Comments on: Notes on the Darfur Refugee Crisis http://vigilantejournalist.com/blog/archives/403 Independent reporting on human rights, environmental and conflict issues Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:06:10 +0000 hourly 1 By: Maxwell http://vigilantejournalist.com/blog/archives/403/comment-page-1#comment-74465 Maxwell Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:33:40 +0000 http://vigilantejournalist.com/blog/archives/403#comment-74465 Ooops, I got the map link from here: http://allonsy.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/africa-map.jpg Ooops, I got the map link from here:
http://allonsy.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/africa-map.jpg

]]> By: Maxwell http://vigilantejournalist.com/blog/archives/403/comment-page-1#comment-74461 Maxwell Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:18:58 +0000 http://vigilantejournalist.com/blog/archives/403#comment-74461 ** To say that Chad is a poor country is something of an understatement. Numerous semi-nomadic peoples rove the Sahelian region, constantly in search of water and resources to eke out their living. 80 percent of the population depends on subsistence farming and yet arable land is hard to come by in a country that has been ravaged by drought, where the Sahara advances with the steps of a giant at the rate of 5 to 10 kilometers per year. Violent winds carry the barren sands of the desert south and eat up the nutrient-rich soils of the Sahel. Shorter and shorter rainy seasons leave the water table with dangerously insufficient levels. ** From looking at a map of the region here: I think the only solution to their water issues is to THINK BIG. By that, I mean (assuming peace were possible!) they should seriously think of creating a water pipeline (heck, they do it for oil!) from Chad through Cameroon (or Nigeria) to the Atlantic Ocean. Reverse osmosis technology now exists to pump up to 1 million litres of fresh water from salt oceans at a very cheap price - every day. I'd store this fresh water in large reservoirs in various regions and feed this onwards in a well-thought out pipeline system. The tough part is building ($$$$) the pipeline. The Australians have done this before on their huge landscape...can't see why not here in Africa. Peek this Google search for examples: http://www.google.co.ke/search?q=largest water pipeline Afterwards, I'd be planting tons of hemp on the barren landscape to stop the desert from advancing. It'd have to be a massive undertaking with the locals empowered to plant like crazy in order to save their land. Aside from that, Chad appears to be a "SOL" country...a place where luck is fleeting. From your description, it sounds like Hell on Earth. Nice post BTW! *Related post* "Fresh Water from the Indian Ocean" http://goafricago.blogspot.com/2007/03/fresh-water-from-indian-ocean.html ** To say that Chad is a poor country is something of an understatement. Numerous semi-nomadic peoples rove the Sahelian region, constantly in search of water and resources to eke out their living. 80 percent of the population depends on subsistence farming and yet arable land is hard to come by in a country that has been ravaged by drought, where the Sahara advances with the steps of a giant at the rate of 5 to 10 kilometers per year. Violent winds carry the barren sands of the desert south and eat up the nutrient-rich soils of the Sahel. Shorter and shorter rainy seasons leave the water table with dangerously insufficient levels. **

From looking at a map of the region here:

I think the only solution to their water issues is to THINK BIG. By that, I mean (assuming peace were possible!) they should seriously think of creating a water pipeline (heck, they do it for oil!) from Chad through Cameroon (or Nigeria) to the Atlantic Ocean. Reverse osmosis technology now exists to pump up to 1 million litres of fresh water from salt oceans at a very cheap price – every day. I’d store this fresh water in large reservoirs in various regions and feed this onwards in a well-thought out pipeline system. The tough part is building ($$$$) the pipeline. The Australians have done this before on their huge landscape…can’t see why not here in Africa. Peek this Google search for examples:
http://www.google.co.ke/search?q=largest water pipeline

Afterwards, I’d be planting tons of hemp on the barren landscape to stop the desert from advancing. It’d have to be a massive undertaking with the locals empowered to plant like crazy in order to save their land.

Aside from that, Chad appears to be a “SOL” country…a place where luck is fleeting. From your description, it sounds like Hell on Earth. Nice post BTW!

*Related post*
“Fresh Water from the Indian Ocean”
http://goafricago.blogspot.com/2007/03/fresh-water-from-indian-ocean.html

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