Political ecology refers to the study of factors like political, economic and social in assistance with environmental issues and changes. The political ecology differentiates itself from apolitical study by involving these issues in politics. This term was coined by Frank Thone in 1935 and has multiple definitions and understanding given by different people. There were three assumptions made on the practicing of the study, that are;
The aim of political ecology is provide other better, normative and efficient ways to provide sustainable development. The political ecology can be further used to amend policies existing in the environment so that complexities are reduced and political governance becomes more powerful, understand the regulations and changes made by the communities and look how such changes and inequalities affect the governance and the society (Adams & Hutton 2007).
Famine refers to scarcity of food. It is caused due to many reasons like, crop failure, population imbalance, drought, wars or any other natural calamity etc. Basically famine can be classified into three different categories that are: supply based, food consumption based and mortality based.
Great leap forward occurred in china was considered the largest famine of 20th century. This was occurred due to improper plans made government for transformation of the country which gave an ill effect on the situation of the country (Williams 2017).
Yes the political ecology approach analyses and address the famine crisis in country. The ecology uses framework of politics to analyze the famine issues. The government uses different set of standard goals to determine the famine occurring in country. Firstly to analyze the famine the government needs to analyze the reason due to which famine can be caused in a country and then they shall take corrective plans in action to control the situation. It is also possible that famine can occur due to incompetency of the government and non-functioning of the democracies. According to some study famine is predictable result of over population and less food. And it is the politics and the government who is responsible for distribution of food (Alvesson & Willmott 2012).
There are a few incidents of famine which were handled by government with political ecology approach that defined what are the pros and cons of this approach.
The ecological famine that occurred in North Korea gave an impact that climatic changes and bad weather have greater on famine as compared to the political system. The government needs to change its policies so that famine does not impact the country in long run. The famine caused after 40 years of collectivization. The Korean democracy had a past experience of providing food facilities in the state country required; also DPRK (democratic People’s Republic of Korea) was constantly concerned about the issue of famine from the beginning of the state (Watts 2013). The state also initiated to achieve food self-optimism around 1980. North Korea was attracted to famine because the state was majorly affected with extreme poverty and deprivation but also the cataclysmic breakdown of the political system was also a reason of famine in country (Borras et. al., 2011). A key insurance against famine to prevent is through the process of legal entitlement. This will give the power to people to overcome with the issue of famine. The issue of famine also depends upon the inefficiency of the government to work and influence the public to agree the social policies. Therefore in the political ecology system it is government of any country who needs to analyze and address the problem of famine and take preventive measure to break the vicious circle of famine.
Famine is the problem which if caused in any country, then it will hollow the whole social, political and environmental system of the country and also t will result in mass death and migration. This not only gave a pause on the growth of the country but also corrode the strength of the country (Franks 2014). In that case the country firstly needs to amend policies through political ecological approach so that they can again achieve the position where they were earlier and then take actions so that they can manage growth. Social origins of dictatorship and development is the social issue against which the state affected with famine has to address and analyze and then with respect to both social causes and famine the government has to take corrective action plan to resolve and problem (Geber & Murphy 2012).
In North Korea the famine crisis occurred after the industrial crisis which also affected the trade and oomph energy breakdown in the year in 1991.
Over the years it has been noticed that political ecology studies the issue and affect the environmental issues in an adverse manner. But if concerning both the environmental factors along with the social issues of the country, the political ecology approach can create wonders for any country affected by any cause. Like in the case of Irish potato famine it disclosed that political ecology was able to provide major effect on the famine due to its incompetency the situation of famine became more worsen. The great Irish famine was caused due to the crop failure during 1845-49. Also the country had disproportion in food that is one third of the population was dependent of potato crop because of their some religious myths and other social and economic issues (Haas et. al., 2009). Also the environmental change that is phytophthora which arrived from North America due to which the crop production decreased and potato rotted. With this sudden calamity all class of people were affected. Through this calamity it was clearly shown that if no proper policies are maintained by the government it will result I a loss for people and country. Famine in Ireland also caused many diseases due to which many people died. In brief, if famine is caused in a country and no proper policies are amended by the government of the country to take care of the social and environmental change, the problem will get worse it will trap the whole country’s economy (Robbins 2011).
Many ecologists say that the potato famine was an ecological accident but instead the famine was more related to the corrupt intentions of the government. That converted the dearth in famine. As the approach suggests that the environmental issues are concerned with the social and political factors. And the famines of the above situations also inclined towards the fact that in major cases the famine is not caused due to agricultural issue or any other but the change in policies or corrupt structure of the government. The approach helps the policy makers to analyze and understand the complexities of the environment and development theories accordingly which will help them to support the country. The study also helps in understanding different behaviors of policy in respect of the natural environment (Walker 2007).
By focusing on the individual relationship in terms of economy with social issues the aspects of the environment which were under emphasized came forward, this reduced the cause of many problems. The ecology of famine focuses on the creating and realizing the importance of environmental change in political and social context.
One such famine led in Ethiopia that was occurred due to exploitation of human rights. Also the country was affected with drought as well. The famine in this country was also struck due to the so called social reformation strategies organized by the government (Vaux, & Vaux 2013). The government in this case also took some step for the betterment of the peasant that is villagization, food shipment etc. but at the same time they took some decisions which affect the social state of the country and let many people flew out of the country.
Conclusion
Hence it can be said that the government of any country plays a major role in understanding the stat of famine stricken countries and initiating programs to make the condition better. As the political ecology approach suggest that the government shall take actions to support the famine countries and also work in respect to their power and not misuse them. Major countries which were affected with famine stated that in a country where the problem of famine comes, it does not happen only because of environmental changes but also because of changes in social and political issues (Scholte 2005). Therefore, the government any country shall critically analyze and assess the problem of famine and then amend action plan by keeping in mind the political and social changes. Also, looking at the ecological approach the government of other efficient countries shall also come forward to help the famine stricken countries and help them in changing the position of country both environmentally and socially.
References
Adams, W.M. & Hutton, J., 2007. People, parks and poverty: political ecology and biodiversity conservation. Conservation and society, 5(2), p.147.
Alvesson, M. & Willmott, H., 2012. Making sense of management: A critical introduction. Sage.
Borras Jr, S.M., et. al., 2011. Towards a better understanding of global land grabbing: an editorial introduction. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 38(2), pp.209-216.
Franks, S., 2014. Reporting disasters: Famine, aid, politics and the media. Hurst.
Geber, J. & Murphy, E., 2012. Scurvy in the Great Irish Famine: Evidence of vitamin C deficiency from a mid?19th century skeletal population. American journal of physical anthropology, 148(4), pp.512-524.
Haas, B.J., et. al., 2009. Genome sequence and analysis of the Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans. Nature, 461(7262), pp.393-398.
Robbins, P., 2011. Political ecology: A critical introduction (Vol. 16). John Wiley & Sons.
Scholte, J.A., 2005. Globalization: A critical introduction. Palgrave Macmillan.
Vaux, T. & Vaux, A., 2013. The selfish altruist: relief work in famine and war. Earthscan.
Walker, P.A., 2007. Political ecology: where is the politics?. Progress in Human geography, 31(3), pp.363-369.
Watts, M.J., 2013. Silent violence: Food, famine, and peasantry in northern Nigeria (Vol. 15). University of Georgia Press.
Williams, L.A., 2017. Daniel O’Connell, the British Press and the Irish Famine: Killing Remarks. Routledge.
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