Water & Food: The elements of African development

  Water Availability The hydrological system is arguably the most important system on Earth as it controls all life. In many African countries, water is primarily used for agricultural activities such as cropland irrigation and livestock maintenance. You may ask: why is this relevant? Well, many African countries have highly variable and scarce water supplies, which directly impacts their food production and livelihoods. According to Taylor ( 2004 ), delivering on the core issue of water availability can increase self-sufficiency and mitigate food scarcity levels. One main reason many African countries have highly variable and scarce water supplies is largely owed to Africa's position across equatorial and subtropical latitudes. Its positionality along the Intertropical Convergence Zone makes it highly susceptible to irregular or low annual rainfall.    Nevertheless, if adequate adaptive capacities are implemented such as effective irrigation systems these areas will su...

  Hello and welcome to my blog! Here I will be exploring and unravelling two of the most universally fundamental elements of development: Water and Food. Over the last couple of years, I have developed a keen interest in human ecology as I seek to understand how our social systems not only interact with our ecosystem, but also how these interactions are so environmentally destructive. Over the upcoming weeks, I will be blogging in detail about the increasing impact water insecurity is having on food supplies in Africa from a human ecological perspective. The African picture In her book “ Governing the Commons ”, Eleanor Ostrom recognises water as a required natural global resource that goes beyond national jurisdictions, as water is the basis for all life on Earth. Even though it is a basic need, it is unsustainably exploited and unequally distributed across societies. Africa is often referred to as the “mother continent” because of its vast terrestrial space rich in physic...