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AFRICA: Camel farming could be the answer
JOHANNESBURG: Camel farming could be an option for some 20 million to 35 million people living on semi-arid land in Africa, who will soon be unable to grow crops because of climate change, says the co-author of a new study.
© Mike Pflanz/IRIN
By 2050, hotter conditions and less rainfall in an area covering 500,000km2 to one million km2 of marginal farmland - about the size of Egypt - would make it harder for people grow crops, said Philip Thornton, a scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), based in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, co-author of the report.
The study, "Croppers to livestock keepers: livelihood transitions to 2050 in Africa due to climate change", was published in a special edition of the journal, Environmental Science and Policy, to coincide with the UN climate change meeting in Bonn, Germany, this week. The meeting is the second in the run-up to the December conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, to consider a global accord to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
