There is a strong sense of urgency and the need to address human right impacts correlated with climate change. The world’s marginalized communities are the populations that face the biggest challenges when it comes to adapting due to climate change. The consequences of climate change disproportionately effect individuals and communities based on their status and location in the world. These consequences entail health, housing, livelihood, and security for those who already live in ecosystems that are prone to being the most vulnerable. Those of indigenous back-round, the female population, the elderly, the disabled, and the poor are all of who do the least to contribute to climate change, yet are the ones who are most effected. In order to better understand how drastic the toll takes on marginalized communities, we have to look at a specific context of climate change and those who are suffering from it. In this case, it will be climate change induced droughts on the Turkana County in Kenya, near the borer of Ethiopia.
Dry periods are getting longer, rainfall patterns are drastically changing, and water is running scarce (DW 2019). The beginning of a drought is subtle to a certain extent- until it’s not. The start of a drought could possibly be mistaken as a dry spell, but over time the continued lack of precipitation results in water shortage and exacerbates already existing dry conditions. Developing nations are specifically vulnerable to the impacts that climate change brings and more than 80% of developing nation’s economic damage was due to drought, including changes in livestock crops and fisheries. Like any region but in a more severe necessity, drought in developing nations creates food and water insecurity’s that exacerbate the already existing problem of famine and mass migration creating displacements of whole populations.
Climate change not only leads to drought by rising global temperatures and simply making wet regions wetter and dry regions drier, but alters the atmosphere which in turn throws storms off their path magnifying their danger and leading to drastic alterations in weather. What constitutes a drought varies widely amongst different regions as the world’s weather patterns differ around the globe. While the threshold for drought in Bali might be achieved after only six days without rain, a yearly rainfall of less than seven inches in the Libyan desert is needed to warrant a similar declaration (NRDC 2018).
In Turkana climate change as well as the environmental threats that are associated with industrial developments in Ethiopia, have begun to exacerbate their vulnerable situation. The local weather station in Turkana’s capital indicated that temperatures have increased by up to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit between 1967 and 2012 (Human Rights Watch 2015). Rainfall patterns have seemingly changed and the communities of the county are reporting longer droughts. Women are forced to walk longer distances in order to dig for their water in dried up riverbeds. In such a harsh environment, crop farming along their river banks is only possible where water has been tapped for irrigation. Surprisingly, Turkana has an abundance of groundwater sources, only tapping them is an expense far out of reach for this region. Children are becoming sick because there is not sufficient food and safe water for drinking or hygiene. A local teacher in Turkana describes the situation “Truthfully, health cases increase daily. For instance, we had drought so the children were hungry and this hurt them. When it rained, there was the problem of mosquitos because mosquitos spread malaria. There is the problem of the river. The water that came recently, when the children drink from it, their chest problems increase. Problems increase every season” (Human Rights Watch 2015).
Two major impacts come with drought, that of which I pose solutions to. The first is excess water demand. Drought naturally leads to demand in water supply and studies show that from 1960 to 2010, the human consumption of water increased by twenty five percent, leading to more droughts- it’s one big cycle. We pump from groundwater, rivers, reservoirs, we irrigate and overuse hydroelectric dams, depleting valuable water resources that in turn are going to take that much longer to replenish and this dents our future water accessibility and resources. It’s a butterfly effect; over-pumping here in America forces those women in Turkana to walk and dig for their water there.
I propose we repair water infrastructure around the world, advocate for water efficiency through the use of energy-efficient technologies, and adopt landscape designs that put drought-immune vegetation to use along with implementing water-efficient irrigation techniques. In the United States alone, 2.1 trillion gallons of drinkable water are lost each year. Three drops per minute falling out of a leaky faucet wastes more than one hundred gallons of water in one year, now imagine all of the leaky faucets in the world (NRDC 2018).
These solutions would seemingly exclude the marginalized population of Turkana seeings they don’t have the resources available in order to get energy-efficient technologies in the first place, “There should be no water scarcity in Turkana County, if only the water resources were managed efficiently,” manager of a water project in the Turkana County says (CRS 2019). This is why I propose that the countries with the most access to resources needed for these solutions, stretch their resources to the marginalized. In turn, the marginalized populations will able to gain back their vegetation, strengthen their livestock, and hopefully get a jumpstart to being one step closer to self-sufficiency.
The second impact of drought is deforestation and soil degradation. As our population seemingly increases by the second, our forests and vegetation are disappearing and less trees and plants are existing to release moisture into the atmosphere and create rain. When these trees cease to exist, entire regions are vulnerable to drought. Deforestation and overly intensive farming reduces our earth’s natural ability to absorb water thus our ground dries out faster, once again leading to drought. The Horn of Africa is currently experiencing one of the most severe hunger crises due to prolonged drought. They have experienced failure of three rains in a row leaving 2.6 million people with food insecurity. Most communities are unable to reach humanitarian assistance and are at risk of fatal famine in the months to come (Reliefweb 2019). To make matters worse, animals are less healthy and are dying off due to the diminishing grazing lands for their herds. These animals are most people’s only source of currency and as they begin to get sick and die off, the people are left with no currency at all. The changing climate patterns of Turkana have left the people no option but to find alternatives of income. They are left with firewood and charcoal burning and the sale of local brew and fishing, however these alternatives pose even more threats to climate change, “Although selling charcoal meets a short-term need as a source of income, the resulting deforestation and long-term impact on persistent drought and environmental degradation will ultimately contribute to increased food insecurity, loss of ecosystem services, and increased vulnerability of this population” (NCBI 2018).
It’s 2019, we should be recycling water by now. We can do this by treating wastewater that can then be used for irrigation such as watering parks or the rich’s incessant need for golf courses. We can use this water for industrial processes as well such as providing cooling water for the still existent power plants and oil refineries. Not only should we be recycling our waste water, we should be recycling all of the water than runs down our shower drains and through our washing machines. After recycled, this water can be used to water our gardens or once again, for irrigation. Using recycled water will significantly lift the need we have for taking water from our natural resources. This solution of recycling water has the potential to increase water supply in California alone by 750 billion gallons a year come 2030 (NRDC 2018). The recycling of water is almost impossible for the populations and regions that don’t have water to recycle in the first place. This is why I propose that all countries that of which do not qualify as a marginalized region, donate one quarter of their recycled water to vulnerable countries, county's, and populations. If every sustainable country did this, that one quarter from each country would be enough to pull the marginalized countries that are severely suffering, out of the droughts they find themselves continuously battling. Strategies for better water management in modernized counties provides focus for increased water efficiency and reduced consumption that of which can be spared to the countries that need it for survival.
The situation in the African region blatantly demonstrates the impact that climate change is having on marginalized people and while governments around the world have given recognition to this, it’s time to leave promises behind and take action. We have to attend to the human rights of all populations and those who are disproportionately affected because treating people differently is what is needed in order for justice. “In future conferences and policy discussions, it is essential for the voices of marginalized communities to be considered. Their wealth of knowledge and personal experience with climate change is invaluable to the global efforts to truly reach climate justice” (Global Witness 2017). We need to reinforce the importance of the marginalized and any who are fighting for their lives just to keep afloat while the modern world around them has no trouble treading water. We must find valuable strategies and form realistic solutions to adapt to these effects of climate change, and we must do it together. “Human rights need to be a centerpiece of any international agreement on climate change” (Human Rights Watch).