Water and Food in Africa

So, we have come to the end of this blog. If there is one take-home message from this series of blogs, it is that Africa's plight is one of distribution, not quantity. The case studies that I explored in this blog such as  Ethiopia ,  Libya ,  Egypt  and  Algeria  all had a similar situation: water access and subsequently, food production is ample in some areas but not others. For Africa, its limitation has been its climate variability and seasonality. As a result of Africa's physical variabilities, regions like the Sahel and Southern Africa have suffered more than others. In this blog, I explored various solutions for water and food scarcity used across Africa, including  water transfer projects ,  desalination  and  dams . Although these projects have worked to some degree for their respective users, as a continent characterised with significant poverty levels, expensive engineering solutions will be out of the picture for many African nations. Likewise, the physical geograph

This blog aims to explore the idea of 'virtual water' and how it could circumvent the uneven distribution of water in Africa. I will focus on the Libyan Jamahiriya. I will explore how this water-scarce region benefits from this 'virtual' water flow and how it may overcome water and food scarcity.   As I have suggested in previous blogs, Africa's varying geologies, climates, and seasonality mean that freshwater distribution is highly uneven. Africa has an ample supply of water. Though, owing to the factors stated earlier, water is available in some areas but not others  (de Wit and Stankiewicz 2006 ). Throughout this blog, I have assessed various hard engineering solutions like  water transfer projects,   desalination , and  dams ; however, all of these solutions appear ecologically and economically unsustainable. Rather than physically moving water to water scare regions, a better solution would be to send foodstuffs that require significant amounts of 'virtual

In this entry, I will focus on the role of another cutting-edge solution to increase water and food production. This method is the use of dams. I will first explore how dams function through the Aswan Dam, Egypt (fig. 10). I will also explore dams' efficiency and whether they could be a solution for other African nations.    What are dams?  Dams come in various shapes and sizes, ranging from a small-scale regional dam to 'mega-dams'. However, regardless of a dam's form, the function remains relatively the same. A dam is a structure used to control river flow; this structure holds water in a reservoir until it is needed  (Jones 1997).  By capturing water in the reservoir, water can then be released during low flows, replicating the natural state of a river, which is essential especially for farmers and municipal populations ( Jones 1997 ;  Davie 2002 ).    The Aswan Dam, Egypt: An iconic example of a  ‘mega-dam’  has been the Aswan High Dam located on the Nile in Aswan,

Desalination is a revolutionary way to increase water and food security for struggling countries; however, is it a reasonable solution? In this entry, I will focus on the role of desalination in Algeria to address its water scarcity issue, which has dramatically impacted its agribusiness. I will explore what desalination is, how Algeria has capitalised on this technology and its limitations.    In last week’s blog,  I elaborated on the potentials of water transfer projects like the GMMR in increasing water and food security. In essence, projects like the GMMR transport water from areas of surplus to those in deficit. However, a limitation of schemes like the GMMR is that a country must have a surplus of water that they can transport, which is not always the case ( Salem 2007).  Therefore, rather than relying on water from areas of surplus, using a process known as ‘desalination’, water can, in essence, be created. This process can prove incredibly useful for water-scarce nations like t