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African Studies Final Project By Nicole Botha and Sophie Driskell
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African Studies Final Project By Nicole Botha and Sophie Driskell
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This podcast explores Africa through African scholarships, aiming to uplift African scholars and educate listeners on important topics in African studies. In a recent episode, they discuss a study on the effects of climate change on food insecurity in the Horn of Africa. The study finds that increasing temperatures and carbon dioxide emissions contribute to food insecurity in the region. It also highlights the importance of water management and irrigation, as well as the need for adaptation strategies to address the issue. The authors recommend adopting drought-resistant crop varieties and improving water availability to ensure food security. Welcome back to Your Favorite Podcast, exploring Africa through African scholarships. The podcast where we dive into current topics through the analysis of the scholarly work of the continental Africans. The goal of this podcast is twofold. The first is to uplift the eloquent and educated voices of African scholars who often go unrecognized due to the history of racism, discrimination, and unequal representation in the field of African studies. These voices are often the most important, as they have the first-hand experience and generational knowledge on these issues, allowing them to develop the complex and comprehensive studies that Western scholars could never achieve. Second, we look to educate you all on real and ongoing topics of study in Africa that you may not hear in other spaces. We're your hosts, Sophia Driscoll and Nicole Botha. In each episode, we take you on a journey to open your eyes to the highly important and relevant culture, history, and contemporary issues currently being studied and addressed by the scholarly community in African nations. From the conversations around the ancient civilizations of Egypt to the economic advancement in Tanzania, from the phenomena of the Pirogue migration to the importance of African traditionalism, Africa is a continent full of rich stories and topics of debate. It is also a continent full of amazing and brilliant minds who can use their first-hand understanding of these issues to provide very comprehensive and impactful literature on these topics. Join us as we explore the complexities of African societies, economics, politics, and environments through deep analysis of the academic work of African scholars. Whether you're a student, teacher, or simply someone passionate about learning about Africa, this podcast is a sure way for you to come into contact with more studies about Africa written from the African perspective. Exploring Africa through African scholarship is your gateway to understanding the past, present, and future of this beautiful and complex continent. So now, let's begin and turn into the world of African scholarly literature. Today, we will be discussing a recent work titled The Effect of Climate Change on Food and Security in the Horn of Africa. This is an academic paper published online on August 3, 2022 in GeoJournal, an accredited and peer-reviewed journal. So, it is quite a recent study. This study has two authors, Yadeta Bedassa and Amsalu Bedemo. Both of these scholars are located in the African country of Ethiopia, which is part of the Horn of Africa. Mr. Bedassa is a PhD candidate in the Department of Agricultural Economics at GEMMA University, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine in GEMMA, Ethiopia. Previously, he was a lecturer at Wolega University's Faculty of Resource Management and Economics Department of Agricultural Economics in Nkemte, Ethiopia. Some of his main research interests are climate change, food insecurity, conflict, economic development, and agricultural production. Mr. Bedemo is an associate professor of economics in the School of Graduate Studies at Ethiopian Civil Service University, located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He received a bachelor's in economics at Ethiopian Civil Service University and a master's in economics at University of Pune, located in Pune, India, before returning back to Ethiopia. Some of his main research interests are climate change, food security, poverty, inequality, agricultural production, rural labor, and economic development, specifically in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa in general. Both of these authors specialize in researching topics specifically in Ethiopia, but more broadly in the Horn of Africa. Before we get into the analysis of the paper, we would like to provide you with a brief summary of the content by reading its abstract. The Horn of Africa is the most food insecure region in the world. More than 40% of the population in the region is malnourished. This study aims to examine the effects of climate change on food insecurity using panel data from the Horn of Africa. The GMM estimator of the dynamic panel model was used to analyze the impact of climate change. The study findings show that food insecurity in the Horn of Africa is adversely affected by temperature. Keeping all other inputs constant, increasing the mean temperature and carbon dioxide emissions by 1% resulted in an increase in food insecurity of 0.357% and 0.026% respectively. It was also observed that a 1% increase in participation resulted in a 0.023% decrease in food insecurity. The study results indicate that cereal yield, food production index, and political stability were significant and negatively influenced food security. This study concluded that climate change results in food insecurity in the Horn of Africa, and food availability is expected to be reduced in the region. In order to cope with the adverse consequences of climate change, adopting high temperature and drought-resistant varieties of improved food crops is advisable to ensure food availability and food security in the region. Now Sophie, what did we find in our analysis? I'm so glad you asked. We found that this article is built around three main arguments or key points. Oh my goodness, that's right. Through our analysis, we found that the observation of climate change as the primary cause of food insecurity in the Horn of Africa, the importance of water management and irrigation through the lens of food security, and the need for adaptation strategies to address these concerns around food insecurity were the three main arguments made through the research of this article. Wow! The first and most important argument made in this article is that climate change is the primary cause of food insecurity in the Horn of Africa. Now this was the major focus and driver of this research and the overall paper. Through the use of the Generalized Method of Moments, or the GMM estimator, the study observed that climate change is the primary driver of food insecurity, and it suggests that the changing climate patterns, including reduced precipitation and increased temperatures, negatively impacted crop yields and food availability. Additionally, it was found that the effects of the changing environment on food security more greatly impacted small farmers and pastoral communities because they don't have the resources to combat or control the changes effectively. This leads to a threat of food security in the region, as crop production diminishes due to the adverse effects of climate change. The Horn of Africa is the most vulnerable to climate change because it contains the largest population of pastoralists in the world, and it has a very low capacity to adapt or to mitigate against climate change. Wow! This article was so informative and I think that was a really important part to mention. Who would have known that the cultural and community trends would have such an impact? The second and third points dive further into addressing this observed problem. The first one being the importance of water management and irrigation. Low and reduced precipitation were found to be the largest negative factor to food security that resulted from climate change in the Horn of Africa. The study highlights the significance of water management and irrigation in combating the effects of climate change on food production. The authors of this article recommend policies and strategies aimed at improving water availability for food production, including the development of modern irrigation systems. Additionally, it suggests the extended irrigation development and improved water management are essential for increasing production in situations where water scarcity is an apparent concern, thus enhancing the food security in the region. Wow! It's so amazing that they saw how important water was and what things can be done to help get water to these areas. The third and final main point that builds off of what Nicole just explained is the need to implement adaptation strategies in these areas. The authors of this study emphasize the importance of developing and implementing adaptable strategies to cope with the concerning consequences of climate change. Food insecurity is a pressing concern with a multitude of short- and long-term negative consequences. What has to be understood is that reversing climate change, which is the root problem, is not a realistic short-term solution or goal. It's going to be a major feat that will take the cooperation, support, and resources of leaders all around the world. It's not going to happen overnight, and there needs to be changes now because food is a main concern and it has to be addressed. At this moment, instead, as stated in the article, policymakers, stakeholders, and government organizations should focus on implementing policies that focus on enhancing water management and promoting the use of high-temperature, drought-resistant varieties of crops to ensure sufficient yield every season. These crops will be able to produce at higher rates than those that are not as efficient in these changing climates. These adaptation strategies are crucial for ensuring food security and the subsequent health and wellness of Africans all around the continent, but specifically in the Horn of Africa in the face of this changing climate crisis. I agree. I want to point out, though, that when we are talking about how to address this issue of the food insecurity in the Horn of Africa, some might go straight to just attacking the root cause of the issue, climate change. What you want to think about that is, yes, that would solve the issue, but it is more feasible to solve the issues that climate change is creating because climate change itself, as Sophie said, is such a complex issue, and at this point in time, it's not going to be reversed in the near future. Right now, all we can do is try to help these communities immediately, and these are more immediate solutions. I really enjoyed reading this article. It was so informative, and I really learned a lot from it. Nicole, what was your favorite part about this article? I agree. This article was very informative, and my favorite part, honestly, would be the author speaking on bringing water to these communities, not only bringing water, but clean water and making it accessible. I believe before food security can begin to improve, the accessibility to water must be improved, and it must be stable to even begin to address further issues. Sophie, what was your favorite part about this article? That is a great question. I actually had two. The first one is I really liked the model they used to calculate the data on food insecurity. The GMM dynamic model really takes into account so many different factors to address what makes a country or an area food insecure versus food secure, which I think is so important because this changes depending on where you're located and what the needs are of the community members. Additionally, I really appreciated, even though it was not necessarily a huge factor that was addressed within the article, I appreciated that they did mention how political stability plays a role in food insecurity. There was multiple mentions of how high political stability was significantly correlated with high food security and vice versa. I think this is so important because especially in these African communities where there's a lot of political instability or political change due to all the lasting impacts of the colonial era, knowing how these changes actually affect the health and wellness of the citizens, not just the government overall, is so important. If we can find ways to ensure healthy and thriving populations, this will aid in the overall development of African communities post-colonialism, which I think is so important. Yeah, I think that's a really good point to bring up, that there are other factors that are causing this food insecurity in this area. It is not just climate change, and they do bring up political instability being one of those factors. You bring up a great point, Nicole, and that's something I would like to address. As much as this article was amazing and addressed so many amazing points, especially around climate change and how that influences food insecurity because it is such a growing issue that has to be addressed, it is not comprehensive. It does not address and analyze every single factor that would cause food insecurity. I do think this could obscure some of the data, is what we think, because we know that this article is specific to climate change, but some of these results may not be directly from climate change. For example, economics is a huge factor that can increase or decrease food insecurity. If there's economic stability, low poverty, low unemployment, there tends to be a lot more food security because the food systems are better, people are making more money to be able to access and pay for food. On the other hand, if there's a lot of economic instability, high unemployment, and these resources become hard to utilize or access, food insecurity can skyrocket. As we're getting closer to the end of this podcast, we do want to pose a few questions to the authors. Firstly, we did see that this data that you're using for the study is from 2000 to 2018, and the article was published in 2022, so there is a four-year gap there, and then another two years since it's been published. During these years, there's been a great deal of political change, economic change, and climate change in these areas, the Horn of Africa. We asked the authors, do you believe your findings are still accurate and relevant at this point in time in 2024? Based off of this, is climate change still the primary issue contributing to food insecurity in the Horn of Africa? Wow, that's such a great point, Nicole, and honestly such an important factor to consider, especially nowadays. My question was more around the actual area of study, as in the physical location. It is obvious why Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa was studied, as these two authors are both from Ethiopia and tend to centralize all their studies around there. And I think that's amazing because they're able to input their personal experiences and personal knowledge on these areas when they're crafting their research paper. But I do have a question for the authors. If this study was conducted outside of the Horn of Africa, do you think that your findings would be different? Do you think that the factors you found to influence food security would change or be the same? Studies have shown that there's so much difference in communities around Africa, from the economic systems, to the political structures, to the types of foods they eat. And I think it would be so interesting to know how this changes how climate change impacts food insecurity. So, this analysis was really impactful. We learned that it's important to address this issue right now, as it has direct effects on individuals, families, and communities. Climate change has led to an increased food security in the Horn of Africa, in which higher temperatures and decreased rainfall have been linked to less agricultural output. Additionally, we learned ways that we can mitigate this issue, the first being the importance of water management and irrigation. This would entail more accessible water and water sources in communities, and improved irrigation systems to support crop growth in times of decreased rainfall. Finally, we discussed the importance of implementing adaptation strategies, such as utilizing crops more apt for the changing climate to increase crop yield overall. For these solutions to occur, however, the government of these nations, namely Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, and Somalia, these governments need to step up and develop plans to implement these proposed changes. We also addressed that there are other factors contributing to this issue of food insecurity, such as political and economic stability. We also addressed areas of additional inquiry that were brought to us through our analysis of this article, and proposed to the authors to provide us with some additional knowledge if they had the chance. Well, wow. That was such a great episode, wasn't it, Nicole? Yeah, Sophie, that was one of my favorite episodes I think we've done in a long time. I learned so much. Well, thank you all so much for tuning in to today's episode of Exploring Africa through African Scholarship, where we discuss the article titled, The Effects of Climate Change on Food Security in the Horn of Africa, written by Dr. Bedassa and Dr. Benomo. We hope you enjoyed our analysis as much as we did, and we hope to see you tuned in next week as we plunge into a new topic addressed by an African scholar. Again, it is so important that you guys seek out these opportunities of education and to broaden the diversity of the material that you analyze and read. And podcasts like this, and just reaching out and taking your time to talk with other scholars is so important, and will ensure that we have the most knowledgeable and prepared community for our future. Stay curious and have a great day. Bye! Bye!
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