Environmental Sustainability:
Problem 1:Madagascar has suffered environmental degradation over a significant part of its land mass. Forests that once blanketed the eastern third of the island have now been degraded, fragmented, and converted to scrub land. Spiny forests in the south are rapidly giving way to "cactus scrub" as indigenous vegetation is cut and burned for subsistence charcoal production. Viewed from above, Madagascar's rivers look as if they are bleeding the country to death as soil is eroded from the central highlands. Each year as much as a third of the country burns and 1 percent of its remaining forests are leveled.
Solution: A Solution that could be put into action for this problem is to try and preserve the land by cutting back the farming, or turning the farms to more organic processes. If the farmers had access to safer and natural substances to put in their crops, they would not create such pollution. This problem will be a long term plan with a time line of at least 20 years. Since the land has already suffered destruction, this plan will take time to let the land heal itself and return to its health. The funding for such a plan will need to be taken from the government. It will cost a lot of money to import the needed nutritious foods from abroad that the country itself can not produce no long due to the pollution and lack of space. Some potential set backs to this plan could be that some of the Madagascar residence could get sick, when they are forced to change their diets and get their substances later.
Problem 2: Water has become scarce. As a result, food availability in rural areas had deteriorated, aggravating the already high levels of poverty.
The amount of safe drinking water has decreased dramatically due to the pollution and dangerous run off from the farms.
Solution: A solution to the lack of water due to the decreasing land's resources would be to provide water filters to supply them with safe drinking water in order to survive in their already polluted conditions of living. There are life saver water purifiers that could be sent to the people in Madagascar to insure they get the water they need in order to survive. Because the products are already being made elsewhere, i anticipate that this plan will be a short time goal with a time line of 5-10 years. It will however cost a significant amount of money to get the supplies shipped to the island. I anticipate the the UN would supply a loan for safe drinking water to be supplied quickly, when it will make such a difference in a short amount of time. Progress, with this solution, could be seen immediately.
A possible controversy to this plan could be that it is not fixing the problem of the continued pollution for all the other inhabitants on the island. This solution will work because it is sufficient and will make a difference to the problems immediately.
Sources:
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20madagascar.htm
Problem 1:Madagascar has suffered environmental degradation over a significant part of its land mass. Forests that once blanketed the eastern third of the island have now been degraded, fragmented, and converted to scrub land. Spiny forests in the south are rapidly giving way to "cactus scrub" as indigenous vegetation is cut and burned for subsistence charcoal production. Viewed from above, Madagascar's rivers look as if they are bleeding the country to death as soil is eroded from the central highlands. Each year as much as a third of the country burns and 1 percent of its remaining forests are leveled.
Solution: A Solution that could be put into action for this problem is to try and preserve the land by cutting back the farming, or turning the farms to more organic processes. If the farmers had access to safer and natural substances to put in their crops, they would not create such pollution. This problem will be a long term plan with a time line of at least 20 years. Since the land has already suffered destruction, this plan will take time to let the land heal itself and return to its health. The funding for such a plan will need to be taken from the government. It will cost a lot of money to import the needed nutritious foods from abroad that the country itself can not produce no long due to the pollution and lack of space. Some potential set backs to this plan could be that some of the Madagascar residence could get sick, when they are forced to change their diets and get their substances later.
Problem 2: Water has become scarce. As a result, food availability in rural areas had deteriorated, aggravating the already high levels of poverty.
The amount of safe drinking water has decreased dramatically due to the pollution and dangerous run off from the farms.
Solution: A solution to the lack of water due to the decreasing land's resources would be to provide water filters to supply them with safe drinking water in order to survive in their already polluted conditions of living. There are life saver water purifiers that could be sent to the people in Madagascar to insure they get the water they need in order to survive. Because the products are already being made elsewhere, i anticipate that this plan will be a short time goal with a time line of 5-10 years. It will however cost a significant amount of money to get the supplies shipped to the island. I anticipate the the UN would supply a loan for safe drinking water to be supplied quickly, when it will make such a difference in a short amount of time. Progress, with this solution, could be seen immediately.
A possible controversy to this plan could be that it is not fixing the problem of the continued pollution for all the other inhabitants on the island. This solution will work because it is sufficient and will make a difference to the problems immediately.
Sources:
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20madagascar.htm