The Devastating Drought in Africa

The Devastating Drought in
Africa

    Summary of Problem: Africa has extremely irregular rain patterns, causing some economic and physical issues if not dealt with well. Many of Africa’s water bodies are transboundary, meaning that they go through multiple different countries. This water division makes it hard to create legislation and infrastructure to protect these lakes and rivers because it has to be agreed upon by multiple countries. Also, the constant heating of the Earth due to global warming has made Africa much more prone to a lot of their stored water evaporate, causing it to rain down either on the ocean or become groundwater. Although more than 100 million people depend on the groundwater for drinking and farming, the attention it receives from the government is much less compared to surface water, meaning lakes and rivers. Finally, Africa’s population has been steadily increasing, making the available resources much less available to everyone. All of these factors combined have been a primary reason for Africa’s water shortage.

A dried-up municipal dam in Graff-Reinet, South Africa, on November 14, 2019

    Summary of Solutions: Although this is a daunting task, there have been some solutions proposed to solve this shortage. These solutions have been categorized as “soft” and “hard”. Soft solutions involve setting up institutions and education regarding preserving water. These institutions would primarily be devoted to conserving groundwater to use it for farming, drinking, and other various purposes. The hard solutions involve building infrastructure to help preserve water. These would include ponds, reservoirs, aquifers, and many more. They are primarily focused on underground storage so that the increasing threat of heat and evaporation isn’t as much of a threat. 

    Analysis: I think that the solutions they have proposed will be effective ways to deal with the problem. The idea of primarily underground resources is ideal because it will help avoid climate change issues and its effect on Africa’s water shortage. Also, setting up education regarding preserving water and finding ways to save it helps set up the future generation to continue solving this problem rather than throwing it on them when they’re older. Institutions will also help because they will help try and unite the different countries in Africa to help them preserve transboundary lakes and rivers.

Will these solutions they have proposed end up working? If they don’t, are there any alternatives? Furthermore, if they do, will they be successful as a permanent solution, or will they be temporary?