1Associate Professor, Dept. of Geography, Miranda House, University of Delhi, Delhi, India, Email id: priyanka.puri@mirandahouse.ac.in
2Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, University of Delhi, Delhi, India, Email id: vaibhavpuri@sggscc.ac.in
Islands of the world are facing unprecedented impacts of climate change. Rising temperatures and consequent increasing sea levels have questioned the very existence of these islands and forward a severe threat to their resources. In this regard, the island of Madagascar is not an exception. Southern Madagascar or Great Sud is facing an unprecedented drought which has exacerbated in the last four years, becoming pronounced in 2021 and 2022. It has landed the part of the country into emergency now and has converted the region into a dust bowl. The situation is turning to what has been described as the “first climate change famine ” by the UN and the year 2022 is observing a similarity of conditions. The current examination attempts to examine the question whether the catastrophe is human or climate induced or both? This has been attempted through a detailed examination of rainfall patterns and trends and an inspection of economic and political scenario of the country. Our analysis indicates that rainfall does exhibit a fluctuating trend in the region, but there definitely exist other factors than geography in creating this precarious situation for the country.
Climate Change, Drought, Economics, Madagascar, Rainfall
