Madagascar’s three year drought along with the pandemic leaves at least one million people in the Grand South faced with the prospect of starvation. What once was a wet climate yielding rice crops and livestock has turned into a dry, malnourished land and people. Due to the lack of rain in the past, farmers were not able to grow their regular amount of crops. This tragedy has been combined with various diseases and the inability to get any sort of employment due to the pandemic has left the people of Madagascar starving. It has been reported that the people only eat one meal a day and some families have to gather for their food resulting in people consuming clay and termites just to get by. To make matters worse a virus has killed off roughly twenty percent of the people’s livestock. The food and economical problems have resulted in parents not being able to pay for their children’s schooling. The last resort efforts like cactuses that are essential in a state of crisis have also been killed. This is the fourth year of the Madagascan drought and things only seem to be getting worse as it continues. Many of the big countries along with international institutions speak out about climate change and how to stop it but not many make an effort to help those already affected. In this case, so many are facing starvation as a result of climate change and there is little to no talk about how to help. It is really sad and almost unbelievable that people are facing these sorts of problems. It reminds me of the common goods issue, there are definitely countries that could help but it is not in their national interest. I am sure that this is not the worst this situation is going to get, the whole thing is just a really depressing situation. It feels as though we should have been past this by now.
