One billion people on Earth lack easy access to the water most of us take for granted. Global climate change is making that struggle worse, as we see in this report from the rugged region of southern Ethiopia, where drought is drying up wells, threatening an ancient way of life and fueling conflict.
Julia Marino, Alex Stonehill and Ernest Waititu are with the CLP, whose mission is to develop and implement innovative multimedia approaches to international and local journalism.
The water shortage in East Africa is affecting the economic, political, and social aspects of the people’s live in terrible ways. Politically this problem is sparking conflicts between nations in need of water in Africa. The economy is also taking a huge blow from the lack of water. For example the crops throughout Africa may not get water because people are more important badly hurting their agriculture. Finally the social part of this causes people to walk miles a day to get water, then once they get it, it is contaminated and unsafe to drink. It causes a lot of unneeded stress.
The water shortage in East Africa is affecting the social, political, and economical aspects of people’s lives in a lot of negative ways. When there aren’t enough resources to sustain a large population, the relationships between tribes and groups become strained and very tense, leading to violence. Politically, the water crisis has caused the government to put it’s self in a bad light by denying the lower class water when the upper class is not denied. For the economy, this crisis is doing awful things. For one, the price of anything having to do with water has gone up. Another way this has affected it badly is that people are dying and for the government that is less people they can tax.
The water shortage in East Africa is affecting the economic, political, and social aspects of people’s lives in many ways. It is affecting them very negatively. The lack of water puts a huge strain on the economy. Without water they can’t grow crops to feed themselves or sell to others. Many conflicts have been started over the need for water in some. Also, many people have turned to violence because they can’t get attention from their government.
The water crisis is causing economic, political, and social turmoil in East Africa. The economy in Africa is failing because the two main jobs of people in Africa are farming crops and farming livestock. When there isn’t enough water to keep animals and crops alive, the short supply can’t meet the huge demand, and the foundations of the African economy fail. The fact that there just isn’t enough water for the people just adds to the problem. Most political problems in East Africa are water based as well, because countries are fighting each other for shared resources in a race to use them the fastest, focused only on their country’s short-term needs. The social aspects of people’s lives have also taken a turn for the worse as tribes battle each other in resource wars and families using more of their free time finding water and less of it preparing for the inevitable change of their ancestral way of life.
In East Africa everything revolves around water. Most people living in East Africa survive on the bare minimum amount of water, about 5 gallons, each day. If the people don’t get enough water, they can get sick and die, but even if they do get enough water, a lot of the time the water isn’t clean, and they can get sick and die, too. With the water shortage, there’s not enough water to go around, and more and more people are dying each day. Fights are breaking out between governments and many of the countries are being emerged in civil war over the resource we take for granted every day.
The water shortage affects people economically because pastoralists depend on their livestock for their livelihoods and to feed their families. If these people can’t get water for their animals then the animals will die and the pastoralists’ culture will die out. If the pastoralist culture dies out that is one way in which the people of East Africa are affected socially. Politically the people of East Africa are affected by the water crisis because lack of water can cause conflicts between tribes. If tribes begin to die out because of the water crisis or water based conflict then this could greatly affect the political structure of Africa. The fact that tribes are fighting over water also affects the people socially. If tribes are always being attacked and the people constantly see their friends and family dying, the people may be less inclined to form personal relationships and this could gravely alter the social structure of these tribes.
The water shortage in places like Ethiopia sets the people, economy, and overall society onto a very deadly path of development. With no water, people that herd cattle, lose the way of life that they, and their ancestors had practiced for a long time. Therefore, the region finds itself with many poor jobless people with little to no other skills in other work. This in turn will create a drop in that entire country’s economy. So logically, if any of these things happen, it will not be at all good for the country in the future.
The water shortage in East Africa would affect all the aspects of people’s lives. In the video, Habiba Boru used to have money, but then lost it due to political conflicts with the fighting. So that is just one example of how economic, political, and social aspects of people’s lives are contingent on this water shortage. Most of the people in the village are pastoralists, and they depend on having livestock. If the livestock don’t have any pastures to eat and are dying, then the people go hungry, the economy goes down because of the lack of food and then that impacts the government.
The water shortage in East Africa is affecting the economic, political, and social aspects of people’s lives in a very negative way. The lack of water puts a strain on the economy because without water you can’t grow crops to feed yourself or sell to others. Many conflicts have been started over the need for water in some countries. Also, many people have turned to violence because they can’t get attention from their government otherwise.
The water shortage of Ethiopia and neighboring nations is affecting the economic, political, and social aspects of people’s lives quite drastically. Water shortage leads to dead cattle, dead cattle means no livelihood to the people who depend on them. This can lead to human death. Making societies desperate they will then fight over what limited water resources there are.
WELL i PERSONALLY THiNK THAT iTS DESTRUCTiN THEM iN A VERY HARSH WAY BECAUSE ….. PEOPLE ARE LOSiNG THEiR HOMES AND ALSO PEOPLE ARE DYING AND THERE ANiMALS ARE DYiNG AS WELL AND BECAUSE OF THAT PEOPLE ARENT ABLE TO EAT !!!
yes i believe people are dieing from the drought and that we can do something about it like cutting back on all the water that we waste leaving the water on when were brushing are teeth or letting it run till it gets hot for a shower
I know cattle are dieing, but are people dieing as well from the drought?
And is there anything we can do as a community here to help?
The lack of water in East Africa has a domino effect on the people’s lives. The livestock doesn’t receive enough water to produce sufficient meat causing the business itself to not be able to bring in an adequate amount of money. Without that money, families aren’t able to support one another and without a circulation of money, government suffers aswell. If Africa’s population continues to rapidly increase, the problem is only going to grow worse and very soon. Education and a plentiful source of birthcontrol should be mandatory.
It affects their economic lives becuase they can no longer earn money in the cattle busniess and cannot stay in area for too long with all the droughts that are present in the areas that they lived in. The political asspect with this problem is that you cannot control the rainfall and the money of a developing nation cannot support a nation that does not a a standing economy.
Water is a basic necessity. It nourishes people and the land. Without it, or in lieu of a scarcity of water, everything that is built upon the nourishment of the land or the people is at risk and people will fight for their share, or more than their share.
Since there is not enough water for grass to feed the cattle and livestock, what are the people eating? Can they grow any vegetables in the dry soil or do they only depend on their cattle for food?
How far do they have to travel to get to water usually?
How deep and how long does it take them to build these new wells?
Are any countries actually attempting to help solve the water crisis in East Africa? Many people seem to do a lot of research on the subject, but nobody seems to be really taking any major steps towards fixing this problem.
If the drought gets even worse and causes the Ethiopians to move, where will they go?
Will this problem with water cause wars to break out with Kenya and its neighboring nations? We have seen several African wars in the past, with horrible results, and I don’t think the people of Kenya want to be apart of that. What is the best way of providing this aid to these countries?
Has the United States made any efforts to help the Ethiopians, or any African nation, with their struggles over water?
Did your reporting on water just concentrate on Africa?
Does the government help the people of Southern Ethiopia?
How long did it take you to travel to southern Ethiopia from Addis Ababa?
In southern Ethiopia video, we just saw vast dry land and nothing much in the way of facilities. What did you eat while there?
What do you think governments of the featured countries should do to wipe out the water problems completely?
In Ethiopia, did you experience the conflict yourself, if so, how was it like? Did you experience water shortage wherever you were staying?
What is your own opinion about the job you did with the video in Southern Ethiopia?
How long did it take to shoot the Ethiopia video?
How do the water problems in southern Ethiopia compare to the water problems in places you have been in Kenya?
What challenges do the people in southern Ethiopia face while digging the wells?
Do the people in the Ethiopian cities face the same water problems as the pastoralists?
How deep do the Ethiopians in the southern part have to dig their wells to get water?
Where do the Ethiopian herdsmen get the guns they have in the video?
What water treatment methods do Ethiopians use?
Did you face any challenges of suffering from waterborne diseases while reporting from Ethiopia?
What challenges did you face while making the video? What video skills do I need to produce a video like the one you have produced here?
Why is it important to know the water situation outside our geographical region?
Do the people you interview in Ethiopia have to treat their water/ any water treatment technologies there?
Through your interaction with Ethiopia did you pick up a way in which you could help them in their water problems?
What does the government in Ethiopia do to help those who are suffering?
While in Ethiopia, did you face difficulties like lack of drinking water and rough roads?
In these times of long droughts when there has been no rain for many of months, and when the wells dry out. How do tribe people get there water? And if they dont receive any water, does this lead to relocation?
Having experienced water pollution and contamination in Africa what steps can you take to help the situation?
Did you face any water problems different from what you face in the U.S. when you were reporting from this region?
