fiogf49gjkf0d
by HASSAN IBRAHIM MAO
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Environment refers to the external conditions, resources, stimuli etc. with which an organism interacts. As many parts of Somalia, Hiiraan region is not spared but contrary to that it is environmentally degraded. As the need for the ever growing population continuous, so as the destruction of the resources and sometimes depletion of the available resources.
Unlike other parts of Somalia Hiiraan enjoys local resources such as the river and a fertile land, but due to poor or inadequate resource exploitation these resources are largely not effectively utilized. Hiiraan has also very vital land with mountains and high land which plays an important role in balancing the ecological system, but due to illiteracy and no external sources these areas remain largely unused.
The pressure from the population and the fight for survival will turn man against nature. It’s obvious that the whole country is facing natural catastrophe in either the form of drought or floods seasonally, but the fact remains that human actions and reckless behavior is leading to environmental degradation in Hiiraan region.
The most common characteristics of environmental degradation happen in the form of deforestation. Deforestation is the cutting, clearing, and removal of rainforest or related ecosystems, and subsequent conversion into other, less biodiversity, anthropogenic ecosystems such as pasture, cropland, or plantation for the consumption of human beings for either household use or national means for instance charcoal at the household level and the timber at national level.
The most important use of forest is that it absorbs the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which is responsible for the hot temperatures in planet earth. The cutting of trees will disable trees which would have absorbed the carbon dioxide hence increasing temperatures on planet earth. It will also affect the level of rain in planet earth by tempering the evaporation system.
Overgrazing also affects the balanced interaction of the ecological system. As normal Somali pastoralist the Hiiraan community also rear their animal and take them to any place they feel have greener pastures and the excessive use this type of grazing leads to the complete or partial loss of vegetation in and around those areas leading to environmental catastrophe. This type of practice is very common in our society.
And as the talk of global warming continues around the world, its clear that Somalia and in particular Hiiraan is now in the process of experiencing the effects of global warming and if as anticipated the global warming finally happens the worst affected area will be the least developed countries in that sense Somalia will be included.
HASSAN IBRAHIM MAO
Kampala international university
Kampala, Uganda
E-mail: [email protected]