Namibia's Elephant Butchery not the real elephant in the room

Namibia, a land where the struggle to survive has turned desperate, is now set to butcher over 700 wild animals to feed its people. Among them, 83 elephants, 300 zebras, 30 hippos, 50 impalas, 60 buffaloes, 100 blue wildebeest, and 100 antelopes. Half the nation – 1.4 million Namibians – are in the grip of chronic hunger. Already, 157 of these creatures have fallen, yielding 63 tons of meat.

The world recoils in horror at this massacre. But let’s be clear: the true elephant in the room isn’t the slaughter of Namibia’s elephants.

Consider this: the average American consumes 300 grams of meat each day, while a Rwandan, on the same day, eats a mere 17 grams. In a year, one American devours the meat of 17 Rwandans. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the real elephant in the room. And it doesn’t stop there. The meat consumed in America is produced on an industrial scale so unsustainable it defies belief.

Today, 99% of cattle destined for American tables are raised in massive factory farms – places where thousands of creatures are crammed into wire cages, metal crates, and other suffocating enclosures within filthy, windowless sheds. This, too, is the real elephant in the room.

But there’s another elephant we need to confront. The chronic drought forcing Namibia to butcher its wildlife isn’t a freak act of nature. It’s driven by the intense El Niño, which in turn is fueled by human-induced global warming.

Research in the Geophysical Research Letters reveals that global warming now plays a hand in the formation of El Niño. When El Niño strikes, warm waters gather in the eastern Pacific, radiating heat into the atmosphere and pushing temperatures higher across the globe.

The biggest culprits? The USA, China, and Europe – the leading emitters of greenhouse gases – bear direct responsibility for this severe El Niño, the very force driving the drought that’s ravaging Namibia and much of Southern Africa. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the real elephant in the room.

But there’s a way forward. Africa holds 65% of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable land. This continent, often painted as a land of lack, must seize this opportunity to become the world’s breadbasket, feeding itself and exporting surplus to the world.

The path is clear: Africa must embrace climate-smart agriculture—planting drought-resistant crops like cassava, producing organic fertilizer at scales sufficient for its people, and adopting sustainable agricultural technologies like agroforestry and zai. Zai, a conventional soil rehabilitation practice, involves burying organic matter in small pits to restore soil fertility and conserve water.

Africa must feed itself with highly nutritious, homegrown food and remain with a surplus to sell to the world. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the real future we must build.

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