photo: Sigfried Modola
Ethiopia is a land of many wonders. One of them is the salt flat in the Danakil Depression, and ancient rift feature covered in feet deel layers of salt, left from the times when the ocean still drifted into land and was cut off by the rift's volcanic upheavals.
For centuries, Ethiopian men have carved a living out of the collection of slabs of the salt, which they then hoist over camel's backs and trek it back for miles and miles to market.
All this could change however, displacing both an ancient tradition and undermining the very existance of the salt collectors, who rely on the flat to earn a living.
In fact, a road is projected to link the main land to this ancient salt flat. And that could invite large corporation to exploit the salt flats mechanically, at a high cost for both the environment and the people who rely on it.
The blacktop road would link the city of Mekele with the Danakil Depression. while it takes two days on camel back, the road would lead to the flats in a few hours.
While road like the one projected is helping to modernize an area of Ethiopia that is still mired in centuries old traditions, such changes always come at a cost. And for the salt flats that cost would be much higher than elsewhere.
Most of the natives opposed the new road, so that the foreign company entrusted with the project has for now relented. But some other indigenous tribes are not so sure the road would be a detriment. It would simplify their life and earn a better living.
But in truth, progess cannot be stopped. Already electricity and phone service are not coming to this once forbidding and remote region.
The key then, is to keep the foreign corporations out, and let the natives administer the land and its bounty by themselves, or risk strife and famine for those displaced.
Source: Daily Mail 5.18.13
No comments:
Post a Comment