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Brief Discourse in the Style of Edmond Jabès, By Abdourahman A. Waberi

my tree the aloe my flower the crack in the cactus my river none in my land my universe desert basalt my entourage camelids my weapon the dagger’s blade my shadow is rangy survival is my life’s work essential my landscape the changeless horizon the dust stirred up by sheepskin soles the territory still before me my guide the desert my text the sky each evening regained my word each stone each flint my dream always the same: nomad fathered in economy most austere’

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The rare Djibouti Francolin

The Djibouti Francolin (Pternistis ochropectus) is is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered. The species has very individual fragments that are rapidly disappearing in both standards and quantity, this because of the limited number of specimens remaining, approximately 200 to 500 specimens. The species is dying out as a result of the destruction of its habitat.

Already the Djibouti Francolin is confined to only two locations in Djibouti which are Mabla Mountains and Goda Mountains. The Francolin is threatened by several factors in its existence; among these are devastation of forests, logging and human interference.

Several steps have been proposed for the preservation and protection of this rare bird species. Including awareness campaigns and plans to ensure future reintroduction of the species.

By AH

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Endangered Animals

There are some  endangered animals in Djibouti,   which also is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN red list. 

The gazelles are threatened, they are hunted in and captured for different things. The hunters can use large stone corrals to constructed a way to drive herds of gazelle into, this makes and easy ambush. But this is a very old method and is not as popular as it used to, it started to fade in the beginning of the 20th century. The majority of gazelles have been hunted for food, and that have been the reason for centuries.

So because of all the hunting and the habitat destruction the gazelles are extinct. Therefore the small number of gazelles left makes it hard to study them and that leads to them being understudied. 

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Djibouti’s economy and trade

Djibouti is a little country located in Afrika next to the red sea. During the past 20 years Djibouti has grown and developed so much, and continues. Djibouti  will only grow and become bigger with time, and for Etiopien Djibouti is very important because they have no contact with the sea so djibouti has to deliver their things for them and in return Djibouti gets for example food.

Djibouti has a lot of volcanoes and therefore it is mostly only savana covering it, it is extremely hot and as the hottest it can get up to 42 degrees, and as coldest 29 degrees. Because the area is volcanically they are trying to extract the energy out of the ground. It is hoped that the country will become energy self-sufficient and be able to re-export the energy some day, but the work goes slowly. They are lucky to have that trade deal with Etiopien because it is very difficult to grow food because of the heat and the dry soil.

As said before the harbour in Djibouti’s capital, which is called Djibouti city, is very important for the country, because it transports a lot of goods to and from the red sea. The deal between Ethiopia and Djibouti is something that is necessary for both parties, because for Ethiopia the harbour is their main port for foreign trade. Whilst Djibouti might need the trade for food because over 80% of their food is imported from Ethiopia and over 90% of the goods crossing the harbour is on the way to or from Ethiopia.  But it is not only Ethiopia that uses this port a lot of countries uses it, the African countries uses this port for their foreign trade, there are also countries from Europe and the USA uses this port. Djibouti is dependent on the succours from the countries that uses the port in the form of money, USA is the biggest contribution with France on the second place.

Djibouti's main income is from giving other countries residence permit, from letting other countries use their port for foreign trade, to having foreign military bases in the country. That is mainly because the country is mostly consists of desert and the agricultural opportunities limited.

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deforesation

Deforestation is one of the most significant environmental problems that is ongoing in Djibouti.

It became this through the agriculture threatening the forest and the large amount of wood that is used for material, there are also zones that is degraded by acid rain or fires. That is why the national park has decided to protect and keep safe some of the rare trees that you can find and see on the Goda mountains.

  It doesn't help that Djibouti has large zones that are occupied of hyper-arid, arid and semi-arid, with other words Djibouti is a country which is very dry without moisture because it very rarely rains, this makes it extremely hard to support vegetations.

  It might be a small recovering process of forest areas that is slow, it might not be a big and fast recovery but it is still a beginning.

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Khat, a cherished but destructive tradition

By AH

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The scorched earth of Djibouti