With few trees left to slow the wind in southern Madagascar, sand blows continuously. It settles across fields, villages, roads and in the eyes of children waiting for food aid. Four years of dry weather and forest clearing have turned the once fertile area into a dusty red emptiness.
ANJEKY BEANATARA, Madagascar: With precious few trees left to slow the wind in this once fertile corner of southern Madagascar, red sand is blowing everywhere: onto fields, villages and roads, and into the eyes of children waiting for food aid parcels. Four years of drought, the worst in decades, along with deforestation caused by people burning or cutting down trees to make
ANJEKY BEANATARA, Madagascar: With precious few trees left to slow the wind in this once fertile corner of southern Madagascar, red sand is blowing everywhere: onto fields, villages and roads, and into the eyes of children waiting for food aid parcels. Four years of drought, the worst in decades, along with deforestation caused by people burning or cutting down trees to make
Four years of drought along with deforestation caused by people burning or cutting down trees to make charcoal or to open up land for farming, have transformed the area into a dust bowl.
ANJEKY BEANATARA, Madagascar (Reuters) - With precious few trees left to slow the wind in this once fertile corner of southern Madagascar, red sand is blowing everywhere: onto fields, villages and roads, and into the eyes of children waiting for food aid parcels.