Climate change or politics? - Why Madagascar is going hungry | DW Documentary

in the last few years Southern

Madagascar has experienced a drastic

lack of rainfall the UN says the famine

here is the first to be directly caused

by climate change

normally at this age children are

already running she can't even sit up

but climate change is not the only

reason for the crisis what action should

be taken now and what if the rainfall

season is late again

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foreign

River or what's left of it

for over two years now residents of the

small town of sionbi have had to dig

into the riverbed to access water

one of them is 70 year old liferai

we are really suffering

now it's just dry dry

no rainfall at all

lisarai and her family came to town

because their Village had run out of

water

they used to rely on the rain for

farming but the rain stopped falling

over the years the family sold

everything they had to buy food

finally they decided to come here

now the children transport water for

money

five people sleep outside five inside

the shack

it's a tiny house but it's all we can

afford to rent it's not ours ours is in

the village far from here

but we come here because we need access

to water

we brought all the kids here and they

work here as water carriers now

there are people transporting water all

along the dusty roads

many of them are children

like sazina Clara Sia

the 13 year old would prefer to be in

school now but her family needs water

and the river is more than 10 kilometers

away

it's difficult for me even carrying the

water from the river to the truck is

tiring and then from here to the house

but if we don't have money we don't eat

and drink

we use some of the water for our family

and sell some to neighbors to make some

money

after a two-hour wait the family with

their 40 empty water containers finally

get a lift to the river

the truck pulls away zecina watches her

school disappear into the distance

Southern Madagascar has always been dry

but in the past years it has rained even

less than usual

the UN has called it the world's first

climate change-induced famine a result

of the West's carbon-fueled lifestyle

the climate shocks they are more and

more often every year they become a more

severe this is the situation it's a

really a reality every year this time if

rain is they don't come people they will

not be able to uh to cultivate the land

so it is worrying it's a situation that

will continue to be of concern

in the past Aid organizations like the

world food program so their main task is

providing emergency relief

now many are also trying to address the

root of the problem long-term access to

water so that people can grow their own

food again

we are testing the drop system

for the for the garden we are just

waiting for rainfall

to farm so with the

the weather the climate change the

rainfall is not arrived on time or is

small so the solution is these bottles

the government is planning a massive

water pipe from a neighboring region

which could be the solution to the

crisis

but there is no timeline funding is not

yet secured in fact several scientists

argue that poor governance has been a

major contributor to the crisis

the crisis has been out of sight for

most politicians in the capital Antonio

Evo a three-day Journey on terrible

roads

is first colonized by a group of

Indonesians later by the French

since Independence there have been

several coup d'etats

in Android Province the state is barely

present

no roads no electricity no water

the governor soya lahimaru admits it

you cannot expect those problems to be

resolved within uh one year or two years

for the last eight decades nothing has

been done and this is the first

government this is the first regime

which is uh taking care of the whole of

a problem but the regime has been in

power for many years now and the

situation has actually only gotten worse

and I don't think that that's not true

the regime has been working for more

than three years and it's it's still on

how can you expect to resolve a problem

which which has been has not been solved

for the more than 60 years uh before

the governor insists that the population

has to take part of the blame for the

droughts

has been caused by the degradation of

the environment human-made activities

and that's where all of the roots of Eva

came from and which triggered to many

issues our ancestors cut down the forest

and without any thinking about the

future and that led to the recurring

drought and that that repetitive drought

led to

repetitive hunger

outside the regional Capital Ambu vumbi

massive knows what she is doing as part

of the problem too collecting cactus

leaves to survive

it's becoming Barren because most people

do this for a living before this was a

forest we could find all kinds of wood

I'm really afraid that in the future we

won't find anything then there'll be

nothing to sell to buy food because the

wood and the cactuses are disappearing

Maisie says she has no choice the 61

year old burns the cactus needles and

brings the leaves to town where she

sells them as animal feed to cattle

owners

when the rain stopped falling she was

forced to stop farming and move here

we left the village because of the

drought it's very difficult to find

water there there was no Harvest so we

had to sell all our belongings

it's an experience shared by almost

everyone in her new home an informal

camp in the town of ambufumbe Trader

dami Henry salala actually wanted to

build a warehouse here

but when he saw more and more desperate

people leaving their Villages he said

they could stay here for free

this old man had a 120 cattle

he was rich

but over the years he was forced to sell

everything and if people have nothing to

eat then they just lie around like this

Salalah tries to help here and there

buying medicine collecting donations

appealing to ngos he believes climate

change is mainly to blame for the

situation but the corrupt individuals in

the government and ngos are responsible

for the continuation of the crisis

it will definitely be very difficult to

stop this crisis if there's no honest

work from the organizations and it will

also be difficult to take the right

measures if the government doesn't see

what's really happening on the ground

we need a Hands-On approach for this

situation to end

Museum

she prepares the first and only meal of

the day for her family

also wonders why the crisis is happening

two cups of rice and some greens that's

all the family of 14 can afford for

today

maybe because of us humans too

we don't love each other

maybe that's why the rain has stopped

falling or because some strangers did

something to prevent the rain

I don't know

a few streets away

magnitude is in charge of the

malnutrition unit for children at the

hospital in ambival at the moment it is

not busy she says only five cases

he is 17 months old her arm

circumference is very small it's in the

red range 98 millimeters

normally it should be 130 for her age

she still can't stand

normally at this age children are

already running

she can't even sit up

for me the first solution to the crisis

is to reduce the high birth rate here we

can have mothers with 13 to 18 children

and polygamy is widespread some men have

three or four wives and 10 children with

each wife these children will be exposed

to malnutrition they will also have to

work find food sell things sometimes

even their bodies so if I was the

president I would first concentrate on

Family Planning

the escalating drought crisis in

Madagascar is the result of a

combination of several factors climate

change deforestation poverty

mismanagement and population growth a

quick fix is not about to happen the

possibility of another season Without

Rain and harvest is real another hunger

crisis is looming

in the long run massive investment is

needed especially in providing access to

water so people can Farm again

the planned water pipe could be a major

part of the solution

back at manimbova River 70 year old

liferai has once again failed to make

enough money to buy food for her family

so she Ventures into the heat without

shoes searching for cactus fruits

look at my hands look at all these

needles

what else can I do apart from collecting

these I can't just stay at home and

sleep I come here to eat and to bring

some home

what is her hope for the future for her

grandchildren

says she has no time to think about it

all she can focus on is finding food and

water every day

the rain she says

needs to fall

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