Geography News December 2006
Australia’s drought: an update
Dirty water kills two million children a year
Japan suffers deadliest tornado ever
British firm faces £100 million claim for toxic waste disaster
Tourist development threatens Victoria Falls
Spanish shellfish beds ruined by ash from summer fires
Australia’s drought: an update
Further to the short article in last month’s Newsletter, the drought in Australia appears to be intensifying and there is now evidence to suggest that it may be a much more significant event than was first thought.
With many parts of Australia facing a fifth year of drought scientists have concluded that the country is facing a one in a thousand year event. With summer just beginning, reservoir levels are dangerously low, crop harvest forecasts are being slashed and hazards such as bushfires and dust storms are more likely to occur. More than half of Australia’s farmland is currently affected by the drought.
The Murray-Darling river system provides three-quarters of the water consumed nationally. Already it is nearly 50% below the previous record minimum figure and in October the lowest ever flow was recorded at 5% of the average. Disruption to drinking water supplies is likely and in early November the government called an emergency water summit in Canberra to discuss the situation. Sydney’s largest reservoir is only 40% full and rural districts in eastern Australia face shortages within a month.
Ironically, Australia along with the USA has so far failed to sign up to the Kyoto agreement to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Australia currently has carbon emissions equivalent to France and Italy, which have much higher populations. Scientists are linking the current drought with changes due to global warming, where a reduction in rainfall and increase in temperature are in line with scientific predictions for the continent.
(The most recent drought statement from the Australian government can be accessed at http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/drought/drought.shtmlt .)
Dirty water kills two million children a year
The United Nations in its annual Human Development report has suggested that nearly two million children die each year from dirty water and the lack of proper sanitation. Some 1.1bn people do not have access to safe water and 2.6bn lack access to adequate sanitation. This situation is not due to water scarcity but to poverty, inadequate planning and government failure. The report concludes that safe water provision is the basic requirement needed to trigger further human development in the world’s most impoverished regions.
The United Nations Development Programme suggests that each person should have access to at least 20 litres of fresh water a day. Many people living in sub-Saharan Africa get less than this amount. By contrast, the average water use in the USA is 570 litres a day!
In many countries governments spend less than 1% of their national income on water supply. The UN says that this figure must rise. Furthermore, in many LEDCs the cost of water is often higher for slum dwellers than for the wealthy due to excessive charges by ‘middle men’ for the use of standpipes.
Dirty water may affect up to half of the population of developing countries at any one time. This leads to poor school attendance and the inability to work effectively, thereby exacerbating the poverty divide. With global warming likely to lead to greater extremes of wet and dry, the distribution of water would seem to be one of the greatest challenges for the future. Rather like global food supply, there is enough water to go around but it is not evenly distributed.
(Further information can be obtained direct from the UN Human Development Report website at http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006 . Wikipedia has an excellent entry, which includes maps, on the Human Development Index at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index.)
Japan suffers deadliest tornado ever
On 7 November 2006 Japan’s deadliest tornado on record tore through a remote town on the northern island of Hokkaido killing nine people and injuring more than two-dozen. The tornado cut off electricity to hundreds of homes in the town of Saroma. Many buildings were damaged or destroyed and severe disruption was caused to the local infrastructure.
The tornado destroys houses in Saroma, Hokkaido (Source: http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20061107p2a00m0na018000c.html )
The tornado packed winds up to 156mph and it is thought to be one of the strongest storms to hit Japan since the Second World War. Tornadoes are not especially common in Japan, being much more commonly associated with central parts of the USA (the son-called ‘tornado alley’) and Bangladesh.
On average Japan is hit by 20 tornadoes a year, most of which occur in September. This compares with over 800 tornadoes a year for the USA. Nearly 50% of Japanese tornadoes are associated with cyclones (depressions) and 20% are associated with typhoons (hurricanes). The precise cause of the most recent tornado has yet to be established.
(An excellent detailed article about tornadoes in Japan can be accessed at http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1175%2F1520-0442(1997)010%3C1730:ASSOTA%3E2.0.CO%3B2 . An archive article on the recent tornado can be accessed at CNN’s website at http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/11/07/japan.tornado.ap/index.html . Japan’s Meteorological Agency can be found at http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html.)
British firm faces £100 million claim for toxic waste disaster
In August 2006 hundreds of tons of toxic waste was dumped in open-air sites and in waterways in Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast. Thousands of people suffered sickness and ten people died as a result of exposure to the chemicals. The incident even led to street protests and riots. Now the London-based company involved in the incident is facing a huge compensation claim in the region of £100million.
Toxic waste dumped in Abidjan (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/02/world/africa/02ivory.html?ex=1317441600&en=289499925513d443&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss )
The toxic waste was on board a tanker chartered by Trafigura, a multinational commodities company. After a long journey via Amsterdam and Nigeria, where the costs of dumping were deemed to be too high, the tanker ended up in Abidjan where a local company agreed to dispose of the waste. The disposal involved no more than unscrupulous dumping close to public areas and the consequences were disastrous. There was widespread panic and political unrest.
Trafigura claim that the waste – a mixture of gasoline, spent caustic soda and water – was dealt with by an Ivorian government-certified disposal agent under the supervision of port officials. They claim that it is therefore the local company who should be held responsible for the incident. On 8 September, Trafigura commenced legal proceedings against the local company Compagnie Tommy.
(For further information see an excellent summary article on the BBC’s website at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6123988.stm . A very good article with interesting links can be found on the New York Times’ website at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/02/world/africa/02ivory.html?ex=1317441600&en=289499925513d443&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss .)
Tourist development threatens Victoria Falls
Concern has been expressed from the UN World Heritage Centre that uncontrolled tourist developments at Victoria Falls are posing environmental threats to the area.
Zambia’s wildlife authorities have recently given permission for a consortium of Zambian and foreign investors to construct a giant holiday complex comprising hotels, a golf course and hundreds of holiday chalets next to the waterfall.
Victoria Falls (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Falls )
Victoria Falls is one of Africa’s most popular tourist destinations and the new developments are part of a government plan to bring 1 million tourists to the site every year by 2010. Revenue from tourism will increase to £260million by 2010 and the new developments will provide up to 2,000 jobs for local people.
Despite the clear economic benefits, environmental groups are concerned that these developments risk damaging an important world heritage site. The ecology of the park could be put at risk and local environmentalists claim that no proper ecological audit has been conducted in the area where the new development is planned. Animals such as the rare black rhino could be put at risk.
This is an excellent example of the issue of tourist development. Whilst it is easy to see the benefits of such a development on generating income and providing jobs, the danger is that the attractions themselves may be damaged or compromised in some way as a result. It is a question of striking the right balance between development and conservation.
(For further information see an excellent article published by Africa News at http://www.africa-interactive.net/index.php?PageID=2245 . Wikipedia has an extensive entry about the Falls at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Falls.)
Spanish shellfish beds ruined by ash from summer fires
Ash resulting from summer forest fires in north-west Spain has been swept down to the Galician coast by heavy storms devastating one of Europe’s richest shellfish beds. The ash has formed thick black slurry blanketing the rocky inlets that contain cockles, mussels and clams. In addition to the large quantities of ash, the storms brought down whole trees, telegraph poles and large quantities of rocks.
Shellfish are popular at Christmas in southern Europe and there are fears that the local economy could suffer significantly by missing out on this time of bumper demand. Losses on one beach alone near Pontevedra are estimated to total more than 600,000 euros. Many hundreds of people earn a living from harvesting the shellfish and the local towns and villages rely on income generated by the industry.
In addition to the problems caused by the ash, the influx of huge quantities of freshwater from the storms has led to a dilution of the seawater. This is detrimental to the growth and development of young shellfish.
The forest fires in the region were the worst for 20 years. Over 2,000 separate fires raged for two months. Most were started deliberately.
(Further information can be obtained from articles at the Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/10/25/ashes_threaten_shellfish_banks_in_spain) and the Independent (http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article1932738.ece. Further information about the storms that hit Galicia can be found on the BBC’s Weather website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/news/27102006news.shtml. Galicia has been affected by several recent pollution incidents including oil spills and a spill of toxic chemicals in September 2006. For further information on the toxic chemical spill access the Guardian’s website at http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,,1864258,00.html.)
