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When it does not rain
People who live in more benign climates cannot know anything about our
critical dependence on a few short months of rain for our very
survival.
Right now as I write at my desk, the sky outside is a terrifying blue.
Yesterday was the same; in fact we have had little or no rain for
nearly two
months. The veld is starting to look as it does in winter - during
months
when we normally expect our wettest period of the year.
Our rivers have not run this year and our supply dams are all falling
rapidly, two are already dry and two have enough in them for another 4
or 5
months, leaving us with one dam for our total needs and that is
unlikely to
last the year unless we get late rains. Today's weather forecast is
for dry
weather for at least another week. I have already flattened the
vegetable
garden and was thinking this morning that we may have to allow the
citrus
trees to die. Most of the rest of the garden is already brown and
scorched.
On top of everything else this is particularly tough for us who love
our
gardens and are willing to spend money and time to seeing that the
roses are
just right and that the lawn is fed and trimmed. Still, if you live in
a
semi arid region of the globe you must expect this sort of thing to
happen
from time to time. I well recall 1992 when we had no rain at all in
many
parts of the country. Vast estates of citrus and sugar died and
Bulawayo was
on an emergency supply basis, even using water drawn from an aquifer
some
kilometers to the north. We had interests in a ranch at that time and I
do
not think there was a blade of grass within 200 kilometers of the ranch
homestead.
Water is more critical to life than most things and when you have it,
it is
unappreciated - when you are short of it then you realize its
importance. So
it was with interest that I listened to the reports of the study group
on
climate warming this past week. The news was not good - at last the
scientists have agreed that global warming is for real, that it is, in
part,
man made and then went on to say (disconcertingly) that no matter what
we do
about emissions, it is here to stay and cannot be reversed in the short
term
(100 years or so).
The projections are difficult to read and interpret but they generally
agree
that the drier regions of the world will be drier and the wetter
regions
wetter!! So today, I sit in drought stricken Matabeleland and watch
pictures
of much of Indonesia under water. I also saw this morning a warning
from the
Mozambique government to the effect that people must move away from the
lower Zambezi river where flooding was expected. The report stated that
this
was because they had opened all the gates at Cahora Bassa, releasing
3500
cubic metres of water per second into the river below the wall and the
dam
has continued to rise. They attributed this to heavy rains in Zambia,
the
Congo and Malawi.
So if this report is true - what can we expect and how do we manage
the
predicted outcomes? Well first of all we must all recognise that
poverty
makes every situation worse. Poor people cannot defend themselves from
the
effects of changes in their environment and are also environment
dependent.
Peasant farmers live constantly with the threat of starvation and
deprivation. This is why they are so easily manipulated by wayward
governments like our own.
Secondly we must accept that large areas of our country are going to be
unsuitable for human habitation - certainly on the basis of normal
agronomic
practice. We will have to ensure that people who depend on agriculture
for
their livelihood are located in regions where the rainfall and soils
types
allow such activity to take place. In the arid regions of Zimbabwe
where we
get less than 350 mls of rainfall a year, we should look at systems
that
will protect these fragile environments and facilitate some sort of
decent
economic returns. Tourism and wild life suggests themselves to me in
this
respect and even then, we must provide for water and a fodder bank for
the
tough times when it simply does not rain.
For the Cities like Bulawayo, we have got to take a long hard look at
our
needs and the resources available. When I was growing up in the
Esigodini
Valley south of Bulawayo I can recall a stream that never ceased to
flow -
all year round. We did some irrigation from that stream and ran a small
dairy and pig farm. Today that stream never flows and the farm I was
raised
on, is derelict. We simply have to use our water resources better. I am
told
that 40 per cent of the raw water sent to the City from our dams is
lost in
a myriad of leaking pipes and burst water mains. We pump water up a
1000
metres head and over 35 kilometers and then spend millions cleaning it
up
and making it potable and then we send it down our pipes and flush it
away
into the catchments of the Zambezi river that does not really need our
largesse.
We need to do what other major cities do all over the world, capture
that
waste water and clean it up and send it back to our purification
plants. We
need to build more dams and to practice conservation in all its
different
aspects. There was a time when this country was the most advanced in
Africa,
perhaps in the arid third world as well, in the field of land and water
conservation. It is no longer discussed as a priority and our leaders
show
little understanding of it as an issue, but this is life and death
stuff for
those of us who live in arid parts of Africa.
We need to take a leaf out of Israel's short history as a country.
They have
turned desert into watered plains and they have done it on a resource
base
that was nothing like as rich as our own. Every person who lives in
that
country or who works on a farm, knows that water is life and that it is
everyone's responsibility to look after it when it falls from the sky
or
comes out of the end of a pipe.
But one thing is for sure, a Zimbabwe that is undemocratic, does not
respect
the rule of law or property rights and impoverishes its people by
draining
its wealth into the pockets and bank accounts of the few who are
politically
connected, simply cannot handle yet another calamity such as drought
and
global warming. Our people will be faced with only two alternatives if
this
rogue regime is not removed soon - flee or stay and be impoverished
and die
an early death.
Just this week some 40 soldiers at Nkomo Barracks outside Harare shot
their
horses and then fled with their guns. I have not heard if they have
been
caught, but I doubt it. Where have they gone? I suggest South Africa
where
they will use their training and their weapons to make a living - at
the
expense of every South African. Are these issues linked? Of course they
are,
it is our political masters who are failing to make the connection and
one
day they will be blindsided by a crisis that will be of their own
making.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 5th February 2007
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