Week 3: Sub-Saharan Africa Challenges & Development Initiatives (PDF)

# #2 How do environmental challenges and development initiatives affect vulnerable populations in sub-Saharan Africa? Reflect on the role of governance, international influence, and local agency in shaping the outcomes of these efforts. ## Week 3 Pt 1: Sub-Saharan Africa - Sub-Saharan Africa is lo...

# #2 How do environmental challenges and development initiatives affect vulnerable populations in sub-Saharan Africa? Reflect on the role of governance, international influence, and local agency in shaping the outcomes of these efforts. ## Week 3 Pt 1: Sub-Saharan Africa - Sub-Saharan Africa is located below the tropic of cancer. - It is a very large continent. - When Europeans colonized Africa, they sliced up the land without regard for ethnic tribes, splitting up their tribal lands and contributing to tribalism. - 70% of French-speaking people in the world are in Africa. - The continent is home to a diverse range of language families: - Afro-Asiatic in northern Africa and the central Sahara - Nilo-Saharan in central and eastern Africa - Niger-Congo (largest with 1,000 languages and 200 million speakers) in central, southern, and eastern Africa - Khoisan (south-west Africa) - Austronesian (Madagascar) - The most common languages are Zulu, Igbo, Yoruba, Yoromo, Hausa, French, Swahili, and English. - The most populated country in Sub-Saharan Africa is Nigeria (219 million, 2.64% of the global population). - Djibouti is the most urbanized country, due to its use as a U.S. training ground. - Rwanda is the most densely populated country, with 483 people per square kilometer. Burundi had a similar population density, before becoming its own country. - There is a young population in Sub-Saharan Africa, due to a brutal reason — high child mortality rates. - One-third of the population is undernourished. - 30% of children suffer from stunted growth due to malnutrition. - 10 million children are overweight. - The top 20 countries with HIV/AIDS are all in Sub-Saharan Africa. - 69% of people with HIV/AIDS live in Sub-Saharan Africa. - 92% of children with HIV live in Sub-Saharan Africa. - 58% of women with HIV/AIDS live in Africa. ### Prevalence of HIV/AIDS: - **Poverty:** half of the world's impoverished people live in Sub-Saharan Africa (300 million people). - **Inadequate medical care:** the healthcare system is not very good, lacking doctors and hospitals. - **Lack of education and prevention:** false narratives contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS. Many believe it is not caused by sex. - **Taboo and stigma:** HIV/AIDS is a taboo subject and infected people face ostracism. - **Sexual behavior:** Polygamy and promiscuity are common in Sub-Saharan Africa. - **Prostitution:** - **Sexual violence against women:** the leader of South Africa stated that HIV is not real. - **Ebola:** Spread through contaminated body fluids, bedding, needles, etc. It is more difficult to catch than COVID. It originally came from bush meat. It is self-limited: once it spreads through a population, it dies out. - Sub-Saharan Africa barely experienced COVID's full impact because they were used to infectious disease protocols and many people already wore masks. - In South Africa, not wearing a mask resulted in arrest, and a strict curfew was enforced. - The South African variant of COVID-19 was discovered in a lab in South Africa, not because it originated there. - The continent was locked down much longer than other continents, possibly due to a bias against Africa. - The South African variant was not the reason for the lockdown; another variant was discovered in India with no lockdown. ### Life expectancy: - Life expectancy is influenced by many factors. ## Week 3 Pt 2: Sub-Saharan Africa - Africans typically identified with their ethnic tribe rather than a unified Black African identity. - Slavery was prevalent, with tribes selling others into slavery. - By 1700, 50,000 slaves were shipped from Africa per year. - **Shifting cultivation:** practiced by Africans, was an effective agricultural technique where land was farmed until it restored its nutrients, then abandoned. - Colonizers took over land that was being used for shifting cultivation, leading to inappropriate crops and food insecurity. - 19th-century Europeans began to scramble for control of the continent, changing the maps and borders for African ethnic groups. ### Recent/Current Conflicts (since 2004): - Burundi - Cameroon - Central African Republic - Democratic Republic of Congo - Eritrea - Ethiopia - Gambia - Ivory Coast - Kenya - Mali - Mozambique - Nigeria - Niger - Republic of Congo - Sudan - South Sudan - South Africa - Zimbabwe - 70% of the 98,000+ UN peacekeepers worldwide were needed for the 30 UN peacekeeping missions. ### The Nigerian Civil War - **1966:** Senior military officers from the Igbo tribe assassinated politicians in a coup. - **Massacres against the Igbo:** A period of massacres against the Igbo occurred in the north, killing tens of thousands, and prompting millions to flee to the east of Nigeria. - **1967:** Another coup occurred, and the eastern part of Nigeria declared its independence and called itself the Republic of Biafra. - **Civil War:** The Nigerian government blocked off a port, cutting off food to Biafra, and causing high starvation rates. - **Weapons:** A Nigerian scientist invented a weapon launcher and supplied Biafra's military with weapons (who lacked weapons at the start). - **Impact:** 30,000 died from combat and ~2 million died from starvation. The conflict continues - **Additional conflict:** 350,000 killed in northeastern Nigeria, 3 million displaced since 2009. - **Boko Haram:** Since 2011, they have conducted terrorist attacks on religious groups, military, police, and civilians. - **Kidnappings:** 200 girls from school were kidnapped in 2014. 103 were released via negotiations with the Red Cross. ## Rwanda - Rwanda is an agrarian country with a high population density. - **Ethnic groups:** 85% Hutu, the rest are Tutsi (a smaller group) and a small number of Twa ( pygmy group). - **Belgian legacy:** During WWI, Belgians favored the Tutsi, leading to discrimination against the Hutu and setting the stage for future conflicts. - **1959:** Hutu revolution, forcing 350,000 Tutsis to flee the country. - **1961:** Hutus forced the Tutsi monarch into exile and created a republic. - **1962:** Belgium granted independence to Rwanda, severing it from Burundi. - **1973:** A moderate Hutu military group, Habarima Mana took power. - **1990:** The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a group of Tutsi refugees, invaded Rwanda from Uganda. - **1990-1994:** Government officials carried out massacres of Tutsis, killing hundreds. - **1992:** A ceasefire was reached and negotiations began between the RPF and the government. - **1993:** A power-sharing agreement was reached. - **1994:** The Rwandan president's plane was shot down over Kigali, killing him and the president of Burundi. No one knows who is responsible. - **Rwandan Genocide:** Within hours, presidential guards, the Rwandan army, and Hutu military groups set up roadblocks and indiscriminately killed Tutsis and moderate Hutus. - Officials rewarded the perpetrators with money and drugs. - Hutu women pretended to be Hutu and married Hutu men to avoid rape. - Government-sponsored radio stations broadcasted messages urging citizens to murder their neighbors, calling them "Tutsi cockroaches." - This resulted in the killing of 800,000 people in 3 months. ## 1st Liberian Civil War (1989-1997) - **Deadliest war:** one of the bloodiest wars post-independence in Africa, with 200,000 Liberians dead and 1 million displaced. - **December 24, 1989:** Liberian-trained rebels led by Charles Taylor invaded Liberia (from Ivory Coast) with the NPFL (National Patriotic Front of Liberia), comprised mostly of Geomono people, who had been suppressed by the Liberian president, Samuel Doe. - **Child soldiers:** The NPFL was the first to recruit children as soldiers. - **1989-1993:** Casualties were caused by all groups involved in the conflict, targeting the Cron and Mandingo groups. - **Peacekeepers:** Nigerian and Ghanaian troops entered the conflict as peacekeepers, but their presence prolonged the war by supporting Doe. - **1990:** Doe was killed. - **Interim government:** International troops set up an interim government, but fighting continued. - **7 factions:** There were 7 factions with different goals, making the war difficult. - **1997:** The Abuja accord was signed, requiring all factions to disarm and follow the results of U.N. monitored elections. ## 2nd Liberian Civil War - Mandingo fighters and Cron fighters banded together and rebelled. - Taylor sought support by expanding the conflict into Sierra Leon and Guinea. - The UN opposed Taylor, while the UK and US supported them. - By 2002, Taylor lost much of his territory. He was attacked by another group backed by the Ivory Coast in 2002. - Taylor only held 1% of Liberia. - **2005:** Taylor resigned and went into exile as Monrovia came under siege. - **Ellen Johnson Sirleaf:** The first democratic election in 2005 resulted in Ellen Johnson Sirleaf becoming the 24th president and the first woman in Africa to hold that position. She was reelected in 2011 and received the Nobel Peace Prize. - **2016:** Johnson Sirleaf became the chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). ## Conflicts: - Conflicts in Africa are rooted in colonialism, with borders that cut through communities. - Conflicts are triggered by struggles over shared resources (water, land rights, livestock, food), drought conditions, pestilence, religion. - **Ukraine's influence on Africa:** Much of eastern Africa depends on grain from Ukraine. - Conflicts often originate in the struggle for resources, but are exacerbated by external groups. - **Examples of conflicts:** Burkina Faso, Cameroon, DRC, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan. - Conflict is often intertwined with rural insurgents and fueled by the exploitation of marginalized communities. - The results of conflict are displacement, and overcrowded camps that destroy land. Land may take decades to recover, impeding future land use for food production. ## Week 3 Pt 3: Development - **Connectivity:** Important part of community development. - **Roads:** Nigeria, with a huge population and high population density, has built many highways, funded by the German government and now primarily funded by Chinese governments. - **Internet:** Internet usage is nonexistent in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, due to lack of infrastructure and funding. - **North Africa:** Has an extended network of fiber optics. - **Nigeria:** Has good cable infrastructure, but more is needed. - **Starlink:** Starlink, made by SpaceX, provides internet access using 3,000 satellites (2,000 more in orbit). - **Starlink in Africa:** There are 12,000 satellites approved for 2026, but Starlink is not yet available in Africa. - **Cost:** Starlink costs $100 per month, which is unrealistic for average citizens in Africa. - **Cell phones:** Are pervasive, and people use card kiosks to purchase minutes. - **South Africa:** Has a robust cell phone network. Farmers can sell goods, find out prices, and communicate with others. - **Cell phones and development:** Cell phones have been a major resource in development. ## Week 3 Pt 4: Biogeography - Livestock: Cattle play an important role in the region, providing food, stability, and a source of social status. - **Tsetse flies:** Livestock is rarely raised in the belt along the equator. Tsetse flies are pests that carry deadly diseases and threaten the ecosystem. - **Ecosystem collapse:** Efforts to eradicate Tsetse flies have led to ecosystem collapse. - **The Maasai:** Iconic cattle herders who live in Kenya and Tanzania. They interact with their environment in a harmonious way, with a migratory lifestyle, sharing land, and cattle herds as a resource. Men protect the herd, moving them with the seasons to find fresh grazing land. Women milk cows and care for children. The Maasai use cattle products as currency. - **Western influence:** Western cattle techniques have contributed to the decline of the Maasai's traditional pastoral lifestyle. Private ownership of land and agricultural development have impacted their land use. The Maasai are facing economic inequality, overgrazing, and displacement. - **Ecotourism:** The Maasai have established ecotourism lodges to help maintain their livelihood and provide some economic independence. - **Conservation:** The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust (formerly the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Council) is working on education, health, and conservation. They help educate children, provide medical care, and protect the environment. They support the Tulu Conservation Research Center (CCRC). - **Sheep and goats:** These animals are important in the Sahel region of Sub-Saharan Africa, where herders historically followed wildlife to find suitable grazing land. Arbale land is becoming increasingly scarce, and drought is a problem, leading to high overgrazing. - **Western land management practices:** Western land management practices, such as clearing trees and using inappropriate crops, have damaged agricultural land and affected the environment. - **Export crops:** The focus on export crops has depleted soil fertility and water resources, hindering the success of local food production practices. - **Biodiversity:** Sub-Saharan Africa has a vast array of biomes, ranging from glaciers to rainforests, deserts, and savannas. - **Megafauna:** The continent is home to many large animals (megafauna), such as elephants, and small animals, such as elephant shrews, which only exist on Madagascar. - **Gorongosa National Park: ** Located in Mozambique, it suffered significant destruction during the civil war. 95% of wildlife was killed. A park ranger, Greg Carr, has initiated efforts to restore and protect the park, including removing traps and importing animals.