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Source: www.Time.com
How to Prevent the next Darfur
By Alex Perry / Iriba, Chad
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Chad, with its very limited supply of natural resources, is being strained due to the deluge of Sudanese refugees
into camps along Chad's border with Darfur since 2004. |
Darfur, a barren, mountainous land just below the Sahara in western Sudan, is the world's worst man-made disaster. In four years, according to the U.N., fighting has killed more than 200,000 people and made refugees of 2.5 million more. The conflict is typically characterized as genocide, waged by the Arab Janjaweed and their backers in the Sudanese government, against Darfur's black Africans. But what is often overlooked is that the roots of the conflict may have more to do with ecology than ethnicity. To live on the poor and arid soil of the Sahel--just south of the Sahara--is to be mired in an eternal fight for water, food and shelter.
On April 16, 11 former U.S. admirals and generals published a report for the think tank CNA Corporation that described climate change as a "threat multiplier" in volatile parts of the world. The next day, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett hosted the first-ever debate on climate change and armed conflict at the U.N. Security Council. "What makes wars start?" asked Beckett. "Fights over water. Changing patterns of rainfall. Fights over food production, land use. There are few greater potential threats to our economies too ... but also to peace and security itself."
The pillage of Darfur won't end until the world's powers pressure all sides to agree to a truce and allow for the deployment of a larger peacekeeping force. But that's just a start toward fixing Darfur's problems--and preventing similar conflicts from erupting elsewhere. In the longer term, Darfur and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa need sensible land-use policies and careful water management. And as climate change shrinks the availability of arable land and natural resources, Africa will need the developed world to do its part to curb the carbon emissions that contribute to global warming.
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If you would like to designate your gift to Darfur, you can do so at Project 13 - People in Immediate Jeopardy
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