Drought and Man: The 1972 Case History: Constant Catastrophe: Malnutrition, Famines and Drought (Publications of the International Federation of Institutes for Advanced Study)

The second volume of Drought and Man reporting the long, in-depth study set up by IFIAS and the Aspen Institute following the Sahel drought investigates death attributable to malnutrition in Latin America, Ethiopia, China and India and nutritional policies resulting in food rationing in differing areas of the world. It is shown that the traditional categories of ''development-underdevelopment'' has no predictive value as far as nutrition is concerned, that ''development'' can even aggravate the situation, and that the problem is ultimately poltical The Constant Catastrophe: Malnutrition, Famines, and Drought deals with the 1972 drought, and emphasizes the underlying social conditions that are related to its effects. The book examines the relationship of drought as a meteorological event and the famine that results as a social event. The effects of natural catastrophes become transformed by social structures and political processes in many countries of the world, more than which can be attributable to the physical cause itself. A striking parallelism that emerges in the study is that climatological analysis implies reference to large scale space and time processes. Famine also occurs as anomalies within large-scale processes in society—famine changes nutritional levels in communities. The text proposes a theoretical framework for a methodologically-adequate diagnostic tool that can be used in studying the'factual events'in previous cases of major disasters due to climactic factors. Case studies include those that happened in the Sahel, Ethiopia, India, China, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. Among several recommendations, one which the book proposes in the management of the effects of drought, is to adopt an approach similar to that of the Red Cross. The book is suitable for economists, environmentalists, ecologists, and policy makers involved in crisis management, food production, and rural development. Content: Other IFIAS Publications , Page ii Front Matter , Page iii Copyright , Page iv Introduction , Pages vii-x CHAPTER 1 - The Impact of Drought on Nutrition , Pages 3-12 CHAPTER 2 - Human Needs of Food , Pages 13-29 CHAPTER 3 - The Magnitude and Distribution of Human Malnutrition , Pages 30-34 CHAPTER 4 - The Problem of Measuring Malnutrition , Pages 35-47 CHAPTER 5 - A Structural Approach for Diagnosing the Impact of Climatic Anomalies , Pages 48-56 CHAPTER 6 - The Population–Resources Balance , Pages 57-70 CHAPTER 7 - Responses to Drought-Induced National Disasters , Pages 71-78 CHAPTER 8 - The Sahel and Ethiopia , Pages 81-101 CHAPTER 9 - Counterpoint One: India and China , Pages 102-139 CHAPTER 10 - Counterpoint Two: Food Distribution Policies in China and The United Kingdom , Pages 140-155 CHAPTER 11 - A General Panorama of Malnutrition in Latin America , Pages 156-193 CHAPTER 12 - Some Suggestions for Action , Pages 194-200 Index , Pages 201-204 By Rolando V. García And José C. Escudero, And Special Contributions From S. Ayalew ... [et Al.]. Prepared At The Graduate Institute For International Studies, Geneva, 1976-1979. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.