people, a figure that rose to 8 million people by 1985 and to 11 million by 1998. The number of people is increasing by 2.8% each year. There could be a doubling of the population in the next twenty years particularly as the government is working hard to reduce the number of children who die before the age of five, at present 165 for every 1000 children born, by reducing the deaths due to endemic diseases like malaria, diarrhoea, measles, respiratory infections and malnutrition.

The life expectance has already risen in urban areas to 50 years. In 1991 almost half the urban population was under the age of 15 and the average age of the urban population was only 21.

83% of the population still live in rural areas where life expectancy is 44 years. 92 % of the work force work in agriculture.

Work other than in farming is hard to find. This has led to internal rural urban migration and external migration. Young people move to Ougadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso and Koudougou as these are easy to get to, in the hope of finding work.

Young people, mainly men aged 15 to 24, migrating to Ivory Coast, Togo and Ghana in search of seasonal work, many do not return.

Rapidly increasing number of livestock.

The demand to increase the number of livestock is two fold:

1 to feed an increasing population,

2 cattle breeding is a key activity representing 14% of exports (10.2% of which are live animals and meat, 3.7% leather and hides.

As urban populations grow there will be a need to establish new livestock systems around urban centres to produce milk and meat. Farmers seek to increase the farm income by keeping more livestock. The country needs to increase exports wherever possible, if cattle exports are to increase, more intensive systems will have to be developed.

Energy Supplies.

All Burkinabe, whether they live in the countryside or the town, use the same kind of fuel to cook their food : wood.

Only 6.4% of urban households use gas. Some 60% of the electricity generated, is used by people in the capital Ouagadougou.

Summary