Preventing a Crisis

Drought has been a recurring theme in this blog.

Kate Woodsome has filed this report for Voice of America in which she quotes World Food Program Country Director Thomas Keusters as having concern about the long-term health effects of food and water shortages.

"…more people die of hunger than of AIDS, T.B. and malaria combined. So there is no doubt that if the people are in a poor nutritional status, they are much more vulnerable to all sorts of illnesses," he [Mr Keusters] continued. "And I think we have that as a very serious danger for the country."

To provide a sense of the scale of the problem, Kate provides these insights:

The dry spell began in October, shriveling the December harvests and destroying more than 300,000 tons of rice. But the drought has been felt most during the past four months, drying up water reserves in 14 of Cambodia's 24 provinces.

In three months, the U.N. World Food Program has so far distributed 1500 tons of rice to 150,000 Cambodians. However an estimated 500,000 Cambodians is believed to be suffering food shortages caused by the drought.
No doubt there will be more heard about this crisis if drought-breaking rain is not forthcoming soon.
But also worth reading are the quotes of Yang Saing Koma, director of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture. Much like the concerns raised here about the degradation of the country's water system, he says the problem is man-made.

Cambodia is shaped like a bowl, with rains running from the surrounding mountains to feed lowland crops. But according to Yang Saing Koma, deforestation is destroying the natural water management system and measures must be taken to prevent an even greater crisis.

Link