Natural Climate Shifts
The environment obviously does have a profound impact on life. Not too much new about that bald statement. Climate and natural resources go hand-in-hand to impact on the manner in which human settlements can manage to feed themselves. Along with the need to protect themselves against the incidences of disease in climate-vulnerable populations.
Recent study results clarify the impact of natural phenomena like El Nino and La Nina weather patterns that blow into the upper atmosphere, causing climate alterations affecting arable land, agricultural growing conditions with unalleviated heat and dryness alternating with excessive rain events washing away seeds before they can germinate, reflecting successive years-worth of one or the other - creates stress both on the environment and the human condition.
A new study has come to the conclusion that there is sufficient evidence to back an often-contested theory, that in tropical and semi-tropical countries of the world El Nino weather events; invariably overheated and dry, are likely to cause internal societal unrest, as opposed to La Nina's heralding of cooler, wet conditions.
The El Nino Southern Oscillation occurs between two to seven years, lasting from nine months to two years.
Under El Nino conditions warm water on the western side of the tropical Pacific shifts across the ocean, causing dramatic alterations in rainfall patterns and prevailing temperatures. The result is scorching heat and drying winds that afflict Africa, South and south-east Asia, and Australia. And those countries have been suffering an extended drought for quite a period of time.
Impacting deleteriously on the wildlife suffering lack of water, and agriculture with irrigation completely lacking, as the once-fertile fields become dust that the high, fierce, hot winds lift and disperse. And in those conditions nothing will grow. The failure of crops means that drought conditions have caused a distortion in normal growth patterns resulting in a dearth of food grains.
Malnutrition begins to soar in countries with populations heavily dependent on small-scale subsistence farming, whose governments cannot afford to import costly grains, particularly feeble governments incapable of providing the civic infrastructure that a country requires to prosper; furthermore governments like those in Somalia battling a civil war, along with Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda.
Scientists at Columbia's Earth Institute claim El Nino to be an invisible but responsible factor in the dramatic upheavels that have, in the past, caused countries to go to war when supplies of food became scarce and territorial advantage was sought. Currently, the crop losses, hurricane damage, and the epidemic spread of water-borne disease complements hunger, unemployment and inequality.
The conclusion reached by synthesizing the data included representing 175 countries and 234 regional conflicts was that where countries whose weather cycles are caused by El Nino Southern Oscillation, the risks of civil war occurring during La Nina was held to be 3%, while during prolonged El Nino events, civil conflict doubled to 6%.
Leading the scientists, extracting data from their study, to express their opinion that El Nino may have been responsible in 21% of the civil wars fought around the world, and that figure rose to almost 30% of the conflicts in those countries specifically affected by El Nino. When local food harvests are disrupted by nature's intervention causing drought conditions, restive governments face uprisings.
"What it does show and show beyond any doubt is that even in this modern world, climate variations have an impact on the propensity of people to fight. It's difficult to see why that won't carry over to a world that's disrupted by global warming." The study's authors cite the current situation in the Horn of Africa as a "perfect example" of the destruction caused by an El Nino event.
Recent study results clarify the impact of natural phenomena like El Nino and La Nina weather patterns that blow into the upper atmosphere, causing climate alterations affecting arable land, agricultural growing conditions with unalleviated heat and dryness alternating with excessive rain events washing away seeds before they can germinate, reflecting successive years-worth of one or the other - creates stress both on the environment and the human condition.
A new study has come to the conclusion that there is sufficient evidence to back an often-contested theory, that in tropical and semi-tropical countries of the world El Nino weather events; invariably overheated and dry, are likely to cause internal societal unrest, as opposed to La Nina's heralding of cooler, wet conditions.
The El Nino Southern Oscillation occurs between two to seven years, lasting from nine months to two years.
Under El Nino conditions warm water on the western side of the tropical Pacific shifts across the ocean, causing dramatic alterations in rainfall patterns and prevailing temperatures. The result is scorching heat and drying winds that afflict Africa, South and south-east Asia, and Australia. And those countries have been suffering an extended drought for quite a period of time.
Impacting deleteriously on the wildlife suffering lack of water, and agriculture with irrigation completely lacking, as the once-fertile fields become dust that the high, fierce, hot winds lift and disperse. And in those conditions nothing will grow. The failure of crops means that drought conditions have caused a distortion in normal growth patterns resulting in a dearth of food grains.
Malnutrition begins to soar in countries with populations heavily dependent on small-scale subsistence farming, whose governments cannot afford to import costly grains, particularly feeble governments incapable of providing the civic infrastructure that a country requires to prosper; furthermore governments like those in Somalia battling a civil war, along with Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda.
Scientists at Columbia's Earth Institute claim El Nino to be an invisible but responsible factor in the dramatic upheavels that have, in the past, caused countries to go to war when supplies of food became scarce and territorial advantage was sought. Currently, the crop losses, hurricane damage, and the epidemic spread of water-borne disease complements hunger, unemployment and inequality.
The conclusion reached by synthesizing the data included representing 175 countries and 234 regional conflicts was that where countries whose weather cycles are caused by El Nino Southern Oscillation, the risks of civil war occurring during La Nina was held to be 3%, while during prolonged El Nino events, civil conflict doubled to 6%.
Leading the scientists, extracting data from their study, to express their opinion that El Nino may have been responsible in 21% of the civil wars fought around the world, and that figure rose to almost 30% of the conflicts in those countries specifically affected by El Nino. When local food harvests are disrupted by nature's intervention causing drought conditions, restive governments face uprisings.
"What it does show and show beyond any doubt is that even in this modern world, climate variations have an impact on the propensity of people to fight. It's difficult to see why that won't carry over to a world that's disrupted by global warming." The study's authors cite the current situation in the Horn of Africa as a "perfect example" of the destruction caused by an El Nino event.
Labels: Environment, Nature, Nutrition, societal failures
posted by Pieface @ 5:43 PM
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