By William Lune
The Somali tragedy represents an extreme example of what is taking place in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The crisis is a result of the crippling combination of three decades of moisture deficit in the Sahel belt and failed experiments of economic development policies. The country's ecological resources have been undergoing a steady decline such that they can no longer sustain a viable livelihood whenever faced with adverse natural externalities such as drought.
The decline in Somalia's environmental resources has also been accelerated by "modernist" economic policies that replaced the traditional Somali production systems.
The indigenous economy was based predominantly on nomadic pastoralism. The modern economy that replaced the traditional economy was monetised and based on the export of bananas and livestock for international markets, especially to Europe (UK and Italy) and later, increasingly, to the oil-rich Gulf states. To meet the demands of the export trade, herdsmen increased livestock numbers beyond the sustainable carrying capacity of local ecosystems.
The export drive aimed at accumulate "desperately needed" foreign exchange. Foreign exchange needed to purchase capital and consumer goods for the urban and military elite. As the productivity of Somalia's range lands declined, aggressive competition for the resources increased.
Somalia covers an area of 638,000 square kilometres. Range lands characterised by high seasonal temperature variations, moisture deficit and sparse vegetation cover 28.8 million hectares. In the vast semi-arid expanse, oases and inter-riverine areas with fresh water and trees are prized ecological niches. The oases are used as base settlements for seasonal livestock migrations.
The majority of Somalia's 7 million people are rural based, about 80% nomadic pastoralists engaged in livestock production. The seasonal grazing patterns of sheep and goats and camels have ensured ecological stability over centuries by utilising different plant species and ensured the Somalis an age-old reputation as the world's foremost camel breeders.
Incense, myrrh and frankincense are major primary resources that have been exported since biblical times. In coastal areas, fishing for shark fins and lobsters are important economic activities.
Human ecology
The household, or Reer, was the primary social unit joining with others to form the sub-clan and clan headed by the elder or sheikh. A number of clans which shared the same grazing area and permanent water together formed the Beel, whose elders came together in a council — the Diya.
The Diya deliberated over resource use, grazing routes, inter-clan trade matters, conflict resolution reaching consensus through discussion. The Diya elected an elder to the position of sultan to oversee matters of the sultanate — the Garud. Final responsibility for matters affecting the community, including the conservation of ecological resources, lay at this level.
The base camps were used as dry season grazing points. Milking animals were kept here so that the base camp household, composed of the women, children and elderly, had steady access to milk — a major staple in the Somali diet.
The small stock were herded close to the camp by the children. Women and children grew cereals and vegetables near the camp to supplement pastoral products. During the dry season, the able-bodied men moved further afield with the herds, mainly camels, in search of pasture, water and trade.
Trade has a long history among the Somali, extending to most of the east and central African states and supplementing products of their nomadic lifestyle. As early as the seventh century, a trade network extended between Ethiopia and the Arab peninsula.
The benefits of trade were distributed throughout the clan in accordance with arrangements between members and with the aim of assisting weaker members to avoid destitution.
The responsibility for developing the skills of the younger generation fell on the community elders. Emphasis was always placed upon the interdependence of humans and nature, the fundamental skill for a young pastoralist being the ability to assess the critical balance of nature to ensure the long-term capacity of pasture to sustain the livestock.
The distortion of any of the components (natural resource base, people and their mode of production) that maintains the balance threatened the centuries-old balance between human production and nature.
Changes in resources use
During the colonial era, the British in the north of the country and the Italians in the south established strong, centralised administrations by force of arms.
The sole aim of these administrative structures was the extraction and supervision of a flow of resources to external markets. Colonial administrators and foreign merchants focused on products and profitable returns and displayed little concern for the sound production systems or the long-term sustainability of the resource base.
In 1960 direct colonialism was replaced with a neo-colonial alliance of multinationals, local urban elites and the military which heralded in an era of ruthless resource extraction.
The Western-educated elite and a minority of the leaders drawn mainly from the Hariya clan centred on Mogadishu and other major cities were the beneficiaries of the extraction and export of Somalia's resources. After 1973, the major customers for the livestock products were Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Gulf states.
The profits of trade were reinvested in livestock by merchants who became absentee herd owners, employing pauperised ex-nomads. Their aim was to maximise stock numbers for short-term monetary gain, in contrast to traditional nomads, who sought to limit animal numbers to the sustainable carrying capacity of pasture, water, salt licks and herbs.
With traditional institutions weakened by the colonial era, and backed by the military, the new owners were not accountable to the clan leaders for their use of environmental resources. The result was overstocking, especially near the wells and market routes.
The merchants also invested capital in wells and mobile water tanks. Control over these new sources of water, especially in times of drought, was a rich source of income and local power for individual merchants, enabling them to supplant the control over water previously held by clan councils. As long as they could pay the water fees, herd owners were now able to keep many more animals in an area. Clan elders were no longer able to exercise control over stock numbers to avoid overgrazing, disease and conflict.
A flood of luxury imports such as imported food and beverages and transistor radios, fancy wear and cars led to a change in values. Overcome by desire to acquire these consumer goods, people embarked on an unsustainable plunder of Somalia's fragile resource base.
With the production base declining as a result of pressure on the environment, the drought precipitated aggressive competition between the different political/military elites within the political alliance.
War and famine
Traditionally arms were a source of cultural pride through the protection they offered the community against wild animals and potential competitors.
As competition for the dwindling resource base intensified, sophisticated weapons such as anti-aircraft guns mounted on four wheel drive vehicles were increasingly used for the protection of private interests. Regional wars coupled with fierce Cold War rivalry made weapons easily available even to youths who would not previously have been entrusted with arms.
Youths, deprived of the traditional livelihood under traditional pastoral nomadism, opted out of the hard life on the range lands and headed for the relatively easier lifestyle in urban centres.
However, urban economy offered little prospect of a viable livelihood to those beckoned by its attractions. Freed from the control of their elders, the youth put to use the martial skills acquired from a nomadic tradition, offering their services to whichever warlord professed to address their immediate grievances.
The way in which these Somali youths were swept up in the spiral of violence is the result of decades-long erosion of the traditional institutions of resource and communal management.
The post-colonial administration atrophied as a result of the decline in the resource base, corruption and aggressive competition over a dwindling export base. The young generation under the modern economy felt denied a traditional past to refer to and attracted to an unsustainable materialistic consumption. The youths instead turned into opportunistic gunmen, with total disregard for authority which they accuse of denying them a future livelihood. Hence they epitomise the decay of all forms of social order in Somalia.
The worst casualties have been the poor pastoralists' households, whose ability to produce from the natural ecosystems has been eroded. Migration between different resource areas has been curtailed by insecurity.
Trade, a vital component of nomadic survival, has suffered from marauding bandits. Wells have been poisoned, sealed, mined or destroyed, an act which was punishable during the traditional forms of conflict. Pastures have been set on fire to weaken rival clans.
Drought, itself, rarely leads to famine, as past experiences in Somalia have shown. Similarly, in 1992 Eritrea and Ethiopia have shown that as long as there is peace, traditional institutions can cope with community disasters and minimise loss of life. In Somalia, the breakdown of the traditional controls over environmental management and communal responsibility have been major contributory factors to Somalia's famine and war.
Furthermore, the reliance upon livestock as the major source of livelihood increased the vulnerability of pastoralists to famine in a time of armed conflict. Livestock, readily moved and traded, is easily subject to looting by bandits.
A major factor that must be taken into account is the large, wealthy Somali merchant class — the most conspicuous in eastern Africa, with commercial interests spread out as far as Mombasa, Nairobi, Eldoret, Kitale, Kampala, Jinja, Bujumbura, Kigali and Aden, Rome, London and other capitals of the world. The role of merchants in fuelling violent conflict and looting food aid to enhance their commercial interests has shown a modern and ruthless side of profit-led market economies.
One positive aspect is that among the Somalis, there still is a core group of modest patriots who are ready to give their communities a restart based on traditional values. Above all, despite the gung ho atmosphere existing in the country's current crisis, Somalis still stand out with the dignity with which they bury their dead.
[William Lune is a Ugandan researcher based in London. This article is reprinted from the South African magazine New Ground.]