Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nine fallacies of natural disaster: The case of the Sahel

  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article presents nine statements which are generally “accepted” as true. However, when they are applied to a particular situation, in this case the recent prolonged drought in the Sahelian zone in West Africa, they are as often untrue as they are true. For example, such generalizations as “people learn from their mistakes” or “when the rains come, everything will return to normal” or “technology is the answer”, when applied uncritically to a specific situation often prove to become part of the problem as well as a hindrance to the attainment of a solution to that problem.

It is strongly suggested that these nine generalizations, here called “fallacies”, be carefully assessed when applied, thereby removing one more obstacle in dealing with environmental problems in general and natural hazards in particular.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes and references

  1. Derek Winstanley, ‘Climatic Changes and the Future of the Sahel’, in M. H. Glantz (ed.), Politics of Natural Disaster (New York, Praeger Publishers, 1976).

    Google Scholar 

  2. On previous droughts in the Sahel, see P. Lovejoy and S. Baier, ‘Desert-Side Economy of the Central Sudan’, in M. H. Glantz, (ed.), Natural Disaster, op. cit. New York, Praeger Publishers, 1976.

  3. World Meterorological Organization, ‘A Meteorological Approach to the Problems of Drought in Africa’ (Geneva, December 1974), p. 1.

  4. Ibid. World Meterorological Organization, ‘A Meteorological Approach to the Problems of Drought in Africa’ (Geneva, December 1974), p. 2.

  5. A. Rapp, A Review of Desertization in Africa (Stockholm, Secretariat for International Ecology Sweden December 1974), p. 3.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Nicholas Wade, ‘The Sahelian Drought: No Victory for Western Aid’, Science, July 19, 1975, p. 235.

  7. Rapp, op cit. A Review of Desertization in Africa (Stockholm, Secretariat for International Ecology Sweden December 1974), p. 3, ‘Problems in The Development and Conservation of Desert and Semi-Desert Lands’, Proceedings of The XXIII International Geographical Union's Working Group on Desertification by and Around Arid Lands (Ashkhabad, USSR) July 20–26, 1976; See also, ‘Cambridge University Meeting on Desertification Proceedings’ (Cambridge, England, Dept. of Geography, 22–26 September, 1975).

  8. Wolf Roder, Department of Geography, University of Cinncinati, comments during the African Studies Association meeting, Chicago, 1974, panel on ‘Climate Change and the Future of the Sahel’.

  9. E. P. Stebbing, ‘The Encroaching Sahara...’, Geographical Journal 86, 510 (1935).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Ibid. E. P. Stebbing, ‘The Encroaching Sahara...’, Geographical Journal 86, (1935), p. 109.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Ibid. E. P. Stebbing, ‘The Encroaching Sahara...’, Geographical Journal 86, (1935), p. 110.

    Google Scholar 

  12. J. L. Cloudsley-Thompson, ‘Recent Expansion of the Sahara’, International Journal of Environmental Studies 2 38 (1971).

    Google Scholar 

  13. The Senate, Parliament of South Africa, ‘Report from the Select Committee on Droughts, Rainfall and Soil Erosion’, (June 19, 1914), pp. v–vi.

  14. Oliver West, ‘The Vegetation of Southern Matabeleland...’, Abstracts of Proceedings of the First Rhodesian Science Congress (Bulawayo, Rhodesia, The Teacher's College, May 16–20, 1967), p. 99.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Barry N. Floyd, ‘Land Apportionment in Southern Rhodesia’, in R. M. Prothero (ed.), People and Land in Africa: South of the Sahara (New York, Oxford University Press, 1972), pp. 225–26. See also Wolf Roder, ‘Government by Technicians: The Case of the Third International Congress, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, December 9–19, 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Chu Co-ching, ‘Climatic Change During Historic Times in China’, in Collected Scientific Papers: Meteorology, 1919–1949 (Peking, Academia Sinica, 1954), p. 272; Chu Co-ching was the vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences until his death in 1974.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Henry Kamm, ‘Sub-Saharan Lands Are Hopeful of Reasonable Harvest Soon’, New York Times, November 10, 1974.

  18. Eric Hoffer, The Ordeal of Change (New York, Harper and Row, 1967).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Wade, ‘The Sahelian Drought’, p. 237.

  20. C. F. Hemming, ‘The Need for a Wide Ecological Approach in the Planning of Future Rangeland Surveys’, paper presented to the International Livestock Center for Africa's ‘Seminar on Evaluation and Mapping of Tropical Rangeland’, Bamako, Mali, March 3–8, 1975, p. 3.

  21. T. I. Kloth, Sahel Nutrition Survey, 1974 (Atlanta, U.S. Public Health Service, Center for Disease Control, March 1974), p. 15.

    Google Scholar 

  22. T. A. Johnson, ‘Somalia Resettling Famine-Beset Nomads in Socialist Communes’, New York Times, March 22, 1975; See also Jeremy Swift.

  23. Ibid. T. A. Johnson, ‘Somalia Resettling Famine-Beset Nomads in Socialist Communes’, New York Times, March 22, 1975; See also Jeremy Swift.

  24. Hemming, ‘The Need’.

  25. Kamm,‘Sub-Saharan Lands’.

  26. Kloth, Sahel Nutrition Survey, p. 1.

  27. U.S. Senate, Disaster Relief: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearings on H.R. 12412 (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, March 29, 1974), pp. 72, 73.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Center for Disease Control, Nutritional Surveillance in Drought-Affected Areas of West Africa, August–September 1973 (Atlanta: U.S. Public Health Service), p. 23.

  29. Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), April 14, 1975, p. 6.

  30. For a discussion of what ‘normal’ means with respect to Sahelian rainfall see R. W. Katz and M. H. Glantz in M. H. Glantz (ed.) Desertification (Boulder, Colorado, Westview Press, 1977).

    Google Scholar 

  31. Randall Baker, ‘Information, Technology Transfer and Nomadic Pastoral Societies’, paper presented to Joint Seminar of the Overseas Development Institute and Reading University, England, September 1974, p. 6.

  32. USAID, ‘Briefing of the African Drought and Related Programs for the Senatorial Staff (Washington, D.C., February 7, 1975) Table 6, p. 10.

  33. P. Lovejoy and S. Baier, ‘Desert-Side Economy of the Central Sudan’, Paper presented at the African Studies Association 1974 meeting, Chicago, November 1, 1974, p. 24.

  34. P. Lovejoy and S. Baier, ‘Desert-Side Economy’ in Glantz (ed.), Natural Disaster, op. cit. New York, Praeger Publishers, 1976.

  35. Quoted in Rapp, A Review of Desertization, p. 48; see also the graphs depicting the relationship between the spacing of wells and overgrazing, p. 47.

  36. USAID, ‘Briefing’, Table 6, p. 6.

  37. Stanley Kalema (Kenya), Development Forum (UN), Vol. IV, No. 1 Jan./Feb. 1967) p. 7.

    Google Scholar 

  38. G. Hardin, ‘Tragedy of the Commons’, in G. Hardin, Exploring New Ethics for Survival (Baltimore, Penguin Press, 1972), p. 225.

    Google Scholar 

  39. FAO Secretariat, ‘Food and Agricultural Organization and Sahara Reclamation’, Unasylva 93, No. 23, p. 12.

  40. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, Bulletin, No. 10 (September 1974), 13.

  41. FAO Secretariat, ‘Food and Agricultural Organization’.

  42. Baker, ‘Information’.

  43. USAID, ‘Briefing’, Table 15, p. 1.

  44. W. C. Sherbrooke and P. Paylore, World Desertification: Cause and Effect, Arid Lands Resource Information Paper No. 3 (Tucson: University of Arizona, 1973), p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Baker, ‘Information’, pp. 8–9.

  46. New York Times, November 1, 1974.

  47. On the politics of the Ethiopian drought, see Laurie Wiseberg, ‘An International Perspective on the African Famines’, in Glantz (ed), Natural Disaster.

  48. See also, Jack Shephered, Politics of Starvation (Washington D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1976).

    Google Scholar 

  49. M. El-Khawas, ‘An Analysis of International Relief Efforts in the Sahel’, in Glantz (ed.), Natural Disaster.

  50. E. H. Carr, Twenty Years' Crisis (New York, Harper and Row, 1964), passim.

    Google Scholar 

  51. L. Brown, The Interdependence of Nations (New York, Headline Series no. 212, 1972), p. 3.

  52. The Soviet Union has recently selected this and other similar statements by Lester Brown for scrutiny in a recent publication by M. Volkov, The Strategy of Neocolonialism Today (Moscow, Novost Press Agency Publishing House, 1976) pp. 39–46.

    Google Scholar 

  53. Cynthia Enlow, The Politics of Pollution in a Comparative Perspective (New York, McKay, 1975) p. 115.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Quoted in Peter Wiley, U.S. Food Policy Based on Profit, Politics’, Colorado Daily (University of Colorado, Boulder), March 31, 1974, p. 3.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Ibid. Quoted in Peter Wiley, U.S. Food Policy Based on Profit, Politics’, Colorado Daily (University of Colorado, Boulder), March 31, 1974, p. 3

  56. Ibid. Quoted in Peter Wiley, U.S. Food Policy Based on Profit, Politics’, Colorado Daily (University of Colorado, Boulder), March 31, 1974, p. 3

  57. Paul Lewis, ‘Poors Nations Still Await Most of OPEC's Promised Help’, New York Times, March 16, 1975.

  58. Ibid. Paul Lewis, ‘Poors Nations Still Await Most of OPEC's Promised Help’, New York Times, March 16, 1975

  59. Carr, Twenty Years' Crisis, pp. 41–62, 80–85.

  60. K. Waltz, ‘The Myth of National Interdependence’, in C. Kindleberger (ed.), The International Corporation (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1970), pp. 205–23.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Tom Wicker, New York Times, November 16, 1974, p. 39.

  62. Baker, ‘Information’, p. 4.

  63. K. Boulding, The Meaning of the Twentieth Century (New York: Harper and Row, 1964), pp. 126–27.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Center for Atmospheric Research, 80307, Boulder, Colo., USA

    Michael H. Glantz

Authors
  1. Michael H. Glantz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Published in Michael H. Glantz (ed.), The Politics of Natural Disasters: The Case of the Sahel Drought (NY: Praeger Publ., 1976) reprinted by permission.

Michael H. Glantz is a scientist in the Advanced Study Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Glantz, M.H. Nine fallacies of natural disaster: The case of the Sahel. Climatic Change 1, 69–84 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00162778

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00162778

Keywords

Search

Navigation