A general assessment of the environmental impact of refugees in Somalia with attention to the refugee agricultural programme

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Abstract
This paper attempts to examine the broad features of Somalia's harsh physical environment into which several hundreds of thousands of refugees, with mainly a nomadic or semi‐nomadic life style and culture, dramatically descended six years ago. The thirty‐six rural camps in which at least half of them live are described as is the refugee agricultural programme which is training several thousand families so that they may be “self‐supporting.” The four regions where the camps are located are each briefly summarized in terms of their soils, their climates, their natural vegetation, and the type of agriculture which the refugee farmers practice. A more detailed analysis is then given on the following critical environmental concerns: Vegetation and erosion on refugee farms, the growing problem of refugee livestock, the destruction of trees, and irrigation practices and salinity on refugee farms. The paper concludes with an argument to preserve Somalia's environment from careless and destructive exploitation, which is leading towards desertification, and calls for an in‐depth study of the situation.

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