Winner of Nobel Peace Prize Ties Famine to Environmental Degradation

The ongoing famine and drought in the Horn of Africa and in East Africa has left more than 12 million people in the region in need of urgent food aid. In Somalia, where the situation is most severe, thousands have fled their homes to seek refuge in Kenya and other East African countries. According to the United Nations, the situation is not likely to abate in the coming months. Some people have asked whether the famine was preventable. Wangari Maathai, an environmentalist and winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, answers in the affirmative. In a recent interview she gave to National Public Radio (NPR), Maathai speaks candidly about the root causes of the famine, linking it with decades of environmental degradation that governments in the region knew about but failed to stop.

"This did not happen overnight," Maathai said. "We have seen a situation where rains have not come for four years, not just because of climate change, but because of the gradual environmental degradation that is influenced by the Sahara to the north."

Several reports have linked the famine, particularly in Somalia, to decades of conflicts and lack of leadership. Maathai agrees that these are important contributing factors. However, she believes that environmental degradation, made worse by unpredictable rainfall, has over time robbed the people of food security and natural protection. Lack of leadership has meant governments have failed to protect the people. Maathai gave a very poignant example of the Ewaso Nyiro River in Kenya. The river, which flows from Mount Kenya, waters the Aberdare forest and the plains, and provides water for wildlife. "Now the river has completely dried up to dead rock, because people have been allowed to move into the forest to cut wood and establish plantations in the forest," Maathai lamented. Because of this, the forest is no longer able to harvest rainwater like before, and the rains no longer come regularly. The resulting drought has made it necessary for the government to supply water in tanks to communities in the northern part of the country. This would not have happened if they acted earlier and made sure the "the rivers flow to the people," Maathai concluded.

Maathai's comments show how grassroots efforts to prevent deforestation and encourage reforestation is important. The SoilFarm Multi-Culture Group (SFMG), a UUSC partner in Kenya, is spearheading such an effort in Kakamega through the Hope in Crops project. The goal is to protect the Kakamega Rain Forest in western Kenya from degradation and, by so doing, protect the watershed of Lake Victoria from drying up. SFMG works with schoolchildren, women, and farmers to plant indigenous trees, which help to retain water in the soil. In addition, they grow indigenous food crops that can withstand drought and adapt to changing weather patterns. Trees planted by the banks of the rivers that form part of Lake Victoria watershed purify the waters and help them maintain their natural flow.

Maathai pointed out how governments tacitly supported environmental degradation through inaction. The Kakamega Rain Forest where SFMG works provides a great example. In the 1980s, the government wanted to convert the forest into a tea plantation. Thanks to resistance by the local peoples, only portions of the forest were converted. However, a tea plantation within the rain forest is an aberration, which disrupts the magnificence of the forest and reduces the protection it provides in the environment. With UUSC's support, SFMG is working to protect the forest from further encroachment by tea plantations.

Maathai calls for grassroots efforts like her own and those of SFMG to be supported by governments and international agencies. By supporting SFMG, UUSC has already assumed leadership in this area, helping to make sure the rivers flow to the people and conserve the environment — and helping to ensure food security for local peoples.

UUSC is also working to support marginalized groups in Somalia and East Africa through its Rights in Humanitarian Crises Program. UUSC has opened an emergency fund that will help the people of East Africa and the Horn of Africa — you can help by donating to the fund. However, we hope that, going forward, policy and decision makers will listen to esteemed environmentalists like Maathai and develop preventive strategies that will support efforts by grassroots organizations already working on the ground.