CONCEPT: Desertification

Desertification: This is a long-term process brought about and sustained primarily by climate change. It occurs gradually in the form of a retreat of forest cover and grasslands in the wake of significantly diminished rains as well as the depletion of ground water. The causal factors in desertification are widely documented in scientific research. One thing is certain, however: the great deserts of the world -- such as the Sahara, the Gobi and the Middle East deserts -- are not the products of "the human hand". And yet "the human hand" has now become a crucial driver in the spread of deserts.  

A well-known characteristic of deserts is the almost invariable absence of vegetation and animal life. So deforestation is inescapably built into our conception of deserts. This is certainly so in contemporary conversations about what we see happening, and what the media report. 

Besides deforestation and the historical ebb and flow of climate change, however, three forms of "poor land use", as Reed (1992: 115) suggests, can also trigger (or exacerbate) desertification. These triggers or exacerbators, she tells us, are: overcultivation, overgrazing and "poor irrigation practices". 

But she 'forgets', here, two equally crucial ones: (a) the rapid growth of human populations increasingly resident in sprawling urban centres with a manifestly insatiable thirst for water; and, (b) a rapacious demand for wood as a key input in many things. There is a practically 'unlimited demand' for it in, inter alia, the construction of homes and other kinds of buildings and shelters; meeting our fuel-consumption needs, our demand for furniture and frequent need for caskets to bury the dead; and the manufacture of paper, paper products and packaging material. 

CONCEPT: Ethics in Emergency and Disaster Management

As a concept, Ethics is derived from the Greek word ethikos (meaning 'arising from habit'). Ethikos in turn arose from an older Greek word ethos (which refers to the custom, character, disposition or core values of a given social entity -- which may range from the individual to the corporate group). Ethics is about conduct. Conduct, Herbert Spencer (1892: 10) pointed out, was the opposite of "purposeless actions"; which was straightforward enough, and yet sufficiently intriguing to catch thoughtful attention. But Spencer (1820-1903), whom we should all read these days, worried that attempts to see good conduct as an ethical ideal might degenerate into a tautology, equating it with a purposefulness and perfection of action. Perfection need not be the 'culminating' ideal, but here is the case he made:

"It is strange that a notion so abstract as that of perfection, or a certain ideal completeness of nature, should ever have been thought one from which a system of guidance can be evolved; as it was in a general way by Plato and more distinctly by Jonathan Edwardes. Perfection is synonymous with goodness in the highest degree; and hence to define good conduct in terms of perfection, is indirectly to define good conduct in terms of itself." (Spencer, 1892: 33)

He suggested that there was only one way out of this logjam -- the means-ends way. Thus: "...the notion of perfection like the notion of goodness can be framed only in relation to ends" (Spencer, 1892: 33). In the diverse fields of scientific and emergency management work, the concept of ethics pertains, certainly from the Spencerian perspective, to any or all dimensions of professional conduct in terms of its conformity with, threats to, or violations of, the highest value propositions of a given field of practice. 

For present purposes, then, ethics -- or more specifically, professional ethics -- refers to a code of acceptable conduct or practice on the part of an individual, group or corporate entity as guided by the highest normative principles or best traditions, or collective 'hopes', of a discipline or profession. Thus, Weber (1964: 129-130) points out, inter alia, that:

"From a sociological point of view an 'ethical' standard is one to which [people] attribute a certain type of value and which, by virtue of this belief, they treat as a valid norm governing their action. In this sense it can be spoken of as defining what is ethically good in the same way that action which is called beautiful is measured by aesthetic standards. It is possible for ethically normative beliefs of this kind to have a profound influence on action in the absence of any sort of external guarantee. This is often the case when the interests of others would be little affected by their violation."

Weber continued to say that 'ethical beliefs' could also be 'guaranteed' by religion, or firmly adhered to on account of the "disapproval of violations and the consequent boycott"; or by the probability of, or actual, legal action (Weber, 1964: 130).

The entire value-chain of humanitarian response and related emergency and disaster management work is in principle guided by implicit and explicit ethical standards. All these fall under the 'umbrella' goal of delivering "the greatest good for the greatest number" of people in actual or impending distress. A number of key concepts interrogated in the present series speak to certain elements of those standards. Among these concepts are: Climate Change, Contamination, Contingency, Deforestation, Disaster, Emergency, Entitlement, Famine, Hunger, Non-Refoulement, Pollution, Response, The Precautionary Principle and Triage.  

NOTE: The bulk of the above text is extracted, with some changes, from a longer discourse on ethics as a pivotal standard of scientific research, as referenced below. 

READ: "Ethics ~ The Apex Standard of Scientific Research..."

CONCEPT: Global Warming

Global Warming: As already pointed out under Climate Change, global warming precedes and fuels climate change, which is thus its logical and worrisome consequence. First the world's average temperature(s) begin to rise and keep on rising, and then local and regional climate systems begin to change in manifest and quantifiable ways.

Global warming is itself the direct effect of greenhouse gas emissions -- particularly the emission of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. These emissions are caused by modern industrial and agricultural production and related human activity, which trace back historically to the (English) Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. This simmering climate change has been noticed increasingly by experts since the 1950s. The emissions have mostly occurred in the 'industrialized' parts of the world, but endanger the entire planet.

One of the greatest challenges for humanity today is how to reverse the on-going process of global warming. Certainly, that is not an end in itself. The underlying and hugely consequential purpose is to arrest and even reverse the trends in climate change that we already see. We need to do so in order to save ourselves, as only we can, from its dire consequences. Evidence of these consequences continue to pile up (see CONCEPT: Climate Change).

CONCEPT: Climate Change

Climate Change: The concepts of climate change and global warming are, though distinct, frequently used interchangeably -- and perhaps too frequently. In reality, global warming precedes climate change, which is its logical and worrisome consequence. First the world's average temperature(s) begin to rise and gradually keep on rising, and then local and regional climate systems begin to change in manifest and quantifiable ways.

Climate change has a wide-range of consequences. Its impact is already being felt in a growing number of the world's economies, and more specifically in agricultural production (and related food-security concerns). It is likewise felt in terms of measurable degradation in general human health, the environment, and the social fabrics of vulnerable communities and societies around the world. Sites of great historical and cultural significance to many countries, and to humanity in general, are increasingly under threat as well. Alarm bells are already ringing, but there are still many skeptics -- and many who are not quite alarmed yet, or alarmed but powerless to act in any collective sort of way.

[READ: "Concept: Global Warming"]




Selected Readings on the Consequences of Climate Change:

1. Scott, M.J., et al (1990) "Consequences of climatic change for the human environment"

2. UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (nd) Climate Change: Impacts, Vulnerabilities and Adaptation in Developing Countries

3. Wikipedia, Global Warming

4. Yambo, Mauri (2015), "Climate Change: Rising Sea Levels May Be More Dangerous than Previously Calculated, NASA Reports"




UPDATED: March 7, 2018

CLIMATE CHANGE: Rising Sea Levels May Be More Dangerous Than Previously Calculated, NASA Reports

It's not too late to start doing serious planning all along Africa's coastline -- and along the continent's great rivers. How big a threat to Africa do rising oceans pose? NASA suggests at least one way of looking at the threat, as seen above. Just looking at the immensity of Africa should suggest (prompt) more localized solutions as well.

READ: The Economist ~ "The True True Size of Africa"

Land-locked countries would appear less threatened by rising seas, but that would be a wish rudely to be shaken by catastrophic events that may initially seem to occur in slow-motion. Who doesn't trade with other countries via the seas, these days? Not Uganda. Not Rwanda. Not Mali. Not Zambia. None.

Rising seas pose secondary threats as well to the hinterland of every country with a coastline, such as Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, DRC and Nigeria. The coming flooding of Egypt, from rising seas and a clogging the Nile Delta, will be of epic proportions, and will pose mortal danger to the great monuments -- which are all of Africa's heritage, and not just Egypt's.   More existentially, flooding may lead to unprecedented migration into the rest of Africa, Europe and elsewhere.

And yet migration in itself may be the lesser problem, more serious ones being the attendant political instability, armed conflict and redrawing of national boundaries. So, if there is going to be armed conflict along the Nile's catchment, it will far less likely be over how to share the Grand Old River's waters, as some have suggested. Rather, it will be over there being too much water in low-lying and, in the circumstances, hapless Egypt. Hapless but with deadly arms.

History will be turned on its head, seems to me. 

Have a Look at a Map of African Countries and Their Capital Cities