UNLV geoscientist Matthew Lachniet and an international team of researchers used stalagmites to unveil a 2,400-year climate history from southwestern Mexico. This discovery, coupled with archaeological evidence, links the rise and fall of ancient Mesoamerican civilizations to changing rainfall. The findings were reported Jan. 23 as a “Pre-Issue Publication” of the journal Geology.

Little is known about what contributed to the fate of the prosperous ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan, though historic evidence suggests periods of above average rainfall followed by extreme drought might have played a role.

“Mexico and the American southwest are linked by climate processes in the Pacific Ocean. Our new record shows that dry conditions, likely linked to El Nino processes, recurred frequently over time,” said Lachniet. “The point to be made is that civilization runs on water. Take away a water supply and the civilization may fail.”

Lachniet and his team collected and analyzed a stalagmite from Juxtlahuaca Cave in Guerrero, Mexico. The cave is in the core region of the North American Monsoon, a climate phenomenon primarily responsible for rain in most of Mexico and parts of the American Southwest. The cave was also a great source for stalagmites – common cave formations formed over thousands of years as minerals from water droplets crystallize and accumulate. Much like tree rings, they can accurately record the rainfall history of an area.

“Only recently have scientists started to unlock the secrets of stalagmites as ancient rain gauges,” said Lachniet. “Stalagmites from tropical regions provide a much longer record than tree rings. They also grow rapidly which allows us to pinpoint climate variations on near-annual timescales.”

The team correlated the region’s cultural milestones with measured rainfall. Above average rainfall between the first and third centuries coincided with the rise of the early Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan. At its peak, more than 125,000 people lived around the massive pyramids in the highly developed city.

Conversely, a 500-year drying trend, including a drought of more than 150 years, coincided with rapid population decline in Teotihuacan around 550 CE. The drought likely impacted spring-fed agriculture practices in the semi-arid Mexican Highlands.

“We can’t say with certainty that other social factors were drivers of the cultural change, but we now have well-dated and robust climate information to compare,” said Lachniet. “Climate change was the norm for the region dating back thousands of years, and similar variations are to be expected for the future.”

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Countries across the world are currently experiencing extreme weather and droughts. The largest freshwater lake in China is at its lowest water levels for years thanks to a drought, according to state officials and media. The shrinking lake does not bode well for fishermen who rely on it for their livelihoods and for the local ecology.

The Xinhua news agency stated that Poyang Lake, located in East China’s Jiangxi province, is shrinking quickly and has experienced over a decade-long dry spell. This is due to the Gan River, which is connected to the lake, not receiving enough rain and causing the water levels to hit record lows. “This year’s level is very low,” an anonymous official declared, affirming that the rainfall for the area was 65 percent less than average for December.

Texas is also experiencing its worst drought on record. The year 2011 was the driest ever for the state, says the National Weather Service, and it was the second hottest. Meteorologists do not believe this will improve for the year 2012 and the result will be further restrictions on water and the death of millions of trees. Lake Lavon has shrunk by 12 feet due to North Texas’ lack of rain and record-setting heat. “It is a challenging time, especially to bring awareness to our consumers and businesses how critical our drought has impacted our reservoirs,” stated Denise Hickey, spokesperson for the North Texas Municipal Water District. “As we’re planning to move through this drought period, we’re also planning and initiating additional strategies to bring additional sources online.” The Texas Forest Service believes that so far, the severe drought has killed 500 million trees.

In Latin America, nations have also been dealing with a plethora of problems stemming from the extreme weather, including wildfires, droughts, and floods. Many have wondered if climate change and global warming are responsible for the unusual weather and according to experts, this is most likely the case. Chile experienced an uncharacteristic heat wave, which resulted in rampant burning wildfires, while Northern Mexico has been dealing with its worst drought in 70 years.

On the other hand, Colombia has had two seasons of heavy rain, which has killed 182 people and resulted in about $2 billion in damage. A rose farm in a Colombian town named Chia sustained an estimated $6 million dollars in damages from the April and December floods. Javier Castellanos, the rose farm manager, stated, “Never in the history of this farm- and it’s a business with 30 years in the market- have we ever had any such problem.” Researchers assert that Latin America is at more risk to the extreme weather changes worsening in the future than any other region in the world because of deforestation and its sprawling construction. These elements cause it to be more vulnerable to landslides and flooding.

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United Nations has declared a famine in two areas of southern Somalia as the region suffers the worst drought in more than 50 years. So far an estimated 10 million people have been affected by the drought in Somalia.

Millions of people are at the brink of death and despair due to widespread starvation and malnutrition. More than 166,000 desperate Somalis have fled their country to neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya. Many of those who are fleeing the country are using their very little money to pay for buses but most of them are forced to walk hundreds of miles in search for food, shelter and peace.

The problem became more severe with the fact that Al-shabab, an Al Qaeda affiliated group, imposed a ban on foreign food supplies and other essential commodities for life.

Mark Bowden, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Somalia said that “if we don’t act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia”. He further elaborated on the situation in Somalia that ‘Every day of delay in assistance is literally a matter of life and death’

A famine in any region is declared only when acute malnutrition rate among children exceed 30 percent and 2 people die because of inaccessibility to food and water.

The Al-shabaab group banned a number of international aid agencies from operating and extending the basic assistance provided by them. In 2009 they also restricted UN World Food Programme on the basis of allegation of distorting local economy and of being anti-Muslim.

Johnnie Carson, the assistant secretary for African affairs at the state department said: “The issue and the problem is Al Shabaab”. According to UN Refugee agency, every day ten children under the age of five die from chronic hunger and hunger related causes in a refugee camp in Ethiopia.

UNHCR Report further provide details into what has been the major cause of very high mortality rate, the report said that main cause was malnutrition and outbreak of measles in the region.

At the Scene
Mohamed Mwaliu, told the BBC news, “I met a woman, Amina – who came from central Somalia, somehow she was able to get a lift in the lorry but most heartening part of her journey was that she walked 50 KM carrying her one and half year old son on her back, only to realize, when she arrived that he is dead.

Furthermore, Mwaliu says people are in such dire and disgraceful conditions that they are ready to walk miles on order to reach camps set for draught victims.

In another story, Mwaliu said he met a woman called Habiba from a village near Buurhakaba city in south-west Somalia who reached the capital, around 125 miles by foot. Another woman told the BBC that she left her sick child on the road since he was too weak to make up the journey to Kenya.

The Aid and Beyond
Recently 31 ton of UNHCR consignment including plastic sheeting for shelters, blankets and sleeping mats arrived in Mogadishu airport. Despite millions of dollars being spent in aid in Somalia it is yet a distant dream to reduce hardships of the people soon.

It is only because of food shortage, absence of rains, corruption and conflict; people of Somalia are living the worst nightmare anybody can go through.

The extent of human suffering is far beyond human capabilities of tolerance and patience. The hope is for rain in October to wash all maladies of the people of Somalia and let them live a stable and prosperous life.

Image Courtesy of By SSGT CHARLES REGER [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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The Pope, during his weekly blessing to pilgrims, claimed from his summer residence in Castel Gondolfo, south of Rome, the only way for all of the victims to escape from the tragedy in the Horn of Africa is with “compassion” and “fraternal solidarity.”

The catastrophic drought has affected more than 11.8 million people and cover so large an area where both the populations of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are suffering from hunger.

Relief organizations still don’t know how they can deal with the worst drought in the last 60 years. United Nations’ humanitarian affairs coordination says: “The crisis in southern Somalia is expected to continue to worsen through 2011, with all areas of the south slipping into famine.”

It is estimated that half of Somalia’s people are in need of relief assistance after large periods of civil conflict and drought.

“The drought is the reason I left Somalia, I had a deaf husband and between us we had cows and goats,” said Halima Korone Une, a Somalia’s refugee in Dabaab, Kenya. “Because of the drought we had to eat all our goats and my husband went to look for pasture for the cows but never came back so I decided to leave my home with our five children.”

That is the reality. Korone lost one of her children on their way and now she has only four children with her.

Meanwhile, the Pope is giving blessings far from the devastating situation, in his summer residence in Rome.  While The United Nations has declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia and stated that the effects of the drought have been felt more widely across the war-torn country, as well as in parts of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, Pope Benedict XVI says: “It is an immense task. In this time of holiday, let us not forget to open our hands and our hearts to come to the aid of those who need it,” and he added: “Let us give food and share our bread with the needy.”

The Vatican’s official daily keeps saying that it is difficult to save the people of Somalia. Furthermore, their official daily will refer to the international community for the hard job. Sources in the Vatican also believe the international community should take a more active mediation role between rival and Somali clans:

“If international players do not manage to do this, then even a massive humanitarian effort by UN agencies, including the WFP’s airlift, and by non-governmental organisations will at best slow the emergency,” the Vatican’s official daily said.

Last week, the UN World Food Programme has started an airlift of food into the capital Mogadishu. Even though they are taking any possible action, WFP said: “our feeding centers continue to operate in spite of the difficult security situation.”

Despite the Vatican’s official daily opinion, charities have already said that more international donations are needed and relief efforts have been hampered by the combat, and also a ban on some humanitarian agencies by the Islamist group “Al Shabab” which controls much of southern Somalia.

The African Union is scheduling a further donor conference in Addis Adaba, Ethiopia’s capital during this month. The Pope claims a lack of “solid institutions” on the country, but the world is interested in knowing when a solid institution as the Vatican is going to start helping the people in Somalia.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/catholicism/

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Most often than not you wonder if the very people in whose hand we have left the management and of our countries and world in general are worth the honor. You wonder if those at the helm of affairs are there to serve the people or to fulfill their selfish interest.

I have harbored a pain in me for such a long time but after seeing the lackluster attitude with which our “caring” leaders are attending to the situation in Somalia, I think it is time to speak.

The end of the human race begins the day we fail to see other humans as people worth helping. What is happening in Somalia is a serious world problem the needs serious attention and quick response but unfortunately the very people in whose hand we have entrusted our world do not see it as such.

The horn of Africa has been hit by severe drought affecting Kenya, Ethiopia and especially Somalia. Somalia has been hardest hit by the drought, which is the worst in 60 years, because it is a poor country, trying to work its way out of war since 1991. This has placed 11.3 million people in need of aid. Currently there are 800,000 children at risk of starvation and the drought is not expected to end before October.

Children some as young as a few months old are made to go days without food and sometimes without water too. The death toll is believed to have reached triple figures though there is yet to be an official release — yet our leaders look on with little concern just because they and their families are full. They fail to see the urgency of the situation.

The most disheartening of all is the fact that there is still fighting in the country between the government army, backed by African Union forces, and the Al-Shabab rebels which on Thursday resulted in the death of 25 people and more than 50 wounded in Mogadishu, the capital. Presently, there are about 1.5 million people internally displaced in the country with over 800,000 already in refugee camps in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia.

It is a shame that we all, especially those in a position to help, have turned the bling eye. The people of Somalia did not choose to be born there — neither have they called for a famine. This is an issue that can happen to any country especially those of the third world and the earlier we help the better it will be for us all. We should count every soul that perishes in this famine as a shame to the human race because they die as a result of our inability to interpret their need as an emergency.

With this piece, I am sending an appeal to the world in the name of God to help Somalia if you can. Let us be remembered for posterity not through our inaction but as a people who acted wisely when the hands of time called on us to. Somalia is not only their Somalia but our Somalia too.

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In South America, a great percentage of the population depends on natural resources, agriculture and animals in order to survive. When there are any types of fluctuations in the environment or the weather, there is a great percentage of people that has to encounter difficult situations. El Niño, is a great example of a phenomenon that comes and goes leaving its scar on many.

This term was used by the fishermen in Peru, who called it “El Niño”. They were the ones who noticed this change of temperature in the Pacific Ocean, and associated this change on the water with the arrival of Jesus Christ, or “El niño Jesus” , since they noticed the changes came normally at the end of December, close to Christmas. This phenomenon affects the temperature of the water and it brings a double-faced season, either provoking flooding or droughts. This radical change occurs in intervals from 2 to 7 years, and they tend to last around twelve to eighteen months.

“In the last 40 years, there has been around nine Niño’s that have had a great impact worldwide”. A very unique characteristic of El Niño, is that whereas in South America the risk of flooding is higher on the other side of the Pacific, as in Indonesia, or Australia the effect is the opposite bringing droughts instead of floods or vice versa. The phenomenon starts in the Tropical Pacific Ocean, near Australia and Indonesia.  The atmospheric pressure is altered and it affects even distant zones such as Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. The winds blow from east to best, and this provokes an increase in water and temperature in the occidental part of the Pacific Ocean.

Many cities and towns in South America lack a good infrastructure of houses and water canals. With flooding emergence, inundations bring disastrously effects for people living in villages or closed to the seashores. A good example is the Province of Manabi located in Ecuador, where people live in houses made of Cane, normally built two meters on top of the ground. This infrastructure is made because this province lacks a good draining system and where floods appear people protect their homes and belongings by building their houses this way. When the Niño comes, normally provinces, and villages that have a similar situation to Manabi, are the main ones to be affected regarding diseases such as Dengue, and water contamination, since due to the lack of draining system the water accumulates and the bacteria’s in it reproduce rapidly and the risk of infections are extremely high.

The marine ecosystems are also affected due to the Niño, since the water temperature variations affect the marine life. The fish are not used to this drastic changes, so many drift to other environments in order to survive, leading to an economic deficit for the fishing industries and exportation.

Finally, El Niño is a phenomenon that affects several zones in the world, leading to climate change, affecting the human life such as the animal life. Like any other natural catastrophe, there is nothing the human race can do in order to control this phenomenon but the only thing we are left is to be aware o its consequences and prevent the propagation of diseases and infections.

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