Deforestation and climate change contribute to child deaths in the African drylands,

[Steve Bullman]

Deforestation and climate change contribute to child deaths in the African drylands, TREE AID charity warns

 

 

 

A child dies every two minutes from hunger and malnutrition in the isolated African drylands , an international development charity warns today, as it launches an appeal to help 32,000 families.

 

Climate change & deforestation, has left vast swathes of the region lacking the right conditions to grow food for local communities – leaving many to go hungry. For several months each year in the drylands, known as the “hungry months”, food is so scarce that people eat only once a day, or sometimes not at all.

 

Globally hunger and malnutrition has been identified as the number one risk to health – a greater risk than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined . Now, respected international development charity TREE AID has calculated that tragically hunger and malnutrition kills a child every two minutes in the drylands.

 

The charity is launching an urgent campaign to help 32,000 people get the skills they need to grow trees in the region. The trees can be harvested by the local people for food, such as nuts, fruit and seeds, to eat and to take to market in order to earn extra income for their families.

 

In the drylands “weather extremes” such as drought and flooding make harvests unpredictable and there are few opportunities to earn extra income for the family. Native tree species are perfectly adapted to these extremes and carry on producing food, even when other crops fail.

 

Jamila Mustafa, mother of six from Northern Ghana says: “There are days that I cannot eat at all, because I want to be able to give my children something. I work hard but I can’t ever be sure of having enough food to feed my children. I am keen to learn new skills, make money and save so that I will have something to fall back on next time the hungry months come.”

 

The charity is urging people from around the UK to donate money, and help ‘grow hope’ for 32,000 families in the drylands – giving them the tools they need to lift themselves out of extreme poverty.

 

TREE AID CEO John Moffett comments: “Trees are vital to local communities, providing nutritious food, improved soil fertility and valuable produce on which the whole family can rely. They are a sustainable solution to lifting families out of hunger and extreme poverty.

 

“We are urging people from around the UK to help us ‘grow hope’ for families and permanently build a better future for their communities.”

 

To help families like Jamila’s please donate now to the Grow Hope appeal.

 

http://www.treeaid.org.uk

[SteveA]

Clicking the 'Like' button.

[se7enthdevil]

i find this somewhat ironic.

 

trees in the forest are growing happily, humans come along and cut them down, humans starve to death and the forests grow back.

 

 

we cut down all the trees about 1000 years ago, then genghis khan slaughtered his way across europe and there was no one left to keep the trees at bay, they grew into the forest we have today.

[the village idiot]

One of the main drivers for deforestation in Africa and around the globe is Palm Oil production.

 

Apparently an area of tropical rainforest equivalent to 300 football pitches is cleared for Palm Oil plantations every hour!

 

It is really difficult to boycott Palm Oil, as being cheap, it is in almost everything and is not always listed on the ingredients. A good start is to not buy the cheapest of everything and cook as much as you can yourself from scratch with known ingredients.

[harvey b davison]

Brilliant timing. Today i got given a presentation to write up and present on powerpoint on ' how construction is causing the deforestation of the worlds forests ' any pointers please.

[timbernut]

i find this somewhat ironic.

 

 

 

trees in the forest are growing happily, humans come along and cut them down, humans starve to death and the forests grow back.

 

 

 

 

 

we cut down all the trees about 1000 years ago, then genghis khan slaughtered his way across europe and there was no one left to keep the trees at bay, they grew into the forest we have today.

 

 

When did Genghis get to Blighty ( or France etc for that matter ) or were we not in Europe then?😜

[AardvarkTreeServices]

One of the main drivers for deforestation in Africa and around the globe is Palm Oil production.

 

Apparently an area of tropical rainforest equivalent to 300 football pitches is cleared for Palm Oil plantations every hour!

 

It is really difficult to boycott Palm Oil, as being cheap, it is in almost everything and is not always listed on the ingredients. A good start is to not buy the cheapest of everything and cook as much as you can yourself from scratch with known ingredients.

 

Stop using palm oil and the 3rd world will cut down all the palm trees and grow something else to make a living. They are only doing what the first world has done over the last few centuries.

[the village idiot]

Stop using palm oil and the 3rd world will cut down all the palm trees and grow something else to make a living. They are only doing what the first world has done over the last few centuries.

 

Unfortunately I suspect it is the case that it's still the first world doing it. These plantations are owned by large corporations doing horrendous damage to make lots of money. Little of which remains in the region.

The indigenous people, who were probably getting along just fine, have their subsistence land sold out from under them, leaving them no option but to work for the plantation owners.

 

There are plenty of alternatives to Palm Oil but they cost more. Unfortunately, for big business, the cost to the indigenous people and the environment carries precious little weight.

 

Mrs Idiot went to Borneo several years ago to visit an Orangutan sanctuary. The coach ride, at one time through virgin rainforest, now consists of mile after mile after mile of sterile and regimented Palm Oil trees.She spent the journey in tears.

[felixthelogchopper]

 

A good start is to not buy the cheapest of everything and cook as much as you can yourself from scratch with known ingredients.

 

Never mind Palm Oil, that's pretty sound advice generally.

[se7enthdevil]

When did Genghis get to Blighty ( or France etc for that matter ) or were we not in Europe then?😜

 

good point, it's supposed to say "he slaughtered his way across the world up to eastern europe".

 

i was not referring to european forests necessarily but asian and other continental ones.

 

 

my point was that when forests get cut down they grow back when the land is vacated.

 

on african plains elephants are destroyers of acacia trees by trampling them flat, they leave once all the trees are uprooted and only come back to the same area when the trees are big enough to yield a crop.