Giant_and_Dwarf-FIN

Giant and DwarfDamocles’ Sword of Food Crisis: Climate, Oil,Water, Phosphorus and Africa’s ProspectsAfter the famine in East Africa (2011), the famine in the Sahel (2012). Low productivityof small farmers. Climate change and consequences in Africa and in themain agricultural regions of the world. Peak oil and food. Water crisis and the “foodbubble” in Asia. Phosphates and phosphate fertilizers.Let us close the first part of this book by attempting to provide a short synthesis ofsome of the key global trends and their likely consequences in sub-Saharan Africa. We startthis synthesis with a short story produced by CNN in Niger, where—as in the whole Sahelregion—another famine started to develop in spring of 2012. As if there were not enoughdifficulties, security and the political situation in this desert and semi-desert zone startedto rapidly destabilize as a consequence of the Western-assisted fall of Muammar Gaddafi’sdictatorship in Libya.Face of a famine: Sahel, Spring 2012 78The knock on the door is a sign of bad things to come.“Do you have any work?” they ask.They have fled their villages and come into the city out of desperation. Their bellies achefrom hunger.“For those of us in the city, we are seeing the first signs of food crisis spreading across ourcountry. We have seen it before. It has already started, and it is coming fast.”78 This story is one of many brought by the Western media in an effort to warn the public in rich countrieson the human tragedy hidden behind the numbers of cold statistics. Story by Moni Basu withcontribution from Joseph Netto was published under title “Hunger in Niger threatens millions” on theCNN’s website in February 2012. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/18/world/africa/niger-hunger/index.html?hpt=hp_t290