Environment on Darfur After the Conflict Essay

The world has experienced a bent of engagements for instead a long time throughout history. All the time there is a conflict, the damages precedentd is mostly documented in terms of how many casualties project been reported, and the impact it has ca utilize on the economy. It is however r be to hear raft talking on the effects these conflicts flush toilet kick in on the earthy environment or which steps have been taken to protect the inwrought environment from such conflicts. The natural environment for a long time has been a silent victim of the conflicts that occurs either locally or internationally leaving the repercussions to be felt for quite nearly time.In many cases, the impact the war and other(a) conflicts have been having on the environment has been generally very devastating. There ar many pollutants that be released in the environment during the war which can end up ventureing the natural resources. On the other hand, there are other natural resources t hat are depleted during the conflict leaving the environment at a worse position. A major problem is that most of the current conflicts are witnessed in the developing countries which do non have the economic capacity to deal with the environmental problems hence causing a major setback.Africa has had quite long cases of civil wars some which started during the colonial period and still pickings place to now. These countries have been mostly been passage of armsing over the borders which were drawn by the colonial powers for their on interests. Most of the wars taking place in Africa are as a pee of fighting for natural resources such as fertile gardening land or wet. repay qualified to the long history of these civil wars in Africa, it is difficult to know exactly what these conflicts have ca practice session to the environment.However, looking at the rate of the loss of biodiversity in the affected regions, it can be easy to realize how serious the situation has left the da mage to the environment. Darfur Conflict and the Impact It Has Caused on the Environment Southern Sudan has witnessed on civil war that has caused many nations through the United Nations body and the African unity to try and broker peace in the region and bring things to the normal situation. The conflict that is macrocosm witnessed in the region right now is considered as a war between the different ethnic and tribal lines (IRIN, parity 2).The sides that are mostly un similar are the governments military and the Janjaweed group. There are other rebel groups that have also made the situation to be worse. The major cause of the war in Sudan has been attri merelyed to fighting for water between the Baggara nomads who travel to the south, a region mostly occupied by the farming communities to search for water. This conflict has conduct to many casualties macrocosm reported throughout. Despite putting in place a government of national unity, and increasing the presence of the Afri can Union peace of mind keepers, the situation has not improved in any way (Borger, para 2).There have been many reasons presumption as a source to the Darfur conflict, though the major reasons have been cited to be the increasing population which the current natural resources can not hold, hence making these people to fight for the scarce resources. On the other hand, there have been claims that the conflict is as a result of the Arab dominants intention to wipe out the black Africans. This has counterbalance made the United States to mean to this as a form of genocide in the area. Whichever the cause of the war, it has caused so many untold damages.The focus on this conflict has always been the number of people who have died in the region, or the number of those displaced. It is important that peoples flavor and welfare is put first. This is what has been the major concern of many bodies, organizations and other nations. However, like many other conflicts, little concern has put on what effect this conflict is causing to the environment (AP, para 6). As earlier argued, the war in Sudan was triggered by the environmental problems which led to the communities to fight over scarce resources.It is however a worrying trend that the continued conflict is further endangering the environment that is hypothetical to support the whole population. The environment has been made worse by this conflict and made the land to become uninhabitable. This means that the tension between the conflicting communities gets to be to a greater extent intense when it occurs that the natural resources are not going to support all of them as expected (Beyrer, & Pizer pp 67). Environmental degradation in Darfur has been on the locomote collectible to the continued conflict.It means that the conflict that started as a result of the environmental problems is being escalated by overthrowing the environment further. The issues in Sudan over the environment bespeak how complex the en vironmental matters can be in the causing br distributively to peace. This region has witnessed the decreased cases of traditional methods of environmental management systems, and in some places being disregarded completely. The conflict over resources in Darfur was at a local level but expanded to national level where political and economic marginalisation was heightened.Ethnic differences have contributed to making the matters worse to the situation. Therefore, despite having the political and economic factors in the lead to the problems in Darfur, the major issue surrounds natural resources (de Montesquiou, para 8). The Sudanese Arabs move to the south to look for pasture for their animals due to the prolonged drought that was experienced in their regions. This led to them conflicting with the black farmers whose land the Arabs were grazing on. The grazing of the animals on the farming land worsened the situation as there was increased district erosion which made land to be po or for farming.When the black farmers complete that the Khartoum government was indifferent in solving the matter, they rebelled against them. By rebelling, the people started to fight destroying many manmade and natural resources that were on the way (Borger, para 7). When the nomads inhabited the farming areas, they started to cut down the trees. To the farmers, the cut trees were very important as they provided shade for their crops and holding together the soil to avoid erosion. Due to the conflict of interest, these important natural resources were destroyed as they were caught in between the fighting.With no trees cover, the problem of lack of rainfall becomes even heightened, which is a big trouble to both the farmers and the nomads since they cannot be able to get rain that is important for the crops and animals respectively. Due to the bare land caused by the cutting of the trees, it has become harder for the farmers at the refugee camps to go back to their homes as they ca n not carry out any meaningful activities to such bare lands. With this kind of the situation, it becomes difficult to control human suffering without further harm to the environment (HPN, para 3)Many people have been killed in the conflict while millions of others have been living in the camps after being left homeless. At the camps, the refugees need to be given their basic needs. Water is a very important commodity that no human beings can do without. In fact as argued throughout, the conflict has been surrounding fighting for water resources. Therefore, while at the camps, the refugees have to be provided with water. This has led to the humanitarian organizations to dig boreholes to help the refugees get water.Considering that the land in Darfur is by and large dominated by hard rocks, it means that the rains that fall in the suddenly season mostly wash away, hence, the boreholes depends on the under res publica reserves. Considering the rate at which the reserves are being use d, it is tough to imagine the consequences that await the Darfur people when the reserves will finally be depleted. The situation dexterity lead to the refugees being moved to another region that can support them. There are already some areas that have reported the drying up of the boreholes. Apart from water, the refugees also need other resources for their daily oeuvre.There have been many trees that have been cut by the refugees near the camps to provide them with firewood. The trees are also cut and used to construct and reinforce the makeshift houses of the refugees. This implies that trees are being used at a higher rate than they are being replaced. There are some refugees who are tough in some economic activities. The common economic activity that the refugees are mingled with is making mud bricks. The refugees are involved with this activity mostly because it does not need skilled labor, and the materials are readily available. A mint candy of water is usually used in the making of the bricks.A lot of water is used considering the dryness on most of the camp soils. Furthermore, since the refugees want to make a lot of money, they try to make as many bricks as possible. The more work they do, the many materials are guided. The areas that the soil for making the bricks is dug usually presents many holes indicating the rate at which the soil is being depleted. The formation of a layer of soil takes many years, however, the refugees depletes many layers in a very short time. It is very bad to notice that the fertile soils that can be used for agricultural proceeds is actually used for the making bricks.These soils can not be replenished in the short run as it is being depleted. In the areas that the refugees remove the soils to make the bricks, they leave the tree roots exposed which contributes to the wilting of the trees (Homer-Dixon, pp 19). Therefore, this still adds the woes the refuges already have. Furthermore, since to make the bricks requ ires a lot of water, it means that the refugees have to compete on how to use the water for the domestic work and the production of the bricks. In the end, the action contributes to the hastened depletion of the water resources.The bricks cannot be complete if they have not been burnt in the kiln. The kiln requires using a lot of firewood. This means several trees have to be felled to be used in the kiln. One kiln can take as many as 35 trees for the bricks to be ready. This shows the impact this single activity can have on the important natural resources. There have been increased sand dunes in the areas that had once been cover by trees just a few years ago. This is all because of the refugees activities in trying to earn a living. Most of the dams in Sudan are drying and having a lot of sedimentation as a result of deforestation.Many dams have lost their holding capacity due to these reasons (HPN, para 8). Once the war comes to an end as is presupposed, the refugees will have to go back to their homes to start a new life. They will first need to rebuild their damaged homes, which will basically require that they cut more trees to build these homes. Considering the already cut trees in their former homes, there are therefore no trees left behind to cater for their needs. This implies the construction materials will have to be sourced somewhere else, which automatically will be increasing the base of the damage to other regions.Having realized the impact the conflict is leading to the refugees affecting the environment, especially on trees, several organizations like the US aid have helped the refugees to design the cooking stoves that uses a completely reduced amount of force out as a way of the saving the environment. This stoves though taken as a move to save the environment, it has a big impact on the companionable and cultural life (de Montesquiou, para 11). Since the conflict is between two ethnic groups with two distinct lifestyles, each group undert akes an activity that they think will destroy the other.For instance, the nomads usually graze their animals on the farmers crops. This leaves the farmers with nothing as their crops are destroyed by the animals. On the other hand, the farmers on their side burn the grazing lands for the nomads. This is even a worse action to take as it does not only affect the nomads in terms of lacking food, but it affects the farmers themselves in that the burning of the ground destroys the important living organisms that are found in the soil which helps in improving the soil fertility. This means that the soil is left unproductive which will affect both the nomads and the farmers in the long run.Furthermore, the nomads are used to grazing their animals and moving from one region to another after the feeds in that area have reduced. However, due to the conflict, the migration routes for the nomads were blocked by the farmers. This made it impossible for the nomads to move from one region to ano ther with their animals, hence meaning overgrazing in one region. The overgrazed areas will generally have very poor production as there will be increased soil erosion (Homer-Dixon, pp 29). In general, humanitarian issues are usually given much priority over the environment as a short term solution to any crisis.Therefore, whatever actions that are taken by the involved bodies do not give much or even any consideration to the environment. For instance, when the refugee camps are set up, it is aimed at providing security and a better life to the refugees. No consideration is put on what activities the refugees are going to carry out that might affect the environment whether in the long or short run. This is being evidenced by the number of boreholes drying up in various refugee camps (HPN, para 16). There are hundreds of thousands of the Darfur refugees who have been granted asylum in Chad.The Chadian locals are thus forced to compete for the natural resources in their territory with the refugees. Putting in mind the activities the refugees are engaged with, and the major aims of the organization that are associated with the taking care of the refugees which are just humanitarian care, the refugees can have a very big impact on the environment of the host country. The refugees in the camps hopes for someday to go back home. This implies they cannot have long term projects that will help in the development and taking care of the region that has granted them asylum.This might make them to be at loggerheads with the host country and thus be denied the asylum (Gouroukoun, para 7). Furthermore, as the refugees enter the Chadian soil, it is not guaranteed that they have their safety. The Janjaweed have been following the refugees in their camps attacking them. This has also posed danger to the Chadian nationals making them to move closer to where there is security in their country. In essence, the Chadian people are not even free in their own land because of hosting the refugees.As the Chadian moves to the place they feel is more secure, they also cause congestion and constraint to the resources that are supposed to host them. There are many other effects that the conflict has caused to the environment. As the conflict rages on, both sides are heavily armed. The weapons used to attack one group leave a lot of damages to the environment. For instance, there have been many crops, homesteads and the grazing grounds for each group that have been burnt by the opposing group. The oils and chemicals used to burn these properties, and the residue of the burnt products find their ways into the water bodies contaminating them.This on the other hand affects the lives in the water bodies. Furthermore, as the crisis continues, weapons used like bombs have continued to pollute the environment and their effect left in the environment for along time affecting the quality of life. It is very difficult to find crops growing in a region that has experienced a bat tle field. This is because of the effect that the weapons and chemicals used in the process have on the environment. It is common to find that the areas that had been bombed can not sustain any agricultural activity.It thus means that as the communities fight over the scarce natural resources and keep on destroying them during the fight, it only helps in escalating the problem they are already facing (Homer-Dixon, pp 41). The Janjaweed and the other militias in the Darfur conflict are always in the hideout. Most of the hideouts are in the forests. This implies that they have to depend so much on the forests for their own needs. For instance, they have to cut down the trees to use for fuel, hunt wild animals for food, and all these activities upsets the natural environment settings.There are many regions that used to be occupied by trees and wild animals like the elephants and the antelopes but when looked at now are bare because of the activities that have been taking place in the r egions. Conclusion The Darfur crisis has actually been said to have started for over three decades ago. However, it only escalated in 2003 when the current crisis became out of control. The major cause of the war has been attributed to lack of enough natural resources. The problem is that because the fights were due to the protection and the need to acquire more natural resources, it is ironical that the same resources are being destroyed.In essence, this seems to increase the problems already faced. This has created the vicious cycle of the war in the Darfur region. Therefore, unless the concerned bodies look for a way of dealing with the problem of these natural resources, it is not possible to stop this war despite the many peace agreements that might be signed by the leaders of the region.Work CitedAP. Darfur conflict worsens environment, 2007. Retrieved on October 29, 2008 from http//platform. blogs. com/passionofthepresent/2007/06/darfur-conflict. html. Beyrer, Chris & Pizer, Hank.Public Health and Human Rights Evidence-based Approaches ISBN 0801886465, JHU Press, 2007. Borger, Julian. Darfur conflict heralds era of wars triggered by climate change, UN report warns, 2007. Retrieved on October 29, 2008 from http//www. guardian. co. uk/environment/2007/jun/23/sudan. climatechange. de Montesquiou, Alfred. Darfur violence leaves environmental scars, 2007. Retrieved on October 29, 2008 from http//www. msnbc. msn. com/id/19357602/. IRIN. SUDAN Climate change only one cause among many for Darfur conflict, 2007. Retrieved on October 29, 2008 from http//www.globalsecurity. org/military/library/news/2007/06/mil-070628-irin03. htm. Gouroukoun. Chadians Increasingly find Impact of Darfur Conflict, 2006. Retrieved on October 29, 2008 from http//www. voanews. com/english/archive/2006-04/2006-04-21-voa44. cfm. Homer-Dixon, F. Thomas. Environment, Scarcity, and Violence ISBN 0691089795, Princeton University Press, 2001. HPN. Environmental degradation and conflict in D arfur implications for peace and recovery, 2008. Retrieved on October 29, 2008 from http//www. alertnet. org/thenews/newsdesk/HPN/10adb58d76337a4eb2b436c319bf427e. htm.