Droughts: Hazard or Disaster?? How do economies of different countries affect the social and environmental impacts faced by a country? A drought is a very long and abnormal duration of time where there is a place with less very low rainfall, which makes the place, have no enough water for their users. Natural disasters are bound to happen around the world at anytime. Tsunamis, Storms, Earthquakes, droughts, etc. some of them are bound to happen due to the locations of the place and their weather conditions. Droughts are common in subtropical areas of the world and are faced by countries such as USA and Nigeria. Due to climate change, USA and Nigeria there has been a rise of temperature by nearly 1C since the beginning of the 20th century. …show more content…
The impacts caused environmentally are: Losses or destruction of fish and wildlife habitat, Lack of food and drinking water for wild animals, Increase in disease in wild animals, because of reduced food and water supplies, Migration of wildlife, Increased stress on endangered species or even extinction, Lower water levels in reservoirs, lakes, and ponds, Loss of wetlands, More wildfires, Wind and water erosion of soils, Poor soil quality. All these impacts are shown in Nigeria where there was a drought that was marked as one of the worst droughts in history. The Sahel dessert drought was there for almost 10 years, which affected Nigeria massively. This drought has affected many people in Nigeria, the rain shortage killed many crops in that part of the region and left many people with bad harvests, which led to people starving and sharing very little food. Most of the people had to travel about 5kms to find the nearest water pond for fresh water. The lack of water led to many animals dying which led to people being in shortage for hunting food. This meant that people had to get less money from these situations, as they can’t sell these animals anymore. Lack of vegetation means that people wont have enough plants/vegetables to cook food with and probably end up being malnourished. If there is no water the vegetation eventually dies as there is no water source and without …show more content…
There are many such as: Health problems due to lack of water, health problems due to dust, Loss of human life, depression in the country due to the drop of the economy, reduced incomes, A lot of migration. Nigeria is affected by droughts very badly due to the social impacts as there are a lot of health problems in all of Nigeria and having droughts just makes it worse as they don't have enough water to help the people with diseases. There are also health problems caused by the dust all over the place, as there is no water there will be a lot of sand and dust on the surface, which causes pollution, which eventually leads to people being affected socially towards their health. There will be a lot human deaths in Nigeria due to health issues; this will send many people into depression, as they would have lost their family members or close friends. The whole country could go into depression if they lose their economy drastically as they will not have enough money to feed the people and also not have enough money for essential resources required by a country. The people will also have to go into poverty due to fewer incomes from farming and agricultural activities including wildlife and plants. These problems lead to people migrating from their country, as they want to live in better situations and also be able to live a life happily where there is no poverty involved. In America the social impacts are not very affective
The drought along with the dust storms as stated already made it impossible to plant crops, it also made it very difficult to provide food for the farmers and their families. If you could not plant anything, you did not have food for animals and you did not have food for families or children that needed it desperately. There was a sudden urgency of concern once farmers could not feed their family and members of those families started to starve.
Famine can be highly detrimental to human health and cause a lot of sickness throughout humans. It is clear that there are many biological effects caused by famine but there are also many effects on society and human agency. Famine can cause a breakdown in society and create barriers to economic growth. This can lead to dramatic changes in religions, cultural practices and the structure of government.
Some of the direct effects of the droughts were that many of the farmers’ crops were damaged by deficient rainfall, high temperatures, and high winds, as well as insect infestations and dust storms that accompanied these conditions. What essentially happened was that the soil lacked the stronger root system of grass as an anchor, so the winds easily picked up the loose topsoil and swirled it into dense dust clouds, called “black blizzards.” The constant dry weather caused crops to fail, leaving the plowed fields exposed to wind erosion. The effects of the drought happened so rapidly and progressively over time that there was very little preparation and planning the farmers could do before having to abandon their homes.
On the heart (center) of California is a flat area with miles and miles of farms and up to 230 different crops. The central valley agriculture is essential to the United States; it not only delivers almost half of the produce but also helps the economy by also giving more job opportunities (California Department of food and agriculture, 2014). Many families depend on the central valley agriculture to survive economically in the United States. It is a well-known fact that rain and snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains are a very important element in the central valley. No rain in the central valley can cause many devastating issues to occur quickly. Recently in the year of 2013 California received less rainfall than years before. The small amount of water the central valley is receiving is harming not only to the land but humans and animals as well. It’s destroying the habitats of animals with forest fires caused from the dry spells occurring. The central valley is going through a drought, so much that around this time of year the central valley usually accumulates enough rain for the necessities in the valley, agriculture for example. This year, however, has been different, the central valley hasn’t received enough water and this has caused a drought in the valley. Water is an important element in this world for not only human life, but for the environment in general, a shortage of water supply can bring issues to the environment and those living in it. The central valley holds the largest percent of class one soil, not only that, the valley grows a third of all the produce being grown in the United States, that’s more than 230 crops that are being grown in the central valley. However, this drought isn’t only affecting the resident...
When it floods sediments can affect the land by losing nutrients in the soil and it can also affect the clarity of
For example, then, drought is difficult to define in modern standards, it is typically classified as a shortage of water, usually associated with a deficit of rainfall. That is, drought occurs when the demand or use for water exceeds the current supply of water. It follows, then, the Colorado river drought does not solely affect one area, it’s grandeur has affected the whole southwestern United States. Additionally, the Colorado River Basin Water Management: Evaluating and Adjusting to Hydroclimatic provides information on the meager volume of rain fall. In theory, then, combined with increased temperatures from global warming, and a deficient of rainfall both circumstances have had a descending effect on most surrounding
The plants we grow for food needs specific resources to thrive, which includes the night temperature and enough water. A changing climate could create a lot of problems. Climate change could make it too hot and also make it too cold to grow crops in some areas of the world and also climate change can cause drought, which is made by the unavailability of water for irrigation. Climate change is likely to cause stronger storms and more floods, which will damage the crops. . Latin America and Southern Asia is seeing it in lethal storms and floods whereas Europeans are experiencing it in melting glaciers, forest fires and disastrous heat waves (Pearce, 2006). Deforestation is another anthropogenic factor that is causing climate change because of the need for fossil fuel, agricultural lands are being used. Forests are being burnt down by humans on a daily basis. As agricultural lands becomes less in need of growing population, people extend their space by cutting and clearing forest. The land beneath the forest sometimes tends to be unproductive and lacks the natural chemicals for a growing. The plantation will serve as a source of food for a few years after then the land becomes useless because of its infertility, it nutrients get depleted and used up. Deforestation results in numerous problems such as destruction of our natural resources, ecosystem, wildlife,
...the El Nino air pressure. The drought also has many impacts on economic, social and environmental. Manage drought comes from daily life and the government measure.
Animals could be impacted a forced to live in alternative areas and a myriad of other consequences.
Some other cons and challenges of doing business in Nigeria that also affects this group are; lack of infrastructure, poor power supply, inadequate security, inconsistent government policies, transportation challenges, inability to access funds and lack of government support.
However, the storms, floods, fire and drought that are already playing havoc with agriculture are likely to have a significant negative impact, along with the longer term flooding of coastal areas.
Economic growth and social development are complementary and they have a close but complex relationship. With the economic growth, it is clear that there are many environmental concerns in today’s society. Air, water, and land pollution have worsened; the environment of wild animals and plants has been seriously damaged; many species are threatened with extinction, deforestation and over-exploitation of mineral resources.
(2009). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Drought - a fact sheet. Retrieved from: http://www.ifad.org/lrkm/factsheet/cc.pdf The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, (2007).
Climate change is currently affecting agriculture because it is causing prolonged droughts, violent flooding, sea level to rise, and also health related issues. Droughts and flooding utterly affect agriculture because it damages cultivation since the amount of water applied to crops and farming is fundamental to the...
Agriculture is the major farming activity. Agriculture's scale means not only that large area is directly affected, but that local and even regional climates can be affected. The draining of water from rivers and watersheds for irrigation leads to drier natural habitats. Those rivers that receive runoff from farmland are often poisoned by excessive nutrients and pesticides.