Analyzing Drought Effects through the Pressure and Release Model (PAR)
The word “Drought” comes with various connotations ranging from famine, and malnutrition experienced by farmers from developing countries, to severe financial difficulties amongst farmers from wealthy regions or countries. Most descriptions of drought are often related to crop production and agricultural activities and is explained as the limited yield levels due to low or too little volumes of water (Passioura 114). Prolonged periods of drought lead to many undesirable social-economic effects and have the potential to alter soil composition further worsening parameters, such as famine and food security (Joos et al. 11034). The impacts of drought vary according to the socio-economic conditions of the specific regions. In most wealthy countries, the impact is relatively neutralized compared to developing countries where a short period of drought could be catastrophic. Additionally, drought can be a result of many factors, such as environmental degradation and soil erosion.
To understand the occurrence of drought, we apply the PAR Model that helps to establish the relationship between unsafe conditions, root causes, dynamic pressures, and natural hazards in creating a disaster. Disaster occurrence is defined as the intersection of environmental exposure and socio-economic constraints. The first approach towards this type of research helps to identify the root causes that lead to pressures and eventually bring about unsafe conditions. The increase in risks for hazardous events causes a lot of damage and uncertainty on the smooth operations of day-to-day lives. While some occurrences are beyond human control, certain risks arise from social activities and negligence. In line with understanding the use of the PAR Model, this research examines the vulnerabilities involved in the experience of drought hazards in developing countries.
PAR Model to Analyze Drought Vulnerability in Developing Countries
Many developing countries face the effects of a drought whose basis is tied to specific natural and human-made causes. Due to adverse weather conditions, particular issues place people in such areas at risk of experiencing drought. According to Mondal and Saleh, droughts often result in both water and food shortages since water is a crucial component in the practice of farming (42). In many of the developing countries, the main economic activity is farming; hence, the existence of drought threatens the source of their livelihood. Through objectively bringing out the issues of vulnerability concerning drought, the paper provides a basis to trigger action for preventive measures of the drought. The direction to provide this information is through identifying the root causes, discussing some of the dynamic pressures, and highlighting the existing unsafe conditions.
The risk of the peril stems from having adverse conditions that cause hazards, thus, increasing the vulnerability of the concerned population. Drought is a significant hazard in the developing countries, and the most vulnerable areas are the agricultural and economic sectors (De Silva and Akiyuki 132). Through the PAR Model, it becomes possible to note that there is environmental exposure on one side, while the pressure is felt on a socio-economic level. Therefore, vulnerability generators are the root causes, unsafe conditions, and dynamic pressures. On the other side, the result is the hazard, and as indicated, it is the occurrence of droughts in the developing countries. The PAR Model excels in helping to identify such pressures and vulnerabilities that lead to the disaster or hazard on the other side.
Root Causes.
Land Degradation
The issues of soil erosion sparked concerns about land degradation in many developing countries. As such, lack of protection of the land by human beings continues to cause extensive degradation, and as a result, low food production. As the custodians of the land, human beings bear the responsibility to ensure the conservation of the soil and land. However, the effects of soil erosion and harmful soil cycling practices affect the ability to have fertile land that enables farming and cushions against drought.
Deforestation
The rise in population and the need to have more land for occupation causes extensive deforestation in many of the developing countries. Through this practice, the water cycles are affected, and the vegetation coverage is reduced expansively. Deforestation exposes the soil, leading to loss of moisture due to evaporation. The rain patterns are affected by deforestation, exposing the developing countries to drought.
Dynamic Pressures.
Poor Farming Methods
The lack of proper training in farming continues to affect productivity in developing countries. It is essential to have excellent farming skills to enhance the utilization of the land resources available and farming tools. Farming skills are critical in equipping farmers with the knowledge of farming, harvesting, and produce storage (Wisner et al. 11). In many developing countries, the adaption of new farming skills remains low and unusually inefficient in upholding high production levels.
Poor Infrastructure
The presence of good infrastructure ensures the facilitation of farming in many developing countries. A sparse transport network inhibits the movement of food products to areas that do not have farming practices. Additionally, the existing infrastructure causes high costs to ensure the reach of farming produce to other areas. Poor infrastructure creates strained access, exposing people to the hard-living conditions and vulnerability through the drought.
Unsafe Conditions.
Poor Housing
There are many causes of poverty in developing countries. Through the kind of living conditions that people are exposed to, they experience unsafe conditions as a result of the dynamic factors. For people that depend on farming to get money, the dynamic pressures addressed elevate the levels of poverty due to lack of farming skills and poor infrastructure, which results in the reduction of earnings, thus enhancing the exposure to drought due to increased poverty.
Living Desperately
The exposure to poverty in rural areas forces people to yearn for better living standards in urban areas. Therefore, many people from rural areas in developing countries experience desperation in a bid to try and get better lives in urban areas. This is a pressure that stems from the root causes that expose people to vulnerability. Also, the lack of access forces many people to farm at subsistence levels, thus keeping them from proper income generation methods. The hand-to-mouth nature of existence is a vulnerability that exposes people to drought.
Conclusion
The population in developing countries is highly exposed to natural calamities, such as droughts and famines. The identified root causes of vulnerability are land degradation and deforestation. The dynamic pressures are poor farming skills and low infrastructural development. The combination of the root causes and dynamic pressures bring about unsafe conditions for the people in such countries. The dependence on farming means that drought ultimately brings hardship to the people and their ability to attain fast development. The impact of the drought is severe in underdeveloped and developing countries. The socio-economic context in these countries further increases the threat and exposure to disaster occurrence.
Works Cited
De Silva, M. M. G. T., and Akiyuki Kawasaki. “Socio-Economic Vulnerability to Disaster Risk: A Case Study of Flood and Drought Impact in A Rural Sri Lankan Community.” Ecological Economics, vol. 152, 2018, pp. 131-140.
Joos, O., et al. “Summer drought reduces total and litter-derived soil CO2 effluxes in temperate grassland–clues from a 13C litter addition experiment.” Biogeosciences, vol. 6, no. 6, 2009, pp. 11005-11034.
Mondal, Shahjahan, and Saleh Wasimi. “Generating and Forecasting Monthly Flows of The Ganges River with PAR Model.” Journal of Hydrology, vol. 323, no. 1-4, 2006, pp. 41-56.
Passioura, John. “The drought environment: physical, biological and agricultural perspectives.” Journal of experimental botany, vol. 58, no. 2, 2007, pp. 113-117.
Wisner, Ben, et al. At Risk: Natural Hazards, People’s Vulnerability and Disasters. Routledge, 2003.