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Uncle bin oil if found in large quantities would destroy somalia if we dont have a proper government in place at that time.

Otali somali prejiduce towrds farming has largely been removed by urbanisation.The grinding poverty of urbandwellers will force them towards anything that would improve thier lives.
All they need is help and education.

reforestation with productive native plants . will stop and turn the tide on desertification.
Such plants can be
http://www.jatropha.de/
and
http://www.treesforlife.org/project/mor ... ult.en.asp

these are 2 examples of plants that already grow in all parts of somalia
and are fast growing with little care needed.
These along with better management of grazeland can stop desertification as well as providing food and energy.

Gurey

One of my past times is studying somalia ecology, I have like tons of books at home on it. If the information you provide is accurate and depending on how fast they can be planted, the Jatropha hedges/system can be a serious asset to curbing dessertification. Incidently, are you aware of the fact that Addis Ababa was saved by an elborate campaign in the 1920's to plant Eucalyptus trees in and around the city? Much like the Jatropha hedges primarily to provide fuel wood and construction material. Today, Addis Aababa has a greenbelt of forests and semi-subsistence cultivated land surrounds the whole city. We can double that throughout Somali urban centres, and even, we can start whole botantical gardens, though I am more of ulitarian than in aesthetics at heart: flowers are pretty to look at, but you can't eat them. while a date from a palm tree is ugly to look, but sweet to eat. Bassically, all policy should be based on the greatest good for the greatest number of people.


The only PROBLEM left is: how do you coordinate city and urban planning with this reforestation/garden?
How should you go about coordinating residence, business and agricultural gardens in the same confined area?


as I remember Mogadishu was hapazardly built on top of medieval settlement to italian colonial structures, the streets were all over the place, crooked and stuff. It will be difficult to have a successful usage of resources if urban planning is unorganized.



In the near future I can picture you Gurey being on my taskforce with similar educated somalis as Minister for Economic Management and Policy, much like the Japanese Institute of Management

Otali

Otali

fighting desertification is only one of the thing Jatropha is good for,
as it grows well on desert soil, doesnt need much water and grows to full hight in 1 year only.
Plus the added bonus is that ialready grows wild in somalia, i wish i could find the somali name for it, its one of the bushes you see near the tugs or wadis.

The Indian government is investing $20 billion on a project to use jatropha oil, as biodeisal to run the indian railway system and save on imported crude oil.


[quoteThe only PROBLEM left is: how do you coordinate city and urban planning with this reforestation/garden?
How should you go about coordinating residence, business and agricultural gardens in the same confined area?
[/quote]


Yes an interesting problem, that needs alternative thinking.
You are forgeting the added problem of transportation.
A direction that we should be looking at is the example of the city of Curitiba in Brazil.
http://www.dismantle.org/curitiba.htm

and how about this interesting case
http://www.civicwebs.com/cwvlib/africa/ ... ties-1.htm



[quote]In the near future I can picture you Gurey being on my taskforce with similar educated somalis as Minister for Economic Management and Policy, much like the Japanese Institute of Management[/quote]

flaterred that would be one hell of a job wouldnt it,

I have similar idea, plant catha edilus!

no catha edilus is water hungry, and sucks too many nutrients from the soil, and requires too much attention.

That explains the thirst I get from it. Catha Edilus would bring a lot of profit.

SOMALIA = NO HOPE

Gurey

Brazil is a preplexing nation. The most unequal country on the planet according to the UNDP Human Index, but is at the same time open to innovative strategies to deal with Third World conditions of poverty and underdevelopment. Brasilia, it's capital is based exclusively on a modernist style infrastructure which attempts to alleviate the same problems that Curtiba was design for later.

I like the whole idea of maximizing transportation through a North-South axis highway and creating business/industrial zones.

Yet, the Curtiba design takes one factor for granted which Somalia cannot: ample supply of water. In most of Somalia urban centres have sufferred from lack of planning for access to water. Mogadishu until 1995 or '96 was exclusively dependent on wells in afgoye, some 150 kilometres away, so can you imagine what others main urban centers were like!

Incidently, where does Hargeisa get its water from, since it is the largest urban centre that can be called a city after mogadishu

most Somalia towns would have the same conditions as hargeisa correct ?

[quote]Yet, the Curtiba design takes one factor for granted which Somalia cannot: ample supply of water. In most of Somalia urban centres have sufferred from lack of planning for access to water. Mogadishu until 1995 or '96 was exclusively dependent on wells in afgoye, some 150 kilometres away, so can you imagine what others main urban centers were like!

Incidently, where does Hargeisa get its water from, since it is the largest urban centre that can be called a city after mogadishu

most Somalia towns would have the same conditions as hargeisa correct ?[/quote]

Good point .
Throught history availabilty of water was the main factor in the location of cities.

This lack of planning is gonna hurt us the most, and since Hargeisa like other somali cities depends on aquifiers that are bieng used up faster than their natural replenishment rate.

Water management is going to be more important than transport, in somalia, but it can be done.

gurey

realistically it will have to be through the building of water pipelines or tubes from remote water plenty areas in southern somalia into urban centres in the central and up north. I had a friend from Oman and he was telling me every day the whole of Muscat city was depended on the importation of water from overseas. I couldn't believe that oman with a oil wealth of millions couldn't build a desaliniation plant and convert salt water from the Arabian Sea into drinkable water. He told it could be done, but that the technology was so expensive it was cheaper to import. I then replied: what happens when the petro dollors runs out and you can no longer import water?

That he said was the nightmare that Omanis think of everyday!

Otali

I don't know why you continuely state that we from the north (somaliland&puntland) should be dependent on water from the south. Especially when weebe shabella iyo jubba come from Ethiopia. They could pull a Egypt/Nile on us and build a Dam to control the water from coming our way.

Unclebin

There is already a massive water crisis in central somalia, as population in northern somalia increases and urban centres become overcrowded and the wells are no longer able to adjust to this increasing demand it will pass from being a crisis now and will soon become catastrophic loss of life of thousands of people and livestock.

People will be forced to move to where water is further south and thus conflict will result as water there dwindles, if pipelines are not constructed in somalia in the next few years, it will be inhabitable!

as this World Bank document titled

How Does Somalia’s Private Sector Cope without Government?

clearly shows:


"Traditionally, destitute families have not had to pay for water, while the slightly better-off borrow funds from relatives. Nevertheless, after several
years of drought the United Nations estimates that many families in the Eastern Sanaag have debts of US$50–100 for water. Moreover, access to safe water is low even by African standards because neither
regulators nor the market have been able to persuade merchants to purify their water."


http://rru.worldbank.org/Documents/publ ... arford.pdf