Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Proceedings
of
the 4th International Congress of the
Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
Editors:
Mrs Marzie Daraei
Tel: 0098541 8056791 Fax: 0098541 2416141 Email: iciwg@usb.ac.ir
Website: http://iciwgen.webs.com/ & http://portal.usb.ac.ir/seminar/
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Organizers:
University of Sistan and Baluchestan
• Faculty of Geography and Environmental Planing
• Research Centre for Earth Sciences and Geography (RCESG)
Iranian Geographical Association
Committees
Scientific Chairman
Dr Mahmoud Khosravi
Executive Chairman
Dr Gholamreza Noori
Members of Local Organizing Committee
Dr Hossein Negaresh (Dean of Geography and Environmental Planning Faculty)
Dr Faramarz Barimani
Dr Issa Ebrahim Zadeh Akbad (Head of the Research Centre for Earth Sciences and Geography (RCESG))
Dr Taghi Tavoosi
Dr Zohreh Hadiani
Dr Ali Hajinezhad
Dr Hossein Yaghfoori
Dr Javad Bazrafshan Fadafen
Dr Samad Fotohi
Dr Sirus Ghanbari
Secretariate:
Mrs Marzie Daraei (English)
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ABOUT CONGRESS
Following the success of the three previous congresses on ICIWG, the 4th International Congress of the Islamic
World Geographers (ICIWG2010) is to run on 14 – 16 April 2010 in the University of Sistan and Baluchestan.
The aim of the 4th ICIWG2010 is to strengthen scientific, research, economic, social and cultural connection
between the Islamic countries geographers. The 4th ICIWG2010 represents also an occasion for international
geographers to meet, discuss and gain mutual abilities of the Islamic world geographers.
CONGRESS OBJECTIVES
True specification of the geographic landscapes is possible through the recognition of nature and studying the
culture and roots of the humans’ civilization. In line with this, knowing the spatial specification and formation
of the society’s body in the geographical realms is highly dependent on cultural data especially human
traditions and religions. In a way that some of the thinkers acknowledge Abrahamic religions, especially Islam
in its socio‐cultural aspects, as the unifying and identifying unit of geographical spaces, which is fed by the high
standards of Islamic culture. Therefore, cultural interpretations in order to evaluate the dynamism of social
systems seem crucial.
Administering three Congresses of Islamic World Geographers in the last years is an attempt to gain the
abovementioned goals. University of Sistan and Baluchestan is now proudly the host for the fourth one. Global
issues in the recent years like population growth, economic crisis, environmental problems, and global
warming has brought about numerous difficulties in the world, and more specifically in the Islamic world. This
congress is a chance for scholars and elites across the Iran and world to exchange ideas and offer solutions in
order to take advantage of the available opportunities for a way out of the obstacles facing Islamic world and
furthermore achieve a sustainable development.
Information Technology progresses especially in Information Management as well as the entrance of new
technologies in Geographical Sciences such as Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing(RS)
of discussions is very important in Geographers’ society. May all the Islamic world geographers analyses their
research experiments results in order to overcome the obstacles of the development of these countries.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
CONGRESS TOPICS
1‐ Development facilities and limitations in Islamic countries.
2‐ The role of geographical functions in increases the convergence and unity of Islamic world.
3‐ The position of geographers and geographical associations in decision making systems and the process of
development in Islamic countries.
4‐ Globalization process and its challenges in Islamic countries.
5‐ Environmental functions and its challenges in Islamic countries.
6‐ New energies and their status in Islamic world.
7‐ The role of tourism in cultural unity in Islamic countries.
8‐ Climate changes and its effects on Islamic countries.
9‐ Water resources management, challenges, and opportunities in Islamic countries.
10‐ Geography education and research and its challenges in Islamic countries.
11‐ International and regional collaborations as a resolution of development in Islamic countries.
12‐ Persian Gulf economic and geopolitical importance in Islamic countries.
13‐ The role of the geographical environment in the formation of culture and regional sub‐cultures.
14‐ Natural disasters and hazards management in Islamic countries.
15‐ Implementation of new techniques and models (GIS, RS) in the maneuvers of Islamic countries.
16‐ Islamic countries civilization regions as the basis of scientific and research cooperation in South East Iran.
17‐ Silk Road reconstruction resolution of development in Islamic countries.
18‐ Hirmand drainage basin and its role in deepening the historical and geographical ties between Iran and
Afghanistan.
19‐ Exploiting the civilization records of Iran and Indian Subcontinent and its role in linking the Islamic
countries.
20‐ Transitional status of Sistan and Baluchestan and its role in bonding Islamic countries.
21‐ Transactional and geopolitical status of Chabahar port and its role in strengthening the ties and
development of Islamic countries.
22‐ Security and coexistence of Islamic tribes and sects in Sistan and Baluchestan Province.
23‐ The importance of the SE Iran ecotourism and environmental functions.
24‐ Utilizing the relative preference of Sistan and Baluchestan’s ophthalmologic high rank and its effects in the
support for the Muslims of the region.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
9 Table of Full Paper
Paper No. Author/s Title Page
Prof. Khairulmaini Bin Osman Climate Insecurity And The Challenge For
ICIWG‐061* 7
Salleh Malaysia And The Developing World
Farmers’ Knowledge of Land Degradation
Dr. M. M. Alhassan , Mallam
ICIWG‐09 Issues In Ganga District, Daura Emirate, 20
Yusuf Garba
Katsina State, Nigeria.
Towards An Islamic Perspective Of Teaching
ICIWG‐10 Mr Aliyu Baba Nabegu 28
Geography In Islamic Societies
Spatial Dispersion And Analysis Of Urban
Dr. Sevil Sargın , Dr. Kadir
ICIWG‐11 Crimes Of Security Committed 36
Temurçin
Against Property In Turkey
State Of Water Supply Sources And
Ayeni, Amidu Owolabi , Soneye
ICIWG‐12 Sanitation In Nigeria: Implications On 50
Alabi S.O. ,Balogun Idowu I.
Muslims In Ikare – Akoko Township
Environment Protection In The Light Of
ICIWG‐14 Dr. Syed Sultan Shah 60
Islamic Teachings
Israeli Policies Of Spatial Takeover: Planning,
ICIWG‐15* Professor Ghazi‐Walid Falah Ethnic Exclusion And De‐Arabization Of East 72
Jerusalem
Ghulam Akhmat , Amjad Nawaz Storm Clouds Of Globalization And The
ICIWG‐16 97
, Shoaib Khan Islamic World
Prof. Gu Chaolin Globalization Process And Its Challenges In
ICIWG‐17 104
Li Ping Northwest Islamic Culture Areas In China
Meddi Mohamed ,Talia Amel Recent Weather Conditions And Flows In The
ICIWG‐19 121
Claude Martin Mact Basin (North‐West Of Algeria)
Backwardness Of Muslims In Malda District:
Nazmul Hussain , Prof.Farsat Ali
ICIWG‐20 A Planning Approach For Human 133
Siddiqui*
Development
Prof. B. L. Bhadani , Jai Samand: A Marvel Of Hydraulic
ICIWG‐21 146
Dr.O.P.Srivastav Engineering
Annual Variability Of Precipitation Of The
ICIWG‐22 Salag Hind 155
Northwest Of Algeria
Planning For Drought: Towards The
Dr Atta‐Ur‐Rahman , Dr. Amir
ICIWG‐23 Reduction Of Social Vulnerability In The 161
Nawaz Khan
Hanna‐Urak Valley, Quetta, Balochistan
1
Invited Speakers – See List of invited speakers
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Prof. Eckart Ehlers
Mirror Shows A Myriad Faces And Time Tantalizes:
Thangavelu Vasantha Kumaran
Slums, Marginalization, Social Movements And Resilience
Prof.Farsat Ali Siddiqui Selection of Legends for Demarcation of Population Regions
Urban Gravity, Rural Settlements And Landuse Gradient ‐ A
Professor Salahuddin Qureshi
Micro Level Spatial Analysis
Israeli Policies Of Spatial Takeover: Planning, Ethnic Exclusion
Professor Ghazi‐Walid Falah
And De‐Arabization Of East Jerusalem
Prof. Ali Mohammad
Spatial Patterns And Distribution Of Disasters In The
Dr Ali Asgary
Organization Of The Islamic Conference Member Countries
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
9 Full Papers
ICIWG‐06
CLIMATE INSECURITY AND THE CHALLENGE FOR MALAYSIA AND THE DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES OF SOUTHEAST ASIA REGION
Khairulmaini Osman Salleh, PhD
Professor of Department of Geography
University of Malaya
Tel: 603‐ 79675504; Fax: 603‐ 79675457
E‐mail:‐ khairulo@um.edu.my
ABSTRACT
The IPCC 2007 report on the “Science of Climate Change” shows a small increase in temperature (~ 0.3 oC ) and
rainfall (~ 3%) for the Southeast Asia Region in the last decade or so, however, there is general agreement
amongst scientists that the changing behavioural patterns of the el‐Nino ENSO , Monsoons and to a certain
extent the Indian Dipole Oscillation circulation systems are triggering weather extremes and variability to
influence changing behavioural patterns of hydro‐meteorological and geomorphological events within the
major river basins (for example, floods, droughts, haze pollution, slope failures and the emergence of certain
diseases) in the country. In addition to these events, Malaysia would also be exposed to increasing threats
(directly or indirectly) from low pressure atmospheric cells that develops in the South Indian Ocean (cyclones)
and the Pacific – South China Sea Regions (typhoons). These events are triggered by the warming ocean surface
waters due to the global warming – climate change effect. To this date the impact of these changes can still be
absorbed by the strong foundations of Malaysia’s environmental management programmes and backed by
stringent economic policies including effective poverty eradication and food production programs. However, it
must be understood here that the environmental policies addresses only the environmental change threat and
not specifically the climate change threat where in the long term the impact scenario would generally diverge,
and the resilience of Malaysia to the climate change threat would generally decrease and her vulnerability
increases. This scenario can change if the gradual increase in global warming is left unchecked and unabated
because increasing global temperatures could lead to thresholds been breached where habitats and
ecosystems could not recover to existing equilibrium and stable conditions. Ecosystems disequilibrium would
influence human livelihood activities that are very much dependent on their stability. These changes would
have a tremendous impact on low income economic systems especially, as they are very dependent on
ecosystem resources and conditions such as those associated with coastal fishing, rural agriculture, urban
commerce and many forms of rural cottage industries. These low income populations hovers just above the
poverty threshold line and any change in their income generation activity would make them fall below the
poverty line, and for Malaysia and many countries of the developing world this could compromise the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals Objectives (MDGs). Climate change could also trigger
national and international distributional conflicts and intensify problems already hard to manage in the region
(inter and intra regional conflicts). Malaysia and many countries in the developing world could be affected in
future conflict scenarios as a result of climate change. Four conflict constellations can be identified in which
critical developments can be anticipated as a result of climate change impact on Malaysia and the developing
world. These are, conflict constellations on (1) climate‐induced degradation of marine and freshwater
resources, (2) climate‐induced decline in food production capacities and other environmentally driven
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
economic systems, (3) climate‐induced increase in certain hydro‐meteorological and geomorphological events
and (4) climate change ethical – justice issues such as environmentally induced displacements and migration
and the deprivation and sustenance of certain livelihood activities. The social impacts of climate change will
vary in the different parts of Malaysia and amongst developing countries. “Security risks associated with
climate change”, shows selected hotspots can be identified. The existence of these climate change conflict
constellations threaten to overstretch the established national‐ regional ‐ global governance system, thus
jeopardizing international stability and regional security. The last half decade had witnessed a number of
threatening environmental events that are climate change induced. These events will steadily intensify and
exacerbates existing environmental risks and have serious repercussions on Malaysia and the developing
world. Climate extremes, variability and anomalies will threaten the bases of many of the countries populace
livelihoods and their major economic systems, especially vulnerable are the poor and those living at the
threshold of the poverty line. The low income economic systems are especially vulnerable as their practices are
dictated and sustained by climate – weather behavioral patterns. Any changes to these behavioral patterns
would seriously affects the daily practices and livelihoods of highland farmers, traditional fishing and
agriculture practices of coastal regions, and other forms of rural cottage industries. Malaysia’s and many of the
developing countries large scale economic systems such as agriculture, fishing, hydro‐electric power generation
and tourism related activities are also vulnerable to climate variabilities and extremes as these industries to a
major extent are environmentally driven. Climate change will hit Malaysia and the developing countries hard.
Timely adaptation measures should therefore be an integral element of her national policies. However, most
developing countries, lacks the skills and capacities to implement effective adaptation measures at all levels of
systems been threatened. Moreover, the impacts of climate change will increase the vulnerability of weak and
the more fragile systems and further reduce their adaptive capacities. The nature of vulnerability and resilience
of these systems to the climate change threat needs to be assessed and understood. There’s not much that
Malaysia and the developing countries can do in mitigating and curtailing green house gases emission, however
there’s much that can be done in order to reduce vulnerability and resilience of the population and livelihood
systems. In general it can be said that the greater the warming, the greater the security risks to be anticipated,
and Malaysia and the developing countries need to adapt to these impending risks.
KEYWORDS; climate change stresses, vulnerable systems, low income populations, policy implications, Malaysia,
Southeast Asia Region
INTRODUCTION
The turn of this new Millennium have witnessed two very significant and challenging threats to the global
populace (more so in the developing regions of the world) that have had severe impacts on human security
issues (food, health and livelihood activities). These threats come from climate change induced hazards and
poverty. What is even more tantamount to these threats are the presence of multi‐cause and effect linkages
between climate change and poverty as seen through the effects of climate change on environmental
resources development and the sustenance of human economic activities (subsistence, traditional as well as
modern economic systems). Human security issues, for example can be compromised when global populations
are faced with getting access to daily staple food supply as a result of crop failures from major grain producing
regions of the world due to climate change. Evidences have shown that climate change could have a profound
effect on the onset, timing, duration, frequency and magnitude of hydro‐meteorological events (such as that
associated with the behavioral patterns of rainfall events within a particular locality/region).Climate change
triggers and generates a whole set of hazards in the environment. Climate variability and extremes caused
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
significant behavioral changes in the local, regional and global climates to induce environmental hazards in the
form of heatwaves, cold snaps , storm surges, floods and droughts in many parts of the world. Climate change
thus has profound impacts on societal wellbeing. The underdeveloped and developing nations, the poor and
marginalised communities and communities whose livelihood activities centers on the practice of simple
economic systems and on countries whose economic growth depends on production systems of that are
climatically driven and environment dependent such as that associated with the agriculture, energy, and
tourism industries would be the most affected. These relationships between changing behavioral patterns of
climate and weather and their impact on the sustenance of economic practices would be become more
strenuous in the future. It can be argued that climate would become a security issue when human welfare are
been threatened, for some nation‐states, communities and individuals that can lead to population stresses,
conflicts and war. Thomas Homer Dixon a major pioneer in environmental degradation and conflict studies
through a series of articles written in the 1990s and early 2000 describes the emerging issues of social decay
and conflict as a result of environmental degradation. Environmental Security thus describes the inherent
carrying capacity of the environment to sustain quality and quantity so as continuously support ecological
systems and human value systems. Environmental degradation would bring about environmental insecurity. Sir
John Theodore Houghton as co‐chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) working group
describes the impacts of global warming as a "weapon of mass destruction”, which like terrorism, this weapon
knows no boundaries. It can strike anywhere, in any form ‐ a heat wave in one place, a drought or a flood or a
storm surge in another. The Millennium Project Report of 2005 also describe the emerging importance of
environmental security – insecurity issues where it was stated in the report that “the condition of
environmental security is one in which social systems interact with ecological systems in sustainable ways, all
individuals have fair and reasonable access to environmental goods, and mechanisms exist to address
environmental crises and conflicts”. Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the UK Government Economic Service, and a
former Chief Economist of the World Bank in 2006 discussed in a 700 page report called the Stern Review on
the Economics of Climate Change as a result global warming on the world economy. Stern’s report suggests
that climate change threatens to be the greatest and widest‐ranging market failure ever seen, and it provides
prescriptions including environmental taxes to minimize the economic and social disruptions. Climate Change
2007, the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), observes many changes in the Earth's climate including atmospheric composition, global average
temperatures, ocean conditions, and other climate changes that attributed to human activities. This report
states that global warming and climate change would lead to threshold breaches in sensitive systems which
could not revert to their original states. In the United States the serious threat of green house gases emissions
was considered a security threat and gave rise to the Lieberman‐Warner Climate Security Act of 2008 — the
first climate change bill to be debated in Congress. This bill was however rejected by congress on the grounds
that it would not benefit the American citizen. Southeast Asia is at the moment considered still “safe” from the
impact of climate change. Limited climate data hinders the ability to relate changing climate and oceanic
events to climate change due to global warming. However recent changes in the behavioural patterns of hydro‐
meteorological processes of major river basins and the degradation and inundation of its coastal regions give
evidences that these events could be due to the impact of changing Monsoons and Tropical Storm events that
are part of the natural climate system of the region. Countries like Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia,
Thailand and Malaysia have been shown to experience changing patterns of flood and coastal storm surges and
erosion. The understanding here is that Southeast Asian countries and its very rich environmental resources
are vulnerable to the threat of climate change. Temperature increases and sea level rise would destroy major
ecosystems and disrupts rural economic practices which are dependent on these resources. In addition to this,
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
as a developing region, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Southeast Asia is very dependent on the condition
of her environment. Regional climate changes could seriously affect agriculture, urban commerce, and
including the booming tourism industry of the region. In Southeast Asia, the impact of climate change could be
categorized into three major impacts. These impacts are, (1) on the general comfort, health and wellbeing of
the general population, (2) impacts on the low income populations of urban regions, highland regions and
coastal‐island regions and (3) impacts on modern production systems that are climate driven and
environment dependent such as the agriculture, energy, fishing, including certain service industries such
as the tourism industries. The objectives of this paper is to discuss, (1) a theoretical framework of vulnerability
study for Malaysia and Southeast Asia, (2) the potential effects of global warming on regional environmental
systems, (3), the potential “vulnerable” systems of the region, (4) why these systems are vulnerable, (5) the
adaptation, mitigation and policy implications.
Theoretical Framework
The last half decade has shown that the Southeast Asia region are becoming more exposed and vulnerable
to the threat of climate extremes, variability and anomalies and its ability to adjust and adapt to these imposing
conditions are becoming more demanding and would continue to do so in the near future. Vulnerability of the
region to these threats describes its susceptibility to be harmed by these threats. Social scientists and climate
scientists have different interpretations of the term “vulnerability”. Social scientists views vulnerability as
representing the set of socio‐cultural, economic, population and demographic factors that determine people’s
ability to cope with stress or change, whereas, climate scientists views vulnerability as the likelihood of impacts
and stresses of weather and climate events or climate induced hazards on society and systems. Weather and
climate induced hazards or events that describe changing behavioral trends of values or departures from the
mean of values of variables such as rainfall, temperature, wind speed, water level, or a combination of
parameters that could include factors such as speed of onset, duration, intensity, frequency, magnitude and
spatial extent. A vulnerable region that is exposed and threatened by climate change induced hazards may
include population groups, community, ecosystem, countries, economic sectors, household unit, business or
individual. Vulnerability in climate change studies falls into two categories, (1) the potential damage caused to
a system by a particular climate induced hazard or stress, for example what would be the impact of a 10 mm
increase in sea level on the surrounding coastal ecosystems? And (2) the state of a system before it encounters
a hazard event, for example the existence of early warning systems within a particular region which is been
threatened by a low pressure systems. Climate change impacts studies have typically examined vulnerability of
a human system as determined by the nature (behavioral patterns) of the physical events or hazard
characteristics to which it is exposed, the likelihood or frequency of occurrence of the hazard(s), the extent of
human exposure to hazard, and the system’s sensitivity (inherent vulnerability and resilience of the system
stress and changes) to the impacts of the hazard(s) threat. This view is apparent in the principal definition of
vulnerability in the IPCC Third Assessment Report (TAR) and the Fourth Assessment Report (FAR (IPCC, 2001
and 2007) that describes vulnerability as “The degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope
with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of
three character, magnitude, and rate of climate variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its
adaptive capacity”. Adaptive capacity is “The ability of a system to adjust to climate change (including climate
variability and extremes) to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with
the consequences”. For many human systems (social and physical systems), vulnerability is viewed as an
inherent property of that system arising from its internal characteristics. Inherent vulnerability is determined
by factors such as poverty and inequality, marginalization, food entitlements, access to insurance and housing
quality, presence or absence and the state of infrastructures and mitigation measures. The nature of a system’s
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
inherent vulnerability will depend on the nature of the hazard to which the system is exposed; certain
properties of a system will make it more vulnerable to certain types of hazard than to others. Within this
theoretical framework, thus it is important to understand for the Southeast Asia region, what are (1) the
regional environmental stresses, (2) the vulnerable systems, and (3) adaptation and mitigation measures. The
understanding of the relationships of these three components would influence what kind of policies that are
needed to address the climate change threat in the region.
REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSES
The climate of the Southeast Asia region are greatly dictated by the behavioral patterns of the Monsoons
(regional wind systems that occur in winter in the Northern Hemisphere where low pressure Northeast and
Southwest), the el Nino ENSO event of the South Pacific Ocean, the low oceanic pressure cells of the Western
Pacific Oceans – South China Sea Regions and the Bay of Bengal – Indian Ocean Regions, and to a certain extent
the Indian Dipole Oscillation (IOD) of the Indian Ocean. Monsoons are an annually recurring weather
phenomenon, triggered by the earth’s tilt in relation to the sun. Monsoons develop as a result of changing
patterns of atmospheric pressure caused by the varied heating and cooling rates of continental landmasses and
oceans. The strongest and most well known monsoons are those which affect India and Southeast Asia. The
summer monsoon, which blows southwesterly across the Indian Ocean, is extremely wet. The winter monsoon,
in contrast, blows northeasterly and is generally dry. El Niño or sometimes called ENSO (El Nino Southern
Oscillation) is an oscillation of the ocean‐atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific having important
consequences for weather around the globe. In normal, non‐El Niño conditions the trade winds blow towards
the west across the tropical Pacific. These winds pile up warm surface water in the west Pacific, so that the sea
surface temperatures is much higher in the Southeast Asia Region and Northern Australia than in western parts
of South America. The cool temperatures off South America, is due to an upwelling of cold water from deeper
levels. This cold water is nutrient‐rich, supporting high levels of primary productivity, diverse marine
ecosystems, and major fisheries. Rainfall is found in rising air over the warmest water, and the east Pacific is
relatively dry. During El Niño the trade winds relax in the central and western Pacific and backward sloshing
effect of sea surface temperatures with a rise in sea surface temperatures in western parts of South America
resulting in a drastic decline in primary productivity, the latter of which adversely affected higher trophic levels
of the food chain, including commercial fisheries in this region. Rainfall follows the warm water eastward, with
associated flooding in Peru and drought in Indonesia and Australia. The eastward displacement of the
atmospheric heat source overlaying the warmest water results in large changes in the global atmospheric
circulation, which in turn force changes in weather in regions far removed from the tropical Pacific. This
century had witnessed an increasing frequency and intensity of El Nino events with the 1997 El Nino being the
worst. Dry weather associated with El Nino events not only brings about drought in many parts of Southeast
Asia, but it also contributes to the combustion of peatlands and the intensification of atmospheric haze
pollution. Low oceanic pressure cells (LOPCs) are low pressure systems or tropical depressions that develop in
the western Pacific Ocean – South China Sea regions, and in the Indian Ocean Bay of Bengal regions. These low
pressure systems usually starts of as a low pressure depression, intensifying into tropical storms and finally into
full blown typhoons in the western pacific – south china sea region and cyclones in the Indian ocean – Bay of
Bengal region. The impact of these LOPCs are becoming more frequent as witnessed by recent events that
affects countries like Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam recently. The IOD is a climate mode that occurs
interannually in the tropical parts of the Indian Ocean. During a positive IOD event, the sea‐surface
temperature (SST) drops in the southeastern part of the Indian Ocean: off the northern coast of Australia, the
eastern coast of Japan and throughout Indonesia; while the SST rises in the western equatorial Indian Ocean:
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
off the eastern coast of Africa, from the northern half of Madagascar to the northern edge of Somalia.
Furthermore, convective patterns increase in the northern half of Africa, India and off the eastern coast of
Africa. A positive IOD brings heavy rain to East Africa and droughts to Indonesia and parts of Australia. Usually,
parts of East Asia including Japan suffer from dry hot conditions during a positive IOD event whereas Southeast
Asia suffers from floods. There is an analogous negative IOD ‐ which is, in effect, the reversal of the positive IOD
‐ complete with increased convective activity over Australia, Indonesia and Japan. Studying and monitoring the
IOD will not only increase weather and climate forecasting capabilities in the Indian Ocean, it will contribute to
general understanding of ocean‐atmosphere dynamics and has the potential to provide new insight to the
puzzle presented by current global climate variability. These atmospheric and oceanic systems control the local
river basin hydrology and thus their effects on local/ regional climate. Major hydrological processes such as
floods and droughts in the region are determined by the behavior of these atmospheric and oceanic processes
and to a major extent the development and sustenance of economic activities of the region. Changes to the
behavioral patterns of these major circulation systems would bring about an increase in the time of onset,
timing of occurrence, intensity, frequency, magnitude, and duration of impact of floods, droughts, low pressure
storm and anomalies, ecological manifestations, emergence of diseases in new regions (such as highlands),
accelerated erosion, rapid slope failures and associated debris flow and other forms of climate induced
hazards. The Third and Fourth Assessment Report (TAR and FAR) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC, 2001; 2007) states that ‐“climate change will lead to an intensification of the global hydrological
cycle and can have major impacts on the regional circulation systems. The IPCC FAR (2007) states that in last
decade temperature and rainfall had increased by about 3 percent for the Southeast Region. This increased
could be interpreted as small but it should be interpreted with caution as the emerging impact of climate
change induced hazards in the region could be related with this increase and it is postulated that an increase
of 1.4 to 6.0 degrees in the next 100 years (IPCC FAR, 2007) would trigger greater impacts in the future. In
Southeast Asia, climate data is limited only to the last 50 years or so, this limited span of data records make it
difficult to show whether climate variability and climate extremes experienced in the last decade or so is part
of the natural process cycles or the manifestation of global warming on regional and local climates and
weather. What is important however for the region is that the threats posed by floods, atmospheric haze, slope
failure, droughts and outbreak of dengue, malaria and the Japanese Encephalitis virus or JE are directly or
indirectly related to climate and other forms of climate induced hazards have the potential to threaten her
population comfort, health and livelihood activities. It is this new dimension in threat that the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations in its latest Environmental Ministers Meeting has called for a reassessment of each
country’s development policy so as to incorporate the climate change threat and be better prepared for any
forms of threats in the future.
VULNERABLE SYSTEMS
The economic growth performance of Southeast Asia since the 1997 financial crisis should be commended. Like
most developing region her economic performance is much dictated by not only the quality and availability of
environmental resources but also on the condition of climate. Many of the region’s rural economic practices
and the modern economic production systems are govern by the condition of the environment and behaviour
of the seasons. Climate extremes and variability would have severe impact on the region’s natural
environment. Sea level rise would inundate much of the regions coastal regions and deltas, aggravates coastal
erosion, salt water intrusion and ground water contamination, and destruction of much of her coastal regions.
Countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia which have very long coastlines and many
islands are subjected to the threat of sea level rise. Southeast Asia’s rich biodiversity forests, water resources
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Asia’s highlands, coastal – island regions and urban regions where economic activities are often been directly
or indirectly dictated by the behavioral patterns of climate and weather are the most susceptible to changes in
the cause – effect linkages between climate change, environmental resources development and the incidence
of poverty. According to the IPCC (2007) the total temperature increase from 1850‐1899 to 2001‐2005 is 0.76o
C (0.57oC to 0.95oC), this amount of increase spanning ~ 150 years have set in motions changing behavioral
patterns within the atmospheric, oceanic and land based (drainage basins) circulation systems. Eleven of the
last twelve years (1995‐2006) rank among the 12 warmest years in the instrumental record of global surface
temperature (since 1850) and are thought to influence the increasing intensity, frequency, magnitude of
impacts, duration, time of onset and timing of occurrence of low pressure system cells across the Pacific and
Atlantic Oceans (WMO, 2007). What is important here is that the postulated gradient of temperature trend
increases from 2007 to 2100 would be much more steeper (although based on different scenarios projection
models of fossil fuel utilization) and the implications on the Earth’s atmospheric, oceanic and land based
systems (river basins) circulation behavioral patterns should change drastically and certain threshold
boundaries within the systems breached and the impact on poverty and human security issues would be
cataclysmic. In Southeast Asia, the vulnerability of the people associated with low income economic systems
could be the function of many factors. In general these factors describes, (1) the population and demographic
structure of the household members, (2) their economic livelihood activities, (3) the physical characteristic of
the household unit (4) the immediate living environment, (5) the exposure to climate induced hazards, (6)
inherent coping mechanisms and (7) the existence of infrastructure and support systems. In addition to this it
could be added that (8) the nature of awareness (apathy, sympathy or empathy) to the climate change threat.
Limited knowledge and awareness of climate change threat could hinder their immediate response) actions) to
any form of climate change induced hazards which could be costly or fatal in the future. The failure and success
of implementing early warning systems for climate change induced hazards (floods, droughts, outbreak of
vector borne diseases, heat waves etc.) would be dependent on the level of the system’s awareness on the
nature of the threat that they are exposed . Vulnerability, resilience and the ability to cope and adapt to
impending climate induced hazards would be more challenging to the lower income groups. These components
of society are involved with simple ‐ low income economic systems derived and dictated by the vagaries of man
– environment relationships. Southeast Asia’s economic development programmes and urban – rural
transformations have improved substantially the quality of life of these people. However, the region is
physically and culturally diverse such that many of the region’s low income populations are still below the
poverty line threshold and there are still many that hover around these threshold boundaries. There are many
ways to classify these groups of low income populations which could be based on their economic activities or
as used by the author based on their geographical distributions. The three major regions distinguished, based
on the nature of how climate change can induced changes to economic systems practices based on man‐
environment relationships in the regions. These low income economic systems are found in, (1) the urban
regions, where the most critical groups are the urban poor whose income activities are mostly associated with
informal activities, (2) highland regions, where the low economic systems are associated with traditional
practices of agriculture cultivation and the harvesting of forest products, and (3) the coastal and island regions,
the low income populations here are generally associated with the traditional fishing and agricultural practices.
Though these three regions shows a general picture of the existence of low income economic systems, the
economic performance of these systems do fluctuate as dictated by the nature of man – environment
relationships. As an example, the economic performance of the fishing communities of North Eastern Region of
peninsular Malaysia is very much dictated by weather conditions in the South China Seas, which are much,
determine by the behaviour of the LOCPs, ENSO and Northeast Monsoon (see Plate 1). Also, it should be noted
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
here that there are other components of society such as that which belongs to the lower hierarchy of
government and private sector employment though not belonging to below the poverty threshold but are
within distance of it and are also postulated to belong to that part of the population which have high
vulnerability, low resilience and poor coping and adaptive mechanisms to any forms of environmental stresses.
There are generic as well as specific characteristics of the low income economic systems of the urban,
highlands and coastal‐island regions that describe their vulnerability. The main generic vulnerability indicator is
their income. Income here is defined by the total remuneration a family received in a day, which could then be
translated to monthly or yearly earnings (this is because in general the source of income is not fixed and
consistent). However, for low income economic systems, daily income is much more important as the daily
activities of the household unit are defined and governed by its daily income, with limited savings available.
Whatever limited savings that are available would be used for other social obligations inherent in the culture
systems of the society which includes providing for their children education, religious obligations and needs
associated with increasing the performance of their economic activities such as investing in better machineries
and technologies and others. The more specific indicators of vulnerability are associated with the nature /
behavior of the prevalent / impendent local environmental stress, the socio‐demographic profile of the
communities at risk, their external and living environment and inherent cultural practices. To add to these
indicators are the communities level of awareness, whether they perceived environmental stress as part of the
normal cycle of man‐environment relationships or whether the effect of environmental stress is actually
changing and would influence their future relationships with the environment. People develop coping
strategies to deal with climate variability as with other shocks or stresses. These include building social
networks as forms of insurance, traditional forecasting in order to be prepared for climatic changes and
ingenious means of protecting assets such as the use, in Asia, of floating seed beds in times of floods. However,
the poor’s range of coping strategies is naturally more restricted by their lack of assets and by the other
stresses on their livelihoods. The poor and low income populations are already struggling to cope with current
climate variability.
Low Income Economic Systems of Coastal Regions such as this processing of fish products of Northeastern Part
of West Malaysia predominates in many parts of Southeast Asia Region and dependent on the conditions of the
environment
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
Many definitions of adaptation exist; broadly speaking it may be described as the ability or capacity of a system
to modify or change its characteristics or behavior so as to cope better with existing or anticipated external
stresses. The term adaptation is used here to mean adjustments in a system’s behavior and characteristics that
enhance its ability to cope with external stresses. The adaptation process would be determined to a large
extent by, (1) the nature of the hazard to which a system must adapt, and (2) the type of system that is under
threat. A particular hazard would be more detrimental in terms of impacts on certain types of systems whilst
having no impact at all on others. On the other hand, different types of systems would exhibit different levels
of vulnerability and resilience to a particular hazard. Certain factors will make a system particularly vulnerable
to specific types of hazard, while other factors might mean that a system has a high capacity to adapt to some
hazards but not others. For example, the presence of early warning systems that detect, communicate and
mobilize actions will enable a particular human system to adapt to an increased frequency of climate induced
hazard. An absence of early warning systems, however, would not enable human systems to adapt to the
threat effectively. However, none of these factors will directly reduce people’s vulnerability to, or help them
adapt to, floods or other climate induced threats. It is therefore necessary to describe such factors as
representing “generic” and “specific” needs of vulnerability and adaptive capacity. We might refer to factors
such as poverty and inequality as representing “generic” vulnerability and adaptive capacity, i.e. as factors that
determine vulnerability and the capacity to adapt to a wide range of hazards. If we were performing a national
assessment for a particular country we might proceed first by assessing that country’s generic vulnerability and
adaptive capacity in order to identify needs and options for increasing the country’s ability to cope with a wide
range of hazards. We would then identify the principal existing hazards that already have significant negative
impacts on a regular basis, and potential future hazards that represent the most likely threats to human
welfare and economic development. Existing hazards are easily identified from the recent historical record,
while potential future hazards might be identified through modeling studies, historical or palace‐climatic
analogy, analysis of existing trends and a consideration of physical principles. Once such hazards had been
identified, assessments of specific vulnerability and adaptive capacity could be carried out for each hazard in
turn. The identification of priority hazards and of vulnerability to them is essentially an exercise in the
assessment of outcome risk. Within the context of the framework outlined above we may view the outcome
risk associated with a particular type of hazard over a given period of time as a function of event risk and the
social/inherent vulnerability of the exposed systems and populations. The way in which event risk is defined
will depend on the nature of the hazard with which we are concerned. Event risk might refer to the probability
of occurrence of a single unique or long return‐period event, or to the actual or project frequency of
occurrence of a recurring hazard. We might be interested only in the occurrence of events whose severity
exceeds a given physically defined threshold, or we might wish to define event risk in terms of the frequency of
occurrence of a particular type of hazard combined with some measure of intensity, perhaps based on mean or
peak severity. The climate is becoming more variable and creating additional risks so that the poor are
becoming more vulnerable. As climate extremes are ‘covariant risks’ (i.e. simultaneously affecting a wide range
of people), current safety nets are likely to be overwhelmed. This includes both formal systems (e.g. social
assistance), and informal systems (e.g. social networks).Many of Southeast Asian countries are already taking
action to adapt to climate change, beginning with an analysis of their vulnerability. Vulnerability to climate
variability has significant implications for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Development
must be based on understanding existing and future vulnerabilities to climate risk if it is to be resilient to the
risks of climate change. In some cases climate change adds urgency to current activities to improve policies and
institutional mechanisms that impact on the poor. In other instances there may be a case for changes in
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
planning or institutional reform to take account of climate risks, or for building additional capacity into
infrastructure investment. Whatever the response, it should be an integral part of development planning and
involves a number of steps ‐ understanding the vulnerabilities and capacities of the poor, and understanding
the impacts of climate variability on the poor which requires an understanding of their vulnerability to all
external shocks (stresses) and trends and their coping strategies. Vulnerability analysis can be strengthened by
understanding climate hazards better. Until recently the predictions provided by the available Global Climate
Models (GCMs) have been on too coarse a scale and too long term to have much relevance to developing
country policy makers. Based on an understanding of vulnerability, support can be given to supporting poor
people’s coping capacity for future shocks. This means governments sharing the burden of climate risks and
taking specific actions to reduce the vulnerability of the poor. Integrating climate risks into development
planning. Responding to climate variability requires development agencies and governments to work on the
development of strategic planning systems, which take account of current and projected climate patterns.
Compared with industrialised countries, Southeast Asian countries have small greenhouse gas emissions,
making mitigation a less urgent priority. Adaptation is very important to Southeast Asian countries because
they are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change because of (1) the existence of low income rural
populations in low lying coastal regions, (2) the dependence of the economic activities of these population on
the environment, (3) modern economic production systems which are environmentally driven, and (4) the
presence of very rich and diverse habitats and ecosystems which are sensitive to climate. Broadly speaking,
there are two reasons for this vulnerability. The first is the low adaptive capacity — high levels of poverty and a
relative lack of the financial capability, institutional strength, skills, infrastructure, technology and other
elements needed to cope with the effects of climatic shifts. The other is geographic location: large numbers of
poor people live in areas such as the major river deltas of the Mekong in Vietnam, Irrawaddy in Myanmar, and
the Menam Chao Phraya in Thailand. Reliance on climate‐sensitive sectors such as agriculture and fishing is also
high in developing countries. The IPCC recognises Southeast Asia to be “one of the most vulnerable regions to
climate variability and change because of multiple stresses and low adaptive capacity”. In Southeast Asia,
“coastal areas, especially heavily‐populated delta regions , will be at greatest risk due to increased flooding
from the sea and, in some deltas, flooding from the rivers”. The IPCC also states that “small islands, such as
those found in the Philippines and Indonesia, have characteristics which make them especially vulnerable to
the effects of climate change, sea level rise and extreme events. There are two types of responses to the threat
of climate change. The first, mitigation, involves reducing emissions of greenhouse gases as a way of slowing or
stopping climate change. The second, adaptation, is learning to cope with temperature increases, increasing
rainfall, floods, droughts and the higher sea level associated with climate change. Adaptive responses can be
technological (such as sea defence construction), behavioural (such as altered food and recreational choices),
managerial (such as altered farm adaptation to climate change needs to be mainstreamed into development
policy and practice at national, international and regional levels. Particular attention needs to be paid to
supporting community‐based approaches to adaptation. Building on the considerable body of knowledge
already possessed by poor people is essential. Rural farmers of the upland regions of mainland Southeast Asia
can learn from the practices of the farmers in the Yamuna River area of Rajasthan, India, for instance, where
the poor communities there, have revived traditional rainwater harvesting methods in the form of johads —
small semicircular dams— and helped recharge groundwater and virtually drought‐proof their villages. At the
country ‐ level response, climatic change is just one aspect of the external events and changes to which
economies and societies must adapt. Southeast Asian governments can, however, attempt to increase the
resilience of their growth strategies to the impacts of increasing climate variability and climate change.
Unfortunately there is, as yet, little experience of best practice of adaptation to climate change on which to
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
draw, but experience of more general adaptive economic policies offers some pointers. Maintain the principles
of good economic policy that assist adjustment to exogenous factors such as climate shocks. Governments can
best do this by, Maintaining a policy environment conducive to changing market trends? Governments should
allow prices to reflect the changing availability of resources and avoid economic instruments – such as
guaranteed prices or quotas – which may distort rational decision making at a time when change is needed;
Avoiding mechanistic responses that impose direct or indirect subsidies to protect the status quo, and result in
increasingly large and unsustainable fiscal burdens; Including contingencies for climatic variability within
budget planning processes; Encouraging individuals to move away from geographical areas or sectors most
affected by climate change; and removing restrictions that confine the poor to increasingly unsustainable
livelihoods or marginal areas. Support technological development and the provision of information in sectors
that will allow individuals and markets to adapt to, or mitigate the impact of climate change. These could
include new varieties of crops or adoption of more water‐conserving technologies by industry. Governments
have a role in disseminating information on forecast climatic events, and forecast impacts on natural resources,
water resources and disease. Many Southeast Asian countries have a good core of professional planners and
managers operating in key development sectors. But they are usually unaware of the potential impacts of
climate change on their sector. Climate risk assessment — studies to determine how robust infrastructure,
services and other elements of development will be in the face of climate change — needs to be incorporated
into development activities by all these professionals. For example, professionals involved in planning and
managing for irrigation, flood management and drinking water provision need to factor climate change risk
management into their regular practices for designing water structures and measures. Vulnerability to climate
change can be reduced or increased by the choice of development path. For example, national investment in
large‐scale agricultural programmes may be misplaced if more droughts and flash floods are expected. Small‐
scale drought resistant agriculture might be more sustainable in the long term. Each country needs its own
plans and institutions to ensure adaptation is both mainstreamed into development activities (such as
integrated water resources management) and considered at a strategic planning level (for example, planning
for increased malaria incidence in the health sector). Incorporating climate change risks into national
development activities at both project and strategic levels requires greater institutional capacity in most
Southeast Asian countries.
CONCLUSIONS
The potential threat of climate change induced hazards exacerbating impacts on economic development and
progress in the Southeast Asian should not be taken lightly. Although the IPCC 2007 report on the “Science of
Climate Change” shows a small increase in temperature for the Southeast Asia Region in the last 50 years or so,
there is general agreement amongst scientists that the changing behavioral patterns of the , Low Oceanic
Pressure Cells (LOPCs) such as tropical storms, typhoons and cyclones, and the el‐Nino Southern Oscillation
(ENSO) , Monsoons, and to a certain extent the Indian Dipole Oscillation (IOD) circulation systems are triggering
weather extremes and variability to influence changing behavior patterns of hydro‐meteorological and
geomorphological events (floods, droughts, haze pollution and slope failures) in the region. To this date the
impact of these changes can still be absorbed by the strong foundations of Southeast Asia’s environmental
management programmes and backed by its stringent economic policies including effective poverty eradication
programs. However, this scenario can change if the gradual increase in global warming is left unchecked and
unabated because increasing global temperatures could lead to thresholds been breached where habitats and
ecosystems could not recover to existing equilibrium and stable conditions. Southeast Asian countries must
strengthened her environmental management programmes and their implementations taking into account the
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
climate change threat. In relation to this the countries of Southeast Asia needs to address the issues of
vulnerability and adaptive capacities of her economics systems more so that which are been practiced by the
poor or those within boundaries of the poverty line. The poor are especially vulnerable and their inherent
adaptive capacities and coping mechanisms low. Southeast Asian countries needs to reassess the significance
of the existing poverty line value to take into account the challenge of climate change threat and gives the poor
and those living within the fringes of the poverty line to be able to reduce their vulnerability to the threat. The
majority of those living within the fringe of these poverty thresholds are those that involves themselves with
low income economic systems as found in the urban, highlands and coastal‐island regions of the country. This
however needs to be done within the context of streamlining existing environmental management strategies
within the context of existing National Economic Development programmes to incorporate the climate change
threat.
REFERENCES
Ashok, K., Z. Guan, and T. Yamagata (2001). Impact of the Indian Ocean Dipole on the Decadal relationship
between the Indian monsoon rainfall and ENSO, Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 4499‐4502.
Homer‐Dixon, T., 1991. On the threshold: environmental changes as causes of acute conflict. International
Security 16 (2), 76‐116.
Homer‐Dixon, T. and Blitt, J., (Eds) 1998. Ecoviolence: Links among Environment, Population, and Security.
Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham.
Parry, M., Rosenzweig C., Iglesias A., Fischer G., Livermore M., 1999. Climate change and world food security: A
new assessment. Global Environmental Change 9 (supplementary issue), 51‐67.
Sanchez, P., 2000. Linking climate change research with food security and poverty reduction in the tropics.
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 82 (1‐3), 371‐383.
Findley, S. 1994 Does Drought Increase Migration? A study from Rural Mali during 1983‐85. International
Migration Review, Vol XXVII No. 3.
Department of International Development, 2004a. The Impact of Climate Change on the Vulnerability of the
Poor. Global and Local Environment Team, Policy Division, DFID.
Department of International Development 2004b. The Impact of Climate Change on the Impact of the Poor.
Global and Local Environment Team, Policy Division, DFID.
DOWNING T. E. AND A. PATWARDHAN 2007. Assessing Vulnerability for Climate Adaptation. Technical Paper 3:
Assessing Vulnerability for Climate Adaptation.
Katherine, V. 2004. Creating an index of social vulnerability to climate change for Africa. Tyndall Centre
Working Paper No. 56 August 2004
Climate Change 2007 – The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth. Assessment
Report of the IPCC. (ISBN 978 0521 88009‐1 Hardback; 978 0521 70596‐7 Paperback)
Climate Change 2007 – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth
Assessment Report of the IPCC. (ISBN 978 0521 88010‐7 Hardback; 978 0521 70597‐4 Paperback)
Climate Change 2007 – Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth.
Assessment Report of the IPCC. (ISBN 978 0521 88011‐4 Hardback; 978 0521 70598‐1 Paperback).
John Houghton: Global warming is now a weapon of mass destruction. This article appeared in the Guardian on
Monday July 28 2003. It was last updated at 10:47 on July 28 2003.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ICIWG‐09
FARMERS’ KNOWLEDGE OF LAND DEGRADATION ISSUES IN GANGA DISTRICT, DAURA
EMIRATE, KATSINA STATE, NIGERIA.
1
DR. Alhassan Mamman Muhammad, 2Mallam Yusuf Garba,
1
Senior Lecturer, 2Student,
Department of Geography and Environmental Management,
University of Abuja, P.M.B. 117, Abuja Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
This study examined farmers' knowledge about land degradation, their understanding and interpretation of
factors related to soil fertility decline; their responses to land degradation; their views on the seriousness of
the problem; how their perceptions influenced the management practices of their farmlands within the study
area; variation in farmers’ perception of land degradation/soil fertility decline between respondents in Ganga
District (Ganga, Godai, Shadambu, Tambu and Mazoji); and the influence level of education, gender and age
exert on farmers perception of land degradation/soil fertility decline issues in Ganga District of Daura Local
Government Area, Katsina State. Two hundred and forty questionnaires were administered to respondents
within the study area. Purposeful sampling technique was used to select famers that are actively involved in
farming practices in the area. The farmers were surveyed between December 2008 to January 2009 which
coincided with the period when land preparation and planting were actively being done. The study involved
administration of a semi‐structured questionnaire supplemented with oral interview and field observations.
Results obtained indicate that most farmers in the area are aware of land degradation processes occurring on
their farmlands; the level of awareness is highest among the more educated inhabitants of the area that
gender and that age has little or an insignificant influence on the way farmers’ perceive land degradation
issues, Recommendations include the need for massive enlightenment campaign to be launched on the
menace of land degradation and on the role of the public in tackling it, effort to initiate communal tree planting
and farmers planting individual tree on their farms should be encouraged, fallowing should be encouraged
rather than land being intensively cultivated, and there should be alternative to the use of fuel wood as source
of energy.
KEYWORDS: Land degradation, Soil Fertility decline, Farmers' Knowledge, Soil Erosion, Perceptions, Land
Improvement Measures.
INTRODUCTION
Land degradation is an increasingly severe problem in Sub Saharan Africa. Land degradation affects at least 485
million people in Africa (Reich, et al. 2001). Up to two‐thirds of Africa's productive land area is affected by land
degradation while close to 100% is vulnerable to it. Two‐thirds of Africa's cropland could effectively be non‐
productive by 2025. Africa's total land area covers 29.6 million km2, of which two‐thirds is arid or semi‐arid
(UNEP 1994). Land is central to development in Africa since the livelihoods of about 60 per cent of the
population are dependent on agriculture (Moyo 1998).
The main issues related to land in Africa include increasing degradation and desertification, together with
inappropriate and inequitable land tenure systems, which have played a major role in exacerbating
degradation. Other widespread problems include a decline in soil fertility, soil contamination, land
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
management and conservation, gender imbalances in land tenure, and conversion of natural habitat to
agricultural or urban uses.
Though there is much research documentation on the nature and consequences of land degradation for many
areas in Nigeria, studies are lacking that examine people’s perception of the environmental and social‐
economic consequences of land degradation problem. Yet understanding such perception is very critical not
only knowing how the people look at the problem, but also in understanding the ways in which the land users
react to it and to measures aimed at controlling it (Dredge, 1992).
Environmental perception is the means by which we seek to understand environmental phenomena in order to
achieve better use of environmental resources and a more effective response to environmental hazards. The
processes by which we arrive at these decisions include direct experience of the environment (through the
senses of taste, touch, sight, hearing and smell) and indirect information from other people, science, and the
mass media. They are mediated by our own personalities, values, roles and attitudes. The study of
environmental perception has to encompass all these means of processing environmental information and to
place the individual’s psychological processes of prediction, evaluation and explanation in a relevant social and
political framework.
In addressing different global environmental change problems, including land degradation erosion, bottom up
approach to both science and policy is recommended and societies are encouraged to ‘think locally and act
globally’ (Lal, 1990).
It is therefore imperative that the public in Nigeria be sufficiently knowledge of land degradation issues so that
they can appreciate and support policies aimed at addressing such issues. This is because organizations and
individuals may not be able to relate such policies in order to modify their behaviour and consumption patterns
change their activities and employ different technologies. It is recognized that decision makers operating in an
environment based their decisions on the environment as they perceive it and not as it is. A decision resulting
from perception is nonetheless played out in a real environment (Lal, 1994).
The recognition of the role that perception plays in mankind’s interaction with the environment has resulted in
perception studies in different fields of the environment (Ayoade and Akintola, 1980). It is well understood that
if information is available on how people perceive a problem and whether they can partake in solving it, the
task of solving environmental problems becomes easier (Eswaram and Kapur, 1007c).
Official and local land users often have different perceptions about land degradation problems. In Ganga area,
there is no previous research documentation available on the perception inhabitants on the area of the nature,
causes, socio‐economic and environmental impacts of land degradation problem in the area, and how they
tackle it. Knowledge of these is very important in planning for sustainable land development of the area. This
study was thus conducted with the central objective of examining these issues in the area.
THE STUDY AREA
The study area is situated in Daura local government, Katsina State at the Northern border of Nigeria with
Niger Republic. It lies between latitudes 130 06’ and 130 27’ and between longitudes 80 05’and 80 19’. The study
area lays North West of Daura and about six kilometres from Daura. The study area is about seventy‐six
kilometres from Katsina the State capital (see figure 1).
The relief of Ganga is gentle flat with occasionally interrupting minor hilly and rocky outcrops. The area is
boarded to the east and west by shallow valley. The river drain North ward into the Niger Republic. Ganga
being located in the semi arid zone has short period of rainfall, mostly not exceeding three (3) months or less
sometimes. The rainfall is associated with heat and often accompanied with thunderstorm and the atmosphere
is always windy.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
The area experience single maxima rainfall in August. The maximum rainfall of the area is about 350mm. The
concentration of rainfall is higher in July and August. The end of the rainy season is marked by harmattan,
which is characterised by cold and dusty winds.
The temperature of Ganga area is warm and hot throughout the year even though there are slight cool period
between Novembers to February. The mean annual temperature is about 28c, but mean monthly range
between 36c in the hottest months of April and May.
Evaporation and transpiration are very high in the area especially during the rainy season. The harmattan
period is characterised by a dry North‐Easterly wind which brings along with it a thick haze composed of
minute particles of dust and shell from Sahara. During the harmattan the Nights and early mornings are cold
but the temperature gradually increased by the afternoon and can sometimes be as high as 35c, this is most
severe in December and January. The lowest minimum temperature is recorded in December and January.
METHODOLOGY
Two hundred and forty questionnaires were administered to respondents within the study area. The numbers
of questionnaires administered in each of the sampling sites is as shown on table 1. Purposeful sampling
technique was used to select famers that are actively involved in farming practices in the area. The farmers
were surveyed between December 2008 to January 2009 which coincided with the period when land
preparation and planting were actively being done. The study involved administration of a semi‐structured
questionnaire supplemented with oral interview and field observations.
Table 1: Number of Questionnaires Administered
SAMPLING SITE NUMBER ADMINISTERED %
Ganga 65 27.1
Godai 40 16.7
Mazoji 62 25.8
Shadambu 19 7.9
Tambu 54 22.5
Total 240 100
Source: Reconnaissance Survey 2008
The questionnaire comprised two main sections. The first section‐contained respondents’ personal trails, while
the second section contained questions on respondents’ perception of the effects of land degradation, causes
of land degradation. It also contains questions on their perceptions of the social, environmental and economic
consequences of the land degradation problem, as well as the type of existing or available techniques of
combating and managing the problem, and their effectiveness or otherwise. The questions were mainly closed
ended so as to enable easy administration, coding and analysis. However, some open‐ended questions were
included in the questionnaire to enable the respondents provide information on aspects of the subject matter
of this study that might have been anticipated and included in the questionnaire. Field assistants that
understood the local Hausa and Fulani languages of the area were employed to ensure that language barrier
was eliminated in administering the questionnaire.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Socio‐Demographic Structure of Respondents
Results obtained shows that all the respondents were above twenty‐five years of age (see Table 2). This meant
that most of most of them were mature and could therefore be expected to be in a position in which they
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
could have personal impression of their environment particularly land. In rural areas of Nigeria, most of the
people above twenty years of age engaged in productive activities to enable them sustain themselves and most
of them get married and establish families by that age.
Table 2: Age and Gender Distribution of Respondents.
VARIABLES GRADING Ganga Godai Mazoji Shadambu Tambu TOTAL
GENDER MALE 64 40 62 17 54 237
FEMALE 01 ‐ ‐ 02 ‐ 03
AGE 25‐35 36 19 32 08 29 124
GROUP 36‐45 08 05 16 02 04 35
(YEARS) 46‐55 17 07 03 03 06 36
56 AND > 04 09 11 06 15 45
Source: Fieldwork 2009
Data on occupational structure of the respondents (Table 3) indicate that over 80% of them were engaged in
activities that had the means by which they could observed and develop impressions about remarkable signs
like crop yield reduction, reduction in the amount and duration of rainfall, soil fertility reduction, among
others. People engaged in other sectors (civil service, teaching and trading) were also consider to be informed
enough to be able to observe and develop impression about land degradation issues.
Table 3: Primary Occupational Distribution of the Respondents
Occupation SAMPLING SITES
Ganga Godai Mazoji Shadambu Tambu
Livestock Farming 21 12 09 01 06
Arable Farming 60 40 62 19 54
Trading 02 01 ‐ ‐ 03
Teaching 02 ‐ 03 ‐ 02
Civil Services ‐ 01 ‐ ‐ 05
Local Artisans 01 ‐ 04 ‐ 02
Source: Fieldwork 2009
Note: The total is >240 because more than one response from a respondent was included
AWARENESS OF LAND DEGRADATION PROBLEM
Data on the extent of the respondents’ awareness of the problem of land degradation in the study area is
presented in Table 4. It is clear from the table that almost all of the respondents were aware of any of the signs
of land degradation. Responses on the level of awareness of land degradation within the study area show that
about sixty per cent are aware of soil fertility decline. Respondents reported gradual reduction of crop yield
and an increase in fertilizer application to recondition the soil in terms of its soil nutrients status.
Furthermore, about forty per cent indicated noticing soil erosion by wind action on their farmlands. According
to the majority of farmers interviewed, the sand was loose and thus more erodible. Soil erosion can cause yield
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
reductions of 30 to 90% in some root‐restrictive shallow lands of West Africa (Mbagwu et al., 1984; Lal, 1987;
Alexander, 1995; Darkoh, 1995). Yield reductions of 20 to 40% have been measured for row crops in Ohio
(Fahnestock et al., 1995; Johnson and Lewis, 1995; and Reich, 2001) and elsewhere in Midwest USA (Eswaran
et al., 1997a). In the Andean region of Colombia, Eswaran et al (1997b) observed severe losses due to
accelerated erosion on some lands. Dregne, (1990) observed severe losses by 50% as a result of soil erosion
and desertification. Yield reduction in Africa (Lal, 1995) due to past soil erosion may range from 2 to 40%, with
a mean loss of 8.2% for the continent. If accelerated erosion continues unabated, yield reductions by 2020 may
be 16.5%.
Aside farming, livestock keeping is the second most important agricultural activity within the study area. The
data on table 4 shows that about seventy per cent of respondents are of the opinion that overgrazing is
contributing to degradation of their farm lands. Grazing globally is acknowledged as a major cause of land
degradation (Dredge, 1992). In the area; almost all respondents noticed a decline in vegetal cover. Greater
proportion of the area’s inhabitants depends almost entirely on fuel wood as a major source of energy.
Similarly, almost all respondents reported that the rainfall pattern has become more unpredictable. The
amount of rainfall received is becoming smaller and the duration is becoming shorter. This has resulted in the
frequency of drought leading to crop failures. All respondents are of the opinion that their farmlands are
intensively cultivated rather than extensively cultivated. In many farmlands, fallowing is not practiced and
cultivation is continuous. This exposes the bare land to the agents of erosion. This has rendered farmlands that
are already marginal more vulnerable to land degradation. The process of land degradation is therefore
exacerbated in this climatically marginal area.
Table 4: Awareness of Land Degradation Type by the Respondents.
Type of Degradation SAMPLING SITES
Ganga Godai Mazoji Shadambu Tambu TOTAL
Soil Fertility Decline 43 27 54 15 44 183
Soil Erodibility 22 16 26 07 21 92
Overgrazing 52 31 56 13 23 175
Deforestation 65 40 62 19 54 240
Decline in rainfall 65 40 62 19 54 240
amount and duration
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
the farmer. Education level of farmers would affect the way farmers would access and have contacts with
extension agencies, contacts with research organizations, frequency of watching agricultural programs in
television, frequency of listening to agricultural programs on radio, attendance to any farmers' day, discussion
of problems with fellow farmers, frequency of reading agricultural column in newspaper, consult any
agricultural magazine, frequency of visits to any agricultural agency and number of extension programs in the
villages (Lal, 1996).
Furthermore, the low educational level of farmers would further exacerbate the difficulty in adoption of
improved technology as a farming practice and in the management of degraded lands (FAO, 1991; Mabbut,
1992; Bergsma. 1996; and Carswell, 1997).
On the other hand, the data contained in Table 5 indicates clearly that age and gender has the least influence
on farmer perception of land degradation issues within the study.
TABLE 5: SUMMARY OF MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS
QUES VARIABLE CON. AGE GENDER EDUC. R R DURBIN
VALUES SQUARED WATSON
ESTIMATE ‐0.46 ‐0.02802 0.02628 1.074
Ganga SE 0.564 0.02 0.023 0.026 94.10% 87% 2.275
t‐VALUE 0.42 0.166 0.254 0
SIG NR NS 12.60% 100%
ESTIMATE ‐0.003 0.839 0.264 0.223
Godai SE 0.027 0.058 0.077 0.965 97.70% 95.20% 2.118
t‐VALUE 0.9 0.944 0.874 0.113
SIG NR 3.40% NS 97%
ESTIMATE ‐0.0561 ‐0.01238 ‐0.008187 1.216
Mazoji SE 0.59 0.023 0.025 0.036 99.10% 98.00% 3.042
t‐VALUE 0.925 0.593 0.74 0
SIG NR 6.30% NS 98.50%
ESTIMATE ‐0.0527 0.948 0.008384 1.075
Shadambu SE 0.334 0.031 0.007 0 92.70% 90.30% 2.022
t‐VALUE 0 0 0.903 0
SIG NR 0.40% 1.20% 98%
ESTIMATE ‐1.375 0.01062 0.3447 1.166
Tambu SE 1.861 0.067 0.077 0.086 98% 96% 3.254
t‐VALUE 0.465 0.875 0.656 0
SIG NR NS 14.2 91.10%
Source: Fieldwork 2008
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The results obtained in this study are in support of the following conclusions: that most respondents are aware
of land degradation processes taking place on their farmlands and that the level of education of farmers has
the greatest impact on the level farmers’ perception of land degradation issues and that gender and age has
little or an insignificant influence on the way farmers’ perceive land degradation issues. The following
recommendations are considered appropriate here: that there is the need for massive enlightenment
campaign to be launched on the menace of land degradation and on the role of the public in tackling it, effort
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
to initiate communal tree planting and farmers planting individual tree on their farms should be encouraged,
fallowing should be encouraged rather than land being intensively cultivated, and there should be alternative
to the use of fuel wood as source of energy.
REFERENCES
Alexander, H., (1995). A Framework for Change: The State of the Community Land care Movement in Australia,
The National Land care Facilitator Project, Annual Report, Canberra, Australia.
Bergsma, E., (1996). Terminology for Soil Erosion and Conservation. Vienna, Austria: International Society of Soil
Science.
Carswell, G. (2002). ‘Farmers and Fallowing: Agricultural Change in Kigezi District, Uganda.’ Geographical
Journal. 168 (2): 130‐140.
Darkoh, M.K. (1995). ‘The deterioration of the environment in Africa’s Dry lands and river Basins.’
Desertification Control Bulletin. 1(24): 35–41.
Dregne, H.E. (1990). ‘Erosion and soil productivity in Africa.’ Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 45(1):
431–436.
Dregne, H.E. (1992). Degradation and Restoration of Arid Lands. Lubbock: Texas Technical University.
Eswaran, H., Almaraz, R., Van Den Berg, E. & Reich, P.F. (1997a). ‘An assessment of the soil resources of Africa
in relation to productivity.’ Geoderma. 77: 1–18. Available at http://soils.usda.gov/ [December 2008].
Eswaran, H, Almaraz, R., Reich, P.F. & Zdruli, P.F. (1997b). ‘Soil quality and soil productivity in Africa.’ Journal of
Sustainable Agriculture. 10: 75–94. Available at http://soils.usda.gov/ [December 2008].
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14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Eswaran, H. & Kapur, S. (1997). ‘Land degradation and the quality of the environment.’ Land Degradation ‐
Newsletter of the International Task Force on Land Degradation, 1: 2‐39. Available at http://soils.usda.gov/
[December 2008].
Fahnestock, P., Lal, R. & Hall, G.F. (1995). ‘Land use and Erosional effects on two Ohio Alfisols Crop yields.’
Journal of Sustainable Agriculture. 7: 85–100.
FAO. (1991). How good the Earth?Quantifying land resources in developing countries.(1991).Rome: FAO.
JOHNSON, D.L. & LEWIS, L.A. (1995). Land Degradation: Creation and Destruction. Oxford: Blackwell.
Lal, R. (1990). ‘Soil erosion and land degradation, the global risks.’ Advances in Soil Science. 11: 130‐172.
Lal, R. (1994). ‘Tillage effects on soil degradation, soil resilience, soil quality, and Sustainability.’ Soil Tillage
Researc., 27: 1–8.
Lal, R. (1995). ‘Erosion–crop productivity relationships for soils of Africa.’ Soil Science Society of America
Journal. 59: 661–667.
Lal, R. (1996). ‘Axle load and tillage effects on soil degradation and rehabilitation in Western Nigeria, Soil
physical and hydrological properties.’ Land Degradation Review. 7: 19–45.
Mabbutt, J.A. (1992). Degradation of the Australian drylands: a historical approach. In: Degradation and
Restoration of Arid Lands, ed. H.E. Dregne, 27–98. Lubbock: Texas Technical University.
Mbagwu, J.S., Lal, R. & Scott, T.W., (1984), ‘Effects of Desurfacing of Alfisols and Ultisols in Southern Nigeria,
Crop performance.’ Soil Science Society of America Journa. 48: 828–833.
Moyo, S. (1998). Land Entitlements and Growing Poverty in Southern Africa. Southern Africa Political and
Economic Monthly: Southern Review. Harare, SAPES Trust
Reich, P.F. Numbem, S.T., Almaraz, R.A. and Eswaran, H. (2001). Land resource stresses and desertification in
Africa. In Bridges, E.M., Hannam, I.D., Oldeman, L.R., Pening, F.W.T., de Vries, S.J., Scherr, S.J. and Sompatpanit,
S. (eds). Responses to Land Degradation. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Land Degradation
and Desertification, Khon Kaen, Thailand. New Delhi, Oxford University Press
UNEP. (1994). Land Degradation in South Asia: Its Severity, Causes and Effects upon the People (1994). Rome:
FAO.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ICIWG‐10
TOWARDS AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE OF EDUCATION IN MUSLIM COMMUNITIES OF
NORTHERN NIGERIA
Aliyu Baba Nabegu
Department of Geography,
Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil, Kano
Kano State, Nigeria
Email: marpelione@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT
Colonialism, secularization and the current globalization have reduced Islamic education to mere religious
teachings. This paper argues for an education derived from an exclusively Islamic perspective in Geographical
as well as other disciplines. The paper highlights attempts at infusing Islamic perspectives in education in
Northern Nigeria and provides reasons for the failure of Muslims in their various attempts to incorporate Islam
in Geographical as well as other studies in Northern Nigeria. Among the important reasons for the failure
highlighted include; attitudes of the Muslims; the nature and types of schools and institutions established to
carry out Islamic education and the incessant desire of Muslim to prove the divine origin of the Quran through
modern science. The paper argues that in order to move forward there is the need to, develop a clear
understanding of metaphysical truths of the Quran and base Islamic education in this context; revert back to
the traditions of Islam and clarify and develop an articulate Islamic view point through clearly defined methods.
The paper concludes that current debate in the Islamic world with issues such as Islamization of knowledge
does not make any headway and it only demonstrate paucity of thought about education. The paper
recommends a change of attitude and practice in the Muslim world that encourages free inquiry rather than
free imitation and the need for an Islamic model society free of dogma that will allow positive interface
between knowledge and religion and greater harmony.
KEYWORDS: Science, Secular system, Geographic phenomena, Western epistemology, Western Education,
Northern Nigeria
INTRODUCTION
For centuries scholars have realized that Islam has contributed substantially to world civilization and culture. It
was Islam and Muslims that revived the human pursuit of science and it was through Arabs not Romans that
the modern world achieved light and power through science (). In the ninth and tenth centuries the Muslims
compiled great lexicons and developed philosophical learning in Islam. At least a century before the western
world thought of establishing higher centers of learning, the Muslims world had established such institutions in
Basra, Kufa, Baghdad, Cairo and Cordova. It was this Islamic education which gave cultural prestige to Islam.
Trimingham (1959) observed that through the system of intellectual and material culture, Islam opens new
horizons……and from this stems the superiority Muslims display when confronted with pagans. Thus desire for
knowledge and pride in acquisition of letters has been an important factor in the past, but today, this desire is
mainly directed into other channels. (Boyd, 1961)
Islam and Islamic culture reached West Africa in the eight century A.D.,(Fafunwa, 1974).Trade and commerce
paved the way for the introduction of new elements of material culture and made possible the intellectual
development which naturally followed the introduction of literacy and for which parts of Northern Nigeria
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
were to become famous later. The revivalist movement of Shehu Usman Danfodio who fought in order to
reform the Islam of Northern Nigeria in the 1880s was the height of Islamic prominence in the region.
The colonial encounter in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries brought a revolutionary change in Northern
Nigeria. Colonialism brought a total eclipse of Muslim military, political and intellectual life in Northern Nigeria
and elsewhere. The result was that for the first time Muslims felt a need to defend their religion against an
'other' that claimed worldly superiority over them.
When formal education was introduced to Nigeria by the colonialist, the first schools were organized by the
Christian missionaries and their main objective was to use the school as a means of evangelism. Education was
“free” but with strings attached. A “good” citizen in Nigeria and elsewhere between 1850 and 1960 meant one
who was African by blood, Christian by religion and British or French in culture and intellect. Consequently
Muslim education in Northern Nigeria was retarded not because the Muslims were unprogressive or because
their religion was opposed to formal education but because education’ was Christianity oriented, textbooks
curricular and all other built‐in educational devices.
A cursory look at the school curricula especially in Nigeria today suggests a secular approach to education at all
levels of the nation’s education system. The approach is based on, if not an exact replica of the western
education model geared towards finding answers to the unending problems of man through science.
Now globalization is posing an added daunting challenge. Today, the Muslim in Northern Nigeria and indeed
the world face the most critical period of its history: a civilization standing at the crossroads. Muslims are
passing through a crisis of identity and, consequently, a crisis of contextualization toward increasing social
disharmony. The identification of Islam and its culture with ignorance and backwardness and of “modernity”
and progress with Western civilization; the perpetration of ideological and politico‐ economic Western
imperialism against Muslim people; the imposition of an inferiority complex among Western educated
“modern” Muslims, and the bitter social and political cleavages between the “modern” and the “traditional”
Muslim elites is a major consequence of this historical issues facing the Muslims in Northern Nigeria.
What avenues are open for Muslims to preserve their cultural and spiritual values in the face of a rapid
penetration of an alien tradition through secular western education? This is the question that is has vexed
several generations of scholars, thinkers and reformers in the region.
The aim of this paper is to provide a concise chronology of attempts to infuse Islamic focus into education in
Muslim communities of Northern Nigeria, proffer reasons for the failure of the attempt and suggest away out.
The possibility of Geography as a discipline that can easily be focused to Islamic education is highlighted.
ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN NORTHERN NIGERIA
Ever before the 1977 International Conference on Muslim Education in Makkah, Nigeria had made a giant
stride by hosting an International Islamic Seminar on Education in Kano in 1976 where many scholars from
different parts of the world gathered to discuss “the critical problems facing education in Muslim countries and
offer solid recommendations. In order to implement the various ideas put together in the various world
conferences, the Islamic Education Trust which was established by this couple established a Model Islamic
Senior Primary School in September 1984 with a view to teaching the secular subjects from the Islamic point of
view. In the school, a critical examination of the syllabi of Health Science, General Science, Agricultural Science
and Social Studies was made and these subjects were subjected to rigorous Islamic revision. The school has
since adopted the revised syllabi, while many other private Islamic schools have been borrowing a leaf from it.
The idea to sell the knowledge from the various conferences attended by the couple to other Muslim schools
culminated in the establishment of the Nigerian Association of Model Islamic Schools (NAMIS), which is an
umbrella body of all private Muslim institutions in the country.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
The establishment of the New Horizons College by the Islamic education trust in 1995 marked the extension of
the attempt to imbibe Islamic content to education. Though teaching and learning are going on in a strict
Islamic environment, the College is yet to Islamize fully its academic syllabus as it still follows the secular
Government approved curricula, buy with additional Islam‐based subjects to supplement secular subjects.
Other primary schools established under the same principle as identified by Shehu are Model Primary School in
Zaria established by the Islamic Trust of Nigeria, Aliyu ibn Abi‐Talib Primary School in Kano, established by the
Islamic Foundation, Da’awah Primary School, Kano, established by the Da’awah Group of Nigeria and the
Hudaibiyyah Foundation which has a Model School in Kano, Kano State.
The establishment of the Nigeria office of the IIIT is a great blessing for the promotion and consolidation of the
debate on ways of putting Islamic content and focus in education. The Nigeria office of the body was
established with the objectives of developing and presenting to the world an alternative system of knowledge
that is in accord with the Islamic worldview, evolving a new system of education that will serve as a means of
imparting and transmitting the Islamic system of knowledge, to initiate a process of making the Islamic
epistemology prevail over other systems of knowledge and to use the knowledge system in making the Islamic
civilization to become relevant and dominant in the future.
Through the outreach activities of the organization, quite a good number of seminars, conferences, workshops
and discussions have been organized with the aim of taking the programme to all academic staff and students
on campuses of higher institutions and primary and post‐primary institutions across the country. More than
two hundred seminars on the evidence of the programme to various disciplines have been organized in various
universities, colleges of Educations, polytechnics and secondary schools.
Another significant trend in the effort to bring to the fore the need to focus on Islamic education as
championed by the IIIT Nigeria office is in the aspect of book publication and free distribution of such to
institutions, organizations and individuals. The Education Department of the Institute has taken a step at
reviewing the prescribed textbooks on various subjects both at the primary and post primary levels for the
purpose of exposing the un‐Islamic aspects of them and for future curriculum planning and development. The
Institute is equally floating a journal called Al‐Ijtihad: The Journal of Islamization of Knowledge and
Contemporary Issues. This journal, like AJISS of the mother Institute, contributes to Muslim manpower
development especially in academic institutions.
Another trend of the demonstration of the practical viability of the Islamic education in Nigeria is the step
taken by some northern universities to introduce some Islam‐based courses into some of their Departments. It
suffices to mention the Usman Dan Fodiyo University, Sokoto, which has several Islam‐based courses in the
Departments of Economics, Management Studies, Sociology, Political Science, History and Education. The
university has successfully organized and hosted some national and international workshops on the subject.
The Special Staff Training Programme of the institution has resulted in the production of many research works
submitted to the university. These research projects are related to the conventional disciplines examined from
the Islamic perspective. Some textbooks related to the programme have also been published by the institution
to ease the problem of literature. At Bayero University, Kano, the experimentation of the programme is equally
commendable as various Departments have introduced Islam‐related courses into their curricula as well. The
establishment of the Nigeria office of the IIIT and its office in the premises of the University has helped the
institution in hosting many national and international conferences on the programme.
In addition to this, some Muslim Governors in Northern Nigeria have taken advantage of section 4(4)7 of the
1999 Nigerian Constitution, which states that “the House of Assembly of a State shall have power to make laws
for the peace and good government of the state or any part thereof,” by introducing Shari’ah in their States. As
a result of this provision, most of the states in Northern Nigeria have taken this opportunity.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
The National Policy on Education published in 1977 and revised in 1981 and 1998 stipulates that the first stage
of education would be handled and manned by private individuals but monitored by the Government. The
same policy mentions that the Government welcomes the contributions of voluntary agencies, communities
and private individuals in the establishment and management of secondary schools alongside those provided
by the Federal and State Governments. This opportunity has been grasped by Muslim individuals and
organizations al‐Hikmah University, Ilorin, Fountain University, Crescent University, Hijrah University and
Katsina Islamic university. A section of the 1979 constitution stipulates that “no religious community or
denomination shall be prevented from providing religious instruction for pupils of that community or
denomination in any place of education maintained wholly by that community. The emergence of interest‐free
banks like Jaiz, Halal and to some extent, Habib Bank in Nigeria is a pointer to this. However, it has been
observed that the operation of the Islamic financial institutions shows that professionals and graduates of
Islamic economics are seriously needed to bail out such institutions.
THE FAILURE OF ISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE
The attitudes and habits that have been adopted by modern‐day Muslims which are a consequence of the loss
of intellectual independence and have become embodied in the institutions and structures of contemporary
society is the major reason of the failure of several attempts to put Islamic perspective to education in
Northern Nigeria and elsewhere in Muslim societies. The broadest and most pervasive display of this attitude
and habit manifest in what one might call "anti‐tradition." Although Islam, like other religions, is built on
tradition—the sum total of the transmitted and intellectual heritages—many Muslims see no contradiction
between believing in modernity and accepting the authority of the Qur’«n and the Sunnah. Today it is a
universally accepted dogma in the modern world to reject tradition in its entire ramification. Yet, the Islamic
intellectual tradition is rooted in knowledge of God. Only this sort of traditional knowledge can re– establish
human connections with the divine. Today as a result of rejection of the traditions of Islam, many Muslim
scientists tell us that modern science helps them see the wonders of God’s creation. But is it necessary to study
physics or bio– chemistry to see the signs of God in all His creatures? The Qur’an keeps on telling Muslims,
"Will you not reflect, will you not ponder, will you not think?" About what? About the "signs" of God, which are
found, as over two hundred Qur’anic verses remind us, in everything? The changes in habits that are imparted
by "global culture" are not congruent with Islamic learning.
Up until recent times, Islamic thought was characterized by a tendency toward unity, harmony, integration,
and synthesis. The great Muslim thinkers were masters of many disciplines, but they looked upon all of them as
branches of a single tree. There was never any contradiction between studying astronomy and zoology, or
physics and ethics, or mathematics and law, or mysticism and logic. Everything was governed by the same
principles, because everything fell under God’s all‐encompassing reality. The history of Western thought is
characterized by the opposite tendency.
Nowadays, Muslims study every subject independently and thus everyone is an expert in some tiny field of
specialization. The result is mutual incomprehension and universal disharmony. It is impossible to establish any
unity of knowledge, and no real communication takes place among the specialists in different disciplines, or
even among specialists in different subfields of the same discipline. In short, people in the modern world have
no unifying principles, and the result is an ever‐increasing multiplicity of goals and desires, an ever‐intensifying
chaos.
Recent accounts of Islamic education are almost always presented in the contexts of modernization or Muslim
revival movements (Nasr, 1987). The main characteristics of this institution are formal residential institutes of
secondary and higher learning, with Arabic as the basic medium of instruction. They rely mainly on oral and
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
aural dialogue between teacher and disciples. Their curricula consist, in addition to Qur´anic talqin and Arabic
grammar, of exegesis, jurisprudence, principles of jurisprudence, principles of narration and biography of the
Prophet the Prophet companions. Classical sciences such as astronomy, geography, and medicine are not
taught. In response to colonial policies, these institutions took on one of three forms: traditional, private‐
sponsored religious with some Western orientation, and government sponsored secular with added religion
courses. Thus, he states, "the instruction of the young proceeded mainly on the lines laid down in the older
theological writings," suggesting that the problem lies in Muslims' inability to adopt modern technologies
(Valerie, 2002).
However, the exclusion of natural sciences from this plan has not only been a major handicap to this whole
effort, it has also produced the illusion that natural sciences create knowledge in the epistemological
framework established by the social scientists; this equates the very concept of knowledge with social
sciences. This has also excluded all possibilities of eventually proposing any solutions for the manifold impact of
the encounter of the contemporary Muslim societies with modern science.
The incessant desire to prove the divine origin of the Quran through modern science is still another aspect that
has spread all across the Muslim lands. To educate in Islam, Iqbal states, means to create a living experience on
which religious faith ultimately rests. For Rahman (1982), it means Islamic intellectualism. Though Nasr believes
that the Islamic theory of education can be reconstructed within the Qur´anic philosophy Iqbal emphasizes that
the birth of Islam is the birth of inductive intellect, wherein "to achieve full self‐consciousness, Man must finally
be thrown back on his own resources."
Therefore we can see the reactionary Muslim responses through polemics, xenophobia, historical romanticism,
zealots, fanaticism, extremism, even terrorism, which are in fact a far cry from the creative adaptation
indispensable for contemporary rejuvenation.
THE WAY FORWARD
It is abundantly clear that Islamic perspectives on education have to be rooted in the spiritual and intellectual
universe of Islam. What defines the focus of Islamic education is not a mere facile correspondence between
explanations of science and the Quranic verses; it must be an effort to first of all understand the metaphysical
truths of the revealed text and then examine modern science in the light of this knowledge which cannot be
merely a knowledge obtained and contained through the dissection of the text. This must be the focus of
Islamic education.
Another aspect of the discourse that has become apparent is that science education cannot be “Islamized” by
sprinkling Quranic verses over its theories. This realization has fundamental implications for the Islamic
education discourse as well as for the Muslim world in its search for a modus vivendi. It is true that at the
practical level, it has become impossible for any civilization to remain unaffected by modern science and the
force and extent of penetration of science into other cultures will continue to increase. But it is also true that in
spite of the loss that such an infusion entails, it is still possible for the representatives of traditional civilizations
to fortify their civilizations by recourse to the primary sources. In practical terms, this involves the training and
nurturing of a large number of young men and women in the perennial truths of the tradition. Fortunately for
Muslims, this is not an impossible task because the primary sources of Islam remain intact. What is needed is a
true revival of the Islamic tradition of learning which will then give birth to a process of appropriation
something akin to what was accomplished during the eighth to eleventh centuries.
Likewise, the revival of the severed ties with the Islamic tradition is a sine qua non for understanding the
relationship between Islamic education and science. Without these ties re‐established at the most fundamental
level, nothing can be achieved. This does not mean a resuscitation of the glories of the achievements of the
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Muslim scientists as a nostalgic exhibit of a heritage that can be displayed in museums and enacted in scholarly
texts; it means a wholesale reorientation of the society away from the colonized mindset, with a conscious
centripetal move toward the tradition that would transform both the inward and the outward aspects of
contemporary Muslim societies. This effort should not be understood as an idealized call back to nature or yet
another slogan for escape into some nebulous realm. This is not even a call to shun science and its products
and seek refuge in some esoteric truth. It is precisely the opposite. It is an effort to seek, understand and
interiorize the metaphysical truths of the tradition and then apply the wisdom gained from this process to
contemporary realities with full vigor.
Muslim intellectuals still talk about Islam education as if it were a simple, unified entity; a singular object. But in
reality the history of Islam education, is fundamentally a history of different interpretations. Throughout the
development of Islam there have been different schools of thoughts and ideas, different approaches and
interpretations of what Islam is and what it means. The actual lived experience of Islam has always been
culturally and historically specific and bound by the immediate circumstances of its location in time and space.
Thus, we must accept that there is no single unitary concept of knowledge in Islam but rather that there are
many concepts of knowledge held by Muslims in different times and places and that these concepts were
interacting with each other and with other pertinent concepts, giving them both a level of stability as well as
fluidity. The focus on the 'Islamic' in current discourses on Islamic education thus needs to be revisited. Not as
an abstract idealized concept but rather, focused on the concrete historical agency of Muslims. Such a shift
might help a better understanding on how Muslims dealt with the intellectual and educational issues of their
times. Such findings could both enrich our knowledge and, more importantly, liberate Muslims to seek
pertinent solutions.
Time and again authors go into factual details to describe the problems with contemporary education in the
West and in Muslim societies. However, when these authors turn to proposing solutions or, rather, 'Islamic'
solutions, their tone changes from factual to rhetorical and from argumentative to assertive. Sardar's (1991)
observation‐‐more than a decade ago‐‐ that there is a 'widespread school of thought' that asserts that 'all we
need is to show complete and uncritical love of and devotion to Islam and everything else will fall into place', is
still valid. It is thus no surprise that when on rare occasions some writers attempt to describe in detail the
implementation of the project of Islamic education, the result is hardly different from what is being proposed
in other secular contexts albeit with reference to Quranic terms and the history of Muslims.
The lack of clear delineation between worldly and spiritual knowledge does not imply that knowledge based on
reason, observation and experiment was considered taboo, simply because revelation was assumed to be the
paramount truth. The Qur'an exhorts believers to use reason to verify both the information provided by the
senses, and knowledge based on revelation (Huff, 2003). A hadith expressly states that Muhammad advised his
followers to think independently about matters of ordinary life and human skill, and not to do such things in
unquestioned imitation of his example. He asked his followers' advice and relied on their experience and skill.
The state of debate on religion and science in the Muslim world is that of a blurred intellectual vision. It is
largely the articulation of a viewpoint that betrays the paucity of knowledge and thought about the modern
scientific ethos. It perpetuates a style of theological reasoning. Others take it from an extreme apologetic
perspective, to the point of turning the Qur’ān into a book of pure astronomy, biology, chemistry,
mathematics, or physics. Much of this is promoted as Islamic education, with a ring of authority where critical
thinking is made to be a forbidden tree.
Engulfed in seemingly endless wars of rhetoric and anger among Muslims and against the West, orthodoxy has
won over reason. Rationalism, skepticism, and individualism have been mercilessly sacrificed at the altar of a
totalitarian puritanism suffocating from the loss of pluralism and progressive thought, which were distinctive
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
traits of the Muslim past. Thus most of the writings on Islamic education fail to provide any feasible and
creative solutions to the problems of education.
It is frequently assumed by a majority of reformers and politicians, and even by some scholars, that the Muslim
societies can overcome their economic, political and social problems by importing Western science and
technology without importing any of the philosophical and ethical values that lie behind this science and its
products. This facile assumption is based on another assumption: the supposed objectivity and neutrality of
modern science—a Newtonian legacy which has been shattered by developments within science itself.
GEOGRAPHY IN ISLAMIC CONTEXT
It could be argued that there is hardly any discipline that easily lends itself to the Islamization cause as
geography due to the considerable amount of geographical literature by Muslim scholars in the past. The
contribution of Arab geographers to the discipline during the medieval period were so outstanding and far
reaching that it connoted a period of the discipline’s development where a legacy of outstanding Muslim
scholarship against the back‐drop of a retrogressive western intellectualism during the medieval period.
Muslim geographers like Al idirisi, Ibn haukai, Ibn Batuba, Ibn Khaldun etc were great contributors.
The early dualization of the discipline into physical and human, often playing complementary roles (Hartshome,
1959) offers a unique opportunity for teaching Tawhid. Scientific knowledge was built upon the foundation of
practical knowledge of the Arabs in seafaring, navigation and astronomy, trade, animal husbandry and
agriculture (Hassan and Hill, 1986; Watson, 1983).
Muhammad is considered a pioneer of environmentalism for his teachings on environmental preservation. His
hadiths on agriculture and environmental philosophy were compiled in the "Book of Agriculture" of the Sahih
Bukhari, which included the following saying:
"There is none amongst the believers who plants a tree, or sows a seed, and then a bird, or a person, or an
animal eats thereof, but it is regarded as having given a charitable gift .
Several such statements concerning the environment are also found in the Qur'an, such as the following:
"And there is no animal in the earth nor bird that flies with its two wings, but that they are communities like
yourselves."[20]
The earliest known treatises dealing with environmentalism and environmental science, especially pollution,
were Arabic medical treatises written by al‐Kindi, Qusta ibn Luqa, al‐Razi, Ibn Al‐Jazzar, al‐Tamimi, al‐Masihi,
Avicenna, Ali ibn Ridwan, Ibn Jumay, Isaac Israeli ben Solomon, Abd‐el‐latif, Ibn al‐Quff, and Ibn al‐Nafis. Their
works covered a number of subjects related to pollution such as air pollution, water pollution, soil
contamination, municipal solid waste mishandling, and environmental impact assessments of certain localities
Cordoba, al‐Andalus also had the first waste containers and waste disposal facilities for litter collection.
Yet in spite of all, this geography is taught according to the dictates of the natural science where religion has no
place in explaining natural laws because science concerned itself with causes rather than purposes (Holt‐
jensen, 1984). Most description on geographical phenomena therefore enjoyed a lack of reference to the
sublime being (Allah) either in the first instance or in the final analysis of rain formation.
CONCLUSION
Colonial rule and the pervasive influence of secular materialism and its value system seriously challenge
religious minded individuals and communities. For many Muslims today, Islam does not inspire, and seems
meaningless and irrelevant to their personal lives and experiences. To a large extent, the future will depend on
how well we educate our children today and to what extent we are successful in transferring to them the
sacred vision of life we have as Muslims. What is at stake is nothing less than the reposition of our education
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
on the basis of Islamic traditions as Muslims. Without a proper understanding of the Islamic value system,
there is little hope that the true goals, of Islamic education can be achieved. This vision, in fact, is not really a
“new vision,” but rather a “renewed vision” of Islamic education. It is a call for the return to the classical—
though not traditional or conventional—vision of Islamic education. In the lifetime of the Prophet, may Allah
bless him and give him peace, Islamic education was both practical and relevant. The Prophetic model of
Islamic education drew its substance from the everyday experiences and day‐to‐day problems of the early
Muslim community. Although Islamic education will undoubtedly draw much of its content from the
foundational disciplines of Islamic Studies, it must be done in a way that links this content to the natural
concerns of students as well as the larger issues facing the world in which they live. This is the challenge of
modern‐day Islamic education.
REFERENCES
al‐Faruqi, I.R( 1977) “Islamization of Knowledge: Problems, Principles and Prospective,” in Islam: Source and
Purpose of Knowledge, pp. 53‐54.
Abernettly, D. B. (1969) The political dilemma of popular education . Acase study. California, Stanford
University press.
Boyd,w. (1961) The history of Western Education. London, Oxford University, press
Fafunwa, B.A(1974) History of Education in Nigeria. Oxford University press.
Hassan , S. S., and Hill, S. A. (1986). Crisis in Muslim Education. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: Hodder and Stoughton.
Nasr, S. H,(1987) Science And Civilization In Islam, ABC International group, inc, Chicago.
Rahman, F. (1982) New Voices of Islam. Leiden: ISIM.
Sardar A. N, (1991)“Implementation of the Recommendations of the Four World Conferences on Muslim
Education in Bangladesh: Problems and Their Solutions,” Muslim Education Quarterly , Vol. 4, No. 4.1987. pp.
47‐49.
Triminghan , J.S. (1959) Islam in West Africa. London, Oxford University Press.
Huff , E.(2003), The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West, p. 218. Cambridge University
Press, ISBN 0521529948.
Watson,, A,(1983) (ed) The Legacy of Islam, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
Valerie,. G, (2002) "Universality and Modernity", The Ismaili United Kingdom, December p. 50‐53.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ICIWG‐11
SPATIAL DISPERSION AND ANALYSIS OF URBAN CRIMES OF SECURITY COMMITTED
AGAINST PROPERTY IN TURKEY
Sevil SARGIN , Kadir TEMURÇİN
Suleyman Demirel University,
Faculty of Art and Sciences, Geography Department
ssargin@fef.sdu.edu.tr , kkadir@fef.sdu.edu.tr
ABSTRACT
In Turkey, Police Department is responsible for urban crimes and General Command of Gendarmerie for rural
crimes. Urban criminal records, for which Directorate General of Security is responsible, are classified under
two headlines, that is, crimes against property and crimes against life. Firstly –in this work– total criminal data
were evaluated and dispersion analysis of crime rates for every 100.000 people was carried out by individual
cities. Then, the rate of crimes against property for every 100.000 people was evaluated by individual cities.
Classified under crimes against property, theft, seizure and other crimes were assessed separately and mapped
by individual cities. Thus, regions in which crimes against property are concentrated were determined. It was
determined that the rates of concentration have increased more in industrialized and urbanized regions. It was
observed, on the maps showing the dispersion of crimes against property by individual cities, that the rates of
crimes in Turkey have increased from the eastern side towards the western side and from the inner parts to
the coasts. In recent years, especially, the criminal concentration at the Mediterranean Riviera is quite
noticeable. The situation is the same in the cities of the Marmara Region, exposed to industrial activities and
migration. The result is parallel to the direction of internal migration in Turkey. Assessed from this aspect, it is
possible to state that the rates of crimes against property are rather high in the cities exposed to fast
urbanization, population increase and over‐migration. However, these are rough estimates. For healthier
results, particular and detailed studies are needed in the cities. It will help to decrease the criminal rates in
Turkey to evaluate the results of the studies from the aspects of society, economy, psychology and space.
KEY WORDS: Crime, Turkey, property, spatial dispersion.
1. METHOD
In the cases of crime in Turkey, the provincial and and subprovincial centers are in the responsibility of police
forces; the other areas are in the responsibility of the gendarme forces of Turkish Military. Turkish Statistical
Institute (TÜİK) assumes both provincial and subprovincial centers as cities regardless of their populations. This
means that the 70.5 percent of the current population of Turkey who settle down in urban areas are in the
zone of responsibility of the police forces and the 29.5 percent of the population who settle down in rural areas
are in the zone of responsibility of gendarme forces. Based on the data obtained from Turkish Statistical
Institute (TÜİK), the provincial and subprovincial centers are regarded as cities and only the crime incidents
against property which are in the authority of the police, Directorate General of Security (EGM), are in the
scope of this study. Crime map of each city displays only the results of the provinces and subprovinces obtained
from the analysis of the data available in the files of Directorate General of Security. Therefore, the crime
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
incidents against property that occurred in the rural parts of each province and subprovince are not included in
this study.
2. INTRODUCTION
Since people have begun to live together, every community set certain rules in order to live together and in
peace and harmony. The workings and functions of these rules change from one community to another as the
regions and the cultures dominating in these regions change. Every community has determined their own
rules, extents and boundries. The aim of these rules, which are the products and basis of a community, are to
provide public order, preserve and sustain it. However, they function in a different way in different
communities. We may come across these rules at different times as the rules set by a religion, traditions‐
customs, moral values or modern law. Even though modern law is at the center of modern communities, there
is no community where religion or traditions have lost influence completely. Wherever there are rules, there is
always a tendency to violate rules and to get off the right way of conduct, which is a normal phenomenon as
there is always a conflict between individuls‐society and nature. The result of this conflict often creates the
phenomenon of crime. This phenomenon has been studied for centuries. The phenomenon of crime can also
be said to be in the scope of geography, a science which studies relations between people and various
environments. Therefore, the science of geography studies settings where a crime is committed from a cause‐
effect point of view. While a study of this sort is being done, the principles of geography have been taken into
consideration; therefore, in this study, crime incidents committed in Turkey against property between 1995
and 2006. The percentage of crime for every 100.000 people has been mapped for each province. Provinces
with higher rate of crime against property have been analyzed in terms of their socioeconomical structures.
3. CONCEPT OF CRIME
Crime is a universal and common phenomenon from past to present. Crime whose history is as old as the
humanity will keep being side by side with the humanity in the future. As it is a social phenomenon, crime has
been the subject of various branches of sciences. Consequently, each branch of science defines crime in
accordance with its charecteristics. According to Dönmezer, crime is acts and behaviours which are regarded by
the legislative body as harmful or dangerous for the society(Dönmezer, 1994). The penal code defines crime as
acts which are subject to sanct ions by the law. In other words, crime is acts with negative results. Due to the
possibility of a criminal act by a potential perpetrator, sanctions other than punishment, such as prevention of
crime, may come up when essential(Demirbaş,2005). It was Jhering who made the most comprehensive
definition of crime: “ all kinds of acts against social life”(İçli,2007).
While defining phenomenon of crime, Durkheim uses the term “ Anomie”, which expresses disappearance of
accepted standards and of values as a consequence of deterioration in the existing norms. Ineffectiveness or
lack of social norms attenuate the ties that keep the individual and the society intact. Crime gets widespread as
“Anomie” invades parts of a society. Durkheim believes that industrialized societies go through such a
process(Bal,2004).
The common point of all the ideas mentioned above is that crime is a behaviour which deviates from the
accepted standards. What is considered as normal is obediance to the existing norms and rules. Disobediance
is seen as deviance from the existing norms. Concept of crime, which is studied by various branches of science,
such as criminology, law, sociology, geography, economics, anthropology, city planning etc., is gaining more
and more importance in fast changing world. As it is known, geography is a science as far as it has an influence
upon people living there. Geography generally studies the phenomenon of crime in the aspect of crime scene,
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
the factors leading to crime, scene relations (cause and effect), the distribution of crime nation by nation and
the pattern it follows in a community.
In this study, the great number of crime incidents committed against property in Turkey has been classified and
the range over the provinces is given. The data between 1995‐2006 years of Directorate General of Security
(EGM) have been used; thus, the the range of crime scenes in more than a decade on public security has been
done.
4. THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRIME IN TURKEY
The crime rate has been on the increase recently.According to the data, we have studied from 1995 on, the
rate of crime has increased on a great scale especially during the recent years. When we have a close look at
the crime incidents which occurred between 1995‐2006 no extraordinary change in the figures is seen until
2004‐2005. In certain periods, a significant increase can be seen; however, there is no increase or decrease in
some other periods. Even in some periods there has been a decrease in the rate of crime. To give an example,
in 1996, while the rate of crime rises 27.1 per cent compared to the previous year. In 1997,a significant change
can’t be seen. In the years 1999, 2000, and 2002, no rise is seen ; on the contrary, there is a drop compared to
the previous years. However, in the period after 2004, there appears a considerable increase, especially in 2005
the crime rate rises 38 per cent compared to the previous year. The real boom is, however, in 2006, when the
rate of crime rises 61 per cent compared to the previous year. As shown in table 1 while the number of crime
incidents is 487761 in 2005, it rises to 785516 in 2006. In this period, when a real boom in the rate of crime
occurs, a rise is seen both in the number of crime incidents committed against property( theft, burgling,
damaging property, selling or buying crime tools) and individuals( battery, robbery, blackmailing etc.)
Table 1. Development of crimes in Turkey
Years Against Individuals Against Total % Increase
Property
1995 ‐ ‐ 229513 ‐
1996 ‐ ‐ 291662 27,1
1997 ‐ ‐ 304147 4,3
1998 ‐ ‐ 304114 ‐0,1
1999 ‐ ‐ 280554 ‐7,7
2000 122043 137852 259895 ‐7,4
2001 138966 160623 299589 15,3
2002 140093 155735 295828 ‐1,3
2003 143802 178003 321805 8,8
2004 158241 195337 353578 9,9
2005 197996 289765 487761 38,0
2006 321676 463834 785510 61,0
Resource: EGM Istatistics, Ankara.
No detailed documents or records on the pre 2000 period are available in the archives of The General
Directorate of Security. The data from this period gives only the total crime rate. However, it is possible to
reach detailed data after 2000. The data available have been categorized as crime committed against property
and crime committed against individuals. When the period between 2000 and 2006 is analyzed, it is seen that
the number of crime incidents committed against property is higher in all cases. For example, in 2000, while
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
the number of crime incidents against individuals is 122043, the number of crime incidents against property is
137852 and this gap continue to get bigger in the following years. In 2004, the number of crime committed
against property is 195337, whereas the number of crime against individuals is 158241. When we come the
year 2006, a big boom is seen; the number of crime incidents against property is 463834, while it is 321676 for
individuals. As the data show, in 2000, the rate of crime against property is 53 per cent, and the rate of crime
against individuals is 47 per cent. However, in 2006, while the rate of crime against property rises to 59 per
cent, it drops to 41 per cent for individuals(Graphic 1‐2).
When we have a look at the periods between 1995 and 2006 we notice that the rate of crime changes greatly
from one province to another. To give an example, in 1995, the cities with the highest number of crime
incidents are Istanbul with 65012 incidents, Ankara with 32576, and Izmir with 15159 incidents. And this
remains the same in the years 2000 and 2006.However, there is a change in the number of crime incidents
because while Istanbul has 65012 incidents in 1995, it rises to 67299 in 2000 and to 192468 in 2006. As for
Ankara, 1995:32576, 2000:23059, 2006:58313.
However, the reason why the crime rate is higher in these cities compared to others is the higher number of
their population. As it is known, they are the most densely populated areas in Turkey. Therefore, if we do an
analysis without taking this into consideration, with only the mere crime incident numbers in mind, it will not
be a correct analysis.The fact that Bursa , Mersin, Konya, Adana, Kayseri, Diyarbakır and Manisa come after
İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir with little variations from one period to another explains that the rate of crime
rises as the population increases. Therefore, while evaluating crime committed in the urban areas .” number of
crimes for every 100.000 according to the map prepared on the basis of “sheer number of crimes
committed”,on the other maps which display the number of crime incidents for every 100.000 people , these
cities are not even among the first 10(Figure 1). Therefore, it is possible to suggest that the crowded areas are
not always the places where the most crime incidents occur.
Crimes
Crimes against
against individuals
Crimes individuals Crimes 41%
against 47% against
property property
53% 59%
Graphic 1: Range of crimes in Turkey (2000) Graphic 2: Range of crimes in Turkey (2006)
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Figure 1. Number of crimes in every 100.000 according to provinces (2006)
5. CRIMES COMMITTED AGAINST PROPERTY IN TURKEY
Under the title of crimes committed against property, various sorts of crime, from theft (auto, house,
workplace, government agency, bank, purse‐snatching, pickpocketing etc.), robbing (individual, bank,
workplace, house, etc.) and the other crimes (cheating, abuse of safety, damaging the property, crime of
informatics, intrusion to house,opposition to the government’s decisions, getting the object of crime, etc.) are
analysed.
During the years between 1995‐2006 in Turkey, it is seen that the number of crimes against property has been
higher than the crime against individuals. It is clear that rate of crime against property has increased over the
years. In 1995, while the figure was 96344, it rose to 125101 in 2000. In 2005, the figure was 289765, then it
rose to 463834 in 2006., which is a 62.5 per cent increase(Table 1‐2). Of the crime committed against property
in 2004, 69.2 is theft, 2.6 is robbery, 13.6 is other crime and 14.6 is unclassified crime but in 2006 theft rose to
75.9, robbery dropped to 1.9, other crime was 16.3 per cent and unclassified crime was 5.9 per cent. If the
number of fires and unclassified crimes are excluded from the total, the crimes against property in the year
2004 is composed of theft with 83 per cent, robbery with 3 per cent and the other crimes with14 per cent
while in the year 2006 out of all these crimes theft constitutes 82 per cent, robbery is with 2 per cent and the
other crimes are with 16 per cent(Graphic 3). Over the two years, there was a significant rise in theft.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Table 2. The Crimes Committed against Property and Individual in Turkey
KINDS OF CRIME 1995 2000 2004 2005 2006
Auto 14840 14954 24659 32051 31522
Out of auto 16170 25190 39705 68855
House 20451 33937 53932 85964
Workplace 21751 29919 43733 55967
Goevernment Agency 1376 2744 3579 4307
THEFT
Bank 74880 160 117 158 202
Animals 1907 886 1200
Picpocketing 5115 7168 11819
12012
Snatching 11689 18556 27946
Other 12239 35060 64166
Of individual out of Bank 1094 4265 6254 7778
Of Workplace 190 264 290 428
Of House 117 254 160 192
ROBBERY 1561
Getting one to sign
cheque‐bond by force 232 219 274 411
and Kidnapping
Cheating 3615 3179 5141 7528 12651
Abuse of safety 1496 3604 5162 8529
Damaging the property 3320 7037 14156 38267
Crime of informatics, 60 317 214 299
Intrusion to house 876 2010 1836 2093 3156
OTHERS Opposition to the
1608 4439 2804 3487
government’s decisions
Getting the object of
206 372 510 1055
crime
Fire 572 805 3875 4777 8248
Unclassifed crimes 28310 11671 28437 10715 27384
CRIMES IN TOTAL 229513 259895 353578 487761 785510
Resource: EGM Istatistics, Ankara.
OTHERS
16%
ROBBERY
2%
THEFT
82%
Graphic 3. Range of crimes against property in terms of kinds of crime(2006)
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
According to the data in 2006 by crime rate for every 100.000 people, Antalya ranks first, with 1995 crime
incidents, Denizli with 1843 incidents ranks second, Izmir with 1537 incidents ranks third and Kocaeli ranks
fourth with 1419 incidents. Mersin with 1391, Istanbul with 1294, Muğla with 1149, and Muğla, Adana, and
Diyarbakır with close figures follow(Figure 2).
As seen in figure 2 cities with the highest rate of crime committed against property are the ones located on the
agean and mediterranean coasts. These are the cities with a fast growing industrialization and urbanization.
Then come the industrialized cities located in the Marmara region: Istanbul, Kocaeli, Bursa etc. Likewise, in the
central anatolia Ankara, Eskişehir and Kayseri are important industrial and governmental centers. As a result,
the rate of urbanization is fast in these cities.
The cities with the lowest rate of crime committed against property are Şanlıurfa with 128, Şırnak with 156,
Mardin with 181, Gümüşhane with 199, Hakkari with 201, Bitlis with 225, Muş with 255, Bingöl with 263, and
Bilecik with 265 crime incidents(Table 3, Figure 2). It is clear that the cities in the southeastern Anatolia
excluding Diyarbakır (846) have the lowest number of crime incidents against property.
Table 3: Provinces with the highest and lowest crime rates committed against property in every 100.000(2006)
Provinces The highest crime rates Provinces The lowest crime
rates
ANTALYA 1995 ORDU 269
DENİZLİ 1843 BİLECİK 265
İZMİR 1537 BİNGÖL 263
KOCAELİ 1419 MUŞ 255
MERSİN 1391 BİTLİS 225
İSTANBUL 1294 HAKKARİ 201
ADANA 1244 GÜMÜŞHANE 199
MUĞLA 1149 MARDİN 181
ESKİŞEHİR 1072 ŞIRNAK 156
KAYSERİ 990 ŞANLIURFA 128
Resource: EGM Istatistics, Ankara.
Figure 2: Number of crimes in every 100.000 (against property‐2006)
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
a. THEF
Theft has always become the highest committed crime compared to all the other crimes in every period.
Moreover, it is observed that the rate of theft crimes has increased significantly in recent years. Between the
years 2004‐2006 the outstanding increase in theft crimes is remarkable. To give an example, in 2004 the the
number of theft crime in all over Turkey is 135277 though in 2006 it rose to 351948 by increasing nearly 3
times (% 260)
When the crimes are analysed in terms of kinds of theft, in 2004 the thefts occured in house with % 25 and
workplace with %22 rank first among all. Out of auto‐theft with %19, auto theft with %18, picpocketing with %
9 and snatching with % 4 follow. As for the year 2006, the rate of theft in workplace dropped to % 16, auto
theft to % 9, pickpocketing to % 8 and snatching to % 3 while out of auto‐theft rose to % 20 and there
happened any change in the rate of theft in house(Graphic 4)
Out of auto Goevernment
Workplace 20% Auto
Agency
16% 9%
1%
Bank
0%
B.veK.Baş Hayvan
House
0%
25%
Picpocketing
Diğer Hırs. Snatching 3%
18% 8%
Graphic 4: Range of Theft Crimes in terms of kinds of Crimes (2006)
According to the data in 2006 by theft rate for every 100.000 people, Antalya ranks first, with 1579 crime
incidents, Denizli ranks second with 1404 crime incidents, İzmir ranks third with 1294 crime incidents. Mersin
with 1141 incidents, Kocaeli with 1135 incidents, İstanbul with 1068 incidents, Adana with 1017 incidents,
Eskişehir with 814 incidents and Muğla with 764 incidents follow. As the first province with the lowest theft
crime rate for every 100.000 people, Şanlıurfa comes first. In Şanlıurfa the theft rate is 60 incidents for every
100.000 people in 2006. Gümüşhane with 61 theft incidents, Şırnak with 74 incidents, Hakkari, with 98
incidents, Bitlis with 109 incidents, Tunceli with 116 incidents and Ordu with 130 incidents, Sinop with 133
incidents, kastamonu with 141 incidents and Bingöl with 151 incidents follow. In the other provinces the
number of theft incidents for every 100.000 people goes increasingly(Figure 3.) Unfortunately, these results are
not compatible with the results in which only the number of crimes is analysed.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Figure 3: Theft Crimes for every 100.000 people (2006)
The point that should be considered is that the number of theft in the provinces growing fast due to the
economic factors such as tourism, industry, trade and subject to heavy migration is quite higher while the
number of theft in the provinces undeveloped, sparsely populated and emigrated rapidly is low. As it is
reflected in Figure 3., the Mediterrenean region, Aegean region, Ankara, Eskişehir, Kayseri and Diyarbakır have
the highest theft crime rate.
b. ROBBERY
Robbery crime, classified and studied in upper heading is among the crimes committed against property like
theft crime, and is handled in a detailed way with subheadings. It is defined as an action of getting one’s
property by fraud and force without taking permission or letting him know. (Turkish Language Institute, 1988,
524) The robbery crime in Turkey ranks the highest kind of crime among the ones against property. According
to the data presented by Directorate General of Security (EGM), under the heading of robbery, kinds of
robbery crime such as against individual (from bank), workplace, house, getting one to sign cheque‐bond by
force and kidnapping are classified. As happened in all the other kinds of crime, there is not enough retroactive
data on this kind of crime because the records have not been regularly kept.
According to the statistics in 2004 of Directorate General of Security (EGM), 5002 robbery incidents occured
totally in Turkey. As for the data in 2006, 8809 robbery incidents occurred. As it is seen, a substantial increase
in this kind of crime has also happened and the robbery crime rate in 2006 increased % 76 compared to the
year 2004.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Figure 4: Robbery Crimes for every 100.000 (2006)
When we have a look at the range of robbery crime rate city by city for every 100.000, Denizli ranks first with
the highest robbery crime rate for every 100.000 people, 44 robbery incidents. Niğde follows with 40 robbery
crime incidents, Karaman is with 39 robbery incidents, Antalya is with 37 robbery incidents and then İstanbul
follows with 30 robbery incidents. As for the provinces with the lowest robbery crime rate, Mardin comes first
with 1 incident and then Batman, Bolu, Çankırı, Hakkari, Şanlıurfa follow with 2 incidents and lastly Ardahan,
Bayburt, Çorum, Giresun, Konya and Trabzon follow with 3 robbery crime incidents(Figure 4).
When the sub categories of robbery crimes in 2004 and 2006 are anaylsed, robbery of individual has become
the most committed crime with %86 in both two years. Nevetheless, there is not change in the rate of robbery
of workplace, robbery of house has dropped from %5 to %2, and the rate of getting one to sign cheque‐bond
by force and kidnapping in 2006 compared to 2004 has risen from %4 to %5(Graphic 5).
Workplace
5%
Individual out of
Bank
88% House
2%
Graphic 5: Categories of Robbery Crimes According to Kinds of Crime(2006)
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
c. THE OTHER KINDS OF CRIME COMMITTED AGAINST PROPERTY
Besides theft and robbery among the crimes against property, there is one more category called as other
crimes in the data given by Directorate General of Security (EGM). Under the heading of “other crimes”, crimes
are classified into cheating, abuse of safety, damaging the property, crime of informatics, intrusion to house,
opposition to the government’s decisions, getting the object of crime, etc. Among all these crimes damaging
the property, cheating, opposition to the government’s decisions, abuse of safety alternately occur much more
than the others. According to the data of Directorate General of Security (EGM), 22746 other robbery crime
incidents occurred totally in 2004. In 2006, the number of crime incidents rose to 67444 with % 197 increase.
When the range of crimes for every 100.000 people city by city in 2006 such as cheating, abuse of safety,
damaging the property, crime of informatics, intrusion to house, opposition to the government’s decisions,
getting the object of crime under the heading of “other crimes” are examined, the province that these crimes
occurred most is Antalya with 292 crime incidents. Zonguldak ranks second with 286 incidents, Denizli ranks
third with 271. Muğla follows with 228 incidents, Balıkesir comes with 194, Mersin with 191 incidents, Bartın
with 189 incidents, Kocaeli with 188 incidents, Sakarya with 187 incidents, Uşak with 180 incidents. The
number keeps decreasing explicitly for the other provinces. The provinces with the lowest crime rate for every
100.000 people are Şırnak with 9 incidents, Gümüşhane with 16, Mardin with 20, Hakkari with 21, Şanlıurfa
with 23, Muş and Siirt with 26, and lastly Bitlis with 30 incidents. The number keeps increasing for the other
provinces(Figure 5).
Figure 5: The Other Crimes against Property for every 100.000 people (2006)
As it is seen in graphic 6, under the heading of the other crimes against property in 2006, damaging the
property has the utmost rank with %56. Cheating follow with %19, abuse of safety with %13, intrusion to house
with %5, opposition to the government’s decisions with %5, and getting the object of crime with %2. The
number of crime of informatics is too few to indicate in percentile.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Crime of informatics
0% Intrusion to house
5%
Damaging the
Opposition to the
property
government’s
56%
decisions
5%
Graphic 6: Categories of Other Crimes against Property According to Kinds of Crime (2006)
6. CONCLUSION
The rate of crimes against property in nearly every period in Turkey is higher than the rate of crimes against
individual. According to the data in 2006 of Directorate General of Security, The provinces with the highest
level of crime against property in Turkey are generally situated in the western side of the country. The
provinces with the highest crime (against property) level are Antalya, Denizli, İzmir, Kocaeli, Mersin, İstanbul,
Adana, Eskişehir and Kayseri. The other provinces except Denizli, Eskişehir ve Kayseri are located on Marmara,
Aegean and Mediterrenean coasts. The provinces with the lowest crime (against property) level are Ordu,
Bilecik, Muş, Bitlis, Hakkari, Gümüşhane, Mardin, Şırnak ve Şanlıurfa. All of them except Bilecik are situated in
the eastern part of Turkey and most of them are included in the Eastern Anatolia and South‐eastern Anatolia
regions.
As it is seen in the data, the rate of robbery crime against property in the provinces growing fast due to the
economic factors such as tourism, industry, trade and subject to heavy migration is quite higher while the rate
of robbery crime against property in the provinces undeveloped, sparsely populated, emigrated rapidly and
whose economy is based on agriculture and animal breeding and whose rural population is higher than urban
poulation is low.
Among the crimes committed against property, theft crime occurs more commonly. %82 of the crimes
committed against property is classified as theft, %2 of them is robbery and %16 is called as the other crimes.
Among the theft crimes, the most common crime is theft out of house with %25. The theft crime out of auto
with %20 and theft out of workplace with %16 follow. These ratios decrease for the other kinds of theft crimes.
The provinces that the theft crime occurs most are Antalya, Denizli, İzmir, Mersin, Kocaeli, İstanbul, Adana,
Eskişehir and Muğla. The provinces except Denizli, Eskişehir are located on Marmara, Aegean and
Mediterrenean coasts. The provinces with the lowest crime (against property) level are Şanlıurfa, Gümüşhane,
Mardin, Şırnak, Hakkari, Bitlis, Tunceli, Ordu, Sinop, Kastamonu, Bingöl. All of them except Kasramonu and
Sinop are situated in the eastern part of Turkey and most of them are included in the Eastern Anatolia and
South‐eastern Anatolia regions.
Robbery crime has 2 percent ration among the crimes against property. According to the data in 2006 of
Directorate General of Security, the provinces that robbery crime occured most are Denizli, Niğde, Karaman,
Antalya, and İstanbul. Mardin, Batman, Bolu, Çankırı, Şanlıurfa, Bayburt are the provinces with the lowest
robbery crime level.
Under the heading of the other crimes committed against property, cheating, abuse of safety, damaging the
property, crime of informatics, intrusion to house, opposition to the government’s decisions, getting the object
47
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
of crime are seen most commonly in Antalya, Zonguldak, Denizli, Muğla, Balıkesir, Mersin, Bartın. The lowest
crime levels are seen in Şırnak, Gümüşhane, Mardin, Hakkari, Şanlıurfa, Muş. Like theft and robbery crimes, the
rate of this kind of crime is higher in the western part of Turkey and lower in the eastern part of the country.
The provinces with the highest level of crime against property are the ones which have the highest
urbanization level such as Antalya, Denizli, İzmir, Kocaeli, Mersin, İstanbul, Muğla, Adana, Diyarbakır. Most of
those provinces situated on the Mediterrenean coast and in the Marmara region have high level of tourism
investment and industrialization, higher level of urban population than rural population and lastly have heavy
migration from smaller cities.
The provinces with the lowest level of crime against property are the ones, where the industrialization has not
improved and the urbanization level is quite low. Şanlıurfa, Gümüşhane, Bayburt, Bingöl, Bitlis, Şırnak, Mardin
rank at the first lines. In addition, these provinces are among the ones emigrated by the young and dynamic
population to bigger cities. All these provinces except Şanlıurfa have higher rural population rather than urban
population. Moreover, excluding Şanlıurfa the population of the provinces and subprovinces with the lowest
crime level is quite low and they are small cities. Therefore, the traditional lifestyle keeps existing there and the
social pressure and control increase. It is an influential factor upon the lower crime levels.
As it is understood from the evaluations done up to now, the factors leading to crime committment are
different in each city. Thus, considering the data of every provice it is not correct to make some
generalizations. It is necessary to determine cultural, demographic, social and economic criteria in order to
have more precise results. These precise results would be effective in taking careful and correct steps to
decrease crime rates in Turkey. Consequently;
1. The number of crimes against property in Turkey is higher in big cities. However, when the criteria of crime
level for 100.000 people is taken into consideration, the most criminal cities are not the most populated ones.
To give an example; İstanbul, the most crowded and cosmopolit city of Turkey, ranks 6th among the crimes
against property in 2006. Ankara, the second crowded city in Turkey, does not take place in the first ten
criminal city in the given data.
2. The crime level committed against property for 100.000 people, with some exceptions, generally increases
from east to west, from upcountry to sea fronts. This distribution bears, at the same time, some similarities to
the profile of internal immigration in Turkey.
3. While the number of crimes against property is higher in the industrialized big and moderate sized cities in
the process of industrialization, it decreases in the smaller cities.
4. Excluding Diyarbakır, the crime level in the cities in Eastern And South‐eastern Anatolian regions are the
lowest.
5. It is needed to do more detailed researches to make some generalizations about the regional distribution
of crimes. However, even just informing the security forces in the case of public security is an important factor
to change the number of crimes in records. Therefore, in some traditional and closed societies some crimes are
passed over among family members without informing security forces or by giving punishment by members of
family.
6. Many factors such as high level of unemployment in any province or subprovince, low level of education, or
the rate of consumed alcohol are influential upon the increasing crime level. Similarly, the disruption of socio‐
economic balance in any province due to the heavy immigration might affect the crime rates. These examples
can be enhanced with more specific ones.
7. Despite all these data Turkey is not a criminal country. According to the result of researches, England,
Holland, Denmark, Ireland and Estonia are the countries in Europe with the highest crime rates. Even Turkey is
on of the most secure countries among the developed and developing countries of the world.
48
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
RESOURCES:
Aliağaoğlu, A. (2007). Balıkesir Şehrinde Suçlar: Coğrafi Bir Yaklaşım(2005), Detay Yay., Ankara.
Bal, H. (2004).
Çocuk Suçluluğu (Kavramlar‐Kuramlar‐Saha Çalışmaları), Fakülte Kitabevi, Isparta Demirbaş, T. (2005).
Kriminoloji, Seçkin Yayıncılık, Ankara.
Dönmezer, S. (1994). Kriminoloji, Beta Yay., İstanbul.
Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü İstatistikleri, (1995‐2006). Ankara.
İçli, T.G. (1991). Türkiye’de Suçluların Sosyal Kültürel ve Ekonomik Özellikleri, Semih Ofset Matbaacılık, Ankara.
İçli, T.G. (2007). Kriminoloji, Hukuk Kitapları Dizisi:787, Yedinci Baskı, Seçkin Yay., Ankara.
Karakaş, E. (2004). “Elazığ Şehri’nde Hırsızlık Suç Dağılışı ve Özellikleri”, Fırat Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi,
14(1), s.19‐37, Elazığ.
Sargın, S. & Temurçin, K. (2009). “Türkiye’de Suçlar ve Mekansal Dağılışı”, 24‐27 Eylül 2009 Uluslararası Davraz
Kongresi, Isparta.
Sargın, S. & Temurçin, K. (2009). Türkiye’nin Suç Coğrafyası‐Şehir Asayiş Suçları, Beyaz Kalem Yayınevi, Ankara
Tümertekin, E. & Özgüç, N. (1997). Beşeri Coğrafya: İnsan, Kültür, Mekân, Çantay Kitabevi İstanbul.
Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu, 1990‐2000 Genel Nüfus Sayımları, Ankara.
Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu, 2007 Adrese Dayalı Nüfus Kayıt Sistemi Nüfus
Sayım Sonuçları, Ankara.
Yılmaz, A. & Günay Ergün, S. (2006). “Türkiye’de Şehir Asayiş Suçları: Dağılışı ve Başlıca Özellikleri”, Milli Eğitim
Eğitim ve Sosyal Bilimler Derg., S.170, s.230, Ankara.
49
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ICIWG‐12
STATE OF WATER SUPPLY SOURCES AND SANITATION IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATIONS ON
MUSLIMS IN IKARE – AKOKO TOWNSHIP
*AYENI, Amidu Owolabi, **Soneye Alabi S.O. and **Balogun Idowu I.
(*PhD Student, **PhD and Senior Lecturer)
Department of Geography, University of Lagos, Akoka‐ Lagos, Nigeria
E‐mail: ayeniao2000@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Access to sanitation and water supply is a fundamental need and a human right. It is vital for the life, health,
and dignity of the people. According to World Health Organization (WHO and UNICEF 2005), the improved
water supply and adequate sanitation will result in 25 to 33 per cent reduction in diarrhea diseases in the
developing world, which accounts for 4 billion cases each year; decreased incidence of intestinal worm
infestation which leads to malnutrition, anemia and retarded growth, and controlling blindness due to
trachoma and schistosomiasis which are also water related. In Nigeria, population with access to improved
water supply and sanitation still less than 50%. This varies from urban to rural communities and from cities to
villages. Ikare – Akoko is one of the towns that suffered from improved water supply and sanitation.
Ikare‐Akoko, a town located in the Yoruba cultural region in southwestern Nigeria. The town is the
headquarters of Akoko North‐East Local Government and has a substantial Muslim population with several
mosques and Muslim organizations. The architectural style of the city incorporates both Portuguese and Arabic
styles. In Ikare ‐ Akoko, Southwest Nigeria, safe water supply only reach one in every six of the 116,000 (one
hundred and sixteen thousands) inhabitants of the town comprising of about 70,000 (seventy thousands)
Muslims.
This study was carried out to establish the implications of unsafe water supply sources and poor sanitation on
Muslims in Ikare – Akoko Township, Nigeria. A total of 220 questionnaires were administered, involving 20
respondents in eleven (11) mosques within the traditional communities. The study revealed that the main
sources of water for domestic purposes using by the Muslims were unprotected wells and ponds. In the study
area, about 68% Muslims still depends on open defecation while 20% and 2% depends on latrines and water
closet system, respectively. Interestingly, the proportions of respondents that reported occurrence of malaria
and diarrhea cases amongst Muslims in Ikare ‐ Akoko within the last one year were 63.2% and 37.5%,
respectively. These findings show that availability of unsafe water and poor sanitary environment is a serious
problem among muslims in Ikare ‐ Akoko and this may have serious consequences on public health.
KEY WORDS: Water supply, Sanitation, Muslims and Ikare – Akoko Township
INTRODUCTION
According to WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Drinking‐water Supply and Sanitation (2008), every
day, over 2.5 billion people suffer from inadequate access to improved sanitation with almost 1.2 billion
practice open defecation. Getting water supplies to sustain socio‐cultural life and sustainability in most Nigeria
communities is a daily struggle. While those in urban areas often get their water by queuing for hours,
sometimes for over 30 minutes to buy water from private commercial boreholes. In most of the rural
communities people get their domestic water from highly polluted streams and rivers (Itama et al, 2006).
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Improving the situation and creating sustainable access to water supplies and improve sanitation is no doubt a
major development challenge that should be given the utmost priority attention. A background analysis reveals
either insincerity on the side of government or outright corruption by all those responsible for project
implementation and fund release. On the other hand, environmental factors can influence disease occurrence
quite directly by acting on the agent or perhaps frequently act directly by influencing the agent host
relationship (Valerie et al, 2000). Man vulnerable to such disease central to socio‐economic development which
further depends on the natural resource usage e.g water usage, population density, types and level of the
economy, stage of social and political organization, and cultural and scientific development.
Nevertheless, in order to improve the water supply services on the foregoing scenario in most Islamic
communities in Nigeria, it is germane to alleviate the traditional problems of decaying water treatment plants
and water pipes, capacity, poor quality and insufficient quantity of water supply; lack of human resources
capacity as a result of non‐technical factors. This paper focuses on water supply shortages and sanitation and
its implication on Muslims in Ikare – Akoko, Southwest‐Nigeria.
THE STUDY AREA
The study area lies between longitudes 50 44’00”and 50 46’30”East, and latitudes 70 31’00” and 70 32’30”north
of the Equator (Fig. 1). The area extent covers about 32.26km2 with total population of about 126,625
according to the 2006 Census (FOS, 2007). Ikare ‐ Akoko is located in the Yoruba cultural region and has a
substantial Muslim population with several mosques and Muslim organizations. Arabic influences were
incorporated in the 19th century with the diffusion of Islamic culture southward across the Sahara. Ikare –
Akoko is about 300km from Lagos and about 365km from Abuja (Federal Capital Territory). It falls within sub‐
tropical climate with annual rainfall of over 150cm. The area experiences high temperature ranging from 300C
to 380C and dominated by rain forest vegetation (FEPA 1998; Iloeje 1977 and Barbour et al, 1982). Basement
Complex Rock characterized the rock formation of the area and drained by River Ose tributaries which are
seasonal in characteristics (Iloeje 1977 and Barbour et al, 1982).
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Fig. 1: Study Area
SAMPLING PROCEDURES
Questionnaire and field observation were mainly used for this study. A total of two hundred and twenty (220)
questionnaires were administered in eleven mosques, involving 20 respondents within the traditional
communities which are Ekan/Oyinmo, Igbede, Ilepa, Iku, Odeyare/Okeruwa, Odoruwa, Odo/Iyame, Okegbe,
Okela, Okoja and Okorun. The questionnaire was design to capture information on gender status, sources of
water, distance from mosque and average litres using for ablution and general cleaning (Tahara) and major
diseases experienced amongst Muslim in the area. Oral interviews were also conducted with public health
officer and other stake holders which include community leaders and Imam of each community mosque. The
data were analyzed descriptively.
On the other hand, water samples were collected from eleven (11) major community’s surface water using by
Muslims during the dry season. The water samples were collected using cleaned 1000 cm3 polythene bottles
and analyzed for the following: pH, temperature and DO were measured with a portable in‐situ instruments
while BOD, TSS, TDS, Turbidity, TH, Ca+, Ma2+, Cl‐, NO3‐, PO43‐, Oil & grease, Total Bacterial Counts (TBC) and
Total Coliform (TC) were analyzed in the laboratory using standard methods for water samples examination
(American Public Health Association, 1998).
RESULTS
The age of the respondents ranges between 18 to 74 years of which male and female accounted for 77.27%
and 22.73% respectively. The majority of the respondents were Yorubas by tribe constituting 93.5% of all
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Table 1: Result of laboratory analysis of surface water (ponds) samples using for domestic purposes
Pond's Names
Colour (TCU)
BOD (Mg/l)
Temp. (0C)
Traditional
TSS (Mg/l)
DO (Mg/l)
Northing
Quarters
Easting
S/n
pH
WHO Min 6.5
2 Ekan/Oyinmo 7.50902 5.74883 Gurusi Colourless 7.1 19.6 1.5 11 12
6 Iku 7.5174 5.74188 Isun Colourless 6.8 25.6 3.5 9.5 11
8 Okegbe 7.52222 5.73413 Igbarake Colourless 7.1 26.7 5.1 2.5 10
10 Okeruwa 7.51657 5.7477 Ogbogi Colourless 6.5 21.7 4.1 3.9 15
WHO Max 8.5
Po4³⎯ (Mg/l)
Oil & grease
TBC (cfu/ml
Ca²+ (Mg/l)
NO3 (Mg/l)
TDS (Mg/l)
TC (cfu/ml
Mg (Mg/l)
TH (Mg/l)
Turbidity
Cl (Mg/l)
(Mg/l)
(Mg/l)
x10 )
x10 )
6
6
30 75 200 5
74.5 0 136 90 46 20 0.09 5.7 0.06 1.23 0
50.4 0.04 48 28 20 12 0.07 4.6 0.04 1.47 0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Omiidu WHO Min
Omiidu
Omiidu
Gurusi
Gurusi
Gurusi
Alapoti
Alapoti
Figure 2a: pH
Alapoti
Isayen
Isayen
Isayen
Agbo Ilepa
Agbo Ilepa Agbo Ilepa
Arungiya
Arungiya Arungiya
Igbarake
Figure 2c: Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
Igbarake Igbarake
Oroki
Figure 2e: Total Suspended Solid (TSS)
Oroki Oroki
Ogbogi
Ogbogi Ogbogi
Adangbara
Adangbara Adangbara
WHO Max
55
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
14 – 16 April 2010
Isayen
Isayen Isayen
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Agbo Ilepa
Agbo Ilepa Agbo Ilepa
Figure 2b: Temperature
Isun
Isun Isun
Arungiya
Arungiya Arungiya
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
Igbarake
Igbarake Igbarake
Oroki
Figure 2f: Total Dissolved Solid (TDS)
Oroki Oroki
Ogbogi
Ogbogi Ogbogi
Adangbara
Figure 2d: Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
WHO Min Omiidu
WHO Min
Alapoti Alapoti
Isayen
Isayen Isayen
Agbo Ilepa
Isun Isun
Arungiya
Arungiya Arungiya
Igbarake
Igbarake Igbarake
Fig 2g: Turbidity
Oroki
Oroki Oroki
Figure 2k: Chloride (Cl‐)
Ogbogi
Ogbogi
Fig 2i: Calcium Hardness (Ca+)
Ogbogi
Adangbara
Adangbara Adangbara
56
0
50
100
150
200
250
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
WHO Min Omiidu WHO Min
14 – 16 April 2010
Gurusi Gurusi
Alapoti
Alapoti Alapoti
Isayen
Isayen Isayen
Agbo Ilepa
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Isun Isun
Arungiya
Arungiya Arungiya
Igbarake
Igbarake Igbarake
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
Oroki
Fig 2l: Nitrate (NO3+)
Oroki
Oroki
Fig 2h: Total hardness (TH)
Ogbogi
Ogbogi
Ogbogi
Fig 2j: Magnesium Hardness (Mg2+)
Adangbara Adangbara
Adangbara
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Fig 2m: Phosphate (PO4³ ) Fig 2n: Oil and grease
9 3.5
8
3
7
2.5
6
5 2
4
1.5
3
1
2
0.5
1
0 0
Gurusi
Alapoti
Oroki
Ogbogi
Omiidu
Isayen
Agbo Ilepa
Isun
WHO Max
Arungiya
Igbarake
Adangbara
Omiidu
Isayen
Arungiya
Gurusi
Alapoti
Oroki
Ogbogi
Agbo Ilepa
Isun
WHO Max
Igbarake
Adangbara
Fig 2o: Total Bacterial Counts and Total Coliforms
1.6
TBC TC
1.4
1.2
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Omiidu
Isayen
Agbo Ilepa
Isun
Arungiya
Igbarake
Adangbara
Gurusi
Alapoti
Oroki
Ogbogi
DISCUSSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
Hygienically, drinking water should be colourless, tasteless, odourless and free from substances which may be
due to the presence of organic matter (Rim‐Rukeh, Ikhifa and Okokoyo 2006; Fasunwon, Ayeni and Lawal,
2010). Taste and odour may develop during storage and distribution which might be an indication of the
presence of potentially harmful substances (Rim‐Rukeh, Ikhifa and Okokoyo 2006). The implications of these
findings are breakdown in personal hygiene with frequent increase in water diseases, which kills millions of
people each year. These water diseases also denied hundreds of people from having access to healthy lives.
TDS influence other qualities of water such as taste, hardness, corrosion properties and may result in gastro‐
intestinal irritation (WHO 1993 and 2006; Akinwumi, 2000 and Mendie, 2007). The high concentration of TH in
drinking water may cause hardening of bile duct (cholethiasis) and hyper‐calcification of bone and skeletal
tissues leading to stunted growth in children (Mendie, 2007). Presence of Mg+ salts in drinking water may cause
water hardness impairment on health e.g. heart and kidney diseases (Mendie, 2007). Excessive Cl‐ above
250mg/l gives rise to salty taste in drinking water and lead to heart and kidney diseases (Paul, 2000; WHO
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
2006, Ojosipe, 2007 and Mendie, 2007). High concentrations of phosphates conflicts with health (EPA 1985).
Oil and grease result to colouration and unpalatable taste and may cause serious problems in sludge digestion
when over consumed (Ojosipe, 2007).
Diarrhea disease, dysentery, meningitis especially of the new born, toxaemia, dehydration, nausea, vomiting,
inflammation and ulceration of the intestine, urinary tract infections and Typhoid fever are common
implication associated with drinking water contaminate with TBC and TC (WHO 1993 & 2006, Powell et al,
2002 and Kazmi, 2004).
Response from respondents on diseases incidence revealed that about 61.7% have experienced one or more
diseases in their life time. This was confirmed from field observation and interview results as reported by
Imams, public health officer and other community stake holders. Diarrhea, dysentery, nausea, vomiting,
inflammation and ulceration of the intestine and typhoid fever are the most common diseases experienced
among the sampled Muslims. According to them children less than seven (7) years and old age adults are the
major victims of diarrhea incidence in Ikare‐Akoko, Southwest‐Nigeria.
CONCLUSION
The average daily access and domestic water use per person in Ikare ‐ Akoko was far less than the international
safe water requirements of 50 litres per capita day (Gleick, 1996). About 85% of the sampled Muslims in Ikare ‐
Akoko were of the opinion that the water supply was inadequate to meet population domestic needs. This
strengthening the fact that majority of sampled Muslims do not have access to safe water provision to
eradicate water diseases and improve their qualities of life. Lastly, the presence of high concentration of some
physic‐chemical and microbial (TBC and TC) in the sampled water (ponds) using for domestic purposes
especially ablution and general cleaning (Tahara) by Muslims in Ikare – Akoko rendered the sampled water
unsafe and the continuous use will put the health of the residents at a very high risk particularly the Muslims
who can do without clean water before observing prayers (Salat).
REFERENCES
Akinwumi, F.O. (2000). “Aquatic Lives and the Environmental Changes” incontemporary Issue in Environmental
Studies Jimoh H.I and I.P Ifabiyi (eds), Ilorin,
APHA, (1998). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, American Public Health
Association, 20th Edition, Washington DC Pg 4 ‐ 144
Barbour, J., S. Oguntoyinbo, J. O. C. Onyemelukwe and J. C. Nwafor (1982). Nigeria in Maps, London, Hodder
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EPA (1985). Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Ammonia. EPA‐440/5‐85‐001, United States Environmental
Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. cited in Water Quality Requirements prepared by Ute S. E., R. E.
Enderlein and W. P. Williams http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/resourcesq
Fasunwon, O. O., A. O. Ayeni and A. O. Lawal (2010). A Comparative Study of Borehole Water Quality from
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Sciences, 4 (3): 327‐335, Online: http://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=rjes.2010.327.335
Federal Office of Statistics (2007). Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette, States (National and State
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FEPA (1998). Ondo & Ekiti States Environmental Action Plan: A World Bank Assisted Project, Lagos, AIM
Consultants Ltd.
Gleick, P. (1996). Basic water requirements for human activities: Meeting basic needs. International 21(2):83‐
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Iloeje, N.P. (1977). A New Geography of Nigeria, Ibadan, Longman Nigeria Ltd.
Itama, E., I. O. Olaseha, and M. K. C. Sridhar (2006). Springs as supplementary potable water supplies for inner
city populations: a study from Ibadan, Nigeria Urban Water Journal, 3(4), 215 ‐ 223
Kazmi,S.S.(2004). A Prospective Study of Local Drinking Water Quality and its Impact on Health. Unpublished
Ph.D. diss., QuaidiAzam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Mendie, U. E. (2007). Water Parameters and Effect on Health, 6th Mandatory Training Workshop on Water.
Institute of Public Analysist of Nigeria (IPAN)
Ojosipe, B. A. (2007). Water and Waste Water Analysis: Mandatory Training Workshop on Water. Institute of
Public Analysist of Nigeria (IPAN)
Paul, F.H. (2000). Sulphate and Chloride Concentration in Texas Aquifer in Environmental International Ruth E.A
, (ed) USA, Pergamon Publishing
Powell, K.L., A.A. Cronin, S. Pedley and M.H.Barrett (2002). Microbiological Quality of Groundwater in UK Urban
Aquifers: Do we know enough, Groundwater Quality: Natural and Enhanced Restoration of Groundwater
Restoration (Proceedings of the Groundwater Quality 2001Conference held at Sheffield, UK, June 2001). IAHS
Publ. No 275, 91 – 96
Rim‐Rukeh, A., O. G. Ikhifa and A. P. Okokoyo (2006). Effects of Agricultural Activities on the Water Quality
of Orogodo River, Agbor‐Nigeria. Journal of Applied Sciences Research 2(5), 256‐259
USGS (2006). Common water measurements Page Last Modified: Monday, 28‐Aug‐2006
14:56:21 EDT (Electronic version). http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/characteristics.html
Valerie, C., S. Cairncross and R. Yonli (2000). Review: Domestic hygiene and diarrhea – pinpointing the
problem. Tropical Medicine and International Health 5 (1), 22–32
WHO (1993). Guidelines for Drinking‐Water Quality, Volume 1, Recommendations 2nd edition, World Health
Organization, Geneva.
WHO (2006). Guidelines for Drinking‐Water Quality, Volume 1, Recommendations 1st Addendum to 3rd
edition, World Health Organization, Geneva (Electronic version).
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/gdwq3rev/en/index.ht ml
WHO and UNICEF (2005). Water for Life – Make it Happen, WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for
Water Supply and Sanitation, Decade for Action 2005 – 2015, Geneva
WHO and UNICEF (2008). Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: Special Focus on Sanitation. Joint
Monitoring Programme Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) UNICEF, New York
and WHO, Geneva
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ICIWG‐14
ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION IN THE LIGHT OF ISLAMIC TEACHINGS
Dr. Syed Sultan Shah
Chairperson, Dept. of Islamic Studies.GC University Lahore
Currently,Post Doc Fellow,Deptt. of Theology & Religious Studies,University of Glasgow,UK.
drsultangcu@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT
The word environment is derived from an old French word “environ” means encircle. In real world everything
that affects an organism during its lifetime is collectively known as environment. As a term it is very widely
used and means different things to different people. It is used in management literature to refer to the external
environment in which the organization functions. Ecologically, environment refers to the sum of all the external
conditions and influences affecting the life and development of organisms.
CLEANLINESS IN ISLAM
Verily, God loves those who turn unto Him in repentance, and He loves those who keep themselves pure. 1
About the mosque it has been said:
In it are men who love to purify themselves. God loves the purifiers. 2 And your garments keep free from stain!
And all abomination (pollution) shun! 3
O you who believe! When you rise up for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly
rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to ankles. And if you are unclean, purifies themselves. 4
Ibrahim and Isma‘il were covenanted :Purify My house for those who perform tawaf(walk around) ,and those
who will abide near it in meditation, and those will bow down and prostrate[in prayer]. 5
1. The Holy Qur’ān,al‐Baqrah 2:222
2.The Holy Qur’ān,Taubah 9:108
3. The Holy Qur’ān,al‐Muddaththir 74:4‐5
4. The Holy Qur’ān,al‐Ma’idah 5:6
5. The Holy Qur’ān,al‐Baqrah 2:125
It is reported that the Prophet (peace be on him) said:
"Cleanse yourself, for Islam is cleanliness." 4 (Reported by Ibn Hayyan.)
"Cleanliness invites toward faith, and faith leads its possessor to the Garden. 4 (Reported by al‐Tabarani.)"
The Prophet (peace be on him) placed a great emphasis on keeping the body, clothing, houses, and streets
clean, and he laid special stress on cleaning the teeth, hands, and hair.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: Cleanliness(al‐tahur) is half of faith(al‐Iman)4. Sahih
Muslim,Kitab al‐Taharah,Chapter XCIII, Hadith432
Cleanliness is a part of the faith(al‐Iman) 4
God is good and likes what is fragrant; clean(your courtyard) and likes cleanliness; generous and likes
generosity; munificent and likes munificence ;so cleanse ,and do not imitate the Jews. 4
Tirmadhi/Miskat al‐Masabih,BookXXI‐ libas,Chapter 4, part 3 3:939
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According to another hadith he said, “Cleanse your courtyard.” 4
Tirmadhi/Miskat al‐Masabih,BookXXI‐ libas,Chapter 4, part 3 3:938‐9
Sweep your courtyard and do not be like the Jews. 4
Al‐Kulaini,al‐Kafi,vol.6,p.531
Allah’s Apostle disliked spitting here and there because it pollutes the atmosphere around. It has been
reported that when he saw some nasal secretions, expectoration or sputum on the wall of mosque, he took a
gravel and scraped it off. 4 He did not ask any other to do this cleansing so that it will become his sunnah for his
followers. According to another hadith,he said: Spitting in the mosque is a sin and its expiation is to burry it
Sahih al‐Bukhari,Kitab al‐Salat,Chapter 34,Hadith 402;Chapter 33,Hadith 401
Ibid,Chapter 37,Hadith 407; Sahih Muslim,Kitab al‐Salat,Chapter CCVII,Hadith 1125
Moreover, Islam instructed Muslims to maintain the cleanliness of the roads and streets. This is considered a
charity to ridding the streets of impurities and filth. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) strictly warned against it
and considered it one of the reasons to provoke Allah's curse and the people's curse, saying: "Beware of the
three acts that cause others to curse you: relieving yourselves in a watering place, on foot paths or shaded
places." 4 (Abu Dawud, No 26)
A man came to the Prophet (peace be on him) wearing cheap‐looking garments. "Do you have property?" the
Prophet (peace be on him) asked him. "Yes," the man replied. "What kind of property?" asked the Prophet
(peace be on him). "Allah has given me all kinds of wealth," he said. The Prophet (peace be on him) then said to
him, "Since Allah has given you wealth, let Him see the effects of His favor and bounty upon you.''4 (Reported
by al‐Nisai.)
The Messenger of Allah forbade to urinate in stagnant water.He said: “None amongst you should urinate in
standing water, and then(you may need to) wash in it.” 4
Bukhari,Kitab al‐Ishribah,,Chapter 72,Hadith239/
(Muslim,Book of Purification,Chapter CXII,Hadith 553 554)
Bukhari has narrated on the authority of Abu Hurairah that the Prophet said: “None of you must wash in
standing water when he is in a state of junub(defiled due to emission of seminal fluid).” 4 (Muslim,Book of
Purification,Chapter CXIIi,Hadith 556 )
Water is used for ablution, washing and drinking purpose; it is, therefore, essential that it should be kept clean
from all kinds of impurities. Special care must be taken in case of standing and stagnant water, because any
impurity added to it would not be washed away. The Holy Prophet has, therefore, forbidden to urinate in
standing water and has prohibited the Muslims to wash themselves in such water in which the people are
accustomed to urinate. It may also be added that urination even in flowing water is not desirable and this evil
practice must be avoided.
Siddiqi,Abdul Hamid(tr.),Sahih Muslim(Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf ,1993)vol.1,pp167‐68
Anas b. Malik narrated that a a desert Arab stood in a corner of the mosque and urinated there. The people
shouted, but the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: Leave him alone. When he had finished, the
Messenger of Allah(peace be upon him) ordered that a bucket(of water) should be brought and poured over
it4.
(Muslim,Book of Purification,Chapter CXIV,Hadith 558,557, 559)
According to another hadith the Prophet(peace be upon him)further said: These mosques are not the places
meant for urine and filth, but are only for the remembrance of Allah, prayer and the recitation of the Qur’an.
Sahih Muslim,Kitab al‐Taharah,Chapter CXIV,Hadith 559
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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Abu Hurairah reported :The Messenger of Allah(peace be upon him) said: Be on your guard against two things
which provoke cursing. They (the hearers)said: Messenger of Allah, what are those things which provoke
cursing? He said: Easing on the thoroughfares (where people walk)or under the shades(where they take shelter
and rest). 4
(Muslim,Book of Purification,Chapter CVI,Hadith 516)
Mu‘dh reported God’s Messenger as saying, “Guard against three things which provoke cursing: relieving
oneself in watering‐places,in the middle of roads,and in the shade.” 4
This hadith has been narrated by Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah Mishkat al‐Masabih, Book 3,Chapter 3,Part 2
1:76
The Propet(peace be upon him) said: When one of you drinks,he must not breathe into the vessel.
Mishkat al‐Masabih, Book 3,Chapter 3,Part 1 1:74/Part 2,1:75
The Prophet(peace be upon him) used to take three breaths while drinking. 4
Bukhari,Kitab al‐Ishribah,,Chapter 25,Hadith535
Abu Ayyub,Jabir and Anas said that when this verse(ix:108)came down “In it are men who love to be purified,
and God loves those who purify themselves,” God’s Messenger said, “God has praised you Ansar for
purification. What does your purification consist of? ”They replied, “We perform ablution for prayer, wash
after seminal emission, and cleanse ourselves with water.” He said, “That is it, so keep on doing it.” 4
Ibn Majah /. Mishkat al‐Masabih, Book 3,Chapter 3,Part 3 1:77
Abu Hurairah reported:Five are the acts of fitrah :circumcision, shaving the pubes, clipping the moustache,
cutting the nails, depilating the hair under the armpits. 4
Bukhari,Kitab al‐Wudu,,Chapter 64,Hadith779/(Muslim,Book of Purification,Chapter CIII,Hadith 496)
The Prophet insisted that people come to general gatherings, such as the Friday and the 'Eid prayers, nicely
dressed and well‐groomed. He said, If you can afford it, it is befitting that you wear garments other than your
working clothes to Friday prayer. 4 (Reported by Abu Daoud.)
Once a man approached the Prophet (peace be on him) with his hair and beard disheveled. The Prophet (peace
be on him) made some gestures as if asking the man to comb his hair. He did so, and when he returned the
Prophet (peace be on him) said to him,
"Is not this better than that one should come with disheveled hair, looking like a devil?" 4 (Reported by Malik in
Al‐Muwatta.; Mishkat al‐Masabih, Book Clothing,Chapter 3,Part 3 3:938
On another occasion the Prophet (peace be on him) saw a man with unkept hair and remarked,
"Does he have nothing with which to comb his hair?" (Reported by Abu Daoud.)
When God’s messenger was in the mosque a man whose head and beard were dishevelled entered, and God’s
Messenger pointed his hand at him as though he were ordering him to arrange his hair and beard. When he
had done so and returned, God’s Messenger said, “Is this not better than that one of you should come with his
head dishevelled,as though he were a devil?" 4 Miskat al‐Masabih,BookXXI‐ libas,Chapter 4, part 3 3:938
Upon seeing another man with dirty clothes he remarked,
"Cannot he find anything with which to wash his clothes?" 4 (Reported by Abu Daoud.)
Anas reported Allah’s Messenger(Allah be pleased with him)as saying: Never does a Muslim plant trees or
cultivate land and birds or a man or a beast eat out of them but that is a charity on his behalf.
Sahih Muslim,Kitab al‐Buyu‘,ChapterDCXI,Hadith3769,3766,3767
Jabir(Allah be pleased with him)reported Allah’s Messenger(may peace be upon him)as saying: Never a Muslim
plants a tree, but he has the reward of charity for him, for what is eaten out of that is charity; what is stolen
out of that ,what the beasts eat out of that, what the birds eat out of that is charity for him.(In short)none
incurs a loss to him but it becomes a charity on his part.
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Sahih Muslim,Kitab al‐Buyu‘,ChapterDCXI,Hadith3764
The oft quoted Hadith mandate on this point is in the following verse:
"He who cuts a lote‐tree (without justification), God will send him to Hellfire." 4
Tirmadhi,Hadith 5239
The lote‐tree grows in the desert and it is very much needed in an area which has scarce vegetation.
A well known Muslim theologian Dr. Al‐Qaradawi is of the view that this Hadith provides us with the most vivid
illustration in terms of protecting the natural resources and preserving the balance that exists between the
diverse elements of nature in the environment. : Al‐Qaradawi, al‐Sunnah Masdaran Lil‐Ma'rifah wal‐Hadarah,
143‐144
When Abu Musa was sent to Al‐Basrah as the new governor, he addressed the people saying:
"I was sent to you by 'Umar Ibn Al‐Khattab in order to teach you the Book of your Lord [i.e. the Quran], the
Sunnah of your prophet, and to clean your streets." 4 Al‐Darimi,560
The function of the governor who represents the authority of the state, in the narration about Abu Musa, tends
to establish that keeping the environment clean is amongst the responsibilities of the Administration. This
position should be highlighted, because it obligates the governments as much as the Muslims themselves to
keep their civic environments and amenities clean and
The Prophet (Pbuh) told Ayesheh: Wash these two robes. Are you not aware that free of pollution. our clothes
worship God as long as they are clean and will stop doing so once they become dirty? 4 [Mizan al‐Hikmat, v.10,
p.94]
Cleanliness is half of faith. 4 [Mizan al‐Hikmat, v.5, p.558]
The Prophet (Pbuh) was so pure and clean that Ali introduced him as the cleanest and the purest and asked all
the people of the world to use the Prophet (Pbuh) as a model for cleanliness and purity of body and soul.
Follow the example of your Prophet who is the cleanest and purest creature in existence. In fact, he is a model
for anyone who wishes to follow him in all issues related to living. 4 [Nahj ul‐Balaghah, Sermon 160]
The Prophet (Pbuh) said: In fact God is pure, He likes the pure. He is clean, He likes the clean. 4 [Mizan al‐
Hikmat,v.10,p.92]
See how important cleaning is that there is a mention of it in God's presence.
The Commander of the Faithful (Pbuh) said: Wash yourselves free of any bad, disturbing odors with water, and
be responsible for yourself.
In fact, God the Almighty is angry with those who are so filthy that others do not like their company. [Ibid]
The Prophet (Pbuh) said: Clean your body, God will clean you.
In fact there is no one who spends the night clean, and is not accompanied by an angel. And no hour of the
night is passed without the angel saying: O' God, please forgive your servant since he spent the night while
being clean. [Ibid]
The Prophet (Pbuh) said: The human body is filthy. [Ibid]
He also said: Filthy people perish. 4 [Ibid]
Jaber, the son of Abdullah Ansari has been narrated as saying: The Prophet (Pbuh) saw a man with badly
disheveled hair. He asked him: Did he not find anything to comb his hair with? He saw another person with
filthy clothes. He shouted: Did he not find any water to wash his clothes? [Ibid]
Hazrat Baqir (Pbuh) said: Sweeping your houses will eliminate poverty. 4 [Mizan al‐Hikmat, v.10, p.93]
Tirmadhi/Miskat al‐Masabih,BookXXI‐ libas,Chapter 4, part 3 3:938‐9
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Abu Hurayrah told that when the Prophet(peace be upon him) sneezed he covered his face with his hand or
his garment, lessening the noise in this way.
Miskat al‐Masabih,BookXXIV,Chapter 4, part 2 3:991
The prophet(peace be upon him) has forbidden to eat garlic, onions ,and anything of offensive smell while
coming to a public place like mosque. According to him the odour of garlic was repugnant to him.
Sahih Muslim,Kitab al‐Salat,ChapterCCXI,Hadith1149
About garlic he said: He who eats of this plant, he must not approach our mosque, till its odour dies.
Sahih Muslim,Kitab al‐Salat,ChapterCCXI,Hadith1142
According to another hadith:
He who eats of this plant should not approach us and pray along with us.
Sahih Muslim,Kitab al‐Salat,ChapterCCXI,Hadith1143
In some traditions two other vegetables are mentioned along with garlic.
He who eats onion and garlic and leek should not approach our mosque.
Sahih Muslim,Kitab al‐Salat,ChapterCCXI,Hadith1147
According to Edward William Lane,leek is a certain herb ,or leguminous plant, well known for its foul odour and
its disagreeable juice.
Siddiqui,Abdul Hamid(tr.),Sahih Muslim(Lahore:Sh.Muhammad Ashraf,1993)vol.,p.280
ḍ ṣ ḍ ḥ ū ā ā ā ī
WILD LIFE CONSERVATION IN ISLAM
The Holy Qur’ān has referred to some species of animals and plants while describing his bounties for mankind
and as signs of God’s creation .Even some sūrahs of the Book are named after the names of the living
organisms mentioned in it.About animals the Holy Qur’ān says:
“There is not an animal (that lives) on the earth,nor a being that flies on its wings, but (forms part
of)communities like you. Nothing have We omitted from the Book, and they (all) shall be gathered to their Lord
in the end.” 1
‘Allāmah Ibn Kathīr(d.730/1373 ) in his famous exegesis of the Holy Qur’ān has commented on this verse as
follows:
The meaning of this statement is that they are divided into kinds (aṣnāf),which are known by their own names
;the birds are a nation ,like [the nations of]humans and jinn. 2
Aḥmad b. Habit, a student of Ibrāhīm al‐Naẓẓām,considered it possible that animals might have their own
prophets, even mosquitoes ,fleas and lice .He based his claim on the Qur,anic statement that ‘and there never
was a people [nation, community] umma without a warner [a prophet] having lived among them’(35:24) and
since all animals are nation/people (umma) like other nations ,therefore animals must have their own
prophets. Ibn Hazm refuted this argument, contesting :
The laws of Allah are only applicable upon those who can talk and understand them. All animals except humans
follow the norm for their species in respect to diet and breeding behaviour. Therefore the Quranic phrase
‘nations like you’ means races like you because the word nations encompasses this meaning. With regard to
the second verse that every nation has a warner,it refers only to humans, angels and jinn since these groups
can correctly perform worship(‘ibādah). 3
While commenting on this verse ,Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali says:
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“Animals living on the earth” include those living in the water ,‐‐‐fishes ,reptiles ,crustaceans ,insects ,as well as
four‐footed beasts. Life on the wing is separately mentioned .”Tair,” which is ordinarily translated as “birds, ”is
anything that flies ,including mammals like bats .In our pride we may exclude animals from our perview, but
they all live a life ,social and individual, like ourselves ,and life is subject to the Plan and Will of God. 4
Muhammad Asad’s commentary runs as follows:
The word ummah (of which umam is the plural) primarily denotes a group of living beings having certain
characteristics or circumstances in common. Thus, it is often synonymous with "community", "people",
"nation", "genus", "generation", and so forth. Inasmuch as every such grouping is characterized by the basic
fact that its constituents (whether human or animal) are endowed with life, the term ummah sometimes
signifies "(God's) creatures" (Lisān al‐Arab, with particular reference to this very Qur’ān‐verse; also Lane I, 90).
Thus, the meaning of the above passage is this: Man can detect God's "signs" or "miracles" in all the life‐
phenomena that surround him, and should, therefore, try to observe them with a view to better understanding
"God's way" (sunnat Allāh) ‐ which is the Quranic term for what we call "laws of nature".] 5
In the Qur’ān, according to Ameer Ali,animal life stands on the same footing as human life in the sight of the
Creator. 6 Dr. Muhammad Tahir al‐Qadiri has rendered this verse into English in a scientific way a follows:
“And,(O mankind,)there is no moving (animal) on the earth nor a bird that flies on its two wings but (such) that
they are species like you [umamum amthalu‐kum‐‐‐‐in several traits].We have not omitted anything(which is
not given symbolic or elaborated details)in the Book. Then all(the people)shall be gathered before their
Lord.” 7
Allah has created all kinds of inanimates and animates for some purpose. Nothing has been created without
meaning or purpose. It has been clearly underlined in the following verses:
“We created not the heavens and the earth and all between them, merely in (idle) sport. We have created
them not except for just ends: but most of them do not understand.” 8
Fishing like every other activity,was prohibited to Israel on the Sabbath day. As this practice was usually
observed, the fish used to up with a sense of security to their water channels or pools openly on the Sabbath
day, but not on other days when fishing was open .This was a great temptation for law‐breakers, which they
could not resist. Some of their men of piety protested, but it had no effect. When their transgressions, which,
we may suppose, extended to other commandments ,passed beyond bounds ,the punishment came. They
were despised among their own people, and became like apes, without law and without order or decency. 9
The Holy Qur’ān has described it in the following verses:
“And well ye knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath: We said to them : “Be
ye apes, despised and rejected .”So We made it an example to their own time and to their posterity and a
lesson to those who fear God.” 10
“Ask them concerning the town standing close by the sea .Behold! they transgressed in the matter of the
Sabbath. For on the day of their Sabbath their fish did come to them, openly holding up their heads, but on
the day they had no Sabbath, they came out not :Thus did We make a trial of them ,for they were given to
transgression.
When some of them said: “Why do you preach to a people whom God will destroy or visit a terrible
punishment?”‐‐‐Said the preachers: “To discharge our duty to your Lord, and perchance they may fear Him.”
When they disregarded the warnings that had been given to them, We rescued those who forbade evil; but We
visited the wrong‐doers with a grievous punishment, because they were given to transgression.
When in their insolence they transgressed (all) prohibitions, We said to them: “Be ye apes, despised and
rejected.” 11
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We were on a journey with the apostle of God, who left us for a short space. We saw a hummara with its two
young, and took the young birds. The hummara hovered with fluttering wings, and the Prophet returned,
saying, ‘Who has injured this bird by taking its young? Return them to her.’ 12
Do not clip the forelocks of your horses,nor their manes ,nor their tails ;for the tail is their fly‐whish; the mane
is their covering ;and the forelock has good fortune bound with it. 13
Abu Huraira reports that he said: ‘Do not use the backs of your beasts as pulpits ,for God has only made them
subject to you in order that they may bring you to a town you could only otherwise reach by fatigue of body. 14
While Anas writing of his custom says: ‘When we stopped at a halt we did not say our prayers until we had
unburdened the camels.’ 15
The prophet once passed by a camel whose belly clave to its back. ‘Fear God’ ,said he, ‘in these dumb animals,
and ride them when they are fit to be ridden, and let them go free when it is meet they should rest.’ 16
Nevertheless a donkey may be made to carry two men for we read that Buraida said: ‘ While the apostle of God
was walking a man with a donkey came up, and said as he moved back on the donkey’s rump: “ Ride, O apostle
of God .”He replied: ”No ,for you are more worthy of riding in front on your own beast, unless you give me the
place .”He said: “I do give you the place ;”so he rode in front.’ 17
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“Verily, God has enjoined goodness to everything; so when you kill [an animal ] kill in a good way and when you
slaughter, slaughter in a good way. So everyone of you sharpen his knife and let the slaughtered animal die
comfortably.” 18
The Prophet is reported to have said:
“If anyone o wrongfully kills[even] a sparrow,[let alone]anything greater,he will face God’s interrogation.” 19
The Prophet (peace be upon him) related to his Companions the story of a man who was walking along a road
and felt thirsty. Finding a well, he lowered himself into it and drank .When he came out he found a dog painting
from thirst and licking at the earth. He therefore went again into the well and filled his shoe with water and
gave it to the dog and continued to do so until the dog’s thirst was quenched. The prophet (peace be upon
him) said:
‘Then Allah was grateful to him and forgave him his sins.’ The Companions asked, ‘Is there a reward for us in
relation to animals, O Messenger of Allah?’ He replied, ‘There is a reward for us in( relation to) every living
creature.’ 20
According to another Hadith narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle said, "A prostitute was forgiven by Allah,
because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst,she took off
her shoe, and tying it with her head‐cover she drew out some water for it. So,Allah forgave her because of
that." 21
Once the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was going along his army. He saw a bitch feeding her puppies
along the roadside. He deputed a soldier to stand there to ensure that nobody disturb the bitch. 22
A woman went to the Fire because of a cat. She imprisoned her and neither fed her nor set her free to feed
upon the rodents of the earth. According to a hadith that Allah’s Messenger said: A woman was punished
because she had kept a cat tied until it died, and (as a punishment of this offence)she was thrown to the Hell.
She had not provided it with food, or drink, and had not freed her so that she could eat the insects of the
earth. 23
There is a famous story of a gazelle that had been caught by a cruel huntsman. As the Prophet passed by, he
found the animal weeping because her two kids in the desert were dying from the thirst .The animal was
released by the hunter and he himself embraced Islam. 24
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Respect for Allah’s living creatures reached such an extent that when the Prophet(peace be upon him) saw a
donkey with a branded face ,he denounced such a practice saying, “ I would not brand an animal except on
the part of its body farthest from its face.” 25.
In another report,he passed by a donkey with a branded face and said,
“ Have you not heard that I cursed anyone who brands an animal on its face or who hits it on its face?” 26
The Holy Prophet(peace be upon him)forbade beating animals on the face. 27
The Holy Prophet(peace be upon him)has forbidden the shooting of tied or confined animals . 28
The Holy Prophet(peace be upon him)cursed the one who did Muthlah to an
animals. 29
When Ibn ‘Umar saw some people practicing archery using a hen as a target,he said,
“The Prophet(peace be upon him) cursed anyone who used a living thing creature as targets.” 30
Ibn ‘Abbas said, The Prophet (peace be upon him) forbade that animals be made to fight each other, since
people would goad animals into fighting each other until one of them was pecked or gored to death,or close to
it .Ibn ‘Abbas also reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) strongly condemned the castration of
animals. 31
Islam prohibits hunting in two situations. The first is when a person is in the sacred state of
consecration(ihram) for the performance of hajj or ‘umrah ,because this is a state of total peace in which one is
not permitted to kill or shed blood.
“O ye who believe !Kill not game while in the Sacred precincts or in pilgrim garb .If any of you doth so
intentionally ,the compensation is an offering ,brought to the Ka’ba, of a domestic animal equivalent to the one
he killed.” 32
“Lawful to you is the pursuit of water‐game and its use for food,‐‐‐‐for the benefit of yourselves and those who
travel ;bur forbidden is the pursuit of land‐game;‐‐‐as long as ye are in the Sacred Precincts or in the pilgrim
garb.And fear God ,to Whom ye shall be gathered back.” 33
The second situation exists when a person is within the limits of the sacred territory of Makkah .Islam has
declared this to be a region of peace and security, a sanctuary for every living creature, whether beast, bird, or
plant, since the Prophet (peace be upon him) prohibited hunting its game ,cutting its trees ,or disturbing its
airspace. 34
Islam teaches that even the insects should be shown respect, for Ibn Qudamah35 (d.620/1223) stated, “during
war…bees should not be scattered nor burnt. The ‘Ulama’ are agreed on this point since it has been proved
that the Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) did not allow the killing of bees nor any beast of burden .To
do so would be a form of corruption and God has prohibited corruption in general:
“When he[the evil person]turns his back, his aim everywhere is to spread corruption through the earth and
destroy crops and cattle. But God loveth not corruption.” 36
An Apostle from amongst the Apostles of Allah encamped under a tree, and an ant bit him, and he commanded
his belongings to be removed from underneath the tree. He then commanded that the colony of ants should be
burnt. And Allah revealed to him: Because of an ant’s bite you have burnt a community which signs My glory. 37
In Sunan Abu Da’ud it has been narrated, “Once a companion of the Prophet was seen crumbling up bread for
some ants with the words, ‘They are our neighbours and have rights over us’.” 38
Ibn Qudamah further says, ‘animals are living creatures which must not be killed in order to provoke the
enemy[during war].In this way they are like the enemy’s women and children whose life is prohibited to take
.However, to take honey from the hives is allowed since it is permitted food. 39
Abu Bakr wrote a letter to his army commander ,Usamah bin Zayd, instructing him on the ethics of war:
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“Do not kill a child, a woman, or an old person, do not destroy a populated area, do not destroy a fruit tree, do
not kill a dumb innocent animal unless you need it for food, do not burn date‐palms, and do not run away from
your enemy.” 40
The mercy shown by the Prophet to all aspects of creation is also reflected in his attitude towards animals. He
is reported to have described the universality of the mercy of God as a mercy equally applicable to the jinn, to
animals, and to other creatures41
The mercy of God towards the weaker beings which shares human habitat is the main reason that humans are
often not punished despite their repeated sins.‘Had it not been for the elderly worshippers among you,
suckling babes, and animals grazing in the fields,God would cause his torment to fall on you like boiling
liquid.’42
Powerless and vulnerable animals are often mentioned as the reason why God sent rain to townships despite
the sins that their inhabitants might commit.(ibid)
And when the rain was scarce the Prophet would pray while asking God for rain:
The trees are becoming red
The speechless animals are dying
O God have mercy upon us. 43
‘Izz al‐Din ;Abd al‐Salam has stated :
He should spend on it(time money and effort)even if the animal is aged or diseased in such a way that no
benefit is expected from it. His spending should be equal to that on a similar animal useful to him.
Nor should he overburden it.
Nor should he place with it whatsoever may cause it harm, be it of the same kind or of another species.
He should kill them properly and with consideration, he should not cut their skin or bones until their bodies
have become cold and their life has fully passed away.
He should not kill their young within their sight.
He should give them different resting shelters and watering places which should all be cleaned regularly.
He should put the male and female in the same place during their mating season.
He should not hunt a wild animal with a tool that breaks bones,rendering it unlawful for eating. 44
The language of the Qur’an clearly indicates that all forms of God’s creation are diverse signs of the Creator,
and are worthy of preservation. The notion of biological diversity is one of the main themes, that the Qur’an
uses in describing life as an intricate system created by God. 45
Islam is not committed to the conservation of various species only because they may contain
resources[medical or otherwise]useful in the future, but because of the principle of fairness and justice to all
creatures of Divine system. If the justifying cause for environmental conservation is based on ‘benefit to
mankind’ humans have a licence for misuse and destruction .Such grounds are ill‐defined and partial; they can
obviously open the gate to arbitrary or prejudicial interpretation. The protection will stand on more solid
ground if based on the value of all creatures, the natural world, indeed of all environmental components as
signs of the Divine presence.
The Qur’an does not appear to give one particular form of life any more importance than others, as each plays
its own role as a sign of the Divine majesty.
If there is a definite advantage expected from an endangered species, then they have to be protected,but there
is no appropriate rule, in Islam, indicating that what we are uncertain about should be conserved. 46
Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) pointed with his hands towards Madīnah and said:That is a sacred
territory and a place of safety. 47
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Jābir (Allāh be pleased with him) reported Allāh’s Apostle(peace be upon him)as saying: Ibrāhīm declared
Makkah as sacred ;I declare Madīnah, that between the two mountains ,as inviolable .No tree should be lopped
and no game is to be molested. 48
Abu Hurayrah said: If I were to find deer in the territory between the two mountains, I would not molest them
,and he(the Messenger of Allāh) declared twelve miles of suburb around Madīnah as a prohibited pasture. 49
In another hadith the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:The leaves of the trees there(in Madīnah)should not
be beaten off except for fodder. 50
The famous companion, Sa‘d rode to his castle in al‐‘Aqīq and found a slave cutting down the trees, or beating
off their leaves, so he stripped him off his belongings. When Sa‘d returned, there came to him the masters of
the slave and negotiated with him asking him to return to their slave or to them what he had taken from their
slave, whereupon he said: God forbid that I should return anything which Allah’s Messenger (may peace be
upon him) has given me as spoil, and refuse to return anything to
them. 51
Hadith transmitted by Abū Dāwūd tells that Sa‘d took away the equipment .On interference of their masters
he quoted the following words of the holy Prophet(peace be upon him):If anyone cuts any of them, what is
taken from him goes to the one who seizes him.” 52
Sa‘d b. Abu Waqqāṣ seized a man who was hunting in the sacred territory of Madīnah which God’s Messenger
declared to be sacred and take away his clothes from him. His patrons came to him and spoke to him about it,
but he replied, “God’s Messenger declared this sacred territory to be sacred, saying that if anyone caught
someone hunting in it he should take from him what he had, so I will not return to you a provision which God’s
Messenger has given me; but if wish I shall pay you its
value.” 53
There is a hadith narrated from ‘Abd al‐Rahman b. ‘Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), according to
which a doctor(tabib) asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) about using frogs in
medicine, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade killing them.
Sunan Abi Dawud,Kitab al‐Adab,Chapter 176,Hadith 5269
According to another tradition it has been transmitted that the Messenger of Allah said :Whoever kills a frog,
its expiation is one goat whether he(the killer)is in ihram or not. Nasa’I,Kitab al‐Jihad,Chapter Hadith
The ruling on killing frogs and what the scholars have said about that.
The scholars differed concerning this issue and there are two views:
1 – That it is makrooh. This is the view of the Maaliki madhhab and of some of the Shaafa’is and Hanbalis.
See: al‐Tamheed (15/178); Sharh al‐‘Umdah by Ibn Taymiyah (3/148).
2 – That it is haraam. This is the view of the Hanafi, Shaafa’i and Hanbali madhhabs, and of Ibn Hazm, and is the
view favoured by Shaykh al‐Islam Ibn Taymiyah.
See: Mushkil al‐Athaar by al‐Tahhaawi (2/35); al‐Majmoo’ (9/29); al‐Mughni (9/338); al‐Muhalla (7/225); al‐
Fataawa al‐Kubra (2/139).
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "I was given five that were not given to anyone
before me." Among these five, he mentioned the earth. He said, "The earth has been made for me [and for my
Ummah] as a masjid [place for worship] and a pureness [place for tayammum (dry ablution)]; therefore,
anyone of my Ummah can pray whenever the time of Prayer is due." 54 (Al‐Bukhari)
The globe as a mosque
Environmental Aspect. The masjid is the most pure and healthy place in the world. The reasons for this are
quite clear: No one smokes inside the masjid; worshippers purify their bodies and hearts before Prayer or
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i`tikaf (Arabic for: spiritual retreat in the masjid); the floor of the masjid is free from all forms of impurity. In a
word, masjids provide Muslims with a clean spiritual atmosphere.
Transferring such environmentally sound principles to the larger world can instill love and care for the planet in
the hearts of people. People will learn to abstain from polluting the surrounding environment. They will work
on securing a clean and healthy atmosphere for all. Air, rivers, seas, oceans, animals, plants, and all creatures
will be protected.
REFERENCES
1. Holy Qur’ān,al‐An‘ām 6:38
2. Ibn Kathir
3. Ibn Hazm,Al‐fisal fi al‐milal wa ‘l‐nihal(Cairo,1348 AH)1:68‐9
4. Ali,A.Yusuf,The Holy Qur’an‐‐‐‐Translation and Commentary (Brentwood,Maryland,USA:Amana
Corp.,1983)p.298
5. Muhammad Asad,The Message of the Qur’ān(Gibraltar: Dar al‐ Andalus,1980) p.177
6. Ameer Ali Syed,The Spirit of Islam(London:Christophers,1922)p158
7. Tahir‐ul‐Qadri,Dr Muhammad,The Holy Qur’an(English Translation) Irfan‐ul‐Qur’an(London:Minhaj‐ul‐
Quran International,2006)p.212
8. The Holy Qur’ān ,al‐Dukhān 44:38‐39
9. Yusuf ‘Ali,A., The Holy Qur’an: Text, Translation and Commentary,p.391
10. The Holy Qur’ān, al‐Baqarah 2:65‐66
11. The Holy Qur’ān, al‐A‘rāf 7:163‐66
12. Sunan Abu Dawud,2:7
13. Sahih Muslim,Kitab as‐Said wa ‘l‐Dhah’ih,chapter DCCCXX,Hadith 4810
14. Mishkat al‐Masabih,trans.Robson,872
15. Al‐Bukhari,Book 4,Hadith 174;Book 43,Hadith 646;Book 43,Hadith 551/ Muslim,Kitab as‐Salam,Chapter
CMXXXIX,Hadith5577
16. Bukhari,Book 54,Hadith 538;Muslim,Kitab as‐Salam,Chapter CMXXXIX,Hadith5578,5579
17. Noqush2:660
18. Muslim,Kitab as‐Salam,Chapter CMXXXVIII,Hadith 5570/ Al‐Bukhari,Book 40,Hadith 552
19. Abu Nu‘aim,Dala’il an nubuwwa,p.30/Damiri,Kital al‐hayawan,vol2,pp.126‐7
20. Muslim
21. Abu Daoud and al‐Tirmadhi
22. Buhkari,The Book of Slaughtering and Hunting,Chapter 35,Hadith 449
23. Buhkari,The Book of Slaughtering and Hunting,Chapter 25,Hadith 421
24. Buhkari,The Book of Slaughtering and Hunting,Chapter 25,Hadith 424
25. Mishkat al‐Masabih,872
26. Ibn Bazzar
27. The Holy Qur’an, al‐Ma’ida 5:96
28. The Holy Qur’an, al‐Ma’ida 5:95
29. TheHoly Qur’an, al‐Ma’ida 5:96
30. Bukhari and Muslim/q‐298
31. Ibn Qudamah
32. The Holy Qur’an, al‐Baqarah 2:205
33. Muslim,Kitab as‐Salam,Chapter CMXXXVII,Hadith5567,5568,5569
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34. Noman,p.172
35. Ibn Qudamah, Mughni 10:498
36. Ibn Qudamah,Mughni 10:498‐9 )
37. Muslim,Tauba 19;Ibn Hanbal, Musnad 4:124
38. Tayalusi and Tabarani stated it in a hadith narrared by Abu Hurayrah.Manawi stated that it is a weak
hadith Ajluni,Kashf 2:213
39. Bukhari,Istisqa’14;Muslim,Istisqa’ 10;Asqalani,Fath al‐Bari 2:512;Wensink,Concordance 1:222
40. Abd al‐Salam, ‘Izz al‐Din, Qawa’id al‐ahkam fi masalih al‐an’am(Beirut,n.d.)1:141
41. Izzi Dien,M.,The Environmental Dimensions of Islam(Cambridge,England:The Lutterworth Press,2000)p.27
42. Ibid, p.27
43. Muslim,Kitab al‐Hajj,Chapter DXXVII,Hadith 3177
44. Muslim,Kitab al‐Hajj,Chapter DXXVII,Hadith 3153
45. Muslim,Kitab al‐Hajj,Chapter DXXVII,Hadith 3169
46. Muslim,Kitab al‐Hajj,Chapter DXXVII,Hadith 3172
47. Muslim,Kitab al‐Hajj,Chapter DXXVII,Hadith 3156
48. Mishkat al‐Masabih,Book Hajj,ChapterXVI,Part 2 ,2:590
49. Mishkat al‐Masabih,Book Hajj,ChapterXVI,Part 2 , 2:589‐90
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ICIWG‐15
ISRAELI POLICIES OF SPATIAL TAKEOVER: PLANNING, ETHNIC EXCLUSION AND DE‐
ARABIZATION OF EAST JERUSALEM
Ghazi‐Walid Falah
Department of Geography and Planning,
University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325‐5005, U.S.A.
E‐mail: falah@uakron.edu
ABSTRACT
The paper examines the policy of spatial takeover pursued by successive Israeli governments over five decades,
focusing on Palestinian people, land and homes in the Jerusalem Palestinian Governorate occupied in 1967. In
this space, Israeli state institutions (central and local), the Israeli political class and World Zionist organizations
and agencies have joined hands in order to alter and in effect to change and in some cases to “cleanse” the
Arab and Moslem nature of the city in line with Judaization of Greater Jerusalem and the creation of a unique
quadrimodal Matrix of Control through land use regulations, barriers, walls, tunnels, and a road system
bifurcated along ethnic lines, a form of spatial apartheid. The Separation Wall is one mode in this matrix.
Another is state policy to take over more private land from the Palestinian localities in the Jerusalem municipal
area by engineering of planning regulations and the designation of Palestinian private land for uses other than
residency, in effect expropriating it.
Arab Jerusalemites are controlled and ground down on a daily basis in their motility through this urban space,
alienating them from their own home city. Not only is space fractionated, but concomitantly time is in a sense
itself “occupied” and bloated out of all proportion for moving through that spatial mazeway. The guiding policy
since the 1967 occupation has been orchestrated to control Arab Jerusalemites, grinding them down
psychologically on a daily basis in their motility through this urban space. From the planning perspective, the
Palestinians have been boxed in, peripheralized. The underlying policy here is a mode of soft ethnic cleansing:
to make the lives of people so miserable they will emigrate. A Judaized ‘United Jerusalem’ is arguably the prime
icon in the Israeli Zionist national narrative.
KEYWORDS: Accessibility and exclusion, Matrix of Control, Spatial Planning policy, Palestinians, Israelis,
Jerusalem
INTRODUCTION
In the policy of spatial takeover pursued by successive Israeli governments over four decades, probably no
more Palestinian land and homes have been targeted than those of the 1967 Occupied Jerusalem Palestinian
Governorate, including residents of the old city of East Jerusalem. In this space, Israeli state institutions (central
and local), the Israeli political class (national‐religious ‘ultra‐Orthodox’ and fanatic groups) and World Zionist
organizations and agencies have joined hands in order to alter and in effect to change and in some cases to
“cleanse” the very Arab and Moslem nature of the city in different dimensions, including demography,
geography, heritage, by using security arguments and supposed “threats” to Israel for implementing control
over the Arab Palestinians in Jerusalem (Metres, 1994; Rubenberg, 2003; Findley, 2007). Here is a kind of
concentrated space in which the real laboratory for the century‐old Zionist slogan “a land without people for a
people without land” (Khalidi, 1997, p. 101) has been implemented most clearly and materially. Here also is the
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micro‐space where the US administration policy for the Middle East and its double and perhaps triple
standards exposes its inherent weakness. It is true that the United States still maintains its Embassy in Tel Aviv
and has not relocated it “symbolically” to Jerusalem—which means that the US does not ‘formally’ recognize
Jerusalem as the legal capital of Israel. But its unrestricted support for Israel and its indifferent attitude
towards the outcry of the Palestinian Jerusalemites has not helped in any way to preserve Jerusalem’s special
status, as recognized in relevant UN resolutions (United Nations, 1997). It seems reluctant to press for Israel to
recognize that East Jerusalem and its environs are in effect occupied territories and Israel’s presence there is
temporary, and that it has no legal nor moral right to change the landscape and the lives of the people it has
occupied. Nor to imprison them inside and behind a great Wall, to see the reality of what Israeli political
commentator Gilad Atzmon (2006) has characterized as “Palestinians who are caged behind walls and starved
to death at the hands of a nationalist racist regime seeking Lebensraum.”
This paper looks at the Israeli spatial policy of takeover of the land and suffocating the urban development and
growth of the local Palestinian population, i.e. disremembering and dismembering the life of the Palestinian
Jerusalemite. It also seeks to show continuity: that in the process, all such spatial polices have been practiced
systematically and further intensified since 1993 (as Israel and the Palestinians entered into an ‘Oslo’ era of
peaceful negotiations) to enhance the Israeli‐Jewish presence demographically, economically and militarily,
and to consolidate its colonial grab of land (Falah, 2003, 2004, 2005) beyond the Israel 1967 border with the
West Bank in the Jerusalem area, known as the 1949 armistice truce line.
The paper argues that Israeli government actions in this space, described here by the term Matrix of Control
(MC), is a web of what are essentially colonial activities that involve physical removal of the population, fencing
in areas, passing discriminatory laws, restrictive planning regulations, and military operations. These work hand
in hand with fully armed settlers whose duties are among other things to harass and make Palestinian life
miserable—a tactic to break the spirit of Palestinians and cause them to eventually move elsewhere, cleansing
by attrition over time (Shahak, 1994; Amnesty International, 2004). The longer‐term aim is to secure Israeli
hegemony over Greater ‘United Jerusalem’ as a metropolitan area under Israeli sovereignty.
At a special Israeli Cabinet meeting on Jerusalem on August 21, 2001, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated: “We
are dealing with Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people for the past 3000 years, the eternally united and
indivisible capital of the State of Israel, with the Temple Mount at its center. We must make the effort to
strengthen Jerusalem. We have taken action to restore Israel’s full sovereignty over Jerusalem by halting the
Palestinian Authority’s activities there, and that action, which we of course will continue, must be supported
and strengthened by further actions, both in the eastern part of the city and the western, and all this is done
for the prosperity of Jerusalem as a united city” (cited in Sarsar, 2002).
The remainder of this paper consists of four main parts: the first discusses the theoretical framework employed
in this essay, followed by an introduction on the changing demographic reality of greater Jerusalem since 1967
as a catalyst for Israeli land takeover policies. The third section forms the core of the paper, and analyses
Israel’s Matrix of Control employed in the focus area. It looks at settlement activity, planning and zoning
regulations, road network, military activity, and the Separation Wall. A fourth section summarizes with
concluding remarks.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Consider these statements by a geographer (Tesfahuney) and two statesmen:
“Spatial access and closure are closely related to social status and power, implying that attempts to change
configurations of power, inequality and exploitation, are intimately bound up with changing the parameters
and mechanisms by which space is constructed, allocated and accessed in society” (Tesfahuney, 1998, p. 55).
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“East Jerusalem is subject to the principle set out in Security Council resolution 242 (1967) pf 22 November
1967, notably the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force, and is therefore not under Israeli
sovereignty … the Fourth Geneva Convention is fully applicable to East Jerusalem, as it is to other territories
under occupation” ( European Union,1996).
“In my view, it follows from the words in the Charter [of the United Nations] that war should not lead to
territorial aggrandizement. … I call upon the State of Israel not to take any steps in relation to Jerusalem which
would conflict with this principle. I say very solemnly to the Government of Israel that, if they purport to annex
the Old City or legislate for its annexation, they will be taking a step which will isolate them not only from the
world opinion but will also lose them the support that they have “ (United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, 1967).
The quotations contain relevant insights and language to draw upon for grounding analysis in this essay in
theory that deals with issues related to configurations of power, space and access to it, acquisition of territory,
sovereignty and territorial aggrandizement of territory—all of which , as suggested below, apply very clearly to
the case of Jerusalem.
While Tesfahuney discusses power within its broader context of being intertwined with both “representation”
and “space,” he sees a dialectical relation among the three concepts. It is useful to read how he rephrases his
analysis by saying “…space is intricately interwoven with a variety of social issues, including domination and
control of space, and the struggles over its appropriation and allocation.” That struggle over the “parameters
and mechanisms by which space is constructed, allocated and accessed in society” is exemplified in Greater
Jerusalem on a daily basis. For Jean Gottmann (1973, p. 9) accessibility to space is an important ingredient in
controlling it and partitioning it. According to him “[a] community fences a territory off to control the access
outsiders to its land, people, and resources” (p. 9). At the same time, this same community according to
Gottmann “wants to enable its members to gain some access to the space, people, and resources of the
outside world.” This discussion by Gottmann on accessibility to space leads him to point to the paradox in real
life: “a constant conflict exists between the political purposes of greater security on the one hand and broader
opportunity on the other.” Israeli state policy in Greater Jerusalem is a primary example of the engineering of
accessibility for different ethnic populations on a microscale, within a complex mazeway of conduits and
closures.
Power exists in everyday life in many ways and forms, materially and non‐ materially: one’s ability to secure
access to a place while excluding the others from it is at the heart of geographic inquiry. Sibley (1995) reports
on “instances of exclusion where boundaries are drawn discretely between dominant and subordinate groups”
(p. xiv). One may say exclusion from and accessibility to spaces are an antipode to each other, but are both
embodied in power and have lasting impact on everyday life. In his call to examine the assumptions about
inclusion and exclusions implicit in the design of spaces and places, Sibley (1995) stresses three central
questions: “who are places for, whom do they exclude and how are these prohibitions maintained in practice?
(P. x).
The present paper looks at these issues from the point of view of the excluded and the scale of analysis is the
state (i.e., the Israeli government represented by Jewish population who acts as an agent of territorial control
and aggrandizement). The architectonic of “prohibitions” and their maintenance is perhaps unique. This state is
attempting to impose territorial control through a number of practices, described below as a matrix of control.
Ultimately, such spatial control is engineered for political ends, and indeed even ideological ends grounded in
the narrative of the Zionist state and movement. Namely, the continuing enterprise to attain sovereignty that
services an ethnic group settling from outside as in‐migrants at the expense of the indigenous ethnic
population in and on the land (the Palestinians). Israel’s main problem is that East Jerusalem, as the quotes
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above indicate, is a space/territory that has been acquired by force, military conquest in the wake of the June
1967 war.
According to Burghardt (1973) , this mode of sovereignty “has, at least theoretically, been placed outside the
law by Article 2 of the United Nations Charter’ (Burghardt, 1973, pp. 226‐227) as noted above, “the
inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force, and is therefore [East Jerusalem] not under Israeli
sovereignty” (European Union,1996). Burghardt (1973, p. 266), lists four “modes by which sovereignty over
territory can be acquired: occupation, that is, establishing control over territory that was unadministered (terra
nullius or res nullius) at the time of the claim; prescription, or the maintenance of effective control for a
sufficiently long period of time; cession, or transfer by treaty; and accretion, or growth of through acts of
nature.” Israel cannot acquire any territory pertaining to East Jerusalem based on these four criteria. The
territory it conquered was under the control and administration of the Jordanian state. Kimmerling (1979)
points to the importance of ownership and physical presence as the means by which effective control can be
exercised over territory as part of a demonstration of full state sovereignty. Israeli housing and settlement
policy reflect such “physical presence” as a means of control in a striking way. Jean Gottmann would add to
that “the technological tools available to governments for the display of authority” (p. 3). In the case of Israel,
this includes one of the world’s best equipped armies and a vast secret internal intelligence‐gathering
apparatus, both heavily financed from abroad and ‘state of the art.’ One major feature of acquiring sovereignty
in the Jerusalem case is by engaging in direct occupation and use transformation of the land: the very presence
of the new residents (e.g., building settlement projects or military camps) on the land creates a situation where
this land can no longer be accessed by its original owners.
Israel may pass specific laws and annex East Jerusalem, make it an integral part of the state, exercising its own
laws that can be respected by Israeli courts only, not by any others (Falah, 2004). Hence, its action on the
ground is that one treats the place as if it was its own domain, negating all relevant international laws. This, of
course, is not unique to Israel. Territorial expansion and growth of states are carefully examined in the work of
early political geographers (e.g., Ratzel’s seven laws of the spatial growth of states) (Kasperson and Minghi,
1969, pp. 7‐8; see also Whittlesey, 1939, pp. 129‐165).
What other theoretical concepts are reflected in the Jerusalem case? In a broad, first‐approximation sense, we
would argue, the Darwinian and Spencerian notions of the survival of the fittest and Ratzel’s (1886) organic
state seem to serve a useful models for what is happening daily on the ground (“ground” taken here in very
literal sense). An ideology and praxis are at work here where ‘might is right.’ Below we also revive a term for
demographic restructuring policy by the German state on occupied territory in Eastern Europe during World
War II, namely Umvolkung or “ethnic transformation,” “re‐peopling” as a demographic policy aim.
The fact that the Israeli Supreme Court has basically accepted the Israeli government’s claim regarding the
necessity of the “Separation Wall” for “security” reasons (Elmer, 2005; Yoaz, 2006)has reinforced the internal
Israeli ‘legality’ of what international justice (the court in The Hague) (UN News Service, 2004) and public
opinion largely considers illegal: a situation where separation based on ethnicity and religion has in effect been
institutionalized, concretely implemented and symbolized by the Separation Wall. The Wall stands as a
veritable emblem of that ethnocracy in action. Israel’s “security” is a kind of stock phrase or even discursive
rhetorical “litany” repeatedly used to justify harsh policies of repression, while the mainstream Western media
and Western political elites tend to turn a blind eye to that very repression which is the engine of the conflict.
The Israeli‐Arab conflict has in a sense given a new meaning to the whole concept of “double standards” in
international diplomacy. It is the defining classic case for such double criteria, which in effect are the
enactment of hypocrisy on a central geopolitical stage. Concomitantly, the value of a person’s life in the region
becomes a dependent variable of the side of the Wall one lives on.
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DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES IN JERUSALEM SINCE JUNE 1967
When Israel occupied East Jerusalem in the wake of June 1967 war, it immediately dissolved the Jordanian
Municipality Council, cancelled the relatively small jurisdictional boundary of the Municipality that was in place
in the eastern section of the city from 1948 to June 1967, and replaced it with a much larger one which
encompasses territory from both Israel and the newly occupied areas of the West Bank (Figure 1). On June 28,
1967, the Israeli Knesset passed a law formally extending Israeli law, jurisdiction, and civil administration over
Arab East Jerusalem (Dumper, 1992; Lustick, 2000). This was followed by the creation of a new municipal
boundary of “united Jerusalem,” extending from Ramalla and El Bireh cities in the north and to Bethlehem in
the south. Subsequently, in 1993 the municipality further enlarged the jurisdictional area of Jerusalem by
encompassing more areas in the west, located in the pre‐1967 Israel border area. This new change in municipal
boundary included a number of Israeli Jewish settlements within the Jerusalem municipality. This helped
somewhat to increase the balance in the demographic situation in Jerusalem in favor of the Jewish population.
The areas of the West Bank which were added to the Jerusalem Municipality are part of much larger
administrative unit designated by the Palestinian authority by the name “Governorate.” The Palestinian
Authority divided the West Bank into 11 Governorates and Jerusalem Governorate is one of them, where East
Jerusalem is its core. It stretches from the Dead Sea in the east to the Latrun area in the west (see Figure 2).
The Jerusalem Governorate includes 51 Palestinian communities with a total population of 402,900 (at the end
of 2004). The Israeli Jerusalem municipality encroaches into the Palestinian Governorate, effectively chopping
and annexing a substantial part of its land and the people upon it. It created two distinct Palestinian residency
categories in the Governorate: one is the category of those who have a blue card ID, whose homes fall inside
the Israeli Jerusalem Municipal area and who pay municipal taxes to it. The second category is of the others
who are outside it and hold an orange ID card, like the remaining Palestinians in the West Bank areas out of the
jurisdictional boundaries of Israeli Jerusalem. The latter group of Palestinians, i.e., orange ID holders, have
since 1993 been banned from entering the Jerusalem municipal area without special permission from the
Israeli authorities, which is not given easily. According to Kelly (2006) “[i]n the 1980s those Palestinians with a
‘security’ record were issued with green versions of these cards. The identity cards issued by the Israeli military
gave the holder the right to residency in the West Bank, but did not act as travel documents or grant political
rights. At the same time, the Palestinian residents of East [i.e., blue card holders)…[their] cards granted [them]
the right to residency in East Jerusalem, as well as some civil and political rights, but [their cards] could be
taken away if the holder was deemed no longer to maintain his or her ‘center of life in East Jerusalem’ (2006,
94, see further discussion below). So here is a battery of discriminatory practice in blue, orange and green.
The race for achieving demographic balance in favor of the Jewish population in Jerusalem started in June
1967, but in recent years has been intensified. It was triggered further by what census statistics have shown.
There was a decline in percentage of Jewish population and increases in the number of Palestinians – this
despite the tremendous incentives that were given to the Jews to migrate and live in Jerusalem. This decline,
we argue, is the direct product of families “moving up” to large apartments or villas at a comparatively low
price and mortgage in settlements on Palestinian land outside Jerusalem, such as Ma’ale Adumim. So part of
this ethnic restructuring is driven by the policy of special material incentives to induce Jewish families to move
in effect to the settlement buffer space east and north and south of Jerusalem.
Table 1 illuminates this. The Palestinian population percentages increased from 25.8% in 1967 to 34.0% in
2005. At the same time, the Jewish demographics decreased from 74.2% to 66.0%. The net Jerusalem Jewish
in‐migration as shown by the census is negative. It is estimated that the city is losing approximately one
percent of its Jewish population annually. Between 1990 and 2002, 125,500 Jews migrated to Jerusalem,
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compared to 207,400 out‐migrants ((Khamaisi, et. Al, 2007, p. 21). The rate of annual growth of population for
the Palestinians fluctuates from 1992 to 2004, but has increased from 2.7% to 3.7%, respectively. In contrast,
the Jewish annual population growth declined from 2.1% to 1.0% for the same years (Khamaisi, et. al, 2007, p.
21).
It should be noted that Palestinian population growth in the Jerusalem municipal area is attributed mainly to
natural increase and hardly to migration. No Palestinian from the West Bank living outside the Jerusalem
municipality area, nor from the Gaza Strip, has the free choice to live in Jerusalem. And those Palestinians who
are allowed to migrate to Jerusalem are only those who hold the blue ID cards. The “legal status” of those
Palestinian Jerusalemites, as permanent residents of Israel, is the enabling condition for migration to the city.
What were the measures taken by Israel to reduce the number of Palestinians in the Jerusalem municipal area
in the aftermath of the 1967 war period? This section focuses on legal measures introduced, motivated by
what appears to be a conscious political agenda and objectives. It all fed into the national ‘rationale’ of wanting
the land but not the indigenous Palestinian people who live on it.
Given Atzmon’s reference to Lebensraum in characterizing Israeli state territorial policy, one may recall in this
context the National Socialist policy of Umvolkung or “ethnic transformation,” literally “trans‐peopling,” that
was blueprinted by academics and practiced in occupied eastern Europe during WW II. It was a pillar of the
geopolitical demographic‐territorial policy of annexation of the regime, part of the General Plan East (Eichholtz,
2004). Jews were among the many victims of this demographic program for spatial cleansing and control of
resources and Lebensraum, with an aim to resettling Germans, ethnic and other, in the annexed areas
(Schroeders, 2002). The term has resurfaced in discourse in Germany and Austria on the right in recent years to
refer to the demographic “dangers” of in‐migration. Unfortunately, policy in Jerusalem seems indeed a form of
Umvolkung on forcibly occupied and annexed territory, in this case a kind of metropolitan “trans‐peopling”
through a battery of internationally illegal self‐styled “legal measures” and dubious tactics of manipulative
census.
The first step to reduce the number of Palestinian Jerusalemites in the newly created Municipal jurisdictional
area in the years after 1967 was done by first carrying out a population census. Israel conducted a census
which classified Palestinians within the newly created boundary as “Permanent Residents of the State of
Israel.” Jerusalemites who were not recorded were classified as “absentees” and forced to leave their city. The
censuses were conducted at certain times and on specific days, and whoever was not present in his or her
home during the census for various reasons was in effect filtered out. Metres (1994) states that “some 8,000
Jerusalemites lost their right to live in their City,” due to reasons of not being present in “Jerusalem at the time
of the 1967 census (because of study or commercial or family business abroad or wartime flight).”
A second tangible measure for reducing the Palestinian population was carried out through enforcing state
entry laws and approval of new ones. Israel used the 1952 Law of Entry to Israel and the 1974 Entry to Israel
Regulations as a “legal” instrument to control the number of Palestinians who reside in the city. This was done
through implementing what is called the “Center of Life policy.” Under this policy, anyone is subject to losing
his or her right to live in Jerusalem if they do not prove that Municipal Jerusalem is their “center of life.” That
is, every Palestinian resident has to pay residence and other taxes and to prove that he/she works and lives
within the municipal boundaries and sends any children to schools inside Jerusalem. Before 1996, this policy
had only involved Palestinians who had lived abroad for more than seven years. However, in 1996 Israel
approved the law of “Jerusalem as a Center of Life.” So this law was passed with an aim to include Palestinians
who live outside of the Jerusalem municipal boundaries, encompassing those who are blue card holders but
living in the Jerusalem suburbs and within the West Bank. It was estimated that since 1967, over 6,500
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Palestinians had their right to reside in Jerusalem revoked based on the enforcement of the above‐mentioned
law (Margalit, 2006). B’Tselem (2007) gives the figure of 8,269 Palestinians
whose residency was revoked by end of 2006. Yet, several thousand other Palestinians, who were unwilling to
lose their residency rights, have returned to live within the municipal boundaries of East Jerusalem under
difficult housing conditions. The sudden increased rate of annual growth for the Palestinian population from
2.7 in 1997 to 4.0% can be attributed to those Palestinian Jerusalemites who decided to return back from the
suburbs of Jerusalem and live inside East Jerusalem in reaction to the 1996 Law.
Another “legal” policy practiced by Israel to reduce numbers of Palestinians in Jerusalem is the Israeli
government decision to stop the process of “family unification” applications submitted by non‐resident
spouses in May 2002. Subsequently, in July 2003, the Knesset approved a bill to prevent Palestinians who
marry Israeli citizens from receiving Israeli permanent residency status or citizenship. The new law will turn
many Palestinians living in the city with their families into illegal residents. As a consequence, they will be
subject to arrest and may be deported from the city to the West Bank areas. On March 2007, the Knesset voted
to extend this controversial Citizenship Law to July 2008 and apply to citizens of the four “enemy states” ‐ Syria,
Lebanon, Iraq and Iran ‐ as well as to those of the Palestinian Authority (Ilan, 2007). In Adalah’s (2007) view,
the Law constitutes one of the most extreme measures in a series of governmental actions aimed at
undermining the rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel, as well as Palestinians from the Occupied Palestinian
Territories.
It should be remembered in connection with all these legal battles that there is a clear longer‐term
demographic aim: the Israeli government wishes to reduce the number of Palestinians in the Jerusalem
municipal area, especially in areas annexed to Israel in post‐June 1967. That demographic aim is tied to a very
specific ideology of de‐ and re‐ethnicization. The Palestinians are being forced to comply with these enforced
regulations for the sake of protecting their homes and land in any way possible. It should also be recalled that
under international law, the case in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the West Bank is one of an occupied territory.
The 1907 Hague Regulations and the 1949 Geneva Convention IV—which relates to military occupations clearly
“requires an occupant to avoid extreme collective punishments, economic exploitation, and measures which
would irreversibly alter the political or economic order in a territory. The assumption is that an occupant has a
purely provisional role, pending a peace agreement “ (Roberts, 1988, pp. 346‐347).
MATRIX OF CONTROL
A core struggle between the Israeli authority and the Palestinian residents in the Jerusalem municipal areas is
over the ownership of the land. The de‐Arabization of land in Jerusalem and its surrounding areas is conceived
by the Israeli authorities and political class as linked to the broader geopolitical goal of exercising sovereignty
over it. A full transfer of land ownership into Jewish hands and effective control over it
would guarantee unchallenged sovereignty, much needed for the Zionist project of keeping the city united as
capital of the state. Since the Palestinian Jerusalemites cannot be expected to support such a geopolitical goal,
contrary to their own interests, there has to be a certain mechanism employed in order to push
them from their homes and take over the land. This is in effect a politics of eviction for the sake of assuming
sovereignty on an occupied land inhabited by others. De jure control in the form of passing laws and
ordinances without enforcing it would not always guarantee sovereignty over the ground, especially if these
laws are protested and considered void by the international community (e.g., UN) and are rejected by the
people in and on the land. But de facto control in the form of closing and fencing in an area or piece of land,
preventing access to it by its original owners and immediately populating it by another people or effectively
putting it under strict surveillance by the military would do the job better.
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The thrust of the analysis here is to show the dynamic of the matrix of control and its multifaceted components
and its continuity over time, and how such a control matrix is engineered to achieve a dual objective: eviction
of the indigenous population (the Palestinians) and the settlement on that same land by others (Israeli Jews).
Hence, Israeli Jews ensconced in this settlement space on occupied land become in effect ‘agents’ in the
making of sovereignty at this micro‐scale. These settlements and military nodes become a kind of space for
micro‐sovereignty.
LAND EXPROPRIATION AND THE BUILDING OF JEWISH SETTLEMENTS
The first step of demonstrating sovereignty in the Jerusalem municipal area after the designation of the
jurisdictional boundary was to seize the available Arab land and build new Jewish settlements on it. A major
portion of the land has been confiscated in this way. It has been estimated that the Israeli government
confiscated more than 30,000 dunams (one dunam = 1000 square meters) for building new Jewish settlements.
New Jewish settlements were established inside the area which was annexed by Israel (Eitan, 1995; B’Tselem
2007a) . By June 1993, the Israeli Municipality could declare that more Israelis live in East Jerusalem than
Palestinians (160,000 compared to 155,000). By the end of 2004, the number of Jewish Israelis who lived in
East Jerusalem settlements represented 39 percent of the total Jewish population of Jerusalem. Between 2000
and 2004, the number of Israelis who lived in these settlements increased by 3.4 percent. This is Umvolkung in
action, at an urban micro‐scale.
Figure 3 provides an illustration for the geographic pattern of the spread of the Jewish settlements in the
Jerusalem Municipal area. This pattern can better be described as one of encroachment on and enclavizing of
the Palestinian localities (Falah, 2005). In the first decade following the June 1967 war, Israel established a ring
of large settlements to the north and south of the municipal area and eventually the space between these
settlements and the western part of the city was filled so as to create continuity in the built‐up area. In
addition, these settlements along with others such as East Talpiot, Ramat Eshkol and Neve Ya’aqov were built
to disrupt Palestinian geographic and demographic continuity. Outside the jurisdictional boundary of Municipal
Jerusalem, Israel built another belt of settlements located within the Palestinian Governorate of Jerusalem.
These settlements include Ma’aleh Adumim, Kohav Ya’akov, Giva’at Zeiev, Har Hadar, Gush ‘Etzion and others.
Sophisticated road and tunnels connect these settlements with each other and the Jewish settlements inside
the jurisdictional area of Jerusalem and the city of Jerusalem. Many of these highways are closed to Palestinian
localities. This outer demographic ring is becoming linked ever more tightly to the city of Jerusalem with the
construction of the Separation Wall.
Israel’s policy to take over more private land from the Palestinian localities in the Jerusalem municipal area is
accomplished by means of a different matrix of control anchored in land regulations. It is implemented through
planning regulations and the designation of Palestinian private land for different land uses other than
residency. Thus, the Palestinians are prevented from creating “facts on the ground” for themselves, as this
would represent an open challenge to expansion of Israeli sovereignty. In August 2004, a final report of the
proposed Jerusalem master plan was presented to the public. The master plan clearly states that “building new
Jewish neighborhoods” is – and will continue to be ‐‐ used to guarantee a Jewish majority in Jerusalem. New
settlements will be built up on pre‐designated “green land” in East Jerusalem, to the east of Har Homa
settlement, in the Mar Elias area on the main road to Bethlehem, and even in the Shi’afat area in order to
extend the settlement of Rekhes Shu’fat.
The question of building new Palestinian neighborhoods was never mentioned in the plan, and no new land is
designated for the purpose. The plan does not change the land use of the Palestinian built‐up area. The housing
needs for the Palestinian population will be met, according to the plan, by allowing a higher density in the built‐
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up areas and filling in areas within the detailed outline plan for different neighborhoods. Significantly, all areas
surrounding the built‐up areas, which are owned by the Palestinians, are still designated “green areas.” These
“green areas” were left to separate between Palestinian built‐up areas and burgeoning Israeli settlements (see
Figure 4).
The decision to keep Palestinian private land in the category of “green area” has a clear purpose in Israeli
planning. These are land reservoirs which can be transferred to Jewish land ownership at any time when
opportunity should allow. That opportunity is now closer than ever with the implementation of another matrix
of control: the Separation Wall. As the Separation Wall is erected on the edge of the built‐up areas in a number
of Palestinian localities, their private lands are systematically being left outside the Wall. This act itself is a
means to separate the Palestinian land owners from their property and designed as an instrument to weaken
their connection with their land. The Wall blocks access to the land and creates a new spatial reality: its
interpretation is that none of these “green areas” can be ever be designated for housing projects for the
Palestinians unless the Wall is demolished or relocated elsewhere. We will return to the Wall below.
ROAD NETWORK
The Israeli road network constructed in and around Jerusalem forms another highly effective component in the
matrix of control. If Israel failed to encourage more Jews to settle in the city, it has succeeded in pulling them
out of the city, intentionally or otherwise, due to the highly sophisticated web of roads. Now travel time from
Jerusalem to Israel’s main metro area, Tel Aviv, takes about 50 minutes. It requires similar time and even less
from almost any Jewish colony in the West Bank to reach Jerusalem. Given the relatively short amount of time
for commuting, thousands of Israeli Jews have preferred to live outside Jerusalem, enjoying cheaper and good‐
quality housing incentives, and commute to Jerusalem to work or simply to ask the government for more
incentives and privileges. From this perspective, the claim that the decrease in number of Jewish population in
Jerusalem‐‐ as seen by Israeli politicians and planners as a threat to its ‘Jewish ethnic‐religious identity’‐‐ is
another constructed myth—it is a myth used to mobilize Jews in Israel and abroad in order to justify the overall
project of ever more land acquisition from Palestinian Jerusalemites and hands‐on Judaization of the city. The
new road network system with its dual function ‐‐ enhancing access to the city for Jews while at same time
isolating and fragmenting the space of Palestinian‐blue‐card‐holders, blocking similar easy access for them to
their own city ‐‐ suggests that Israeli decision‐makers are bent on intensifying the element of actual presence
on the ground and working in the urban space, necessary for acquiring sovereignty. One should look at the
actual presence of Jews in the city during daytime hours and less at census statistics indicating residence.
The new road networks in the Jerusalem area function as a very major element in the matrix of control along
with the Separation Wall, and are having the most lasting effect on Palestinian access to East Jerusalem, to
their own neighborhoods and to other Palestinian localities in the region. The road arteries have hindered and
caused major suffering for Palestinians for normal mobility and a normal daily life, e.g., going to work, schools,
hospitals and engaging in leisure activities. The barriers created have totally changed travel habits for some
Palestinians eager to reach Jerusalem along the traditional major roads connecting cities like Bethlehem,
Jericho and Ramalla with that of East Jerusalem. Significantly, the newly constructed roads have been
accompanied by a reduction in Palestinian private land, much needed for pressing housing needs, due to
extensive expropriation of land used for these new roads, which basically service Jews and Jewish localities and
hardly help the Palestinians. The Palestinian need for access and development was not only ignored but their
localities were actually rendered invisible and treated as non‐existent. Three examples are illuminating:
1) The construction of Road No. 1, a regional road which connects Tel Aviv to eastern parts of the West Bank,
especially the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim, passes through Jerusalem (Figure 5). In the municipal
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boundaries, this road includes the so‐called Mount Scopus Tunnel Road linking the Ma’aleh Adumim
settlement with Tel Aviv. This road has changed the travel behavior of Palestinians, preventing them from using
the old ‘Eizariya‐Jericho road, which is totally blocked now due to the Wall in the Abu Dis. They now have to
use the Mt. Scopus Tunnel Road. In addition, building this road was also associated with the confiscation of
lands from the Palestinian neighborhood of Wadi Al Joz and At Tur, prohibiting Palestinian building and
development 150 meters on the side of each of the roads in these neighborhoods.
2) The construction of the planned “East and West Ring Road,” which will connect settlements in south of
the city with the eastern and northeastern settlements, will pass parallel to Palestinian neighborhoods in East
Jerusalem, expropriating huge Palestinian areas. This will involve the confiscation of 658 dunams which are
part of the small Palestinian reserve for development. Moreover, it will lead to the demolition of no fewer than
40 Palestinian homes. Although Palestinian residents can use this road, there is no access to the road due to
the absence of junctions that connect the Palestinian neighborhoods to it, which means there is in reality very
limited Palestinian use of it.
3) Road No. 443 (and its extension Road No. 404) connects Tel Aviv and Modi’in with Giv’at Ze’ev through Bet
Horon. It extends further connecting Givat Ze’ev with Ramot and Jerusalem through the municipal Road No.
436, which joins Road No. 60 in the south. The entire route exists within the occupied West Bank and is
connected to the municipal Road No. 4 (linking to the West Jerusalem center and south Jerusalem) (see Figure
5). This road (i.e., No. 443) is closed to the residents of Palestinian villages in the northwest of Jerusalem,
namely Beit Hanina al Balad, Bir Nabala, Al Jib, Beit Surik, Beit ‘Anan and Bidu. In addition, since the beginning
of the Second Intifada in September 2000, the Israeli forces have closed the roads inside these villages that
lead to Road No. 45 (which is connected to Road No. 443). Hence, their natural link with East Jerusalem and the
suburbs in the north and east has been severed.
MILITARY CHECKPOINTS
Military checkpoints are a further key component employed in the Jerusalem matrix of control. Beginning in
1993, the Israeli government adopted a policy of closure, with military checkpoints as a node of control,
manned by soldiers ready to shoot whoever may disobey their order. At least 12 military checkpoints were
established around the jurisdictional boundary of East Jerusalem, as indicated in Figure 6. These checkpoints
now are permanent and function to isolate East Jerusalem from its Palestinian hinterland and separate it from
the surrounding Palestinian communities. The policy of closure was meant at the beginning to prevent
Palestinians with orange‐color IDs from entering East Jerusalem without permission. But now the checkpoints
have become virtual border crossing points around Jerusalem. It is impossibly for a Jerusalemite living in East
Jerusalem to travel by car to Ramallah. He/she could travel to Qalandiya checkpoint by car but cannot cross it
and has to walk throughout the checkpoint and take public transportation to continue the normally 20‐minute
trip to Ramallah. That short trip now can take 2‐3 hours and sometimes even can be denied, based on the
mood of the soldier on duty. In 1996, Israel intensified the closure policy, more checkpoints were added and
more blockades and barriers were constructed (see Figure 6). Some new checkpoints were manned by “Israeli
police” and “border police” around the core area of Old City of Jerusalem and at entrances and gates. After
1996, obtaining permit of access has gradually become stricter, and the procedure of issuing a permit is now
more humiliating and fruitless.
In the year 2000, further closures took place within the streets of East Jerusalem and surrounding Jerusalem,
which had been used by people to enter “illegally.” These road blocks block vehicles and people from crossing
from one point to another. It has since become almost impossible for Palestinians without a blue ID card to
enter the city. Palestinians who enter the city “illegally” are subject to arrest and imprisonment.
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The impact of this type of matrix of control can be devastating as an instrument interrupting the daily life of
Palestinians, living in and outside the Jerusalem municipal area, a form of spatial harassment and
fragmentation at a micro‐scale. Arbitrary checks by police, military personal and often disguised military
members can occur any time and in any place. During holy days and festivals for Jews and even on Fridays
when thousands of Palestinian Moslems travel to Al Aqsa mosque for Friday prayers, they encounter and are
routinely blocked by hundred of Israeli police, ending up praying outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls. In this case,
it does not matter whether these Palestinians are Jerusalemites with a blue ID. They are still prohibited from
moving freely about in their city and reaching Al Aqsa mosque.
THE SEPARATION WALL
The Separation Wall is the last element in the matrix of control discussed in this paper. This Wall is the
implementation in steel and concrete of an Israeli policy of unilateralism, adopted following the failure of
progress in peace talks with the Palestinians based on the Oslo Accords. It was not until June 2002 that the
government passed on the decision for erecting this Wall. Its path was chosen unilaterally and it was gouged
into the Palestinian landscape by a government defiantly rejecting the judgment of the International Court of
Justice in The Hague, which regards this Wall as illegal. The Wall is comprised of eight‐meter high concrete
slabs (especially around built‐up areas in Jerusalem), and in open areas is constructed of electric fences, barbed
wire, dirt paths and trenches, sometimes even combined to reach the average width of 40 to 60 meters. It is
built on lands confiscated from the West Bank. The Wall is designed to hinder both motorized and pedestrian
movement of Palestinians, and their access to Israel and settlements in the West Bank. It is a separation wall
that involves one ethnic‐national group only. It does not function to separate between Jews living in
settlements on both sides of the wall, only Palestinians. The wall for Jewish Israelis does not form any barrier
for movement and accesses to its own localities. This type of “border” only exists in the Israeli lexicon and no
where is there a boundary line built with a conscious purpose to separate between people of the same ethnic
and national background and identity.
The section of the Wall which serves to separate the Jerusalem municipal area from its surrounding Palestinian
localities is instructive. It is intended to achieve a number of spatio‐geopolitical objectives. Starting with land
grab, the Wall will annex about 3,500 dunams or 875 acres to the Israeli settlements within the municipal
boundaries. The benefiting settlements are Neve Ya’cov, Pisgat Ze’ev, Pisgat Omer and Har Homa (Jabal Abu
Ghneim). Moreover, 3,400 (850 acres) of established Palestinian neighborhoods presently within the
boundaries of East Jerusalem will be excluded from the city as areas east of the Wall (Shu’fat Refugee Camp,
Dahiyat As Salam and ‘Anata) or north of it (Kafr ‘Aqab and Samira Mis) (see Figure 7). Construction of the Wall
will eventually lead to the annexation of vast areas of occupied Palestinian lands on which Israeli settlements
have been built outside Jerusalem’s municipal borders. Such areas include Ma’ale Adumim, Giv’at Ze’ev, Bet
Horon, Giv’on Hadasha, Har Shmuel; and the area of the Bethlehem Governorate that is located south west of
Jerusalem, which includes Betar Illit, Ifrat and Gosh Etzion. The total areas designated for these settlements are
173 square kilometers.
Demographically, the Wall will place 40,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites who presently within live within the city
outside the city limits. In addition, 60,000 to 90,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites presently living in the Jerusalem
Governorate areas that surround East Jerusalem, in Ar Ram, Bir Nabala, Al ‘Eizariya and Abu Dis will be cut off
from the city. It is estimated that in the end, when these actions and other annexations and exclusions are
implemented, the remaining Palestinian areas that lie within the Wall will be inhabited by no more than 50
percent of the actual Palestinian Jerusalemite population, and their percentage in the total municipal
population will shrink to a mere 20 percent.
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A further geopolitical goal of the Wall is apparent from the realities, namely that of reducing Palestinian access
to East Jerusalem and movement from and between localities via a spatial policy of enclavization. In and
around the Municipal boundary of Jerusalem, the Wall changes from a line of separation into double lines
which encircle Palestinian neighborhoods and localities from all directions. Figure 7 shows that the route of the
Wall results in the formation of seven enclaves. One may see this physical enclavization of Palestinian localities
as reflecting a definite aim of the architects of the Wall—it is meant to reduce Palestinian presence and daily
activities in East Jerusalem to the minimum over the long run. Palestinians are likely to reach a point where
they prefer not to travel to the Old City in order to avoid the harassment of each trip. Should this occur, then
Israel will be enhancing its sovereignty over the Old City, since the Palestinian presence is reduced on a daily
basis by this kind of ‘suffocation’ or drying up of Palestinian flows into the urban space.
The impact of the Wall as a matrix of control on the life of Palestinian localities in the Jerusalem region and
beyond is probably better understood when one looks at the route of the Wall in relation to the road network
and how these two matrixes of control were designed to achieve the dual objective. Figure 8 presents the
Palestinian localities in black shading and the Israelis in dark gray. It clearly shows how the route of the Wall
(completed and planned) is encircling Palestinian localities and areas, forming clusters for them (or a huge
prison inside a wall from all directions), while the Israeli settlements are left outside these enclaves and outside
the Wall. It is also instructive how the road system has been designed to create an effective linkage between
Jewish settlements, located outside the city municipal boundaries and that with West Jerusalem. In the
process, these roads are bypassing Palestinian clusters and localities.
Table 2 provides a useful summary regarding the impact of four matrices of control employed by the Israeli
authorities on Palestinian localities in the Jerusalem area. These are: the Road Network, Military Checkpoints
and Road Blockades, Settlements and the Wall. There are hardly any Palestinian localities that have not been
negatively affected by one or more of these matrices. In fact the Table shows that at least 10 groups of
Palestinian localities (out of 19) are affected by the four listed matrices; 4 other groups are affected by 3
matrices and the remaining 5 groups of Palestinian localities are impacted by either one matrix or two.
CONCLUSION
In this paper we have tried to show how Israel has planned and executed a spatial policy of takeover of
Palestinian land in East Jerusalem. In the process, it has isolated Palestinian neighborhoods from each other,
making access to East Jerusalem even for Friday prayers at the Al Aqsa mosque a nightmare of travel through
hyper‐controlled space for Palestinians.
The Israeli authorities have systematically sought to transform the topography and the physical environment of
the city by a complex road network, replete with tunnels and bridges which are colonial in scope, crystallizing a
form of spatial apartheid. In doing so they have completely ignored the interest of the Palestinian side. From
the planning perspective, the Palestinians have been boxed in, peripheralized and rendered invisible. The
underlying policy here is a kind of soft ethnic cleansing: to make the lives of people so miserable they will
emigrate.
The case of Jerusalem is a laboratory to test how a state geopolitical code such as “United Jerusalem is the
eternal capital of Israel” can acquire spatial expression and how the state, backed with its own popular
support, is ready to do any thing possible in order make the facts on the ground irreversible. The policy aim
here is to ensure that in any future ‘negotiations’ with a Palestinian authority, it will be impossible to ‘divide’
this urban space and allow East Jerusalem to be the capital of an Palestinian state. All that is directly linked to
the overriding ideology of Judaization and de‐indigenization. The methods employed by Israel as a
quadrimodal matrix of control are quite clearly in open conflict with the principles of democratic society.
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Israeli discourse on Judaization of Jerusalem is obsessed with the issue of achieving demographic balance in
favor of Jews. This argument is often foregrounded in each case where the Palestinian population forms a
substantial concentration, such as in Galilee, the Nagab desert area and in some neighborhoods in mixed cities
inside Israel proper. It is aimed at depriving Palestinians in these places from living in their houses and on their
land, a form of cleansing or in older parlance, Umvolkung at a micro‐scale, or de‐Palestinizing. The guiding
policy for making Jerusalem a largely Jewish city has entailed a multifaceted effort by the central government,
municipality and the world Jewish community, in a distinctive amalgam of ideology, politics and personal
motivation. Yet despite all these efforts, the Palestinian population of Jerusalem continues to grow, and the
Jewish percentage due to out‐migration continues to decline. Indeed, the Palestinian Arab population would
probably be much larger had Israel not adopted such spatial policies.
Israeli official parlance in reference to space in Jerusalem often speaks about “contested space” or “disputed
territory.” Yet in terms on international law, East Jerusalem is occupied territory, and the Israel presence there
is illegal. Israel has no legal right to settle any of its inhabitants permanently on occupied land, taken by force in
the wake of war.
There is great psychological stress inflicted on Palestinians moving through this urban space as a result of the
military checkpoints, searches and harassment. Palestinians invest a huge amount of time to travel relatively
short distances. This is “engineered delay,” and part of a policy of mental harassment. The aim is discourage
Palestinians from coming to Jerusalem for any purpose. This “temporal harassment” entailing a huge
investment and waste of time is not always seen by planners but is a crucial dimension in the way Arab
Jerusalemites are controlled and ground down on a daily basis in their motility through this urban space,
alienating them from their own home city. Not only is space fractionated, but concomitantly time is in a sense
itself “occupied” and bloated out of all proportion for moving through that spatial mazeway.
The Israeli authorities have turned public space inside the Old City into a kind of capsule with no free
movement. A large contingent of army and police have been stationed in the Old City and over 500 closed‐
circuit security cameras have been installed in various public places in East Jerusalem, spying on anything
moving in the streets, gathering information. Public space has been transformed into a macro‐space of
electronic surveillance 24/7, and movement through this topography is accompanied by constant fear.
Significantly, this paper shows that the concerted push for changing the Arab landscape of Jerusalem started
long before the second Intifada and before Palestinian suicide bombers hit the heart of West Jerusalem, and
certainly before the Palestinians invented the so‐called al Qassam rocket fired from Gaza. The timing of
introducing and intensifying the closure policy and check points and passing a number of laws to reduce
number of Palestinian Jerusalemites was specifically when Israel and the Palestinians entered into peace
negotiations in 1993 and thereafter. In the framework of these negotiations, the issue of Jerusalem was
postponed and left for final negotiation. From what has been presented in this paper, it should be clear that
Israeli spatial policy in Jerusalem since 1993 stands in stark contrast to any arrangement where Palestinians
and Israel can share the city in one way or another and divide sovereignty over its various sections, perhaps in
some kind of inventive condominium. Israeli negotiations in the Taba peace talks under the Barak government
talked about the concept of an “open city” for Jerusalem. One may wonder how such a concept could be
implemented at a time when Prime Minister Barak was presiding over a complex program aimed at a matrix of
tightening control.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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Table 1: population change in Jerusalem by ethnic group, 1967 – 2005
Number of Residents (Thousands)
Palestinians Israelis Total
Year Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent
1967 68.6 25.8 197.7 74.2 266.3 100
1972 83.5 26.6 230.3 73.4 313.8 100
1983 122.4 28.6 306.3 71.4 428.7 100
1995 181.8 30.2 420.9 69.8 602.7 100
1999 201.3 31.1 444.9 68.8 646.3 100
2000 208.7 31.7 448.8 68.3 657.5 100
2001 215.4 32.1 454.6 67.9 670 100
2002 221.9 32.6 458.6 67.4 680.4 100
2003 228.7 33 464.5 67 693.2 100
2004 237.1 33.6 469.3 66.4 706.4 100
2005 244.8 34.0 475.1 66.0 719.9 100
Source: The Jerusalem Statistical Yearbook, No. 20, 2002‐2003, The Israeli
Board of Statistics, and the JIIS Jerusalem: Facts and Trends 2004. Data for 2005 is based on Israel’s Central Bureau of
Statistics website: www.cbs.gov.il/shnaton57/st02_14pdf
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Table 2: Methods of spatial control employed by the Israeli authorities in the Jerusalem area by Palestinian localities
Isolated by
Permanent
Checkpoints
Road and Road
Palestinian neighborhoods Network Blocks Settlements Wall
Kafr 'Aqab X X X
Qalandia Refugee Camp
Ar Ram X X X X
Dahiyat al Bareed
Hizma X X X X
Shu'fat Refugee Camp 'Anata X X X X
Al'Eizariya (Bethany)
Abu Dis X X X X
As Sawashira ash Sharqiya
Ash Sheikh Sa'd
Qalandiya
Al Judeira
Al Jib X X X X
Bir Nabala
Beit Hanina al Balad
Al 'Isawiya X X X X
Az Za'ayyem X X X X
Sheikh Jarrah X
Wadi al Joz
At Tur (Mt of Olives) X X X X
Ash Shayyah X X X
Ras al 'Amud
Sur Bahir X X X
Umm Tuba
Bir 'Ona
Jlun al Hummus
Tantur Region X X X X
Entrance to Bethlehem
Al Walaja X X X X
Cremisan region
Beit Safafa X
Tabaliya
Sharafat X
Jabal al Mukabbir X X
As Sawashira al Gharbiya
Beit Hanina X X X X
Shu'fat X X X
Source: The International Peace and Cooperation Center (IPCC). (2005): Jerusalem on the Map. Jerusalem, The
International Peace and Cooperation Center, pp. 81‐82.
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CAPTIONS FOR FIGURES 1‐8
Figure 1: Changes in Municipal Boundaries in Jerusalem since 1841
Source: Adapted and modified from IPCC (2005)
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Figure 2: The areal extent of Palestinian Governorates in West Bank, Palestine
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Figure 3: Expansion of Jewish Settlements into East Jerusalem area
Source: Adapted and modified from IPCC (2005)
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Figure 4: Pattern of land use in the Jerusalem Municipal area
Source: Adapted and modified from IPCC (2005)
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Figure 5: Pattern of road networks in the Jerusalem Municipal area
Source: Adapted and modified from IPCC (2005)
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Figure 6: Distribution of military checkpoints, blockades and barriers in Jerusalem Palestinian Governorate
Source: Adapted and modified from IPCC (2005)
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Figure 7: Delineation of Separation Wall in Jerusalem Palestinian Governorate
Source: Adapted and modified from IPCC (2005)
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Figure 8: Patterns of network of roads and Separation Wall in relation to Jewish and Arab localities
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ICIWG‐16
STORM CLOUDS OF GLOBALIZATION AND THE MUSLIM WORLD
Ghulam Akhmat1*, Shoaib Khan1, Amjad Nawaz3
1
*School of Architecture and Urban Planning, 1+School of Management,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
3
Wafaqi Mohtasib, Islamabad, Pakistan.
ABSTRACT:
Throughout the ages religion has occupied a central place in life, and the normative codes or precepts
governing human action to which religions give rise, tend to claim universal validity. Perhaps the very practice
of constructing ‘religion’ as a sociological category is part of a long‐term process leading to globalization. In this
article, we explore the challenges faced by the Muslim world, and inherent capabilities of Islam to stand against
these challenges. Despite the fact that Muslims are highly diversified in their cultural, social and linguistic
features, they are united in the universality of the Islamic faith, as according to the Qur’an, Islam is already a
global religion. Islamic worldview contains Divine guidelines that cannot be subject to change or modification
and includes universal principles such as the meaning of God, the Prophet and man, which cannot draw on
others to reconstruct the social organization of Muslim societies. Historically, pilgrimage to the Hijaz (Hajj),
constructed a dense network of Muslim trading and pilgrimage communities, across the continents, which
institutionalized a distinct tradition of Muslim global ‘cosmopolitanism’ and encouragement of geographical
mobility prior to the era of globalization. So globalization has been presenting the Islamic world with more
possibilities than problems. Ijtihad is the most important legal principle in Islam, and one of the pillars of the
Islamization of Knowledge. With this kind of invaluable tools, Islam has the ability to stand against the storm
clouds of globalization, and is now presenting itself globally to a wide range of audiences.
KEYWORDS: globalization, Islamic world, modernization, universal religion, Ijtihad
‘Islam does not bifurcate the unity of man into an irreconcilable duality of spirit and matter. In Islam God and
the universe, spirit and matter, church and state are organic to each other.’ (Iqbal)
INTRODUCTION
Globalization had been conceived differently by different people. It may signify the growing integration of
markets and nation‐states, with the spread of technological advancements (Friedman 1999); receding
geographical constraints on social and cultural arrangements or the increased dissemination of ideas and
technologies (Albrow 1997); the threat to national sovereignty by trans‐national actors (Beck 2000). It has also
been described as ‘the intensification of world‐wide social relations which link distant localities’ (Giddens
1990). If globalization is defined as a process of intense exchange among economies and cultures within ‘world
systems’, then it is neither new nor modern (Manger 1999). Some scholars conceptualize it as
deterritorialization or the growth of ‘supraterritorial’ relations between people. (Jan Aart Scholte 2000).
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It is something more than a purely economic phenomenon, manifesting itself on a global scale. Three possible
origins of globalization can be suggested: (i) it has been in progress throughout history as far back as the
unrecorded; (ii) it is an outcome of capitalism in the modern period; and (iii) it is product of the disorganized
capital of post‐industrialism and post‐modernity. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen (2002) argues that globalization
is at least a few thousand years old and that the West played a very minor role in its early phases. Some
scholars regard globalization as being post‐World War I or post‐World War II phenomenon.
There is no doubt that globalization has produced significant gains at the global level (Bhagwati 2004). Foreign
trade in goods and services, capital, technology and labour all move more freely across borders, with significant
benefits in the areas of culture and governance as well (Appadurai 1990). Globalization is also perceived as
creating new threats like financial volatility, political and cultural insecurity, emergence of infectious diseases,
widening disparities in development world‐wide, climate change, an accelerating loss of bio‐diversity and the
scarcity and pollution of fresh‐water resources. These concerns were expressed dramatically in front of global
television audiences viewing the WTO talks in Seattle, in late November 1999 (St Clair 1999). Such protests
point to the first attempts to open up a global public sphere or global civil society, to highlight the question of
the excluded, ‘the global apartheid’ – a world in which one fifth is rich and four fifths are poor (Falk 1999).
Since the 1970s the electronic media and mass migration have become ‘massively globalized’, which links
together workers, students, activists and refugees along with various social movements, NGOs, etc (Appadurai
1996).
RELIGION AND GLOBALIZATION
Religion can be conceptualized as beliefs, sentiments, actions and social institutions informed by perceptions of
ultimate significance. There is no more widespread and impressive thing in human history than religion;
throughout the ages it has occupied a central place in life. In every known period of history some kind of
religious beliefs and observances have been in evidence, in tribes and nationalities the most unlike in other
respects, too remote from one another to allow the possibility of mutual influence, and pursuing the most
divergent lines of practical activity (Saeed 1998). It is no exaggeration to claim that religions have been closely
associated with the emergence of most of the world’s empires, the modern world‐system of nation states and
today’s increasingly globalized social order (Cohen, Robin Shirin M. Rai 2000). The normative codes or precepts
governing human action, to which religions give rise, tend to claim universal validity. Religion has been a
globally diffused mode of discourse, which plays an important part in the institutional ordering of national
societies and international society. So globalization has opened up some novel opportunities for religion. In
short, the very practice of constructing ‘religion’, as a sociological category, is part of a long‐term process
leading to globalization (Becford J A 2000 165‐83).
ISLAM AND GLOBALIZATION
Qur’an states that the only religion accepted by God on earth is Islam; therefore Islam is already a global
religion. The message of Islam is far from being limited to a particular region or place, rather it is universal in
the sense that it is directed at ‘everything that exist everywhere’ including stars and planets. Qur’an addresses
the Holy Prophet (PBUH) by saying, ‘We send you mercy to all worlds’, implying that the finality of God’s
messages is one and covers the whole universe. As Malcolm Waters argues, that the universalistic religions
claim that the world was created by a single God and that humanity is a common forum of existence in relation
to that God, which is a primary long‐run driving force in the direction of globalization. It leads to the argument
that humanity constitutes a single community that disvalues geographical localities and political territories,
which is most explicit in Islam. Despite the fact that Muslims are highly diversified in their cultural, social and
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linguistic features, they are united in the universality of the Islamic faith. They respect the five injunctions of
Islam, and practice the rituals of life in an Islamic way, they celebrate Muslim festivals and they call their
children by Muslim names.
The values embodied in Islam are absolute, and Islam has its own absolute vision of God, of the Universe, of
Reality, of Man; its own ontological, cosmological, psychological interpretation of reality; its own worldview
and vision of the hereafter, having a final significance for mankind. The Islamic worldview contains Divine
guidelines that cannot be subject to change or modification. In addition to being universal, Islam is a dynamic
religion. The truths of Islam are able to progress materially, and in moral and non‐material matters, and
possess a prefect capacity to do so. Globalization brings scientific means and technological features that
Muslims are able to benefit from. Islam fundamentally supports globalization and has played a prominent role
in globalization processes during earlier periods of history, and affected political, economic, and cultural life.
Therefore, basically it should be capable of accommodating the contemporary globalization process. Various
mechanisms, in particular the Hajj, the circulation of religious and scholarly texts, education in general, and the
mystical orders, contribute to the global character of Islam, at least within the community of its adherents.
Those who possess an objective knowledge of world history will admit that the Muslim civilization attained a
high level of scientific development, a refined civilization, wealth, and even the formation of a capitalist sector
and a bourgeois class. One can, for example, speak of an ‘Islamic global society’ in the years from 1000 to 1500
(Dunn 1989). However, in the fifteenth or sixteenth century AD, it was Europe that experienced the
technological and social leap that indirectly transformed it into the centre of an ever wider and stronger new
global system.
Islam has the ability to stand against the forces of globalization, and indeed Islam is now presenting itself
globally to a wide range of audiences. In fact, the culture of postmodernity is precisely appropriate to Islam,
and globalization is ‘presenting the Islamic world with more possibilities than problems. Islam is the world’s
fastest growing religion, and fuelled by global immigration, Islam is growing rapidly in European and North
American cities. Even more challenging to Enlightenment theory is the fact that the triumphal expansion of
global forces, appears to be correlated with the intensification of Islamic practice, as well as, the simultaneous
migration of Muslim communities into new states and regions, via the new global infrastructure, (Cohen, Robin
and Shirin M. Rai 2000). Turner (1994), a theorist of global civil society and social citizenship, argues that it is
the availability in modern times of effective global communications systems, which makes possible for the first
time a globalization of Islam. Cyberspace has contributed to the construction of new identities among young
Muslim migrants in Europe. Due to this convenient communication the postnational communities have
deterritorialized (Appadurai 1996).
ISLAM; AS A POLITICAL DISCOURSE
Islam does not propose a certain unchangeable form of government, instead, it establishes fundamental
principles that orient a government’s general character, leaving it to the people to choose the type and form of
government according to time and circumstances (Fethullah Gulen 2001). Just like other political discourses,
Islam is capable of building a political discourse, which attempts to centre Islam within the political order, with
an assertion to a full reconstruction of society on Islamic principles (Bobby S. Sayyid 1997). Unlike the
‘imported’ ideologies of Marxism or nationalism, Islam in its political and progressive form is more accessible to
the people (Zubaida 1989).
WESTERN ENLIGHTENMENT/MODERNITY VS. ISLAM
At this time Europe and the West have started questioning their own modernist paradigm, and Islam has also
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presented a particular challenge to some aspects of Western modernity (Simon W. Murden 2002).
Development of Western societies has been built upon the principle of separation of religion from state, and
with respect to West, Islam as a political discourse ‘de‐centres the West’ and places Islam in the centre of
public sphere (Anwar Alam 2009). British social anthropologist, the late Ernest Gellner, and Eisenstadt argue
that modernity is not equivalent to ‘Westernity’ and Islam, more than other religions, is very compatible with
modernity. Western rationalism relies solely on reason and rejects faith, whereas in Islamic discourse, the
antidote to this essentially inhuman rationalism is Islam’s deep spirituality, which does not preclude reason,
but keep it in its proper place: in the service of faith.
Taking the example of the post‐modern features of Islamism in Turkey new Muslim scholars have attempted to
de‐centre the West in their epistemology. Theirs is a view of ‘the century through the lens of Islam rather than
interpreting Islam through lens of the modern era (Yavuz 2003). In other words, the new Muslim intellectuals
do not try to reconcile Islam and modernity, but rather they are critical of the premises of modernity itself
(Anwar Alam 2009). New intelligentsia and Muslim scholars are not recruited from the traditional, clerical
status‐honour group, the Ulama, or from Sufi brotherhoods. Instead leaders and followers are recruited from
graduates of modern national, or even Western, universities. These new Muslim intellectuals embrace science
and are constructing new political discourses, with the pursuit of an alternative route to modernity.
In public‐political sphere, the terms ‘Islamism’ and ‘fundamentalism’ are used synonymously. However, the
term ‘Islamism’ is not equivalent to ‘fundamentalism’. The term ‘fundamentalism’ connotes a cast of mind that
is static, retrogressive and conservative. Advocates of the usage of ‘fundamentalism’ rarely acknowledge the
origins of the term in Protestant Christianity (Talal Asad 1993). For this reason, the use of the term
fundamentalism signals bad analysis and bad politics (Anwar Alam 2009). Benjamin Barber (1995) and Naipaul
(1991) argue that Muslim societies are unfit for what they call the ‘universal civilization’, and Huntington (1996)
pits them against the West in his prognosticated ‘clash of civilizations’. The vital contributions of Muslim
scholars to the growth of knowledge in the medieval era, and the attempts by a series of modernizers since the
nineteenth century to engage Western philosophy from Qur’anic perspectives (Fakhry 1983), generally go
unacknowledged by Western commentators. They seem to remain unaware of the contemporary discussions
among Muslims on Islam, modernity and postmodernity. In a comparison of the Indonesian Christian and
Muslim attitudes towards modernity, Mark Woodward argues that Islam is more open to modernity. He found
that Indonesian Muslims accept modernity and at the same time continue to provide their experiences with
meaning and their society with cohesion on the basis of their religion.
Pasha and Samatar (1997) take Islamic piety as an integral part of an alternative vision of modernity (Pasha and
Samatar 1997). In stressing the pitfalls of materialism, Islamic piety qualifies the arrogance of reason with a
gentle reminder that ultimately the content of any civilization rests on its capacity to organize social life on the
foundations of justice and equality – above all, on humanity. Islam does not propose anti‐rationalism, but
emphasizes tempering rationalism to serve human need and dignity (Pasha and Samatar 1997).
TRANSNATIONAL ISLAM – THE UMMA
Membership in a universalistic, global community of observant believers – the Umma – is the broadest possible
boundary of the Muslim national identity. Recent changes in religious practice are accelerating transnational
Islamic developments (Rudolph 1997). Mass education and mass communication are actually yielding self‐
trained religious micro‐intellectuals, who are competing with formally trained imams (Dale Eickelman 2002).
They are exerting a moderating effect on Islamic discourse and breaking the monopoly of traditional religious
authorities over the management of the sacred. In the global era, western Muslims are reinventing debates on
Islam, democracy, and modernization and translating Islam into more universalistic terms.
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ISLAMIC ECONOMICS; AN ALTERNATIVE VISION
Some Muslim economists see Islamic economics offer an alternative vision, as Islamic approach takes a wider
perspective of issues, including ‘social, ethical and religious circumstances, inclinations and beliefs’ of people.
As Masudul Choudahry (1989) explains, the notion of ‘ethico‐economics’or ‘humanomics’cannot be viewed in
the sense of economic maximization. In Islam, ‘two of its five pillars are concerned with distribution and
consumption.’ The Islamic tax of zakat is intended to distribute funds to the poor and needy, while the
prohibition of Ramadan curtails consumption (Ali A. Mazrui 1990). Trade has been a core activity within Islamic
societies since its early days and was regarded as ‘an honourable profession by the Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH). However, the Qur’an prohibits riba, which includes all forms of interest payment. Now, in today’s
capitalist development, no opportunity is left for small industrialists and agriculturalists to earn their livelihood
freely (Imam Sayyid Abul A’la al‐Mawdudi 1978). Marcus Noland (2003) made an econometric analysis of
Muslim communities in certain nations in which they were weighed from their ‘population share’ and ‘distance
from Mecca’, and he found that Islam did not appear to be a ‘drag on growth or an anchor on development.
Islam restores its productive and useful function in society: man becomes a trustee of God delegated to
undertake certain activities and refrain from others’ (Choueiri 1997). In certain states, numerous Islamic
investment companies (IICs) have been established (Sami Zubaida1990). These institutions convey political
overtones: ‘The IICs are the economic symbol of rising Islamic tendencies.
REFORMIST ISLAM; IJTIHAD
Globalization poses two central challenges to the issue of authenticity in the Muslim world. First, Muslims have
to balance old cultural traditions with modern standards and practices. As social change affects various Muslim
societies differently, so to absorb the change without losing one’s national identity is indeed difficult. However,
the reformist Islam with its long tradition of original Ijtihad (autonomous reasoning), which is deeply rooted in
Islamic thought and history, is capable of striking this balance. In its current manifestation, as some scholars
suggest, reformist Islam is part of a broader discourse of universal human rights. According to Dr. Allama
Muhammad Iqbal (Ahmad Khurshid 1960) and al‐Alwani (1991), Ijtihad is the indispensable tool for solving the
crisis of the Umma. Al‐Alwani argues that history reveals that the Umma was brought to the contemporary
crisis after Ijtihad fell into disuse. It was gradually replaced by Taqlid. He stresses on the notion that the study
and correct use of Ijtihad is one of the pillars of the Islamization of Knowledge. If this Islamic methodology is
applied, it will produce an Islamic understanding of sociological phenomena (al‐Alwani 1991). Iqbal believed
that Ijtihad is the most important legal principle in Islam. However, his concept of Ijtihad is a radical departure
form orthodox formulations, for he saw it as a consensus achieved through the deliberations of a legislative
assembly whose members collectively (and individually) exercise Ijtihad. It is, therefore, inevitable that the
Ulama should participate fully in the activities of the assembly. Reformist Islam is a modern response to
contemporary problems, and ideas, such as democracy, rationalism, and human rights, are gaining a central
place in reform‐oriented discourses, which will ultimately promote universal human rights.
CONCLUSION
There is no more widespread and impressive thing in human history than religion, and the very practice of
constructing ‘religion’ as a sociological category is part of a long‐term process leading to globalization.
According to the Qur’an Islam is already a global religion. The message of Islam is far from being limited to a
particular region or place, rather it is universal. Despite the fact that Muslims are highly diversified in their
cultural, social and linguistic features, they are united in the universality of the Islamic faith. Most importantly,
the obligation to undertake the pilgrimage to the Hijaz (Hajj), required of all Muslims who are capable,
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constructed a dense network of Muslim trading and pilgrimage communities, across the continents, prior to
the modern age. Historically, such networks institutionalized a distinct tradition of Muslim global
‘cosmopolitanism’ and encouragement of geographical mobility prior to the era of globalization. The Islamic
worldview contains Divine guidelines that cannot be subject to change or modification. By way of conclusion I
would like to set out the theoretical implications of this paper that Islam fundamentally supports globalization,
and indeed has played a prominent role in globalization processes, during earlier periods of history. Therefore,
Islam has the ability to stand against these storm clouds of globalization, and indeed it is now presenting itself
globally to a wide range of audiences. In fact, globalization is ‘presenting the Islamic world with more
possibilities than problems. Mass education and mass communication are yielding self‐trained religious micro‐
intellectuals, who are exerting a moderating effect on Islamic discourse and breaking the monopoly of
traditional religious authorities over the management of the sacred. In the global era, western Muslims are
reinventing debates on Islam, democracy, and modernization and translating Islam into more universalistic
terms. Ijtihad is the indispensable tool for solving the crisis of the Umma. The study and correct use of Ijtihad is
one of the pillars of the Islamization of Knowledge. Now the challenge for Muslims is to avoid slipping into the
monastic or the zealous interpretations of their religion as they engage with globality. And the reciprocal task
for the West is to recover memory and history, acknowledge the diversity of the Islamic Umma, and strive
toward a solidarity based on mutual recognition and respect.
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Giddens, A., (1990). The consequences of modernity, Stanford University Press, Stanford.
Huntington, Samuel P. (1996). The Clash of Civilizations and the remaking of world order. New York:
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Manger, L. (ed.) (1999). Muslim diversity: local Islam in global contexts. Curzon, Richmond Surrey, UK.
Marcus Noland, (2003). ‘Religion, Culture, and Economic Performance’ International Economics Working Paper
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M. Hakan Yavuz, (2003). Islamic Political Identity in Turkey. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Naipaul, V.S. (1991). India. A million mutinies now. Mineva, London.
Pasha, M. K. & Samatar, A. I. (1997). The resurgence of Islam, in Mittelman, J.H. (Ed), Globalization: Critical
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ICIWG‐17
CHINA’S NORTHWEST ISLAMIC CULTURE AREAS AND ITS CHALLENGES
1
GU Chaolin, 2LI Ping
1
School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
E‐mail: gucl@tsinghua.edu.cn
2
Department of Geography, Commercial Press, Beijing 100710, China
E‐mail: liping@cp.com.cn
ABSTRACT
Globalization, internationalization, communication and high‐technology are restructuring our world, especially,
the east coast areas in China developed very fast during these three decades. The growing interconnectedness
between places in the world has indeed resulted in more interaction between metropolitans and eastern
regions in China and the world cities and advanced economic regions. This trend of globalization has become
the most important impacts on the prospects of urban and regional development. Recently, the globalization
processes have some impacts on economic, social and cultural issues. This paper will focus on the Challenges in
Northwest Islamic Culture Areas in China, especially on interactive relation between Islamic culture and
economic development/environmental change is indicated from culture background.
KEYWORDS: the Globalization processes, Challenges, the northwest Islamic culture area in China,
China is a continental country in East Asia for a long time, Northwest China's Islamic culture area, is not only a
long‐term integration between Chinese culture and Western cultures, but also played a very important role for
the East‐West trade, cultural and technological exchanges. However, because China's eastern coastal areas
have developed rapidly since the 1980s under globalization, the development of the western ethnic minority
regions in China lagged behind and some economic, social and ethnic problems also resulted from them. This
paper try to explore underlying causes of social and national problems in the northwest Islamic cultural area in
China based on the background of globalization and locality.
ISLAMIC CULTURE AREAS IN CHINA
China is a multi‐religious country. There are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Christianity and so on.
Chinese citizens can choose and express their beliefs and clear their religious affiliations freely. Islam is one of
the religions that enshrined by Chinese citizens.
1. CHINESE ISLAMIC CULTURE
The core of Islamic culture is Islam. It’s a kind of value orientation (about ethnic, morality and order) based on
Islamic religious principles. It’s a kind of life style for Islamic people. It’s also a culture that spread civilization,
promote civilization and need improvement and adjustment (Hai, 2007). Based on Chinese Muslims’ long‐term
practices on "Koran" and "Hadith", and melted with Chinese traditional culture, some local cultures and
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customs from other ethnics, Islamic culture in China1 developed into a complex syntheses of social
consciousness, behavior, values and so on, which were accepted by Muslims from different ethnics.
2. CHINESE ISLAMIC CULTURE AREAS
According to “Western Genealogy”, Islam was introduced to China from Arab2 since mid‐seventh century
(Qilong Ma, 1876). There are 10 ethnic minorities in China, namely Hui, Uygur, Kazak, Uzbek, Kirgiz, Tajik, Tatar,
Dongxiang, Salar, and Baoan, to believe or believed in Islam. According to the five censuses, China's Muslim
minority population was 7.9 million in 1953 and increased to 20.3 million by 2000 (Table 1). Now there are
more than 30,000 mosques and 40,000 Imams in China.
Table 1 Minorities that believed in Islam in China
Ethnic 1953 1964 1982 1990 2000
Hui 3530498 4473147 7228398 8612001 9816805
Uygur 3610462 3996311 5963491 7207024 8399393
Kazak 509375 491637 907546 1110758 1250458
Dongxiang 155761 147443 279523 373669 513805
Kirgiz 70944 70151 113386 143537 160823
Salar 30658 34664 69135 87546 104503
Tajik 14462 16236 26600 33223 41028
Uzbek 13626 7717 12213 14763 12370
Baoan 4957 5125 9017 11683 16505
Tartar 6929 2294 4122 5064 4890
Total 7.9 9.2 14.6 17.6 20.3
(million)
Source: Census Statistics of China
It can be said that Islamic believers spread over most areas in China, but they mainly gathered and settled in
Xinjiang and Ningxia Autonomouses, Gansu and Qinghai provinces in northwest of China. So this region is
identified as Chinese Islamic Culture Area (Figure 1).
1 th
Islam aroused in Arabic Peninsular in early 7 century. It was called Tianfang, Qingzhen or Hui in ancient China.
2
Western Genealogy (1876): In 628, Emperor Tangtaizhong dreamed a monster appeared in the palace and was subdued by a man with
cloth round the head. He asked his subjects about this dream. A subject answered, the man is from Hui in the west. Their leader is called
Muhammad. So Emperor Tangtaizhong sent Tang Shi to the west to invite Muhammad to China. However, Muhammad had no time and
sent three followers to China, namely Gaisi, Wuaisi, Wangeshi. Gaisi and Wuaisi died in disease on the road, so there was only
Wangeshi reach China. Later, Wangesi wrote to ask for 800 people to help him with the missionary work. When they arrrived, Emperor
Tangtaizhong bulit a big mosque in Xian for them. Later in the Emperor Tangminghuang period, the King of Hui sent 3000 soldiers to
help him to put down the Anlushan revolt. The soldiers then married with women in Jiangxi province and moved to other places. After
that, there are Muslims everywhere in China. It is also recorded in the book that Wangeshi has went back to his country for three
times, brought the Koran and read it to followers. He also built the Huaishen Masque and Guang Pagoda in Guangzhou and was buried
there after death.
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Figure 1 Chinese Islamic Culture Area
3. CULTURAL IDENTITIES OF THE CHINESE ISLAMIC CULTURAL AREA
Islam is against the multi‐god worship. In Islam, Allah is the only god and it advocated one government, to
achieve national unity (Na, 1999:121). Chinese Islamic believers believe in the basic tenets of Islam, namely:
"Allah is the one and only god; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah." It is Chinese Muslims’ "Shahada",
which highlights the core of Islamic faith. Chinese Muslims generally adopted Islam's core values “five pillars
and five trusts”, namely: "Shahada, , Salat, Zakat, Sawm, Hajj"; "Trust Allah, trust messenger, trust angel, trust
scriptures, trust Doomsday and the resurrection after death.”
The long‐term propagation of basic tenets and the core values of Islam does not only shows the respect to
Islamic religious rituals, but also influences the history, culture, political systems, social ethics, economic
activities, lifestyles and customs of China's minorities who believed in Islam. For example, Islamic
characteristics are reflected in interpersonal relationships, the relationship between man and nature, business
activities, the distribution of benefits, diet, health system and so on (Long and Pan, 2007; Ma, 1995).
Chinese Islamic culture also melted with traditional Chinese culture, resulting in many new content, such as
Menhuan system (Zhang, 2004) and new religious sects (Ma Ping, 2005). It became an integral part of Muslim
nations’ cultures, especially in the Kirgiz ethnic culture, Uyghur culture, Hui and Salar culture. It even influences
Muslim’s material and spiritual life, as well as the architectural style, customs, community‐based organizations
of the Northwest Islamic area in China.
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ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHINESE ISLAMIC CULTURAL AREA
After a long period of spread, development and evolution of the Islamic culture, China's Muslim minorities also
developed a set of economic systems with Islamic identities, including property system, commercial system,
financial system, tax system, inheritance system, Waqf system, thus shape a series of economic characteristics
of the Chinese Islamic cultural area.
1. MERCANTILISM TRADITION
Islam scriptures encourage people to engage in agriculture and industry, as Prophet Muhammad said: "If any
Muslim plants any plant and a human being or an animal eats of it, he will be rewarded as if he had given that
much in charity."; "Allah loved refining workers "and so on. However, based on different living environments,
China's Muslim minorities adopt mercantilism, which differs from the “Proagriculture, Antiindustry and
Anticommerce” tradition in China’s farming culture. Arabs consider merchant as the most glorious career and
the most respected people. Islam fully affirmed the value of the commerce, the word merchant (Tagil) in Arabic
also contains the meaning "smart man" (Na, 1999:22). "Koran" encourages commerce but prohabit
materialistic (Ismail • Jinpeng Ma, 2005:2). Muhammad had said: "Like the world's messenger, merchant is
trusted servant of Allah" (Ma, 1995). Even children received an "practical education" in the early age, to
gradually develop their business awareness (Shen, 2003). According to the national census information in 1982,
the population that engaged in commerce, services and industrial sectors of the population accounted for
29.4% of the total population of Muslim nations, while the percentage of Tibetans and Mongolians in China is
only 12% and 16% respectively (Tian, et al, 2009).
2. BUSINESS PRINCIPLE OF “APPRECIATE MORALITY AND DESPISE BENEFITS”
Though commerce is emphasized, the behavior that “forget one's integrity when tempted by personal gain” is
not appreciated in Islamic culture. A set of business principles and benefits distribution principles were defined
to encourage people to “appreciate morality and despise benefits”. "Koran" explicitly prohibits interest, unfair
trade and behaviors that cut off one's nose to spite one's face (Ma, 2005:780). In trading, the Islamic culture
encourages people to use their talents and legitimate means to obtain the maximum economic benefits, but
against the exploitation of unearned; to promote mutual benefits, fair trade, honest business and fair
competition, but against the monopoly, fraud and the behavior that resort to dubious shifts to further one's
interests, prohibit materialistic, usury, and improper business practices.
In Islamic culture, property exceeds the statutory amount will be taxed 2.5‐20% based on "zakat" system. The
system does not only express one's obedience and gratitude to Allah and compassion to the poor people, but
also cleared ones’ selfishness, greed and profit‐oriented concept. "Zakat," system does not only narrow down
the differences between rich and poor Muslims, but also became a funding source for the development of
public utilities. Muslims discipline their business practices and benefits distribution by moral heart, self‐
discipline and contracted heteronomy. It had played a positive role in promoting the circulation of commodities
and economic development, but its limitations are more obvious in modern commodity economy.
3. ADVANCED DISPERSIVE AND EXTENSIVE ECONOMY
Islamic culture encourages people to do business and operating traditional craft industry. While reducing the
number of people engaged in traditional agriculture and animal husbandry, thus greatly reduce people’s
destruction on natural ecosystems, it also denied the political, social, economic breeding grounds, resulting in
the emergence of many dispersed extensive economic entities. Small factories, small businesses are family
enterprises, which have low management level, few output, weak competitive power, low business efficiency
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above is 33.48% in Xihaigu area in Gansu Province, while the illiteracy rate of Hui is more than 50% (Mi and
Wang, 2000). Since most of the Muslim minorities receive less education and lack of professional skills (rarely
hold nationally recognized vocational qualification), they have big limitations while applying for high‐paying
and high‐skilled jobs, thus they mostly engaged in low‐wage manual job.
5. WEAKNESS OF CAPITAL‐INTENSIVE INDUSTRIES
The exploitation of unearned and usury are prohibited in Islamic culture, so Muslims are not allowed to take
benefits through bank interest, dividends, insurance, lottery in modern market economy. It also restricts
Muslims’ development in the financial, real estate and other capital‐intensive industries. In modern times, as
the traditional economic ideas are not suited to social development, two different economic ideas —
modernism and fundamentalism were emerged in Islamic culture (China Editorial Committee of Encyclopedia
of Islam, 1995). Modernists make some new interpretations of the Islamic economic ideas while adhering to
the basic teaching of the Islam. For example, they advocate that the ban of interest should only applied to
individual loans instead of business and bank interests, the Shariah should be revised and appropriate use of
certain external economic ideas. Fundamentalism is based on the traditional economy ideas, but there are
many new interpretation and extension as well. Fundamentalists believe that Islam can improve itself. It does
not need to borrow from foreign economic systems and development model, but should develop a balanced
and progressive economic system based on Islam economic principles and development mode. However, as
affected by both modernism and fundamentalism, the traditional Islamic economic ideas are losing their
influences in the Islamic culture area in northwest of China. And due to the situation (lack of natural resources
and capital, low technology and low quality of labor force), the area does not yet entered the big stage of
modern commodity economy.
Generally, the economic characteristics of the Islamic Culture area in China are incoordinated with the
globalization process. The region is marginalized in globalization and gradually turned into a backward area.
CHALLENGES TO THE ISLAMIC CULTURE AREA IN CHINA
The Islamic Culture Area in northwest of China is located in the hinterland of Asia and Europe. It has a vast
territory, various nations, rich natural resources, developed animal husbandry, long history, unique natural
scenery and profound culture heritage. However, the overall socio‐economic development of the region stays
in a low level. It is facing challenges as the globalizations reshaped China's regional economic spatial structure.
1. NATURAL GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF CHINA
From historical angle, the formation of China's regional economies is influenced by natural, cultural, economic
and political factors. In landscape, there are four stages from the east coast to Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau in China:
(1) enclosed seas and territorial waters. According to the "United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea"
ratified by China’s People's Congress in 1996, maritime space under China's jurisdiction includes enclosed seas,
territorial seas, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, with a total area of nearly 3
million square kilometers which is equivalent to one third of the land area. (2) The first stage along the east
coast, including Northeast China Plain, North China Plain and the Yangtze River plain, which are less than 200
meters above sea level. Even most part of the hilly south of the Yangtze River is at an elevation no more than
500 meters. (3) The second stage — the central region. It is consisted of broad plateaus and basins, namely the
Inner Mongolia Plateau, Ordos Plateau, the Loess Plateau and the Yunnan‐Guizhou Plateau from north to
south, with elevation ranging from 1000 to 2000 meters. (4) The third stage in western areas. The Qinghai‐
Tibet Plateau, which is known as the "roof of the world," has an average elevation of 4,500 meters. It’s the
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highest plateau in the world, which was not a suitable place to live for ancient human beings who almost do
not have the ability to change natural environment. Similarly, it is also difficult for human beings in the Stone
Age to conquer the vast, humid and low costal plains. The first choice for ancient human beings was higher and
dryer areas along the valleys, so Chinese civilization started in the second stage.
2. SPATIAL INTEGRATION PROCESS IN WESTERN AREA
A stable regional spatial structure depends on the inter‐regional interaction. Regional integration is a result of
regional interaction. It will usually go through three interactive processes, namely socio‐cultural interaction,
economic interaction, political and military interaction. Inter‐regional socio‐cultural interaction is the premise
and foundation of economic interaction and political‐military interaction. Only if there are social and cultural
interactions, there are economic interactions, economy and business; inter‐regional political‐military
interaction only occurs when a region has economic interaction. A spatial integration that relies on military
conquest and without socio‐cultural interaction and economic interaction would be temporary and fragile.
Interactions between China and Eurasia area are barred by the third stage (the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau and the
Western Desert block). As a result, the regional space has undergone a long‐term integration process in the
area. On one hand, since the Han and Tang Dynasties, the Chinese Empire paid much more attention to the
Central Asian region instead of the eastern coastal areas. Chinese feudal dynasties played a central role in East
Asia. In the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, minorities in western China were attracted by
China’s developed economy and strong comprehensive national strength, or its brilliant scientific and
technological inventions, ideas and culture, thus gradually developed a sense of identity, forming a multi‐ethnic
identity of one China, followed by cultural identity and political identity. On the other hand, China's economic
center were in the central area around Zhengzhou and the Guanzhong Plain around Xi'an in history, and later
moved eastward to the North China Plain and the Yangtze River Delta region, but much attention has paid to
northwest area. China connected with the western world through the Silk Road and the Arab world in economy
and business (Na, 1999:47). Consequently, the ethnic, cultural and geo‐political situation in western China
meets the national development needs in different periods, is a result of long‐term regional interaction
between central and local governments. Ideas as “Unite with tolerance” are appreciated in Chinese culture. So
while encountering big social issues, ideas like “If a country stays in unity for long, it will be divided. And if a
country stays divided for long, it will unite again” became the guideline. This is the foundation of the regional
integration in minority areas in western China.
3. URBANIZATION PROCESS OF CHINA
Since the Industrial Revolution, the dominant power that promotes economic and social development
gradually changed from agriculture to industry. The result of industrialization is to push forward the process of
urbanization. First of all, labor‐intensive industries mostly concentrate in cities, triggering the labor transfer
from agricultural to non‐agricultural. The large‐scale migration thus is population urbanization in modern sense
(Gu, et al, 2008).
According to China's fourth and fifth Census, the urban population locational quotient were declining from
1990 to 2000 in northern provinces like Beijing, Tianjin, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and
Xinjiang. Especially, there was a sharp decline in Beijing and Tianjin (‐0.6). Western provinces such as Ningxia,
Qinghai, Gansu and Shaanxi had little change, while the urban population locational quotient of eastern and
southern provinces, namely Guangdong, Hainan, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Chongqing were rising. Jiangsu
and Chongqing especially increased significantly, with an increase of 0.34 and 0.25 respectively. As a result, the
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urbanization structure in China changed from high level in north and low level in south in 1990 to high level in
east and low level in west in 2000 (Figure 2).
Figure 2 Inter‐provincial Differences of China's Urbanization in1990 and 2000
Figure 3 shows inter‐provincial differences in the level of urbanization in China in 2005. The urbanization level
of China declines from east to central area and then to the west. Provinces with high level of urbanization such
as Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Guangdong, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Jiangsu and Fujian, are all
located in the northeast or east coastal areas. In contrast, provinces with low level of urbanization such as
Jiangxi, Hunan, Anhui, Guangxi, Sichuan, Henan, Gansu, Yunnan, Guizhou and Tibet, are almost located in the
central and western regions. The urbanization level of Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia, the Islamic culture
area in northwest of China in particular, is relatively lower.
Figure 3 Provincial Urbanization Level in China in 2005
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Sub‐provinces and autonomous regions in China from 1949‐2008 level of urbanization, changes in perspective,
The urbanization level of sparsely populated Islamic culture area in Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia, is
always lower than the densely populated eastern and central areas from 1949 to 2008 (Figure 4).
Figure 4 Changes of Urban Population Density of Sub‐provinces and autonomous regions in China (1949‐2007)
4. GLOBALIZATION PROCESS OF CHINA
Western developed countries had an deindustrialization tendency in the imd‐1970s. Matured companies
started to spread the standardized products to underdeveloped regions in developed countries, and eventually
built factories and expand their market in developing countries. By 1980s, economic globalization started,
driven by technologies like telecommunication, computer and other technologies. Financial and specialized
services became a major component of international transactions.
Transactions become more complicate due to the rapid growth of international financial flows, demanding
high‐level service and high‐class telecommunication facilities, thus the position of mega‐cities were further
strengthened in global economy and global urban system. The mega‐cities, the international business centers
in which financial markets, senior service companies, banks and multinational companies gathered, became
the key points of world urban development. A global system was formed through transnational corporations,
financial networks and transnational trading blocs, linking up technologies, capitals, productions and markets in
urban, regional and global economy. Transnational corporations became the source for developing countries to
expand financial flows, while direct and indirect foreign investments stimulate the emergence of financial
flows.
The result of globalization is high concentration of high‐tech industries and culture industries and spread of
general manufacturing industries. Under the influence of globalization, industries are always moving to places
with lower costs, thus forming a series of industrial clusters, which enable small businesses and small cities play
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roles in the global production chain. This is important in developing cities’ inter‐space, trans‐regional and cross‐
border radiation functions.
Globalization immediately influences the development of regions and cities. On one hand, regions with high
globalization level grow rapidly. On the other hand, regions, countries, cities and individuals which stay away
from globalization tend to be marginalized.
Some new urban economic phenomenon appeared in cities under the circumstance. For instance, the
production service industry developed rapidly, transnational corporations became the main body of the
expanding economic activities, financial activities and manufacturing services also contributed to the formation
of international financial and business centers.
As the economic globalization has promoted the global transfer of capital and technology, economic activities
also expanded in geo‐space, which led to a number of new strategic locations of the world economy came into
being. To sum up, three types of strategic location become a new form of economic globalization, namely
export processing areas, global cities and offshore banking center.
5. RAPID GROWTH OF CHINA’S COSTAL AREAS
Under the influence of historical, geographical, socio‐economical development, cities in China mostly
concentrate in the eastern area. Though urban construction of central and western areas is emphasized since
the foundation, the situation has not changed yet. Economical globalization waves in recent years had changed
the world economy structure and China’s position in the world economy, and led to enormous change in
China’s regional economic structure. Especially after China joined the WTO in 2001, there is a significant
increase in foreign trade. Eastern costal area became the core area of China’s economic development and
world manufactural bases .
According to data analysis, China's coastal and river areas has always been the area that cities most densely
distributed, and an important area that major urban cluster emerged and developed. China’s cities concentrate
in coastal areas, especially in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, Beijing‐Tianjin‐Tangshan and the
central and southern Liaoning areas.
In 2003, eastern area1 covers 9.5% of China’s land area and accounted for 43.99% of the urban population. It’s
the area that cities most densely distributed. The central area accounted for 10.7% of the land area and 23.21%
of the urban population; northeast area accounted for 8.2% of the land area and 10.41% of the urban
population; and western area accounted for 71.5% of the land area and 22.38% of the urban population (Figure
5).
1
Eastern area includes Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan, 10 provinces
(municipalities) in total; the central area includes 6 provinces, namely Shanxi, Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi Province; the
western area includes 12 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), namely Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet,
Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, Guangxi,. Northeast area includes Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang
provinces.
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Figure 5 Chinese cities Kernel Space Density (Search Radius = 300KM)
According to statistics in 2008, China's coastal areas — the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, Beijing‐
Tianjin‐Tangshan area, the central an southern Liaoning area, Shandong Peninsula and the west bank of the
Taiwan Strait cover12.38% of the China’s land area, but 22.00% of the population, 50.01% of the GDP, 78.86%
of the foreign direct investment and 87.33% of the total import and export, becoming the core areas of the
country's economic and social development(Table 3, Figure 6).
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Table 3 Six Mega‐city Regions in China (2008)
Total
Total Population
Total Direct Foreign Import and GDP per
Population GDP Density
Area Area Investment(ten Export capital
(Ten (Billion) (person/
(Km2) thousand dollar) (billion (yuan)
Thousand) Km2)
dollar)
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Figure 6.Mega‐City Regions in China’s Eastern Coastal Area
5. BACKWARD OF NORTHWEST REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The minority area in the west China1 is an economic backward area. According to statistics in 2005, the area’s
gross domestic product is 386.461 billion yuan, accounting for only 2.1% of the China’s an even less than
2.113% in 1985 (Chen, et al, 2009).
1
Western ethnic minority area usually refers to minority autonomous area in west China. There are 5 autonomous regions, 27
autonomous prefectures and 83 autonomous counties in the region. The area can also defined as the area including 5 autonomous
regions, namely Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Tibet, Ningxia, Xinjiang, and 6 multi‐national provinces Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou,
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The area is also one of the poorest areas in China. Among 592 poor counties listed in “National Seven‐Year
Priority Poverty Alleviation Program” in 1994, there are 257 minority counties and counties in minority
autonomous regions, which accounted for 43.4%; 88 in northwest minority area, which accounted for 27.38%.
And according to “China Rural Poverty Support Program” in 2002, there are 592 key poor counties in ethnic
minority areas, old revolutionary base areas, border areas and destitute areas in 21 central and western
provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), among which, 267 located in minority autonomous regions
(except Tibet), accounting for 45.1%; 325 in western minority area, accounting for 54.90% (Table 4), 93 in
northwest area, accounting for 28.6%. The minority poor counties account for 66.6% in total.
Table 4: Poor Counties in Minority Area in Northwest of China
In Eighth Seven‐
Year Poverty In China Rural Poverty Support Provincial‐level Poor
Region Alleviation Program in New Counties and Poor
Program(1994‐ Century(2002) Villages
2000)
The Portion
Minority
of Minority
Total Poor Counties Villages
Poor
Counties
Counties%
Gansu and Qinghai.The area covers an area of 6,668,000 square kilometers, which accounts for 69.46% of the country’s land area; has a
population of 332,633,000 people, accounts for 25.59% of the country’s population. The western ethnic minority area has an important
position in China’s economic development structure.
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easily fall into the “Dutch Disease” trap. The “Dutch Disease” refers to that an increase in revenues from
natural resources will be a deindustrialized nation’s economy by raising the exchange rate, which makes the
manufacturing and agriculture sectors less competitive and more dependent on import protection and
government subsidies, and eventually leads to decline in export and trade protection, thus to deindustrialize
the country’s economy.
In addition, because the resource sector has a higher marginal productivity, so that the capitals and human
resources transferred to the primary sector, thus strike manufacturing. Specialization in the resource extraction
industry would undermine economic efficiency. The short‐term resource revenues have weakened the long‐
term growth, leading to the decline of regional development. If a country started large‐scale resource
exploitation, on one hand, it will bring temporary economic prosperity and population aggregation, resulting in
rising price in the region and decreasing real income of local people. On the other hand, the large‐scale
resource exploitation has a crowding‐out effect on other industries, leading to "Dutch disease" symptoms such
as resource depletion, environmental pollution and shrinking agriculture and animal husbandry.
Generally speaking, after a long period of integration, the Islamic culture area in northwest of China though
achieved certain development since the founding, has not became important area of national industrialization
and urbanization due to low investment returns. In recent years, China’s spatial structure has reshaped by
economic globalization and the regional difference became more significant because of the rapid growth of
eastern costal area. Although the Islamic culture area also achieved certain development, the developing speed
is relatively slower. Backward in regional development and marginalized in globalization would be the root
reason for recent social problem and national conflicts in the area.
THE ISLAMIC CULTURE IS STILL A POWERFUL TOOL FOR CHALLENGES
The climate of Islamic culture area in Northwest China is arid and semi‐arid areas in the temperate continental
climate. The area has abundant sunshine and heat; less precipitation which varies in different places and
different time and decrease from east to west; the landscape is mainly highland while the surface structure is
complex, with mountains and basins here and there; the landscape types are mainly desert and temperate
grasslands, which has few plant species, simple vegetation structure. The desert vegetation is basically xeric,
shrubs and semi‐shrubs. The ecological environment of the area is rather weak, as there are serious dust
storms and sand erosions.
First of all, human being is the agent of Allah to rule the nature (Wang, 2004; Shen, 2004; Hei, 2005). According
to the Koran, Allah created the world. He controls everything, arranges everything and human being is a part of
the nature (not the only part). Human being was appointed as the agent of Allah to rule the nature, making it
develop harmoniously. The Koran provides that: human beings should be close to nature, but do not worship
nature; it encourages the development of natural, but not abuse nature; cherish the environment, treat lives
well.
Secondly, the Islamic food culture is conducive to ecological protection (Yang, 1998). The Koran prohibits
Muslims to eat dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine and the animals on which has been invoked any name
other than that of Allah. Drinking is also prohibited. In strict compliance with the Koran, edible animals in the
Islamic law are mostly from the lower grade of the food chain. These animals belong to livestock and poultry,
which are ease of domestication, have large quantities, docile temperament, and plants are their major food.
Prohibited animals are mostly odd shaped, dirty and ferocious. Most of they are from the top of the food chain,
which are small in quantity and play important roles in the maintenance of ecological balance. Islamic diet
meets the nutritional needs of the Muslims without affecting the balance of the food chain and protects the
ecological balance of the environment.
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Thirdly, the Islamic customs are also conducive to protect the environment. For example, the three basic
requirements of Islamic funeral are “burial, as soon as possible and thrifty”. According to the Koran,
Muhammad said: "Speed up the funeral; if it is one of a good person, you are only taking that person to a good
prospect. If otherwise, then he is no more than an evil you are putting off your shoulders." “When anyone of
you dies, do not keep his body. Be speedy when taking him to his grave." If there are some special reasons, the
dead body also should not keep more than 3 days. There should be no banquet, no mourning, no tomb
funerary objects before the dead is buried. In Chinese Muslims’ Islamic funerals, there is a custom to wash the
dead with fresh water, wrap with white cloth, and have brief funeral ceremony and deep earth burial, referred
to as washing, clothing, standing and burying. The custom is in line with life values in modern ecology (Ni and
Li, 2001).
In summary, it is important to maintain and exert the Islamic cultural traditions. They have great value to the
sustainable development of northwest area of China.
CONCLUSION
Chinese Islamic culture follows the basic tenets of Islam, while integrated with Chinese culture. After long
period of spread, development and evolution, the Islamic culture area in northwest China has formed with
distinctive regional culture characteristics.
After long period of spread, development and evolution of Islamic culture, Muslim minorities in China have
shaped a series of economic features of Chinese Islamic culture area. However, these features can not catch
the trend of globalization and has been marginalized by the economic globalization process.
China’s spatial structure has reshaped by economic globalization and the regional difference became more
significant because of the rapid growth of eastern costal area. It is real reason of social problem and national
conflicts in the area in recent years.
Islamic culture is still a powerful tool in building environment‐friendly society and promoting "economic ‐ social
‐ environmental" sustainable development. It is important to maintain and exert the Islamic cultural traditions.
They have great value to the sustainable development of northwest area of China.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: This article is written for the "Fourth International Conference of World Islamic
Geographer ", which will take place in Zahedan, Iran from 14 to 16 April 2010. This work supported by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40971092, ): Research on multi‐perspective
theoretical framework of urbanization in China.
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Long, Qunlong and Xinsong Pan. 2007. Islamic harmonious thoughts and harmonious society[J]. Northwest
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Ma, Mingliang. 2003. The modernization process of Islamic culture and Muslim nations. Inner Mongolia
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(Northwestern ethnic minority areas volume), Beijing: China Economic Press.
Shen, Fei. 2004. The awareness of Islamic culture on environmental ethics. Chinese Muslims .2004 (5):12‐14.
Shen, Hui and Shenm H. 2003. Muslims and the "practical education". Chinese Muslims .2003 (3):32‐34.
Tian, Na et al. 2009. The influence of Islamic culture on economic development and environmental change in
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Wang, Junrong. 2000. Contemporary Islamic Economic Thoughts. The world's religious studies .2000 (2):36‐45.
Wang, Yueshan.2004. Environmental ethics awareness in Islamic culture. Dialectics of nature research .2004 (6)
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Zhang, Jianfang and Lihong Wang.2007. Adaptation and development of Hui Islamic culture in urbanization
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Zhang, Shihai.2004. Sects of Islam in Gansu. Northwest University for Nationalities (Philosophy and Social
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ICIWG‐19
EVOLUTION OF THE HYDRO‐PLUVIOMETRIC REGIME IN THE MACTA BASIN (NORTH‐WEST
OF ALGERIA)
Mohamed MEDDI M.1 & Amel Talia2
1
LGEE – Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l’Hydraulique Algeria. mmeddi@yahoo.fr
2
LSTE, Centre Universitaire de MASCARA, Algérie. talia_a2003@yahoo.fr
ABSTRACT
In Algeria, the climate change in recent decades has a negative impact on water resources. The goal of this
study is to determine the influence of these hazards on surface water resources in the basin of Macta (North‐
West of Algeria). The study of climatic pulsations is implemented from the climate coefficient (CHM) changes
and its moving averages over 3 years. Variations of this coefficient based on years show, for the period 1949‐
1973, an alternation of wet and dry years. Starting from 1973, a very dry period of more than 20 years was
installed in the basin with deficits ranging from 22 to 72%.
KEYWORDS: Hydro‐pluviometric regime, Water resources, Basin of Macta, Algeria
INTRODUCTION
Several recent climatic events of great magnitude have pushed the global community to address climate
change and its impacts on water resources. These events include the drought that affected the Maghreb
countries in general and Algeria in particular since the 70s (J.P. LABORDE, 1993 ; H. MEDDI, 2001; M. MEDDI et
H. MEDDI, 2002; M. MEDDI et al.., 2002; M. MEDDI et P. HUBERT, 2003; A. EL MAHI et al., 2004; K. KETROUCI et
al., 2004; H. MEDDI et M. MEDDI, 2004; A. TALIA et M. MEDDI, 2004; A. KINGUMBI, 2006; R.G. LAHACHE et al.,
2008; N. LAFTOUHI et al., 2005; N. LAFTOUHI, 2007).
Studies have highlighted the impacts of climate change on water resources in Algeria (M. MEDDI et P. HUBERT,
2003, A. TALIA, 2003, A. EL MAHI, 2002; M. MEDDI et al., 2006).
The study of hydrometric series conducted over a long period allows the assessment of the sensitivity of rivers
to changes in climate.
In this regard, we propose this study to determine the influence of these uncertainties on surface water
resources in the Macta basin. The latter is located in the north‐western Algeria.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BASIN
Located in the north of Algeria, the Macta basin covers an area of 14,380 km ². It is bounded in the North West
by the Tessala Mountain in the south by the high plains of Maalif in the west by the plains of Telagh and in the
east by the mountains of Saida.
The Macta basin is crossed by two major rivers, in the East the Mekerra Wadi and in the West the El ‐ Hammam
Wadi (Fig.1). It is composed by eight sub‐basins (Table I).
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Figure 1: Hydrographic network and hydrometric stations
Table 1: Gauging stations included in the study
Lambert Coordinates
station S (km²) Measurement period of flow
X (Km) Y (Km) altitude (m)
Hacaiba 183,50 161,65 950 955 1961‐2001
Sidi Ali Ben Youb 186,55 192,20 635 1890 1949‐2001
Sidi Bel Abbés 194,25 215,60 485 3000 1942‐2001
Oued Taria 262,25 305,10 501 1365 1972‐2001
Ain Fekan 254,3 217,2 990 1160 1969‐2001
Trois Rivières 246,45 216,95 315 7440 1947‐2001
Bouhanifia 248,15 225,05 306 7685 1974‐2001
Hacine 254,60 243,50 145 7950 1973‐2001
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Oued El – Hammam
The watershed of the Oued el‐Hammam covers an area of 7550 square kilometers. The main stream length is
150 km, it is drained by 3 major tributaries whose principal elementary basins are: Fekan (1200 Km2), Sahwet
(2200 Km2) and Saida (400 km2).
Oued Mekerra
The area of the Mekerra wadi basin is about 1890 square kilometres. It is bounded in the north by the Tessala
mountains which are crossed by the Mekerra wadi to reach the marshes of Macta without throwing directly to
the sea, in the west by the Beni Chougrane mountains and the Hammam wadi.
THE CLIMATE AND RAINFALL
In general, the Macta basin is under the Northern Mediterranean influence in the north and the continental
influence in the south where the climate is arid and dry with cold winters and hot summers.
The annual rainfall in the region varies between 280 mm in the southern basin and 600 mm in the mountains of
Beni Chougrane M. MEDDI et H. MEDDI, 2002). The rainy years may be 3 to 4 times higher than the driest
years.
The study of the interannual variability over the period 1930‐1999/2000 for the regions of the West (A. TALIA,
2003 ; A. TALIA et M. MEDDI, 2004), shows that the largest number of years in deficit was observed during the
Decade 40, Decade 80 and Decade 90. These results also show the persistence of total loss that continued over
several successive years. Between these two major droughts periods, rainfall was generally normal or excess, it
was recorded 7 consecutive wet years between the late 40s and early 50s at the station of Ain Fekan (Figure 2).
The driest hydrological year since 1930 is observed in the early 40s (1944‐1945), during this year's annual total
rainfall reached 166 mm at the station of Ain Fekane. A Change point in annual rainfall time series in the
stationarity of the rainfall series occurred during the decade 1970‐1980 and since this date, the decrease in
annual rainfall has become a reality (A. TALIA, 2003 ; M. MEDDI et al., 2002 et 2003).
Figure 2: Rainfall evolution at Ain Fekan station
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DATA
The hydrometric data were selected to provide a basis of annual and monthly data as complete and as
representative as possible of the study area. Sample of stations, obey to the duration of information and data
quality criteria.
METHODS USED
We will try to highlight the climatic events that affected the Macta basin based on a hydrological study of rivers
of this basin. This approach has been used by many researchers around the world (J.L. PROBST et Y. TARDY,
1985 et 1987; J.C. OLIVRY, 1983; S. HAIDA et al., 1999).
To highlight the Hydroclimatology interannual variations, we based our study on annual average flows of
different stations of the Macta basin. The adopted technique is the difference (Ec) of annual average flows
(DMA) to the interannual flow (DMI):
This technique, used by H. Riehl et al. (1979) on the Nile, by JL Probst and Y. Tardy (1987) on major rivers
worldwide and D. ECHANCHU (1988) on the Garonne and S. FAIDA et al. (1999) in Sebaou in Morocco,
distinguishes the wet periods (increasing curve) from the dry periods (decreasing curve).
We have arranged the annual average flows in eight classes (Table 2). The boundaries of those classes
correspond to the degree of moisture drawn from the rate of deviation of the mean annual flow to the
interannual flow (S. HAIDA et al., 1999; A. TALIA, 2003).
Table 2 The boundaries of the classes of discharge
Class Years*
EH/ES TH/TS H/S MH/MS
Excédent > 60 % < 60% < 40% < 20%
Déficit > 60 % < 40% < 20% < 0%
• EH: exceptionally wet years; ES: exceptionally dry; TH: Very humid TS: very dry; H: humid; S: dry; MH:
moderately humid MS: moderately dry.
To highlight the hydro‐climatic periods, the average of the hydroclimatic coefficient (Chm) was calculated for
all stations. For each, the differences were weighted by the size of the corresponding sub basin to redraw the
climatic periods:
n
∑ ( Eci ⋅ S exi )
1 S
Chm =
n
i =1
With
n: number of stations; Eci : deviation of annual average flow and the interannual flow;
Si : area of sub basin (km ²) S ex : basin area at the station furthest downstream (km ²).
This coefficient was used to trace the major hydro‐climatic periods in the Aquitaine basin (France) by JL Probst
and Y. TARDY in 1985 and S. HAIDA et al. in 1999 in the Sebaou Basin (Morocco) and also by A. TALIA in 2003 in
the basin Tafna (Algeria).
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RESULTS
Analysis of the temporal variability of runoff
In northern Algeria, a significant deficit of the flow of some rivers has been observed. The consequences of the
deficit of surface water can damage the environmental balance and consequently affect the various human
activities that are directly or indirectly related to the use of these resources.
The annual runoff
From the studied hydrological characteristics (Table 3), we deduce that:
‐ The ratio of extreme modules defined by Mr. Pardi (1943) is greater than 4 for all stations. Therefore,
according to the classification established by Mr. PARDI, the regime is Mediterranean type.
‐ The hydrological regime is irregular and the dispersion around the mean time series of average annual flow is
strong (Fig. 3 and 4).
Table 3: Hydrological stations selected.
Station Wadi Depth
Coefficient Dma* Dma
Dmi* of
of max Year min Year
(m3/s) runoff
Variation (m3/s) (m3/s)
(mm)
Hacaiba 0.15 4.79 0,80 0,53 1995 0,03 1964
* DMI: interannual average flow; Dma: mean annual flow
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Figure 3: Change in annual average flow around the average at the station of Sidi Bel Abbes on Oued Mekerra
Figure 4: Change in annual average flow around the average at the station of the Three Rivers on the Oued El
Hammam
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The monthly runoff
At this scale, we have shown seasonal variations using graphs. We distinguishe a high‐water period during
which focus floods spread of the month from September to May (Fig. 5 and 6). This even distribution of
monthly flows was found by M. MEDDI (1992) in the Mina basin (western Algeria). The value of October, which
is superior to others, is due to the concentration of floods in the autumn months. For example, the average
monthly discharge of October 1966 is 6.22 m3/s at the station of Sidi Bel Abes on Mekerra wadi and 72.65
m3/s at the station of Three Rivers on the El Hammam Wadi (maximum hourly flow equal to 1400 m3/s). The
average monthly discharge in October 1986 was about 4.01 m3/s at the station of Sidi Bel Abes on Mekerra
wadi (maximum hourly flow equal to 104 m3/s) and from 31.1 m3/s at the station of Three Rivers on the El
Hammam Wadi (maximum hourly flow equal to 564.2 m3/s).
We recorded for the month of May a very high monthly flow values. For example, the average monthly flow of
May 1948 is 3.03 m3/s at the station of Sidi Bel Abes on Mekerra wadi (maximum hourly flow equal to 70 m3/s)
and 14.95 m3/s at the station of Three Rivières on the El Hammam Wadi (maximum hourly flow equal to 728
m3/s). The average monthly flow of October 1990 is 6.16 m3/s at the station of Sidi Bel Abes on Mekerra wadi
(maximum hourly flow equal to 61.7 m3/s) and 24.28 m3/s at the station of Three Rivers on the El Hammam
Wadi (maximum hourly flow equal to 892 m3 / s)
The region of Sidi Bel Abbes is periodically affected by floods. The city of Sidi Bel Abbes is exposed to very
important flood with repetition. The flood of 1940 caused considerable damage which cost 40 billion dinars
(440000000 Euros). This region is located at a lower level than the bed of the wadi Mekerra. The flood of
September 1994 (530 m3/s) has caused two deaths and left 22 affected families. The month of October 1986
(500 m3/s) resulted in one death, 530 people homeless and 200 affected families. The Flood in this region is
cyclical.
Figure 5: Distribution of average monthly inflows
The station of Sidi Bel Abbes on Oued Mekerra
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Figure 6: Distribution of average monthly inflows ‐ The station of the Three Rivers on the Oued El Hammam
Hydroclimatology Fluctuations
The objective of this approach is the evaluation of changes in Hydroclimatology regime in Macta basin.
From Table III, we deduce that there is a hydrological difference between the two major oueds in the West the
Mekerra Wadi and in the east the El Hammam Wadi. Through the comparison of the flow of these two wadis,
we distinguished that the interannual average flows of the Mekerra wadi varies between 0.15 m3/s (station of
Hacaiba) and 0.97 m3/s (station of Sidi Bel Abbes), while for the stations of El Hammam Wadi, the values of
these range from 0.20 m3/s (station of Hacine) and 3.69 m3/s (Station of Three Rivers).
The results obtained (Fig. 7) allow to compare the behaviour of three sub‐basins: Ain Fekane, Oued Taria and
Sidi Bel Abbes, in deficit year and in surplus years.
For the multi‐annual scale, changes in hydrological regimes of the Macta basin reveal a general irregularities
trend throughout the basin. These irregularities or climatic pulsations can be studied from the variation of the
annual mean climate coefficient (Chm) and its moving average over 3 years. We took to calculate this
coefficient three sub basins namely: Sidi Ali Ben Youb, Sidi Bel Abbes and Three Rivieres. The evolution of this
coefficient for the period 1949‐2001 (common to all three stations) is shown in Figure 7.
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Figure 7: Evolution of the hydrological regime through hydroclimatic characteristics of hydrological years in
sub‐basin of Oued Taria, Sidi Bel Abbes and Ain Fekane.
Oued Taria Sidi Bel Abbes Ain Fekan
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
ES TS EH TH MS MH S H
EH: exceptionally wet years; ES: exceptionally dry; TH: Very humid
TS: very dry; H: humid; S: dry; MH: moderately humid MS: moderately dry.
Figure 8: Annual changes in the weighted average hydroclimatic coefficient (CHMP) weighted by the area of
sub‐basins and its moving average
Variations of this coefficient according to years (Fig. 8) show that during the period between 1949 and 1963,
the Macta basin has knew a very important deficit sequence followed by a surplus period not exceeding three
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consecutive years. During these periods, there are also years with an exceptional climate character: 1950‐1951
with a surplus around 170%.
From 1972‐1973, a very dry period of more than 20 years was installed on the basin with deficits ranging from
22% to 72%.
However, the observed hydroclimatic fluctuations on such long periods can be generalized to all stations in the
basin. The study of stationarity series of flows for all stations in the Macta basin has shown a negative trend in
the late 70s and early 80s (Table No. 4) A. TALIA, 2003. The decrease in volumes of water passed in the basin is
important. The results are similar to those found for the Tafna basin where the reduction of flow to Beni
Bahdel dam is reached 67% (M. MEDDI.et P. HUBERT, 2003).
Table 4: Change points in annual average flows time series
Station Wadi Variation in % of
Year of average of flow
change point before and after
change point
Sidi Ali Ben Youb 1975 25,95
Oued Mekkera
Sidi bel Abbes 1977 22,50
Ain Fekan Ain Fekan 1980 71,97
Trois rivières 1974 42,18
Oued El
Bouhanifia 1981 49,01
Hammam
Hacine 1976 66,13
CONCLUSION
In a general way, precipitations determine variability, or rather, irregularity inter‐seasonal and interannual flow
surface. They represent the essential part of flow. Furthermore, the climate and the hydroclimatic variations
are one of the main factors controlling the external geodynamic processes of the basin.
We note, before 1973, a persistent alternation of wet and dry episodes. After 1973, we can distinguish a net
continuous decrease of average flows which reached its peak from 1992 to 1996. From 1972‐1973, a very dry
period of more than 19 years was installed on the basin with deficits ranging from 22% to 72%.
The rainfall and hydrological deficit reinforce the difference between important needs of water of a growing
population and the water resources which can be mobilized.
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défis du développement durable. Université Cadi Ayad Marrakech 23‐ 25 mai 2006.
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OLIVRY J.C. (1983) : Le point en 1982 sur l’évolution de la sécheresse en Sénégambie et aux Iles du Cap Vert.
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Magistère – Université de Mascara – Algérie., 160 p.
TALIA A. et MEDDI M. (2004): la pluvio‐variabilité dans le nord de l’Algerie. – Colloque International « Terre et
Eau » ‐ Université d’Annaba – 4,5 et 6 Décembre 2004.
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ICIWG‐20
LITERACY AND BACKWARDNESS OF MUSLIMS IN MALDA
DISTRICT: A PLANNING APPROACH FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Nazmul Hussain* and Prof F.A. Siddiqui
1
Research Fellow, ** Professor and head, Department of Geography, A.M.U., Aligarh‐ 202002, India.
E.mail: nazmul10@gmail.com and farasat_ali2004@rediffmail.com
ABSTRACT
Literacy is one of the basic determinants of socio‐economic development attained by a human group. Higher
literacy rate brings social change, cultural advancement and economic development, in reverse socio‐cultural
and economic constraints severally hinder the expansion of mass literacy across the region as well as religious
community. The present deductive approach of research aims at examining the reciprocal relationship
between literacy and socio‐economic determinants as the consequence of backwardness of Muslim community
in Malda district. The paper quantitatively proves that higher literacy rate reduces number of 0‐6 population
and growth of population; however it is an impetus to higher urbanization and employment which are the
testimonies of human development. Finally, paper concludes with some suggestive remarks to enhance the
Muslim literacy which is an ultimate solution of reduction of existing human group disparities of socio‐
economic development in the district.
INTRODUCTION
Since historic past, India is incredible being a home of multi‐religious people. The invaders came with distinct
race, religion, culture and language and left their imprints on the country. Today our country is the testimony
of social unity in cultural, racial, religious and linguistic diversity. India is rich accommodating multi religious
people. But religious communities show inequality in the level of literacy consequent upon diverse socio‐
cultural and economic status which causes human group disparities. Illiteracy may generally be taken as the
root cause of socio‐economic backwardness of human groups. Level of literacy is highly associated with the
state’s role. No country in the world had been able to educate all its children without state intervention
(Amartya Sen, 2007). Education plays a dominant role in influencing the quality of human resources (Siddique
and Naseer, 2004). Only education can bring social changes, cultural advancement and economic development
by breaking through the social barriers and superstitions. In reverse, socio‐cultural and economic constraints
severally affect the expansion of mass literacy. Three sets of factors i.e., parental literacy, economic status and
caste discrimination influence the school attendance and enrolment in rural India, that resulted into the
regional, caste, community and gender disparities in educational attainments (Ramachandran, Swaminathan
and Rawal, 2003). Dreze and Kingdon (2001) recognized factors affecting school enrolment and grade
attainment, and observed father’s education being more important for boys and mother’s education for girls.
Jayachandran (2002) observed the school attendance rate was positively affected by adult literacy, female
work participation, while negatively by poverty, house hold size, caste (only for girls) and school accessibility.
Another group of scholars like Broach and Iyar (2005) and Srinivasan and Kumar (1999) attempted to focus on
the impact of religion and caste on the education.
A person who, with age above six years, can read, write and understand any language is literate (Census of
India, 2001). India has recorded literacy rate 65.38 per cent wherein male 75.3 per cent and female 53.7 per
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cent during 2001. Literacy rate among Muslims has been accounted for 59.1 per cent against the national
average 65.38 per cent. In West Bengal state, 57.47 per cent literacy rate was recorded among the Muslims
which is far below the state average 68.64 percent. Low level of literacy among Muslims is one of the well
documents of their backwardness associated with their deprived socio‐economic condition. Some reflections
from Sachar Committee’s report reveals the facts of backwardness of Muslims in India, which is, ‘as with many
Indians, the main reason for educational backwardness of Muslims is subject poverty due to which children are
forced to dropout after the first few classes. This is particularly true for Muslim girls. Little children are
expected to provide for their families by working in Karkhanas (small workshops) as domestic help’. Report
argues that poor economic condition is responsible for the low level of literacy among Muslims in India.
The present paper is an attempt to analyze the relationship between level of literacy and socio‐economic
determinants responsible for the backwardness of Muslims in Malda district which is socio‐economically least
developed one in West Bengal (West Bengal Human Development Report 2004).
OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of the present study are,
to estimate the concentration index of Muslim population in Malda district including rest districts of West
Bengal state.
to study the trends of community wise population,
to study the variations of literacy rate across the region and religion,
to analyze human disparities in socio‐economic development, and
to examine the interrelationship between literacy and socio‐economic determinants, and finally to make
remarks suggestive as planning framework for human development.
HYPOTHESES
Following hypotheses have been formulated to infer the facts.
Literacy is inversely proportionate to growth of population and they are cause and effect to each other.
Literacy is the function of urbanization, and
Both literacy and employment are cause and consequence to one another.
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STUDY AREA
Malda district lies between 24o40'20” to 25o32'8" North latitudes and 87o45'50" to 88o28'10" East longitudes
(Fig.1). It accounts 3733.0 km.2 area and contain 3,290,468 person population, wherein Muslims 1,636,171
persons, Hindus 1621468, Christians 8388, Sikhs 283, Buddhists 164, Jains 293 and others 23701. The district
records literacy rate 50.28 percent, 40.50 percent work participation rate and 7.32 percent urbanization which
are almost lowest among all the districts of India (Census of India 2001).
DATA BASE AND METHODOLOGY
Both simple and standard statistical techniques have been used to analyze the secondary information obtained
from census of India 2001. Arithmetic method of population projection has been used to project community‐
wise population, is thus;
PP = P1 + (r x t)
r = (P2 – P1) / 10
Where,
PP is projected population, P1 is population of base year, P2 is population of succeeding year of base year, “r” is
annual growth rate of population of two consecutive years (i.e., P1and P2), “t” is time interval between base
year and the year of which population would be projected.
Method of z‐score has been used to transform the raw data of each variable in to standard score. z‐score
measures the departure of individual observations, expressed in a comparable form. The model is thus;
Zi = (Xi – X) / δ
Where,
Zi is the standard score of ith variable, Xi is the original value of individual observation, X is the mean of
variable, and δ denotes standard deviation.
Values of z‐score are added and average is taken to compute the composite mean z‐score as the index
development. The model is thus;
CS = ∑ Zij / N
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Where, CS refers to composite mean z‐Score
Zij denotes the sum of z‐scores of variable j in observation i; and
N denotes the number of variables.
The method of location quotient has been employed to determine the concentration index of Muslim
population in each district of West Bengal. The model is thus;
Mpd Mps
LQ = × 100 × 100
Tpd TPs
Where, LQ is index of concentration; Mpd is Muslim population in the district; Tpd is total population in the
district; Mps is Muslim population in the state and Tps is total population in the state.
To examine the reciprocal relationship between literacy and other socio‐economic determinants correlation
matrix based on Karl Pearson’s technique of product moment coefficient of correlation has been established
and student’s‘t’ test technique has been adopted to identify the level of significance of their correlation.
DIFFERENTIAL CONCENTRATION OF MUSLIM POPULATION
Areal differentiation of phenomena is the curious aspect in geographical research, which attracts analytical
excellence of researchers to identify the facts of what, where and why. Table 1 reveals the areal variations of
concentration of Muslim population in West Bengal wherein highest concentration has been recorded in
Murshidabad district (2.52) and lowest in Hugli (0.03). Malda district stood at second rank with index 1.96.
Table further reveals three regions of concentration of Muslims in the state, i.e. high (>1.25), medium (0.60 to
1.25) and low (<0.60). Five districts i.e., Murshidabad, Malda, Uttar Dinajpur, Birbhum and South 24 Parganas
constitutes high concentration region of Muslims with index more than 1.25. During the Muslim regime in
Bengal i.e., Iliyas shah’s monarchy at Gour and Sultan Nasiruddin Shah’s at Pandua (Malda district) and Nawab
Shiraj‐ud‐Dawla’s Kingdom at Hazarduary (Murshidabad district), is the main cause of higher concentration of
Muslims in central part of the state i.e., Malda, Murshidabad, Uttar Dinajpur and Birbhum districts. With
concentration index 0.60 to 1.25 six districts i.e., Nadia, Koch Behar, North 24 Parganas, Dakshin Dinajpur,
Kolkata and Barddhaman falls in medium concentration region, however, seven districts with index less than
0.60 comes under the region of low concentration of Muslims are, Haora, Medinipur, Jalpaiguri, Bankura,
Purulia, Darjeeling and Hugli (Table 1).
Table 1: Spatial Variations of Concentration of Muslim Population, West Bengal, 2001
Concentration Concentration Districts with Concentration Index
Region Index
High More than 1.25 Murshidabad (2.52), Malda (1.96), Uttar Dinajpur (1.87),
Birbhum (1.38) and South 24 Parganas (1.31).
Medium 0.60 to 1.25 Nadia (1.00), Koch Behar (0.96), North 24 Parganas
(0.95), Dakshin Dinajpur (0.94), Kolkata (0.80) and
Barddhaman (0.78).
Low Less than 0.60 Haora (0.57), Medinipur (0.44), Jalpaiguri (0.42), Bankura
(0.29), Purulia (0.28), Darjeeling (0.21) and Hugli (0.03)
Source: Computed from census of India 2001.
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TRENDS OF COMMUNITY‐WISE POPULATION
Table 2 exhibits the trends of share of population (1951‐2041) of religious communities in the district. During
1951, Hindu population with 62.92 percent share stood at dominating position followed by Muslim population
(36.97%). The dominating position of Hindus remain continued up to 1991 (52.25%) though much less than
that of in 1951 (62.92%). Thereafter, share of Hindu population started to declining and recorded 49.28
percent share in 2001 with exception in 1971 when share increased at 56.63 percent from 53.64 percent in
1961 (Table 2).
Table 2: Percentage share of Community‐wise Population, Malda District, 1951‐2041
Year Hindu Muslim Christian Other Religion
1951 62.92 36.97 0.09 0.02
1961 53.64 46.18 0.17 0.01
1971 56.63 43.13 0.22 0.02
1981 54.49 45.27 0.20 0.04
1991 52.25 47.49 0.19 0.07
2001 49.28 49.72 0.25 0.75
2011(P) 47.29 51.22 0.29 1.95
2021(P) 45.87 52.29 0.32 1.52
2031(P) 44.80 53.09 0.35 1.76
2041(P) 43.97 53.72 0.36 1.95
Note: P ‐Projected Population.
Source: Computed from Census of India 2001.
In contrast, Muslim community shows increasing trend of share in the district. In 1951, Muslims were
accounted for only 36.97 percent of population, thereafter increasing trends remain continued till 2001 when it
accounts 49.72 percent with an exception in 1971 when share reduced to 43.13 percent from 46.18 percent in
1961. The break in continuous trends was mainly due to the immigration of Hindu population to India (largely
in Malda district) from Bangladesh during Indo‐Pak War in 1971. In 2001, the share of Muslim population in
the district recorded a noticeable figure standing at dominating position with 49.72 percent of population
overtaking the figure of 49.28 percent shared by Hindu population. Christian and other religious (Sikh, Buddhist
and Jain) population have registered a negligible share to total population in the district. If growth remains
continued in same trend the share of Muslim population up to 2041 is estimated to increase at 53.72 percent
much higher than 43.97 per cent Hindu population.
SPATIAL VARIATIONS OF MUSLIM LITERACY RATE
Like other phenomena, literacy rate varies region‐wise and human group‐wise. The variation of literacy rate is
both cause and consequence of differential socio‐economic condition of human groups. Though, Muslims
account for 25.25 per cent of total population but shares only 13.75 percent of total literates in West Bengal.
However, in Malda district during 2001, Muslim population accounts 49.72 per cent, but shares only 21.83 per
cent of literates.
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Table 3: Spatial Variations of Muslim Literacy Rate (in %), West Bengal, 2001
Districts All Religion Rank* Muslim Rank*
1 Darjeeling 71.79 6 50.38 14
2 Jalpaiguri 62.85 13 55.34 12
3 Koch Behar 66.30 10 56.07 11
4 Uttar Dinajpur 47.89 18 36.04 18
5 Dakshin Dinajpur 63.59 9 67.21 5
6 Malda 50.28 16 45.30 17
7 Murshidabad 54.35 15 48.63 16
8 Birbhum 61.48 14 59.86 9
9 Barddhaman 70.18 7 68.79 2
10 Nadia 66.14 11 49.41 15
11 North 24 Parganas 78.07 3 65.05 6
12 Hugli 75.1 4 73.50 1
13 Bankura 63.44 12 54.54 8
14 Purulia 55.57 15 53.44 13
15 Medinipur 74.90 5 64.97 7
16 Haora 77.01 2 67.80 4
17 Kolkata 80.86 1 68.06 3
18 South 24 Parganas 69.45 8 59.83 10
West Bengal State 68.64 ‐ 57.47 ‐
*Note: Rank within the state of West Bengal
Source: Computed from Census of India 2001, West Bengal Final Population Total.
Moreover, 57.47 percent literacy rate among Muslim population is far below the state average literacy rate
68.64 percent (Table 4). Again it is interesting that, the gap of literacy rate between all religious communities
and among Muslims varies district wise. Table 3 reveals that, Kolkata district recorded 80.86 percent literacy
rate (all religious population) much higher than 68.08 percent among Muslim community. Another noticeable
gap is observed in Darjeeling district wherein the average literacy rate 71.79 percent recorded at 6th rank, but
50.38 percent literacy rate among Muslim community stood at 14th rank in the state (Table 3). Whereas, Malda
district with 50.28 percent average literacy rate recorded at 16th rank in the state, but with 45.30 percent
literacy rate among Muslims stood at 17th rank. It is noticeable that 67.21 percent literacy rate in Muslim
community is quite higher than 63.59 percent average literacy rate in Dakshin Dinajpur district (Table 3).
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Table 4: Muslim Literacy Rate in Comparison to other Religious Communities, Malda District and West Bengal,
2001
Religious Literacy rate in Percentage (%)
Communities
Malda District West Bengal
Total Male Female Total Male Female
Hindus 55.23 65.80 44.0 72.44 81.12 63.09
Muslims 45.30 51.56 38.68 57.47 64.61 49.75
Christians 63.47 74.86 52.47 69.72 77.20 62.30
Sikhs 83.33 90.0 62.90 87.19 91.37 81.98
Buddhists 79.72 88.0 70.59 74.73 83.09 66.22
Jains 94.98 97.12 92.50 92.81 96.46 88.87
Mean 70.33 77.89 60.19 75.73 82.31 68.70
δ 17.33 15.64 18.0 11.58 10.20 13.04
CV 24.64 20.08 29.91 15.29 12.39 18.98
Note: δ ‐standard deviation, CV‐ coefficient of variation.
Source: Computed from census of India 2001, final population totals, west Bengal.
A splendid disparity in literacy has been registered across the religious communities in Malda district (Table 4).
Among six selected religious communities (i.e. Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain), Muslims have
recorded least literacy rate i.e., 45.30 percent while Jains with 94.98 percent stood at top position in 2001.
Within Muslim community, only 38.68 percent female literacy rate is very much less than 51.56 percent male
literacy rate. In the state also, Muslim female literacy rate 49.75 percent is very much lower than 64.61 percent
male literacy rate (Table 4). It is observed that, in Malda district female literacy rate across the religious
community is highly inconsistent accounting 29.91 percent coefficient of variation (CV) against the state
average 18.98 percent (CV). It may be ascertained from the above analysis that females have fewer propensity
of education than male. Beside the gender gap, a higher variation in literacy rate is observed among the
religious communities which are more pronounced in the study area (CV=24.64) than state average (CV=15.29)
(Table 4).
Relationship between Concentration of Muslim population and Literacy Rate
The present analysis reveals a causal relationship between concentration of Muslim population (X) i.e.,
independent variable and literacy rate of all religious population (Y) i.e., dependent variable. Their relationship
is based on the data in Table 1 and Table 3 and has been examined using Karl Pearson’s technique of
Coefficient of Correlation. The analysis reveals that both variables i.e., X and Y are negatively correlated to each
other with r value ‐0.517 significant at 5 percent level at 16 degree of freedom. It ascertains that higher
concentration of Muslim population is the cause of low level of literacy in a region because Muslims are
suffering from higher illiteracy associated with deprived socio‐economic conditions (Table 3).
Generally, poor socio‐economic condition is one of the major constraints of low level of literacy, while deprived
socio‐economic condition may be the outcome of low level of literacy as well as education. For such an
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
investigation, causal analysis between literacy and socio‐economic status has been made which is the base of
formulation of planning for human development.
SOCIO‐ECONOMIC DISPARITIES IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Like inter regional perspective, disparities in socio‐economic development are common in human group
perspective also. In any society, while one human community is socio‐economically prosperous, other is
deprived. Following major socio‐economic indicators have been taken to measure the relative index of human
development of each religious community.
On the basis of z‐score technique, the variables have got standardized and their composite mean z‐score has
been estimated to examine the comparative difference of each religious community. For better transparency in
the study and to avoid the biasness in research, the socio‐economic variables have been grouped into two
broad heads to examine human disparities separately. While one group of variables (i.e., literacy, employment
and urbanization) is generally linked to the socio‐economic and cultural advancement, another one group (i.e.,
0‐6 year population, growth of population and primary occupation) is positively associated with backwardness
of the society.
Table 5: Variables of Human Group Disparities of Socio‐Economic Development, Malda district, 2001
S.No. Description of variables Symbol
LITERACY
1 Male Literacy Rate X1
2 Female Literacy Rate X2
EMPLOYMENT
3 % of Male Workers to total Male Religious Population X3
4 % of Female Workers to total Female Religious Population X4
URBANISATION
5 % of Religious Population Living in Urban Centres X5
0 – 6 AND GROWTH OF POPULATION
6 % of 0‐6 population to total Religious Population X6
7 Decadal Growth Rate of Religious Population X7
PRIMARY OCCUPATION
8 % of Male Cultivators to total Male Religious Population X8
9 % of Female Cultivators to total Female Religious Population X9
10 % of Male Agricultural Workers to total Male Religious Population X10
11 % of Female Agricultural Workers to total Female Religious Population. X11
Human Disparities in Literacy, Employment and Urbanization
Literacy is a catalytic effect of social change, cultural advancement and economic development of human
beings. Urban life can fulfill the desired quality of life as it enhances per capita productivity and employment
opportunity as well as ensures the basic amenities of life (Singh and Singh, 1981). It is interesting, only 1.62
percent of total Muslim population is residing in urban centers of the district, whereas Hindus 13.17 percent,
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Table 6.B: Human Disparities in 0‐6 year and Growth of Population and Primary Occupation, Malda District, 2001
Religious z‐score of variables Composite Rank
Communities X6 X7 X8 X9 X10 X11 Mean z‐score
Hindus 0.57 ‐0.54 0.60 1.06 0.72 1.01 3.42 3rd
Muslims 1.70 1.78 0.57 1.88 1.34 ‐0.64 6.63 1st
Christians 0.28 0.80 1.58 1.54 0.83 1.43 6.46 2nd
Sikhs ‐1.41 ‐1.08 ‐0.55 0.60 ‐1.08 0.33 ‐3.19 4th
Buddhists ‐0.39 ‐0.08 ‐0.90 ‐1.09 ‐0.57 ‐0.76 ‐3.79 5th
Jains ‐0.75 ‐0.87 ‐1.31 0.59 ‐1.24 ‐1.36 ‐4.94 6th
Note: Ranks among the religious communities
Source: Computed from Census of India, 2001.
The analysis reveals an inverse scenario of socio‐economic development as the variables taken into
consideration are related to the underdevelopment of society. Lower value of these variables is associated with
the high level of socio‐economic development and vice‐versa. Table 6.B exhibits that the Muslim community
stood at first position in producing large number of 0‐6 year children and recording higher growth of
population with z‐score 1.70 and 1.78 respectively. Again it is found at top position in percentage of female
cultivators (X9) and percentage of male agricultural workers (X10) with z‐score 1.88 and 1.34 respectively.
However, Jain community stood at bottom position in all these variables except 5th position in percentage of
female cultivators. Table 6.B further reveals that the Muslim community with composite mean z‐score 6.63
stood at top position, followed by Christians (6.46), Hindus (3.42) and so on, while Jain community with ‐4.93
has been identified at bottom position. The analysis clearly reveals that higher 0‐6 year and growth of
population and greater accounts of females in cultivation are the testimonies of backwardness of Muslims in
the district.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LITERACY AND SOCIO‐ECONOMIC DETERMINANTS
Following inter correlation matrix reveals the causal relationship, based on Karl Pearson’s technique, among
the variables of literacy and other determinants of socio‐economic level of human development (i.e., X1 ………
X11). It also reveals the test of general hypotheses on the basis of student’s ‘t’ test technique considering six
religious communities as unit of observations (Table 7).
Table 7: Correlation Matrix of Relationship between Literacy and other Determinants of Human Development, Malda
District, 2001
X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7 X8 X9 X10 X11
X1 1.00
X2 .915** 1.00
X3 .698 .436 1.00
X4 .505 .793 .029 1.00
X5 .862** .919* .418 ‐0.772 1.00
X6 ‐.937* ‐.741 ‐.890** .266 ‐.715 1.00
X7 ‐.781 ‐.625 ‐.699 .234 ‐.681 .858** 1.00
X8 ‐.725 ‐.808 ‐.493 .814 ‐.917** .644 .625 1.00
X9 ‐.695 ‐.625 ‐.409 .448 ‐.826** .608 .457 .722 1.00
X10 ‐.948* ‐.885** ‐.772 .588 ‐.887** .930* .822** .871** .691 1.00
X11 ‐.314 ‐.597 ‐.009 .937* ‐.651 .122 .058 .795 .455 .468 1.00
Note:*Significant at 1 percent level and ** 2 percent level at 4 degree of freedom.
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Table 7 reveals higher degree of negative correlation of literacy (X1 and X2) with the variables i.e., population of
0‐6 year age (X6), growth of population (X7), male cultivators (X8), female cultivators (X9), male agricultural
workers (X10) and female agricultural workers (X11). Of them, the correlation of X1 with X6 (r= ‐0.937), X10 (r= ‐
0.948) and X2 with X10 (r= ‐0.885) are significant at 1 percent level. It infers the fact that due to social
unconsciousness associated with low level of literacy in a human group is the cause of higher 0‐6 population
and higher growth of population. The negative correlation between literacy and growth of population proves
the philosophy that low level of literacy is the cause of higher growth of population and vice‐versa. The
hypothesis, literacy is inversely proportionate to growth of population and they are the cause and effect to
each other, is quantitatively proved. The analysis further reveals that both literacy rate and primary occupation
are inversely correlated to each other. It is because; usually illiterate people are not eligible for other than
labour work in secondary and tertiary sectors, therefore primary occupation is the main livelihood for them.
Insufficient income from primary occupation does not allow them to send their children to the school causes
low level of literacy. On the other hand positive correlation of variables X1 and X2 with male work participation
(X3) and urbanization (X5) ascertains that high level of literacy is the cause and consequence of both higher
employment and urbanization. Therefore, the hypothesis, both literacy and employment are cause and
consequence of one another, is proved. Again, as literate people migrates to urban centers for job opportunity
or/and to have better educational facility for their children causes higher urbanization among religious
community. Therefore, the hypothesis, literacy is the function of urbanization, is statistically proved in the
study area.
The negative association of variable X5 (urbanization) with the variables X6, X7, X8, X9, X10 and X11 ascertains that
higher number of 0‐6 population, high growth of population and people largely engaged in primary occupation
severally hamper the expansion of urbanization which is the synonym of socio‐economic development of a
human community. However, the positive correlation of X6 with X7 (r= 0.858) reveals that higher number of 0‐6
population causes higher growth of population while both are increases as much as the increase of illiteracy
among a religious community. Again the positive association of X6 and X7 with the variables of primary
occupation i.e., X9, X10 and X11 infers that the community having its larger population involved in primary
occupation gives birth of large number of children due to social unconsciousness consequent upon low level of
literacy prevailing among them.
CONCLUSION
Foregoing analysis reveals an inverse relationship between concentration of Muslim population and literacy
rate of all religious people. It is apparent that Muslim community is the problem in achieving socio‐economic
development as analysis reveals higher concentration of Muslim causes low level of literacy and literacy is the
root cause of socio‐cultural and economic development of human group. No doubt, Muslims are not problem
rather mass illiteracy among them is the basic cause of their backwardness. It is observed that higher literacy
reduces the number of population of 0‐6 year and growth of population, but it is an impetus to higher
urbanization and employment which are the testimonies of human development. In Malda district, Muslims
are analytically identified least developed community standing at bottom position in the level of literacy,
urbanization and employment; however at top position in 0‐6 population and growth of population which
again are the testimonies of their underdevelopment. Low level of literacy is main problem of backwardness of
Muslim community in Malda district. Enhancement of the literacy level is only solution to bring social
consciousness among them subsequently, decrease of growth of population and increase of urbanization and
employment will come into being. In a nutshell, entire socio‐economic development of Muslim community
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
depends on the efforts of raising their literacy rate which may diminish the human group disparities in the
district.
SUGGESTIONS
Raise of Muslim literacy is the cumulative effort of educated people, NGOs, planners, policy makers. Besides,
the government’s role is pivotal one. Major initiatives to enhance the Muslim literacy may be suggested as
follows;
to overcome poor economic condition, Muslim workforce should be ensured of full employment mainly in
secondary and tertiary sector based on required minimum eligibility and efficiency,
to motivate parents to ensure 100 percent enrolment of their children in primary school, with not less than
80 percent attendance,
adult literacy programme should run in full swing in each village, which may enable them to develop their
full potential as human beings and good citizenship,
to provide free short term professional education and training to youths that can enhance individual
earning capability and productivity, empowering the community to participate in school development and
monitoring,
to generate social awareness among community to have small size of family,
to make them aware of equal opportunity in the society for learning and education is a social justice as well
as democratic right, and
for the success of mass literacy programme government and policy makers should initiate all the
programmes effectively as soon as possible.
It may hope, if all the programmes would run successfully, Muslim literacy rate would be enhanced and
their socio‐economic condition would be uplifted, subsequently human group disparities would be reduced in
Malda district.
* * *
REFERENCES
Broach, V.K. and Iyar, Sriya (2005): The Influence of Religion and Caste on Education in Rural India, Journal of
Development Studies, Vol. 41, No. 8.
Census of India (2001): Final Population Totals, West Bengal, Register General of India,
Dreze, J. and Kingdon, G.G. (2001): School Participation in Rural India, Review of Development Economics, 5, 1,
pp. 1‐24.
Jayachandran, U. (2002): Socio‐Economic Determinants of School Attendance in India, Delhi School of
Economics, Centre for Development Economics, Working Paper No. 103.
Ramachandran, V.K., Swaminathan, M. and Rawal, V. (2003): Barriers to Expansion of Mass Literacy and
Primary Schooling in West Bengal: A Study based on Primary data from Selected Villages, Centre for
Development Studies, Jawaharal Nehru University, Working Paper 345.
Report of Sachar Committee (2006): Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of
India, Govt. of India, p. 15.
Sen, Amartya, December 20, 2007, The Hindu (News Paper), p. 01.
Siddiqui, F.A. and Naseer, Yasmeen (2004): Educational Development and Structure of Employment in Western
Uttar Pradesh, Population Geography, Vol. 26, No. 1&2, p. 25.
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Singh, J. and Singh, P.B. (1981): Dimension and Implications of Urbanization in the Least Developed Countries,
paper presented in the International Conference on Urban and Regional Change in Developing Countries, Dec.
11‐15, Kharagpur.
Srinavasan, K. and Kumar, Sanjay (1999): Economic and Caste criteria in definition of Backwardness, Economic
and political Weekly, 10, pp. 16‐23.
United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (2001): Cities in a Globalizing World: Global Report on Human
Settlements, London.
West Bengal Government (20004): West Bengal Human Development Report 2004, p. 03, www.wbplan.gov.in.
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ICIWG‐21
JAI SAMAND: A MARVEL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING
Prof. B. L. Bhadani1 & Dr.O.P.Srivastav2
1
*Chaiman & Coordinator, Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. 202002,
UP, India
opsrivastav2001@yahoo.com
2
*S.T.A., Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. 202002, UP, India
opsrivastav2001@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
The role of the Sisodia state( Mewar) in the south of Rajasthan (India) had been outstanding in the field of
irrigation. They were well acquainted about the potentialities of water resources located in the hills which is
attested by the efforts of the rulers by constructing water harvesting structures since the establishment of
their rule in the area. The efforts of the Sisodia chiefs in the field of construction of water harvesting structures,
since the earliest times could only be checked by two methods: either through any inscription and document or
by the physical survey of the extant structures. Earliest reference we get about Nagda, a place 16 kms. north of
Udaipur. This place got the distinction of being the first capital of Mewar which was founded by Nagaditya who
was ruling over the area in c. A.D. 646.
The forms of water harvesting and control by the Sisodia rulers had acquired the symbol of their cultural ethos.
The tradition of construction of water bodies was imbibed in their value system. It may be true to some extent
the role of religion and mythology behind the erection of these water structures but their exaggeration
undermines the more earthly economic necessity of the rulers. The period between 1652 and 1680 could be
characterized as golden period in the history of Mewar in the field of irrigation. The ascending of Maharana Raj
Singh on the throne of Udaipur in 1652 heralded a new era in water harvesting engineering. He got constructed
two weirs Raj Samand and Jana Sagar also known as Bari ka Talav in 1676 and 1678.
Maharana Jai Singh (1680‐98) pursued his illustrious father in the hydraulic domain. But sometimes he appears
as an emulator of his father according to a public proverb. This maxim is: when Maharana Raj Singh was
constructing the Raj Samand then his son Jai Singh remarked about the small size of the dyke then he retarded
satirically that first you construct a bigger than this and make this one small. The prince took it as a challenge.
After assuming the command of the Sisodia state in 1680, he embarked upon to create bigger barrage than his
father’s creation, the Raj Samand. At the outset he took up two projects in his hand in 1687: first, ‘Diwali ka
Talav’ (1 ½ miles away from Udaipur) and second tank at the village Thur, 5 miles north of the capital. His
appetite could not be satisfied by these small ponds which were no match to the Raj Samand. This led him to
lay foundation of a dam thirty miles south‐east of Udaipur which was named after him Jai Samand. This was
also styled as the Dhebar lake.An attempt would be made in this paper to study the Jai Samand dam in detail.
Maharana Jai Singh (1680‐98) pursued his illustrious father in the hydraulic domain going a step farther. An
anecdote popular among the people tells that when his father Maharana Raj Singh was busy in the completion
ceremony of the Raj Samand in February 1676, the young prince1 commented about its small size. The elder
Maharana retorted that he should say this after constructing a bigger dam. The prince took it as a challenge.
1
Jai Singh was born on 15 December, 1653 (Shyamal Das, Vir Vinod, vol.II, part‐I, p.645) and attained the age of about 23 years at the
time of ceremony of the Raj Samand.
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After assuming the command of the Sisodia state in 1680, Maharana Jai Singh decided to build a bigger
embankment than the Raj Samand. He immediately started frantic search for an appropriate site. Instructions
in this regard were issued to the civil engineers and other experts who brought to light two sites near the
capital city Udaipur. After getting a nod from the Sisodia chief, construction of two barrages was kicked off.
DEWALI‐KA‐TALAB
The Maharana initiated the project making a tank at the village Dewali. It is located at a distance of 1 ½ miles to
the north of Udaipur. Its embankment wall was quite long from the Motimahal to the mountain of the
Neemach Mata temple.1 G.H. Ojha identifies its location with that of the present day Fateh Sagar. He states
that since the height of the barrage was short and the flow of water was quite deficient, it could not supply
water to the southern direction. Therefore, it was erected afresh by Maharana Fateh Singh in 1889 and
designated it after his name Fateh Sagar. It was strong and the wall was quite high. 2 Ojha’s identification of the
Dewali pond with that of the Fateh Sagar points to three things: first, selections of perfect site for the lake by
the engineers; second, survival of the structure for more than two hundred years since its completion in
V.S.1744/A.D.1687 and third, identical catchment area and source of water for both the Dewali and Fateh
Sagar. The latter barrage has a very small catchment area of its own fed by three other tanks namely, Jana
Sagar or Bari‐ka‐Talao, Chhota and Bada Madar. But the catchment area of the Dewali dyke appears to have
been the hills located in nearby areas and the overflow of the Jana Sagar. Similar overflow from the Pichhola
might have fed the said reservoir. The dyke of Jana Sagar came into existence in 1668 during the time of
Maharana Raj Singh specifically before the Dewali lake. We do not know about the period of the construction
of both the ponds at Madar but they did not exist before Maharana Jai Singh. Perhaps water streams from
these hills fed Dewali tank. This shows that the dyke was quite long in length as the present Fateh Sagar but
probably it was renovated in later times. As the Fateh Sagar feeds the Udai Sagar through the river Ahar, then
certainly the Dewali dyke was also connected in the same manner.
Thur‐ka‐Talab
A second reservoir was constructed by the Maharana at the village Thur, 10 km north of Udaipur.3 It is reported
that it broke down but4 the period is not specified.
Much information is not available about this pond. The Thur tank was located between the villages Dewali and
Madar. There is a probability that the Dewali and Thur tanks were interlinked. Water overflow of the latter fed
the former dyke. This conjecture is based on the location of both the tanks. The catchment area of the Thur
tank might have been quite large. The hills beyond the village Madar were the main source of its water.
It appears that the Maharana was intending to interlink all the tanks in alignment of each other in the northern
direction of Udaipur. Both were connected with the Pichhola lake located in their west. The Pichhola and Thur
1
.The village Dewali was the part of pargana Girwa and its estimated income was Rs.3001 during the time of Maharana Raj Singh
(Maharana Raj Singh Pargana Bahi, ed. Hukum Singh Bhati, Udaipur, 1995, p.1). Shyamal Das records its length indicating two corners
of the site. See, Vir Vinod, op.cit., p.667.
2
G.H. Ojha, Rajputana ka Itihas, II, p.903. The destruction of the catchment in the past few decades has increased the rate of siltation. It
threatens the very existence of the dyke. There was a silt trap between the Madar tank at Thur‐ki Pal village but it has destroyed now.
At present the silt flows into the lake (The Dying Wisdom, ed. Anil Agarwal and Sunita Narain, New Delhi, fourth reprint, April, 2005,
p.164).
3
The village Thur was a part of pargana Girwa and its estimated revenue was Rs.800. It was located in the mountainous area (Cf.
Maharana Raj Singh Pargana Bahi, op.cit., p.2).
4
Vir Vinod, II, part‐I, p.645; G.H. Ojha, op.cit., p.103.
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lakes were feeding the reservoir at Dewali. In turn, its overflow merged with the Udai Sagar several kilometers
away from the city. This shows that the Maharana built up a web of lakes in and around the city of Udaipur.
Besides irrigation, the Maharana was deeply concerned about the expanding population of the city since its
foundation in 1553 which necessitated a planning to create permanent source of drinking water. The trading
and commercial activities brought prosperity to the city. There was a flourishing market with a large number of
shops on both the sides of the road which is depicted by many city‐oriented ghazals composed by the Jain
monks.1 Nainsi’s house‐count of the city in 1660s was 20,0602 which means the population may have been
around one lakh. The construction of network of water bodies for ever expanding population was really a
challenging task. Jai Singh must have realized this problem and, therefore, he tried to link the tanks with each
other. The efforts of the Sisodia rulers prior to him and his own might have raised the water level of the entire
area which is reflected in the large number of wells and step‐wells in the surrounding areas of the lakes. These
reservoirs were the only source of drinking water.
JAI SAMAND
The fashioning of the two tanks did not match with the grand design nurtured by Maharana. He, therefore,
endeavoured to select a new site with full vigour. Ultimately, a site was found thirty miles to the south‐east of
Udaipur. It was decided to erect a dam at this point. The year 1685 marks a watershed in the history of
hydrology of Mewar when a foundation of one of the largest dam in India, perhaps in Asia, was laid down.
CATCHMENTS AREA AND SOURCES OF WATER:
The contemporary sources do not offer complete information about the catchment area and sources of water
for the dam. As the Prashasti mentions only the name of the river Gomti which was dammed by constructing
an embankment barrier between the two hills known as Maniyal. While G.H. Ojha names four rivers–Gomti,
Jhamri, Rupahel and Bagaar – flow from the corner of Dhebar (styled as Dhebar ka Naka),3 the point where the
dyke was erected. Since the dam was fashioned on the Dhebar corner its name gain currency after the name of
the corner among local people. But officially it was styled as the Jai Samand after its builder Jai Singh. Apart
from the textual evidence and the testimony of a modern historian, a proverb current in Mewar says that
“(water of) nine rivers and ninety channels (fall in the Jai Samand)”4.This saying is in common use that strikingly
expresses the enormity of the structure. This gets support from the Cartographic depiction of the site of the
dyke. The names of seven rivers are traced and plotted on map while one anonymous can be seen falling in the
lake. Remaining one either might have lost or could be detected on any older and more detailed survey map. In
addition, we have also traced two more sources through our field survey. In the qasba Kanor an enormous tank
1
Shri Khetal, Udaipur Gajal, Munikanti Sagar, Surat, 1948, pp.13‐21.
2
Munhata Nainsi Khyat, I, ed. B.P. Sakriya, Jodhpur, 1960, pp.33‐34.
3
G.H. Ojha, op.cit., p.903.
4
Ibid. One anecdote is in currency among the indigenous people which is recorded by me. According to it, Dhebar probably a Bhil is
said to have been the name of a village chief. The barrage was constructed with his full cooperation. He was assigned task of the
supervision of the dyke. Therefore, after its completion, the chief asked to Maharana about its nomenclature. Then the Sisodia chief
replied that it would be styled by two names, i.e. Dhebar and Jai Samand. But according to a Ghazal composed in V.S.1757/A.D.1700,
Dhebar was the name of a village. Cf. Khetal, Udaipur – The Ghazal, op.cit., p.20.
After the discovery of the Jai Singh Nrap Prashasti, an epic composed primarily on the Jai Samand dam, the controversy over the name
Dhebar is set at rest forever. It was a name of a village and the place where the embankment was erected was known as the Dhebar‐ka‐
Naka. The nomenclature of the village was changed to Jai Nagar. (Cf. Shakti Kumar Sharma, ‘Shakunt’, Jai Singh Prashasti men Jai
Samudra‐Nirman ka Vivran’, in Rajasthan ka Aitihasik Sanskrit Sahitya, ed. K.L. Sharma, Jodhpur, 1996, pp.70‐75.
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1
The writer himself writes in the colophon of the book that he had recomposed the Prasashti on the inspiration of Maharana Amar
Singh II. This clearly means that earlier version composed during the time of Maharana Jai Singh could not get much publicity probably
because of the passing away of the Sisodia chief. In the meantime, the manuscript have destroyed. So later, on the request of Maharana
Amar Singh II (1698‐1710), the Prashasti was recomposed. But this epic could not be inscribed on the stone slabs like the Raj Prashasti.
This remained in the handwritten form and could not be unearthed before the 1960s. Professor Mool Chand Pathak put all academic
worlds in his debt by discovering this rare manuscript. The copy of it still preserved in the Asiatic Society, Kolkotta. See, Rajasthan ka
Aitihasik Sanskrit Sahitya, pp.70‐75. But the text is not edited and published so far. When G.H. Ojha was writing his book on Udaipur he
had seen a copy of the Prashasti but could not consult it. He found it similar to the Raj Prashasti (Cf. Udaipur Rajya ka Itihas, II, p.904).
2
Prashasti, pp.70‐75
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100 kos (250 miles) at the time of the demise of Jai Singh in V.S. 1756/A.D. 1699. This shows that it had
surpassed the Raj Samand dyke in size.
Modern authorities, too, have recorded measurement of this structure. Along with it, we too have obtained
detailed measurements by its physical survey. All the figures are put together in the following table converting
them into identical unit into meter for the purpose of comparison.
Table‐I S.No. Measurement Erskine’s Vir Vinod Ojha Obtainedby measurement Gazetteer of the structure
(in mts.)
1. Length 381.86 382.47 366.61 371
(1252 ft) (1254 ft) (1202 ft)
2. Height 35.38 33.55 ‐ ‐
(116 ft) (110 ft)
3. Breadth (base) 21.35 ‐ 21.35
(70 ft) (70 ft)
4. Breadth (top) 4.88 32.02 35.38 37.5
(16 ft) (105 ft) (116 ft)
5. Height of backwall 30.5 38.71 ‐ ‐
(100 ft) (98 ft)
6. Depth ‐ ‐ 31.11 42
(102 ft)
7. Depth backside ‐ ‐ ‐ 101
8. Distance between (100 gaz) ‐ ‐ 99.50
two walls
9. Length of 283.34 ‐ 396.5 ‐
second wall (929 ft) (1300 ft)
10. Breadth of backwall 10.67 ‐ ‐ ‐
at the base (32 ft)
11. Breadth at 3.66 ‐ ‐ ‐
base top (12 ft)
The measurement recorded by modern authorities is remarkably closer to our actual measurement for some
sections but divergent for others. The length of the embankment wall broadly corresponds to the figure
obtained by the actual measurement of the structure. In case of breadth at the top, the scale recorded by
Erskine do not match with Ojha and Shyamal Das. Actually, the difference is quite wide. The depth is recorded
only by Ojha which is 31 meters while our measurement comes to 42 mts. Overall, there is a broad agreement
in figures with some exceptions. Some dimensions of the different sections, the measurement of which is
difficult to check because of water in the dam.
The thickness of the dyke is the most fundamental element in the whole structure. It is the part which faces
most the force of water. So the engineers attached more importance to this section. Therefore, to safeguard
this dam from the water force the line of thrust must remain within the middle third of the cross‐section of the
structure.1 This principle appears to have been followed in this body.
To give an additional strength to the main embankment wall, stairs were constructed projecting towards the
tank. On the top floor of the dyke there are six cenetophs (chhatris). In the straight direction of each of it, three
1
Phutkar Khyat, Kaviraja Collection, Granth No.109, f.334(a), N.S.S. Sitamau.
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more chaukis, downside towards water, were erected. Thus, the total 24 structures are there on the entire
length of the dam. They are identical in scale. The size of each platform is 9.60 x 4.50 meters. So, there are four
stages in one row from top towards the tank. Nine stairs of 0.350 meters were built between the two, thus the
total stairs come to thirty. The total projection between the wall and the tank was 12.6 meters which actually
increased the span of the dyke. By adding it to the width of the embankment wall it comes to about 50 mts.
The erection of a temple at the centre of the embankment wall, besides giving it an aesthetic touch was
probably meant for providing additional strength to the barrage. On each side of the temple three cenotaphs
of identical size at equal distance were raised which gives a perfect geometrical look. As said earlier, in the
alignment of each chamber (chhatri) three resting places (chaukis) downwards facing tank were erected. The
last six sitting places (chaukis), at the corner of the tank, were decorated with elephants of white marble.
A contemporary source mentions the expanse of the lake. It records its circumference as 35 kos i.e. 88 miles.
According to an estimate of early 20th century “its length from north to south is about nine miles and its length
varies from one to five miles”. It receives the rainy water of 690 square miles. Its area is 21 sq. miles1 but a
contemporary document gives 88 sq. miles.2
COST OF THE BARRAGE
The Prashasti offers us a consolidated amount spent on the construction. The total cost comes to Rs.18 lakh3
for which details are not offered. It is interesting that its cost was quite less than that of the Raj Samand.
OUTLET OF THE WEIR
The Prashasti mentions that the engineers cut out an outlet (oto) near the village Kherad4 which was quite big
like a river. The author writes allegorically that the Sisodia chief brought water on the earth by erecting an
outlet as the Bhagirath brought the Ganga on the earth. In fact, the flow of water was like a river. It must have
irrigated a vast tract of land. But another contemporary document notices three outlets cut out in the hills of
the east. These were primarily for the safety of the hydraulic structure in case the volume of water was beyond
the capacity of the tank. Secondly, the distribution of water for the purpose of irrigation must have dominated
the minds of the civil engineers. The existence of the canals in the western direction of the weir confirms it. The
villages located on the side were irrigated. According to one estimate, 12,000 or about nineteen sq miles were
irrigated.5
MASONS’ SIGNATURE
Generally, the artisans’ marks are available in abundance on medieval buildings of Mewar. We have come
across different kinds of signs on various water structures, too. These were engraved by the artisans on the
main body or at any part of the structure probably for two reasons: first, to identify with a specific guild or to
differentiate from other groups. Secondly, most of the artisans were unlettered. But one of the characteristics
of the Jai Samand dyke lies in the signature put by the artisans. Every stone slab on the stairs has the name of a
mason. Here the question arises that whether each slab was signed by the stonecutter himself or his name was
engraved by any lettered mason is not clear. Another question which is very pertinent is that what necessitated
1
Gazetteer, p.8.
2
Phutkar Khyat, op.cit., f.334(a).
3
Prashasti, ibid., p.74.
4
Ibid.
5
Gazetteer, p.8.
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the civil engineers to allow all the artisans to put their signatures on the slabs? (few names have been put in
the appendix).
An analysis of the names of the artisans demonstrates the composite and cosmopolitan character of the group.
Both the Hindus and Muslims were working together in stonecutters’ workshop. Among the Hindus, besides
artisan castes, people from different caste groups also appear to have adopted the profession of stonecutter.
The people from different regions such as Bundi and the east i.e., probably from the subas of Agra and Delhi
gave it a cosmopolitan character. This indicates the caste mobility. Two conjectures may be made about
multiplicity of the names: first, the names on the slabs were of those stonecutters who worked on the dam;
second, these were the rural folk from the surrounding settlements who brought stones on the invitation of
the Maharana. In the first conjecture, the names can be taken as the attendance of masons, therefore equated
with the attendance register. In the second assumption, the names are of those persons who cooperated in the
endeavour of the Maharana by bringing stones. Therefore, their names appeared as recognition. The latter
probability appears more plausible because every signed stone is not of equal size and is of rough surface.
ARCHITECTS OF THE HYDRAULIC STRUCTURE
The rulers could only express their will to raise tanks, stepwells or dams across the river and manage money to
spend on their construction but it is the architect or engineer who could translate their dreams into reality. The
architect and the engineers prepared a layout and ground plan of the structure. They were solely responsible
from the selection of site to the completion of the structure. The architects of this hydraulic structure were
Gajdhar Nathu and Jagannath.1 They were also engaged in other works too which show their expertise in the
construction of water monuments. Moreover, the stability of this dam for more than three centuries is proof
enough of their skill or competence in hydraulic engineering.
MANAGERS OF THE CONSTRUCTION WORK
The Prashasti records that millions of diggers, artisans and masons were engaged in the construction of the
dyke but eludes giving precise number of workforce. The speed with which the task was completed itself
indicates employment of large number of labours. The dam was ready for operation in a record time of
thirteen months while more than seven years spent on the Raj Samand lake whereas the former was enormous
in size, more than double in dimensions than the latter. The officials who were supervising the work were
Ranawat Bakhat Singh, Govardhan, Pancholi Anandidas and many others.2 The construction of Jai Samand by
Maharana Jai Singh was really an enormous tank both in terms of its extent and size. It receives water of four
rivers but nine rivers and ninety channels according to a local proverb. The size both in height and breadth of
the embankment was designed giving due weightage to the volume of water and its force which was to be
faced by the embankment wall. Secondly, it costed Rupees eighteen lakhs to the state treasury which was eight
times less than that of the Raj Samand which costed Rs.1,44,72,232. This encourages us to draw the conclusion
that Jai Singh fulfilled the challenge thrown by his illustrious father Raj Singh by constructing bigger dam with
lower cost than Raj Samand.
REFERENCES:
1. Jai Singh was born on 15 December, 1653 (Shyamal Das, Vir Vinod, vol.II, part‐I, p.645) and attained the
age of about 23 years at the time of ceremony of the Raj Samand.
1
Rajasthan ka Aitihasik Sanskrit Sahitya, op.cit., p.73.
2
Ibid.
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2. The village Dewali was the part of pargana Girwa and its estimated income was Rs.3001 during the time of
Maharana Raj Singh (Maharana Raj Singh Pargana Bahi, ed. Hukum Singh Bhati, Udaipur, 1995, p.1). Shyamal
Das records its length indicating two corners of the site. See, Vir Vinod, op.cit., p.667.
3. G.H. Ojha, Rajputana ka Itihas, II, p.903. The destruction of the catchment in the past few decades has
increased the rate of siltation. It threatens the very existence of the dyke. There was a silt trap between the
Madar tank at Thur‐ki Pal village but it has destroyed now. At present the silt flows into the lake (The Dying
Wisdom, ed. Anil Agarwal and Sunita Narain, New Delhi, fourth reprint, April, 2005, p.164).
4. The village Thur was a part of pargana Girwa and its estimated revenue was Rs.800. It was located in the
mountainous area (Cf. Maharana Raj Singh Pargana Bahi, op.cit., p.2).
5. Vir Vinod, II, part‐I, p.645; G.H. Ojha, op.cit., p.103.
6. Shri Khetal, Udaipur Gajal, Munikanti Sagar, Surat, 1948, pp.13‐21.
7. Munhata Nainsi Khyat, I, ed. B.P. Sakriya, Jodhpur, 1960, pp.33‐34.
8. G.H. Ojha, op.cit., p.903.
9. Ibid. One anecdote is in currency among the indigenous people which is recorded by me. According to it,
Dhebar probably a Bhil is said to have been the name of a village chief. The barrage was constructed with his
full cooperation. He was assigned task of the supervision of the dyke. Therefore, after its completion, the chief
asked to Maharana about its nomenclature. Then the Sisodia chief replied that it would be styled by two
names, i.e. Dhebar and Jai Samand. But according to a Ghazal composed in V.S.1757/A.D.1700, Dhebar was the
name of a village. Cf. Khetal, Udaipur – The Ghazal, op.cit., p.20.
After the discovery of the Jai Singh Nrap Prashasti, an epic composed primarily on the Jai Samand dam, the
controversy over the name Dhebar is set at rest forever. It was a name of a village and the place where the
embankment was erected was known as the Dhebar‐ka‐Naka. The nomenclature of the village was changed to
Jai Nagar. (Cf. Shakti Kumar Sharma, ‘Shakunt’, Jai Singh Prashasti men Jai Samudra‐Nirman ka Vivran’, in
Rajasthan ka Aitihasik Sanskrit Sahitya, ed. K.L. Sharma, Jodhpur, 1996, pp.70‐75.
10. The writer himself writes in the colophon of the book that he had recomposed the Prasashti on the
inspiration of Maharana Amar Singh II. This clearly means that earlier version composed during the time of
Maharana Jai Singh could not get much publicity probably because of the passing away of the Sisodia chief. In
the meantime, the manuscript have destroyed. So later, on the request of Maharana Amar Singh II (1698‐
1710), the Prashasti was recomposed. But this epic could not be inscribed on the stone slabs like the Raj
Prashasti. This remained in the handwritten form and could not be unearthed before the 1960s. Professor
Mool Chand Pathak put all academic worlds in his debt by discovering this rare manuscript. The copy of it still
preserved in the Asiatic Society, Kolkotta. See, Rajasthan ka Aitihasik Sanskrit Sahitya, pp.70‐75. But the text is
not edited and published so far. When G.H. Ojha was writing his book on Udaipur he had seen a copy of the
Prashasti but could not consult it. He found it similar to the Raj Prashasti (Cf. Udaipur Rajya ka Itihas, II, p.904).
11. Prashasti, pp.70‐75.
12. Phutkar Khyat, Kaviraja Collection, Granth No.109, f.334(a), N.S.S. Sitamau.
13. Gazetteer, p.8.
14. Phutkar Khyat, op.cit., f.334(a).
15. Prashasti, ibid., p.74.
16. Ibid.
17. Gazetteer, p.8.
18. Rajasthan ka Aitihasik Sanskrit Sahitya, op.cit., p.73.
19. Ibid.
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APPENDIX
Few Names of the Masons
1. Jago of Bundi
2. Duda of Bundi
3. Ratno of Bundi
4. Tilo of Bundi
5. Rupo Purbo
6. Palad Purbo
7. Lalo (Khalisa)
8. Senal Sompura (Khalisa)
9. Pom Chatar (Khalisa)
10. Rinchhod Sompura
11. Kanisa Mapra
12. Lalo Bhati
13. Ganes Somchand
14. Jogi
15. Jagu Siray
16. Suharji
17. Geha
18. Udo
19. Ranchhod (of village) Thaysado
20. Sero Fakiro (Khalisa)
21. Karim Gauri
22. Seru Piru
23. Piroj Gauri
24. Karim Gauri
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ICIWG‐22
ANNUAL VARIABILITY OF PRECIPITATION OF THE NORTHWEST OF ALGERIA
Salag Hind Mohammad MEDDI
Ecole National Supérieure de l’Hydraulique – BP 31 ‐ Blida ‐ ALGERIA
E‐Mail: salag_hind@yahoo.fr
ABSTARCT
Drought has characterized the West of Algeria since the end of the Seventies, it is characterized by a
remarkable severity, an extent and a persistence of the pluviometric deficit. This study of the variability and
change in annual rainfall in the North West of Algeria is based on the analysis of 25 stations with more than 50
years of data. The decrease of rainfall has consequences for water resources availability. The observation
period of the various stations frames the possible period of climatic fluctuation and made it possible to retain a
sufficient number of reliable data to allow an interesting comparative analysis from the regional point of view
even if the distribution of the stations is not always homogeneous on the whole of the study zone. The charts
and analysis show that during this century, the north west of Algeria show an alternation of dry and humid
periods. We have used several methods to study the non‐stationarity and trend in the series of studied
stations. The results show generally upward trend covering the Thirties and the Fifties. The pluviometry fall was
observed during the beginning of the Forties and the middle of the Seventies. The reduction of pluviometry
exceeds 36 % in the Mascara region and in the extreme west. On the other hand, the decrease of rainfall is
about 20 % in the centre of Algeria (the plain of Mitidja). The drought recorded during the two last decades
knew of equivalent, neither in duration, nor in intensity on the whole of the studied period and region. The
test on trends sequential confirmed the existence of three major trends during the last century. An increase of
rainfall since 1945‐46, which followed by a relatively dry phase and a decrease in precipitation from the 70’s.
INTRODUCTION
Water has always been an essential factor for the development of agriculture and it has become a strategic
issue.
Repeated episodes of drought, especially since the decade of the 70's when a change in the rainfall regime in
the reduction sense became a reality, especially for the central and western region. Algeria and especially the
western region have experienced several droughts during this century, the 40s and 70s until today. The most
recent one was characterized by its spatial extent, its intensity and its major significant impact and the
decrease of water resources.
The purpose of this study is to characterize possible changes in climate in the central and western part of
Algeria, to do, a statistical analysis of long time series data of rainfall at annual scale in different stations was
conducted.
PRESENTATION OF THE STUDY AREA
The study area covers 89 420 km2. It is located between 2 ° 10'10''west and 3 ° 10'11''east of longitude and
between 34 ° 18'54''and 36 ° 48'12''N of latitude (Figure 1). The study area stretches on 250 km from south to
north and about 500 km from west to east.
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CLIMATE AND RAINFALL VARIABILITY
The northern part of Algeria is characterized by a Mediterranean climate with a relatively cold winter and rainy
and hot dry summers. The rainfall reached 400 mm in the west, 700 mm in the center and 1000 mm in the east
near the coast. This type of climate also affects the range of the mounts of the Tellian Atlas, where we
recorded at the level of Eastern summits total of rainfalls ranging from 800 to 1600 mm, while those values are
lowered in the Center (700 to 1000 mm) and in the Western (600 mm).
DATA
Choice of stations and the period of study
The climate research and monitoring of its evolution requires many long series of observations. Unfortunately,
we do not have a perfectly reliable and continuous data.
Representative sample, in statistical terms is a long process fraught with pitfalls and in which many errors are
very different nature could be committed. Furthermore, it is necessary, before using data sets, to be concerned
about their quality and their representativeness. The data represent a major element in the study of spatial
and temporal variability of rainfall and drought. Data taken from the two organizations responsible for network
rainfall namely the National Agency of Hydraulic Resources (ANRH) and the National Meteorological Office
(ONM).
The stations were selected according to the length of available rainfall records and their geographical positions
in order to better cover the whole region, and the different climatic influences. Forty‐eight (48) stations were
selected on the studied region (Fig.1). After critical and homogenization of monthly and annual data, the period
1930/31‐2003/04 (ie 74 years) was chosen
Figure 1 Location of rainfall stations studied
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STATISTICAL APPROACHES AND ANALYSIS OF RAINFALL DATA
Stationarity or nonstationarity of the rainfall data interest many users of these in different applications
(hydrology, agronomy, water management, etc..). The detection of one or more breaks give information on the
evolution of rainfall in the region. This failure may be regarded as due to a change of parameters of the law of
probabilities of random variables whose successive realizations constitute studied time series.
In Algeria, the climate changes in the recent decades have had a negative influence on the water resource
(groundwater recharge, filling of reservoir dams and on agricultural yields).
We hope here to show this evolution by determining the year or years of break of rainfall data.
The methods to highlight these break are: The U Buishand statistics, the test of Pettitt, the Bayesian method of
Lee and Heghinian and the segmentation procedure of Hubert, whose power and robustness where shown in a
review by Lubes‐Niel et al. (1998) and applied in Algeria (Meddi M. and Hubert P., 2003).
To facilitate the description of regional changes in rainfall patterns, we have based our work on the results of
the regionalization of the annual precipitation (Meddi H., 2009). The used groups correspond to the
homogeneous areas found in this study.
RESULTS
Applied to each site, these tests give results which are generally consistent.
Group I: In the series of annual precipitation, rupture is identified in the year 1966 by the Pettitt test, the
procedure of Lee Heghinian corroborates these results by proposing the same dates between which the
average rainfall increases by 16% for the station of Boughzoul.
Stil in Group I: The station of Sougueur shows a rupture, by the procedure of Lee Heghinian in 1940 with a
decrease of 22%.
The Medrissa station has experienced a break in 1993 confirmed by the segmentation procedure of Hubert
with an average increase of 25%.
Group II: There has been a break in 2002 with an increase of the average rainfall of nearly 49%
Group III: For Ain Boucif station, an identified rupture by the procedure of Lee Heghinian and is confirmed by
the segmentation procedure in 1935 with a decrease of nearly 51%.
For other stations of this group, a break is identified in the year 1976 by the Pettitt test. The procedure of
Heghinian Lee and the segmentation of Hubert is consistent with results by suggesting the dates 1972 et1976
with a downward trend in average over than 20%.
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Figure 2 Variations in both average rainfall data on an annual basis ‐ Group III ‐
Group IV: In this chronic of annual precipitation a break is identified between the years 1975 and 1980 by the
test of Pettitt and the procedure of Lee Heghinian with a clear reduction of rainfall with an average from 20 to
35%.
Figure 3 Variations in both average rainfall data on an annual basis ‐ Group IV‐
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Group V: For this group, the break was identified, on all stations, from 1975 till 1980. It is confirmed by the two
procedures with the exception for the station of Benserkrane situed in the Mountains of Tessala where we
identify a break before 1964. The annual rains have decreased between 25 and 45%.
Figure 4 Variations in both average rainfall data on an annual basis ‐ Group V‐
Group VI: This region has almost witnessed the same bitch break dates from 1973 to 1980 this failure is
identified by the three tests for all stations with a decrease in rainfall between 16 and 40%.
Figure 5 Variations in both average rainfall data on an annual basis ‐ Group VI‐
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CONCLUSION
The study of the break detection has allowed to localize a change in the rainfall mode during the decade 1970‐
1980 for the most studied rainfall stations. However, it is the role of climate scientists to find the causes for this
phenomenon.
The decrease of the annual rainfall module has become a reality since the 70’s. This break is sobering to better
manage. Water resources which is constantly decreasing against a demand which is constantly increasing.
These changes are currently pushing policymakers to rethink about the types of crops that can adapt to the
new climate of certain regions of the country, particularly in western Algeria.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lubes H., Masson J‐M., Servat E., Paturel J‐E. et Servat E (1998). Variabilité climatique et statistique : Etude de
simulation de la puissance et de la robustesse de quelques tests utilisés pour vérifier l’homogénéité de
chroniques. Revue des sciences de l’eau, 1998 ; 3 : 383‐408.
Meddi M. et Hubert P (2003). Impact de la modification du régime pluviométrique sur les ressources en eau du
Nord‐Ouest de l’Algérie. Hydrology of the Mediterranean and semiarid Regions. IAHS, 2003; 278 : 1‐7.
Meddi H. (2009). Régionalisation des precipitations dans le Nord‐Ouest de l’Algérie. Ph.D. Univ. d’Oran 325 p.
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ICIWG‐23
PLANNING FOR DROUGHT: TOWARDS THE REDUCTION OF SOCIAL VULNERABILITY IN THE
HANNA‐URAK VALLEY, QUETTA, BALOCHISTAN
Dr Atta‐Ur‐Rahman (Lecturer) and Prof. Dr. Amir Nawaz Khan
Department of Geography, Urban and Regional Planning,
University of Peshawar, Pakistan
ABSTRACT
This paper attempts to find out the weaknesses in the existing drought hazard reduction policies in the Hanna‐
Urak valley, Quetta, Balochistan. The study area was amongst the severely drought effected part of Pakistan
during 1997 to 2002. Drought is invariably related to a deficiency in rainfall, which is by no mean a permanent
feature. The essence of the concept is not dryness in itself, but the effect of rainfall deficiency on nature and
society. The study area is located 21 Km north‐east of Quetta city. For detailed and intensive study, out of
sixteen, seven sample villages were selected by random means. The study attempts to identify the root causes
of drought hazard and its impact on the socio‐economic and physical environment of the study area. Besides
this, the study also focuses to evaluate the existing drought hazard reduction programmes and suggest policy
recommendations for ensuring safety of human lives and properties.
The paper is divided into eight sections. Section one of the paper gives detailed introduction of the drought
hazard. Section two deals with the methodology adopted for this research work. Section three describes the
concept and definition of drought hazard, whereas section four and five discusses the drought hazard at global
and Pakistan level, respectively. Section six evaluates the drought hazard reduction programmes in the study
area. Section seven is given to findings and policy recommendations, whereas the paper is concluded in the
final section.
INTRODUCTION
Drought is an atmospheric hazard (. It is mainly caused by lack of precipitation for a certain period. It affects
large geographical area. Its impact on human being, livestock and the whole Eco‐system is very obvious. It
ruthlessly destroys the whole economy of the affected area. Of all the environmental hazards, drought has the
greatest potential of economic impact. It can affect large geographical area and people. As compared to
drought, earthquake and floods are potentially of enormous intensity (Verstappen, 1983).
In Pakistan, the drought stress in Balochistan, Sindh and some areas of Punjab and NWFP has claimed many
human lives, eroded sustenance and livelihood opportunities with multiple impacts on human health and Eco‐
biological diversity. This disaster period (1997‐2002) is being identified as a simultaneous incidence of
agricultural and hydrological drought. However, the Government and community joint struggles reduced the
traumatic calamity of drought and bring back the fleeing life to normal. In Pakistan, the severe drought hazard
occurred during 1997 to 2001. Most affected provinces were Balochistan and Sindh, while NWFP & Punjab was
also affected. For detailed and intensive study, Hanna‐Urak valley, Quetta was selected (Map 1). Out of sixteen,
seven sample villages were selected by random means. The sample areas include Khotakzai, Malik Taj
Muhammad, Malik Ahmad Khan, Shamozai, Sarangzai, Malik Sammad Khan and Gul Mohammad. This study as
an attempt to identify the root causes, effects and weaknesses in the Government drought mitigation
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measures and suggest policy recommendations for ensuring safety of human life and reduce drought adverse
consequences.
The Hanna‐Urak valley is located 21 kilometre north‐east of Quetta city. The road is lined on either side with
dwindled fruit orchards. Varity of apples are extensively grown in this valley. The waterfall at the end of the
Urak valley makes an interesting picnic spot. Hanna stream is the important source of both drinking and
irrigation water in the area. It rises from the western slope of the Zarghoon range. It lies outside the range of
Monsoon currents therefore rainfall is scanty and irregular. The average rainfall is about 312 mm. In the spring
and summer season there is very little rainfall. The heaviest rain and snowfall occurs in January and February.
Geographically, the study area stretches from 670 5' to 670 12' East longitude and from 300 13' to 300 17' North
Latitude. As far as the relative location is concerned, the study area bounded on the east by Zarghoon range,
on the west by Murdar range, on the north by Takatu and on the south Sur range is located.
METHODOLOGY
To achieve the purpose of the study following objectives were set‐up. Primarily, to identify the major causes of
drought hazard in the study area. Secondly, to find out the adverse effects of drought. Finally, to evaluate the
drought hazard reduction measures and suggests policy recommendations. To achieve the objectives of the
study, in Hanna‐Urak valley, out of sixteen, seven sample sites were selected at random, namely: village Malik
Taj Mohammad, Malik Ahmad Khan, Khotakzai, Sammad Khan, Shamozai, Sarangzai and Gul Muhammad. To
get the required information, an intensive study was carried out. Data was gathered from both primary and
secondary sources. Primary data were obtained through questionnaire survey, interview and general
observation. The primary source was considered as the most appropriate tool for collection of necessary data.
Ideally, the entire population should have been surveyed, however, given time and resources available, it was
only possible to conduct sample household survey. For collection of primary data, three types of
questionnaires were used, one for whole village, for individual household and Questionnaire for the line
agencies. Whole village questionnaires were filled from the general public, community leaders, educationist
and elderly people, whereas individual household questionnaires were filled from 6% of the total household.
The sample of the respondents selected for interview is fairly diversified and heterogeneous in its composition.
As far as the questionnaire for drought dealing line agencies are concerned, it was filled from the officials of
the implementing agencies i.e. Arid Zone Development Authority, Balochistan Development Authority,
Meteorological Department, Revenue Department, Agriculture Department, Environmental Protections
Agency, etc. During field survey data was obtained for about seven consecutive days, in various places of the
study area.
The questionnaires were designed to collect information regarding drought causes, impacts and drought
reduction measures. Data regarding the impact were collected for the last 3‐4 years (drought period 1997‐
2001). Secondary data was obtained from the reports, documents, books, research articles and Internet data
base searches. The major limitations in conducting this study were that the data regarding the drought impact
and compensations were not fully available in the concerned departments and offices. Lack of single
responsible agency for drought hazard and the duties regarding drought hazards were spread among the
different line agencies. Due to limited time and resources, it was not possible to apply tools and techniques
such as GIS, GPS and satellite imageries etc. Finally, the collected data and information was classified, analysed
and presented in the form of tables, maps and descriptions.
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CONCEPT AND DEFINITION OF DROUGHT HAZARDS
Among the entire environmental hazards, drought has the greatest economic impact. It can affect the largest
number of people. As compared to drought, earthquake and flood hazards are potentially of enormous
physical intensity. But these hazards are of short duration and geographically limited (White, 1974). In contrast
drought affects large geographical areas, often‐covering whole country or part of the continent. Drought may
last for months and in some cases continue for several years. Drought has direct impact on food production
and affects the overall economy. Likewise, the worst‐crop failures are associated with drought hazard.
Drought is a temporary feature of climate. It occurs almost everywhere, although its features vary from region
to region. Defining drought is therefore difficult; it depends on differences in region, need, and disciplinary
perspectives. Drought is a temporary feature, occurring when precipitation falls below normal or when normal
rainfall is made less effective by other weather conditions such as high temperature, low humidity and strong
winds. Aridity is not pre‐requisite for drought. Even areas normally considered humid, may suffer from time to
time, but some of the worst droughts ever experienced have occurred in areas, which include some degree of
aridity in their climatological setup. In the most general sense, drought originates from a deficiency of
precipitation over extended period of time, resulting in a water shortage for some activity, group, or
environmental sector. Drought hazard can be defined as follow:
¾ “Drought might be a temporary reduction in water or moisture availability significantly below the normal
or expected amount for a specific period”.
¾ According to definition developed in Tanzania, if lack of moisture causes crop yield to fall by 8% then
severe drought has occurred, where as if yields are 30% down then the drought is described a major”.
¾ “A term drought is applied to a period, in which unusual scarcity of rain causes serious hydrological
imbalance”.
¾ “A drought is a water supply shortage and occurs, when water supplies are less than demand”.
¾ Drought can also be defined as “a condition of abnormal dry weather resulting in a serious hydrological
imbalance with consequence such as losses of standing crops and shortage of water”.
¾ Sanford (1977) defines drought as “the shortage of some commodity such as water, crops and grazing,
brought about by low rainfall”.
¾ According to J.C. Hoyt in 1936, “drought occurred when precipitation is not sufficient to meet the needs of
established human activities”.
There are three major types of Drought i.e. Meteorological Drought, Hydrological Drought and Agricultural
Drought. Meteorological droughts and Hydrological droughts describe physical events, while the agricultural
drought describes the particular impact of meteorological and hydrological drought on the human activity of an
area.
a. Meteorological drought
“Meteorological drought involves a reduction in rainfall for a specified period (day, month, season and year)
below a specified amount”. According to Linsley, et al. 1958, drought refers to a sustained period of time
without significant rainfall. According to Downer, et al. 1967, considered it to be a “deficit of water below a
given reference value, with both deficit duration and deficit magnitude taken into account”. Meteorological
drought is simple the duration between two significant spells of rainfall. In the arid zone this may amount to
years, where as in the semi‐arid zone it will be 5–8 months long. For example, in Thar (Pakistan), which is an
arid region, the duration is 3 – 4 years. While in semi‐arid region of Punjab and Sindh duration is 4 – 5 months.
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b. Hydrological drought
Hydrological drought involves a reduction in water resources (stream flow, lake level, ground water, and under
ground aquifers) below a specified level for a given period of time. Hydrological drought is a “period during,
which stream flows are inadequate to supply established uses under a given water management system
(Linstey, et al, 1975)”. “Hydrological drought is concerned with the effects of dry spells on surface or
subsurface hydrology”. Hydrologic drought is also being defined as “a drought year in which the aggregate
runoff is less than the long‐term average runoff (Wipple, 1966)”. The frequency and severity of hydrologic
drought is often based on its influence or river basins. If the actual flows for a selected period of time fall
below a certain threshold, then hydrologic drought is considered to be in progress.
c. Agricultural drought
“Agricultural drought is the lack of adequate soil moisture needed for certain crops to grow. Agricultural
drought is defined in terms of the retardation of crop growth by reduced soil moisture. Agricultural drought
occurs after a meteorological drought. Agriculture drought definitions link various characteristics of
meteorological drought to agriculture impacts, focusing on precipitation shortages, departures from normal or
numerous meteorological factors such as evapo‐transpiration. Plants demand for water is dependent on
prevailing meteorological conditions, biological characteristics of the specific plant, its stage of growth, and the
physical and biological properties of the soil.
DROUGHT HAZARD AT GLOBAL LEVEL
General causes of drought
General Causes
Physical Causes Intensifying factors
Anthropogenic factors
Erosion Climatological Causes
• Deforestation
• Overgrazing
• Lack of rainfall • Overpopulation
Water Erosion • High pressure •
Improper land use
• Lack of Moisture in wind
• Effect of Elnino & Lanino
• Rain shadow effect
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General Drought hazard reduction measures
It is impossible to control the adverse effect of drought hazard, however, its effects can be reduced by applying
certain reduction measures.
a. Proper land use planning and management
To overcome cultivation it needs.
• In land use planning and management focus should be made on such land, which are fertile and can
support agriculture.
• Using the land with in its carrying capacity.
• Drought resistant crops. Areas, which are vulnerable to drought condition, apply drought resistant crops to
reduce the impact of drought.
• Instead of mono‐cultivation, multi‐cultivation should be applied, in order to fulfil the required demand.
• Use multi‐cultural animals, which can feed on different grasses.
• Rangelands improve by increasing their area as well as extension in the drought resistant grasses.
• Nomads and their grazing animals should be insisted to utilize rangeland sustainably.
• Adopt biotechnology and genetic change to increase the meat and diary products with less stock and taking
less food.
• Utilise the rangelands up to their carrying capacity as beyond that they might be destroyed.
b. Control over deforestation
To overcome the problem of deforestation:
• Proper attention should be given to plantation and reforestation.
• Discourage the deforestation and provide alternative sources for fuel and energy.
• In social forestry technique, community should be made responsible for caring of forests.
• To increase the vegetation cover, use the agro‐forestry techniques.
c. Sand Dune Stabilisation
To control undesirable effects of destabilised dunes, biological and mechanical techniques should be applied.
Biological measure will have long‐term benefits, whereas mechanical devices may offer temporary solution and
they are frequently applied for localise problems such as the protection of infrastructure. Besides above
measures clean drinking water supply, health programme, mobile dispensary, free medicines, creation of
employment opportunity, provision of drought resistant seed variety, provision of fodder and relief
compensation are also important.
DROUGHT HAZARD IN PAKISTAN
Causes of drought in Pakistan
a. Climatological causes
Pakistan lies in the arid and semi‐arid zone, which is characterised by low precipitation, extreme temperature
and low humidity. During 1997‐2002, drought conditions that prevailed in Pakistan extended further, covering
almost all provinces and marked the worst prolonged drought on record. In parts of Balochistan, Sindh and
Punjab the drought continued for more then three years. In the last winter cropping season (January – March,
2001) precipitation generally halts compared to the long‐term average and was dropped by 63%. Mostly, the
provinces didn’t receive monsoon rain.
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In Pakistan average rainfall is about 25mm, which is insufficient for the plant growth. Low snowfall was
considered the main cause of drought hazard, during 1997‐2002. Winter snowfall was recorded low, likewise
reduction in water sources (streams, river, aquifer), increased the aridity and shrink the agriculture production
and food.
Intensifying factors
a. Degradation of vegetative cover
Degradation of vegetative cover means removal or destruction of vegetation cover by various agents. Mostly
human interference causes natural ecological imbalance. /
b. Deforestation
Deforestation is the major drought intensifying factor in Pakistan. Forest is ruthlessly cut for fuel and many
other purposes. Due to deforestation the soil is degraded and slowly and gradually changes into barren land,
which leads to drought hazard.
c. Overgrazing
In Pakistan the grazing patterns uncontrollable and is not done according to the carrying capacity that causes
serious damages. The network of roots binds soil particles, where leaves and branches provide physical cover.
But in Pakistan, destruction of vegetation cover due to no sustainable grazing, which lead to drought hazard.
d. Overpopulation
Pakistan is the world seventh most populous country. The population estimated at 140.5 million in 2001, is
overwhelmingly rural. In Pakistan population density is very high particularly in arid and semi arid areas, which
is high than the available resources, more exploitation is occurred for the development so the land is degraded
by the overpopulation, which lead to drought condition.
In Pakistan, 33 million people live in arid and semi‐arid (drought prone) areas. These include areas of
Balochistan, southern Sindh and parts of NWFP and Punjab, which was primarily depend upon rainfall for
agricultural and livestock production. These areas receive low rainfall. In irrigated areas, two or three crops are
grown, whereas in dry areas only one crop can be grown. Such scarce irrigated land, less production and high
population lead to drought condition.
Impact of drought on Pakistan
In Pakistan, the effect of drought during (1997‐2001) was very significant. Twenty‐three out of twenty six
districts of Balochistan, Thar, Dadu and Thatta in Sindh and Cholistan in Punjab have also been severely
affected by drought. It means that more than 45% of the Pakistan landmass have been declared calamity hit.
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Table 1 : Drought Affected Districts by Province ‐ Government Classification
Balochistan Sindh NWFP Punjab
Severe Moderate Severe Severe Moderate Severe Moderate
Very Low Quetta Badin D.I Khan Bannu Miawali B/walpur
rainfall areas Kalat Thatta Lakki Marwat Chitral Attock Khushab
Pishin Mastung Singha Karak Shangla D.G. Khan Sheikupura
Killa Abdulla Loralai Tharparker Swabi Low Dir Chakwal
Chagai Killa Saifulla Umar Kot Buner Jhelum
Kharan Panjgoor Dadu Haripur Rawapindi
Dera Bugti Gujrat
Kohlu Bhakkar
Lesbella Cholistan
Monsoon areas
Khuzdar
Sibi
Awaran
Musakhail
Barkhan
4 14 6 4 6 10 4
Source: Pakistan Meteorology department, Quetta
More than 5 million people were affected by drought hazard. Drought has covered 80% area of Balochistan.
Livestock production plays important role both in contributing to the national economy and livelihood for a
large number of people living in rural and urban areas in all provinces. Total livestock population, is estimated
at 55 million heads. About 23 million or nearly 42 percent are shared by Balochistan, while NWFP hosts 15
million, Punjab 12 million and Sindh nearly 5 million. Out of these it is estimated that the drought has affected
about 43 percent in Punjab, 40 percent in Balochistan and NWFP, and 66 percent in Sindh. The cumulative loss,
in the last three drought years, (1999‐2002) is estimated at 43 percent of the country’s livestock population.
Heavy losses occurred due to animal mortality; production losses and distress sales of animals.
Fruit production for the last five years averaged 6.2 million tones, annually. It is estimated that apple
production was reduced by at least 50 percent due to drought hazard. Fruit farms, particularly in parts of
northern Balochistan faced ruin as large numbers of trees have dried up and being used as firewood. Total
vegetables production over the last five years averaged 4.3 million tones, but in 2000/01 outputs was reduced
by 6 to 10 percent. Compared to last year’s production, onion output was reduced by 6 to 10 percent and
potato by 7.6 percent.
Total wheat production is estimated at about 18.7 million tones, 11 percent fall on 2000, while rice production
is forecast at 3.9 million tones, and some 24 percent below last year. Agricultural growth has, however,
suffered a severe setback during 2000‐2001 due to the unprecedented drought situation and shortage of
irrigation water, causing a decline of 2.5 percent as against an impressive growth of 6.1 percent last year. In
rainfed areas, wheat production estimated at about 5,41,000 tones for the year 2001, is nearly 70% below the
average of last five years and 62 percent below last year reduced crop.
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Table 2: Pakistan: Cereal Production in 2000/2001 Compared to Last Year (000 tonnes)
Average Percentage change 2000‐
Cereals 1999‐2000 2000‐2001
1995‐96 to 1999‐2000 2001 to 1999‐2000
Wheat 18,238 21,079 18,7351 ‐ 11
2
Rice (milled) 4,487 5,155 3,900 ‐ 24
2
Maize 1,565 1,652 1,489 ‐ 10
2
Others 559 494 457 ‐ 8
Total 24, 849 28,380 24,581 ‐ 13
Source: Sheikh, M. M. 2004
Table 3: Pakistan: Cereal Production by Province, 2000/2001 (Average in “000” tonnes)
Cereal Pakistan Punjab Sindh NWFP Balochistan
5‐year average 18,238 13,660 2,625 1,183 770
Irrigated 16,598 12,670 2,544 685 699
Rainfed 1,640 990 81 498 71
Wheat
2000/2001 18,735 15,500 2,005 730 500
Irrigated 18,194 15,130 1,982 600 482
Rainfed 541 370 23 130 18
5‐year average 4,487 2,054 1,911 127 395
Rice
2000/2001 3,900 1,785 1,660 110 345
5‐year average 1,565 738 5 818 4
Maize
2000/2001 1,489 700 5 780 4
Other 5‐year average 559 313 103 66 77
cereals 2000/2001 457 290 80 50 37
5‐year average 24,849 16,766 4,643 2,194 1,245
Percent share 100 67 19 9 5
All 2000/2001 24,581 18,275 3,750 1,670 886
cereals
Percent share 100 74 15 7 4
Percent change 2000‐2001 ‐1 +9 ‐19 ‐24 ‐29
Source: Sheikh, M. M. 2004
Drought reduction measures in Pakistan
Drought management in Pakistan is the responsibility of both Federal and Provincial Government. They have
various short, medium and long‐term programmes for drought management. Some of the important
departments involved are: the National Logistic Cell; Balochistan Development Authority; Arid Zone
Development Authority; Cholistan Development Authority; Thal Development Authority; WAPDA; The
Provincial Agricultural Departments; Sindh Development Authority; Irrigation Department; Meteorology
Department; Forest Department and Hydrology Department.
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The Government efforts to mitigate the effects of the drought have been effective in averting large‐scale
human suffering. However, some 349,000 drought affected people comprising farmers, who lost the bulk of
their fruit trees, nomads and landless rural households, are of particular concern. Government’s extensive
efforts to reduce the effects of the drought by providing food, feed and other rations.
To revive production capacity for the forth coming cropping season. The emerging support to the agriculture
sector should include the provision of seed; recovery packages for the fruit sector; provision of fodder and
concentrate on feed to meet extra requirements and mineral‐vitamin blocks for livestock rations, provision of
vaccines to cover possible out breaks of stress‐included diseases with a training package for vaccinators and
finally, provision of credit facilities to assist farmers in accessing the inputs and support services. In 2000, the
central Government provided Rs. 0.9 billion to the Balochistan province and Rs. 1 billion to the Sindh province
for the drought relief operations. The Government’s of Japan, Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates,
Saudi Arabia and Nigeria donated emergency funds and in kind assistance to the Pakistan Government for
Balochistan and Sindh provinces.
BALOCHISTAN PROVINCE
The provincial Government allocated Rs. 0245 Million from its own budget for drought operations in the year
2000. The relief commission was established to co‐ordinate the drought operations on behalf of the provincial
Government in 2000. A parallel structure in the army, the drought crisis control centre, was established to co‐
ordinate the operations of the army and particularly assist the logistical operation. These two structures
regularly shared information and jointly planned activities. During the relief operations, thirty‐five relief centres
were established in 22 districts for the distribution of food & feed activities. In Balochistan, the major part of
the drought relief was undertaken as short, medium and long‐term projects. These projects included
installation and rehabilitation of water facilities, construction of roads improvement of rangelands, extension
of veterinary facilities, production of stock for feed, distribution of wheat seed & soft loans to farmers.
AN EVALUATION OF DROUGHT HAZARD IN THE STUDY AREA
Causes of drought in study area
Drought is one of the serious environmental hazards in the study area. It is usually caused by lack of
precipitation. In the study area severe drought occurred during 1997‐2001. Before going to discuss the
climatological causes of drought hazard in the study area, let us have a look on the climate of Quetta.
Generally, the climate of Quetta is dry and fairly arid in nature. Quetta is situated at an altitude of 1,700 meters
above sea level. The winter is very cold and the minimum temperature ranges between 7 to 15 degree Celsius.
Summer is relatively mild and minimum temperature ranges between 32 to 35 degree Celsius, July is generally
the hottest month. Quetta lies out side the range of monsoon currents and the rainfall is scanty and irregular
(Fig. 1). In Quetta, the average annual rainfall is 226 mm. In the spring and summer seasons there is very little
rainfall. The heaviest precipitation is received in the months of January and February (Table 4, 5 & 6).
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Table 4: Average annual temperature and rainfall in Quetta (1961‐2002)
Year Temp (0C) Rainfall (mm) Year Temp (0C) Rainfall (mm)
1961 15.2 201.2 1982 15.1 949.8
1962 15.0 161.5 1983 15.5 633.3
1963 16.4 151.4 1984 16.0 143.2
1964 14.8 178.7 1985 16.4 257.1
1965 15.4 266.5 1986 15.7 243.9
1966 15.2 139.0 1987 16.7 155.8
1967 15.6 244.2 1988 17.6 259.0
1968 14.7 226.0 1989 15.8 243.1
1969 16.0 187.8 1990 17.0 313.2
1970 16.1 178.4 1991 16.3 428.7
1971 16.0 62.2 1992 16.3 409.6
1972 14.2 254.3 1993 16.5 233.4
1973 15.9 207.6 1994 16.7 304.8
1974 14.6 210.6 1995 16.4 303.7
1975 15.0 232.3 1996 15.7 134.0
1976 15.2 274.2 1997 17.6 309.0
1977 16.4 239.6 1998 17.0 187.0
1978 15.5 317.5 1999 17.3 106.0
1979 15.2 348.9 2000 17.3 164.5
1980 16.1 244.8 2001 17.7 93.5
1981 15.9 347.5 2002 17.5 179.3
Source: Pakistan Meteorological Department, Quetta
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Figure 1
Table 5. Normal Monthly Temperature & Rainfall in Quetta (1961‐02) and
Monthly Temperature and Rainfall in Quetta (1982)
Months Normal Temperature & Rainfall (1961‐02) Monthly Temperature and Rainfall (1982)
Temperature (0C) Rainfall (mm) Temperature (0C) Rainfall (mm)
January 4.0 54.3 3.7 178
February 6.4 45.7 4.3 189.2
March 11.3 52.7 7.8 232.4
April 16.8 28.1 16.1 30.4
May 21.4 25.8 20.6 23
June 25.9 41.2 24.1 0
July 27.9 13.4 26.8 0
August 26.6 9.9 26.7 50
Septembe 21.4 1.9 19.8 0
r
October 15.0 4.9 16.3 68.8
November 9.6 4.6 10.1 16
December 5.4 33.2 4.7 162
Source: Pakistan Meteorological Department, Quetta
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Table 6. Monthly Temperature & Rainfall Data of Quetta, 1996‐2002
Months Rainfall Rainfall Rainfall Rainfall Rainfall Rainfall Rainfall
1996 1997 (mm) 1998 (mm) 1999 (mm) 2000 (mm) 2001 (mm) 2002 (mm)
(mm)
January 13 50.0 61.0 43.0 15.5 Trace 5.0
February 41 5.0 38.0 36.0 14.0 46.0 23.8
March 30 17.6 58.0 10.0 3.0 27.0 40.0
April 11 32.0 6.0 Trace Trace 6.0 44.0
May trace 3.0 17.0 Trace Trace 0.0 0.0
June 0 8.0 4.0 0.0 0.0 Trace 0.0
July 85 33.0 3.0 Trace Trace Trace 0.0
August trace 11.0 0.0 16.0 16.0 0.0 Trace
September 0 0.0 Trace Trace Trace 0.0 Trace
Drought hazard (during 1997‐2001) affected the people of the study area and in effect incurred heavy losses
and other property. In the study area, impacts of drought can be classified into:
Impact on living environment
a. Losses to livestock in the study area
In the seven sample areas, a total of about 932 livestock died and 615 were sold on low prices, due to the
shortage of food & water. In village Malik Taj Mohammad about 56 Goats, 83 sheep and 3 cows were died as
well as 14 Goats and 2 sheep were sold (Table. 8). In village Malik Sammad Khan 30 Goats and 30 sheep were
died. In village Shamozai 4 Goats, 213 sheep were died, while 70 Goats were sold due to drought hazard. In
village Gul Mohammad 30 Goats and 20 sheep were died, whereas 5 cows were sold due to non‐availability of
water and fodder. Similarly, in village Sarangzai about 20 Goats and 30 sheep were died due to Drought hazard.
Table 8: Losses to Livestock
Sample Area No. of livestock died Est. loss of livestock sold Est. loss
Goats Sheep Cows in (000) Goats Sheep Cows in (000)
Malik Taj Mohammad 56 83 3 729 14 2 0 48
Malik Sammad Khan 30 30 0 270 1 127 1 399
Shamozai 4 213 0 1081 70 0 0 210
Khotakzai 400 0 0 1600 158 86 0 732
Malik Ahmad Khan 8 5 0 57 25 0 0 75
Sarangzai 20 30 0 230 0 0 0 0
Gul Mohammad 30 20 0 220 0 0 5 75
Source Field Survey 2003
b. Impact on human health of the study area
In the study area, due to the drought hazard a number of famine and epidemic were caused among, which eye
infection, diarrhoea, chest infection, throat infection and nausea were common. The most affected group was
that of children. In village Taj Mohammad out of 350 children (8%) were affected (Table 9). In Malik Ahmad
Khan out 125, (8%) were affected, whereas in village Khotakzai out of 100 children (15%) were affected. In
village Malik Sammad Khan out of 150 children (16%) were affected. In village Shamozai out of 75 children (8%)
were affected, while in village Sarangzai out of 50 children (16%) were affected. As far as village Gul
Mohammad is concerned, out of 50 children (12%) were affected due to the diseases caused by drought
hazard.
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Table 9: Impact on Human Health of the Study Area (%)
Sample Area Total Affected adult Total Affected adult Total Affected
Male male in %age female female in Children Children in
%age %age
Malik Taj. 210 0 280 0.3 350 8
Mohammad
Malik Ahmad Khan 75 0 100 0 125 8
Khotakzai 60 0 80 0 100 15
Malik Sammad Khan 90 0 120 0 150 16
Shamozai 45 0 60 0 75 8
Sarangzai 30 0 40 0 50 16
Gul Mohammad 30 0 40 0 50 12
Source: Field Survey 2003
Impact on economic environment
a. Impact on land and agricultural resources
In the Balochistan province, drought hazard continues for three‐four consecutive years, and the study area
incurred enormous losses. In the seven sample sites, about 56.5 hectares land affected due to the drought
hazard (Table 10). In village Malik Taj Muhammad, out of total 54.8 hectares, 35 hectares was affected during
drought period. In village Malik Ahmad Khan, a total area of the respondent was 7.8 hectares, out of which 5.6
hectare was affected. In Khotakzai total area was 4 hectare, out of which one hectare was affected. In village
Malik Sammad Khan, total area was 4.1 hectare out of which 3.3 hectare was affected. Similarly, in Shamozai,
total area was 6.4 hectare, out of which 2 hectare was affected, while in village Sarangzai out of 4.4 hectare,
1.4 hectare was affected. Like wise, in village Gul Muhammad total area was 18.2 hectare out of which 8.2
hectare was affected due to drought. In the seven sample sites the total estimated loss was Rs. 47,15,000,
during 1997‐2001.
Table 10: Impact of Drought on Land & Agricultural resources.
Sample Area Total Area Cultivated Area(in Drought Uncultivate Est. Loss
(in hect) hect) affected Area d Area (000)
Before Current (in hect) (in hect)
Drought Area
Malik Taj 54.8 39.8 4.8 35.0 14.9 3035
Mohammad
Malik Ahmad Khan 7.8 7.8 2.2 5.6 0 300
Khotakzai 4.0 2.8 1.8 1.0 1.2 130
Malik Sammad Khan 4.1 4.1 0.8 3.3 0 320
Shamozai 6.4 6.0 4.0 2.0 0.4 340
Sarangzai 4.4 4.4 3.0 1.4 0 540
Gul Muhammad 18.2 17.4 9.1 8.2 0.8 50
Source: Field Survey, 2003
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b. Losses to livestock
Drought directly affects the economy of an area. In the study area, people incurred great economic losses
from livestock. In village Malik Taj Mohammad, 142 livestock were died, with an estimated loss of Rs. 7,29,000,
while about 16 livestock were sold on low prices with an estimated loss of worth 48,000 (Table. 11). In village
Shamozai about 217 livestock were died and the losses were Rs. 10,81,000, whereas in village Khotakzai total
400 livestock were died with an estimated loss of Rs. 16,00,000.
Table 11: Economic Losses to Livestock
Sample Area Of Livestock Died Estimate loss in of livestock sold Estimate loss in
(000) (000)
Malik Taj Mohammad 142 729 16 48
Malik Sammad Khan 60 270 129 399
Shamozai 217 1081 70 210
Khotakzai 400 1600 244 732
Malik Ahmad Khan 13 57 25 75`
Sarangzai 50 230 ‐‐‐ ‐‐‐
Gul Muhammad 50 220 5 75
Source: Field Survey, 2003
AN EVALUATION OF DROUGHT HAZARD REDUCTION MEASURES IN THE STUDY AREA
Drought hazard reduction policies
In the study area a question was asked from the respondents about the Govt. drought hazard reduction
policies. In village Malik Taj Muhammad, (5.5%) respondents replied that structural measures were extended
by Govt. Similarly, most of the respondents (88.8%) said that non‐structural measures do not exist in the study
area, where as 100% respondents replied that these measures are not helpful.
In village Malik Ahmad Khan large proportion of the respondents (83.3%) were of the view that there is no
structural measures extended by Govt. and NGOs. About non‐structural measures, 100% of the respondents
said that there is absence of non‐structural measures at all (Table 12). In the entire sample area, majority of
the respondents was of the opinion that Government has not yet carried out any structural or non‐structural
measures. However, very few of the respondents replied that governments built canals for both irrigation and
drinking purposes. Some time government helped in providing water tank vehicles for bringing water from the
sources. Similarly, local tube‐wells get dried during the drought period. Hence, the measures extended by the
government were very limited. Therefore, 100% respondents said that the measures are not helpful. This can
be concluded that Govt. & NGOs do very little for the drought reduction measures (Table 12).
Table 12: Drought Hazard Reduction Policies (%)
Sample Area Structural Measures (%) Non‐structural Measures Help full (%)
Yes No Yes No Yes No
Malik Taj Mohammad 5.5 88.8 5.5 88.8 0 100
Malik Ahmad Khan. 16.6 83.3 0 100 16 83
Khotakzai 0 100 0 100 0 100
Malik Sammad Khan 33.3 66.6 0 100 33.3 66.6
Shamozai 0 100 0 100 0 0
Sarangzai 0 100 0 100 0 0
Gul Muhammad 0 100 0 100 0 0
Source: Field Survey, 2003
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The affectees visited by any govt. agency/NGO’s
In the selected areas, when the question was asked regarding the visit of various agencies, to the drought
affected area. Majority of the respondents replied that the affected area was not visited by any agency. In
village Malik. Taj Muhammad 6% replied “Yes”, while 94% replied “No”, whereas in village Malik Ahmad Khan
100% respondents said “No”. In village Khotakzai 20% of the respondents said “Yes”, while 80% replied “No.” In
village Malik Sammad Khan, Shamozai, Sarangzai & Gul Muhammad Khan 100% respondents replied “No”
(Table 13).
Table 13: The affectees were visited by Govt. Agencies / NGO’s (%)
Sample Area Yes (%) No (%)
Malik Taj Muhammad 6 94
Malik Ahmad Khan 0 100
Khotakzai 20 80
Malik Sammad Khan 0 100
Shamozai 0 100
Sarangzai 0 100
Gul Muhammad 0 100
Source Field Survey, 2003
Relief provided during drought
When the affectees were asked, about the help extended during the drought hazard. Most of the respondents
replied that nothing was given to them, while in rare cases medicines, cash and food were provided, during
drought period. There were certain objections that disaster relief was not distributed uniformly throughout
the population. However, the important factors, which affected the relief activities, were the politics and
influential people in the aid distribution. Therefore, the relief compensation didn’t reach to the real affectees.
Relief provided after drought
In the seven sample area, when the question was asked, about the help provided after drought. Most of the
respondents replied that they were given nothing after the fall of drought hazard. 5.5% of the respondents in
village Taj Mohammad replied that they were given cash, 5.5% replied medicine, and large proportion (83%) of
the respondents replied that no help was provided to them after drought, while in Shamozai, Sarangzai & Gul
Muhammad 100% respondents said that nothing is given to them
Drought warning system
The objective of the drought warning services is to give timely warning to the people concerned and to the
organisations responsible for drought fighting and evacuating people from the drought prone area (Khan and
Atta, 2002).
a. Warned before the drought occurrence
The table 14 shows that majority of the people were warned before the drought occurrence, but mostly they
were warned by the local people as well as by their own experience, and the Govt. Drought management
agencies showed no efficiency in informing the people of the study area about the drought hazard. In the
sample villages, when a question was asked from the respondents that either they warned ahead of the
drought occurrence? In village Malik Taj Mohammad about 82.3% of the respondents replied that they warned
ahead of the drought occurrence and 17.7% said “No”. In village Malik Ahmad Khan about 60% said “Yes”
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(Table. 14). Similarly, in village Khotakzai 100% of the respondents replied “Yes”. In village Malik Sammad
Khan, Shamozai and Sarangzai half of the respondents replied “Yes”. This can be concluded that most of the
people were warned before the drought hazard.
Table 14: Warned before the Drought Occurrence (%)
Sample Area Yes (%age) No (%age)
Malik Taj Muhammad 82.3 17.7
Malik Ahmad Khan 60 40
Khotakzai 100 0
Malik Sammad Khan 50 50
Shamozai 50 50
Sarangzai 50 50
Gul Muhammad 33.4 66.6
Source Field Survey, 2003
b. Warned about drought hazard by various agencies
In seven sample sites, local people and Govt. agencies largely informed the respondents. In Malik Taj
Muhammad 10.6% of the respondents were informed by Govt. agencies, 68.4% were informed by local people
and 21% by other sources. In Malik Ahmad Khan, 22.2% respondents were informed by Govt. agencies and
66.6% by local people and 11.1% by other sources. In Khotakzai 25% respondents by Govt. agencies, and 50%
by local people and 25% by other sources. In Shamozai and Sarangzai, 100% respondents were informed by
local people. In Malik Sammad Khan and Gul Muhammad half of the respondents were informed by local
people. From this it can be concluded that most of the people were warned about drought hazard by local
people (Table 15). When, it was confirmed from the officials of the revenue department, they replied that lack
of adequate fund were the major obstacle in the limited distribution of relief.
Table 15: If yes who warned about Drought (%)
Sample Area Govt. Agencies % Local people % Other %
Malik Taj Mohammad 10.6 68.4 21.0
Malik Ahmad Khan 22.2 66.6 11.1
Khotakzai 25 50 25
Malik Sammad Khan 25 50 25
Shamozai 0 100 0
Sarangzai 0 100 0
Gul Muhammad 0 50 50
Source Filed Survey, 2003
MAJOR FINDINGS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Detailed analysis revealed that:
a. The study area is one of the most Drought affected areas in Balochistan.
b. The increasing vulnerability of the study area is caused not only by its location in the Arid Zone, but also due
to the outer range from the summer monsoon wind.
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c. The most severe drought period in the study area was from 1997 to 2000 and the main causes of drought
were lack of precipitation.
d. Human response data revealed that majority of the respondents favoured the idea that drought are natural
and inevitable event.
e. Protective measures such as wells, Karez and vegetation cover were not sufficient to reduce the adverse
effect of drought.
f. Although, both the community and Govt. have undertaken various measures to reduce the impact of
drought hazard.
g. There was lack of implementation of the drought reduction programmes mainly because of the absence of
any single responsible authority that should take real interest in the relief programs.
h. Relief distribution whether short‐term or long‐term was also not reached to the target population the
procedure for relief distribution was very complicated and cumbersome, hence only influential people have
access to it.
i. The amount of money allocated for relief distribution was altogether in adequate both according to
respondents and the Revenue Department.
j. The analysis further evaluated that drought‐affected area watched and surveyed by the Govt. officials for
extension of emergency relief and mitigation measures.
Based on the findings of the study the following recommendations are suggested to reduce the adverse effects
of drought hazard.
¾ Community Involvement and Awareness programs: The Govt. and affected communities must work
together to overcome the problems of drought hazard. The Govt. should involve the affected communities not
only in the planning process but it is also necessary to arrange some awareness programs such as workshops,
etc.
¾ Assistance measure should not discourage agricultural production, Municipalities and other groups must
adopt appropriate and efficient management practices that could help in reducing the adverse effects of
drought hazard.
¾ Assistance should be provided in an equitable, consistent, and predictable manner to all the vulnerable
population.
¾ The importance of protecting the natural and agricultural resource base must be recognized.
¾ Financial resources should be allocated to maintain operational programmes and to initiate research
supporting drought assessment and response activities.
¾ A early warning system should be established for the decision makers at all level with information about
the onset, continuation, and termination of drought condition and their severity.
¾ Drought resistant seeds should be provided to the study area.
¾ Inadequate water supply should be overcome through the development of short term strategies by
building wells, pipelines, canals.
¾ Inadequate food for both human and animal requires the provision of efficient storage facilities for grains
and an efficient distribution system.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that drought is one of the most serious atmospheric hazards. Generally, the major causes
of drought are low rainfall as well as some intensifying factors. Drought has an adverse effect on the physical
and socio‐economic environment. There are certain drought hazard reduction measures, by adopting these
measures; the effect of drought can be reduced.
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The analysis revealed that in the study area major causes of drought hazard were low precipitation and
location in arid zone. The impacts of drought were very severe on both the socio‐economic as well as on the
physio‐ecological environment of the study area. Government extended limited drought hazard reduction
measures. These measures were not the lasting solution of the problem. However, Government was the only
responsible agency in extended relief and rehabilitation, but the relief was not evenly distributed among the
affectees and majority of the respondents was not satisfied from the relief measure. The analysis further
revealed that Hanna–Urak valley was severely affected by drought hazard during 1997‐2001. The analysis
found that lack of precipitation was the main cause of drought in the study area. As the area receives low
rainfall, because it is located outside the range of summer Monsoon winds, a small amount of rain occurs only
in winter seasons (December to March) from western depression. In the study area, drought severely affected
the socio‐economic and physical environment.
On the basis of human perception and response survey it can be concluded that majority of the respondents
favoured, the idea that drought hazards are natural and inevitable events. The structural measures carried out
by the Government include wells, canals and Karez, but in very limited number. The analysis revealed that
when the first sign of drought emerged in the study area, no efforts were made, in order to efficiently respond
the situation. The statistics further revealed that Government was the only agency, which provided some relief
to the affectees, but the respondents were not satisfied from the limited measures. There were no effective
plans for relief distribution. Although, the government claims to have undertaken a number of remedial
measures for the amelioration of the disastrous effects of the drought hazard in the study area, but the field
analysis confirmed that only few measures undertaken.
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REFERENCES
1. Hutchinson, C.F. and Webb, A.C. (1986) “United States Pakistan, workshop on “Arid Land development
and desertification control”. Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad.
2. Khan, A. N. and Atta‐ur‐Rahman (2002) An Evaluation of Flood Hazard Reduction Policies: A case study of
Kabul‐Swat Floodplain, Peshawar Vale. Peshawar University Teachers’ Association Journal (PUTAJ), Vol. 9,
2002. P. 1‐14.
3. Khan, F. K. (2001) “A Geography of Pakistan; Environment, people and economy”. Oxford University Press
New York.
4. Sanford, S. (1977) dealing with drought and livestock in Botswana. Publication of Overseas Development
Institute, London. P. 114.
5. Atta‐ur‐Rahman (2003) “Effectiveness of flood hazard reduction policies: A case study of Kabul‐Swat
floodplain, Peshawar Vale”. An unpublished M.Phil research thesis, submitted to the department of geography,
urban and regional planning, university of Peshawar.
6. Sheikh, M. M. (2004) “Drought management and prevention in Pakistan”. Pakistan Meteorology Journal.
Pp.117‐131.
7. Verstappen, H. Th. (1983) “Applied Geomorphology: Geomorphological Surveys for Environmental
Development”. Elsevier Oxford P. 437.
8. White, G.F. (1974) Natural hazards. Local, National, Global. New York: Oxford University press.
9. Wilhite, D.A. et al. (1987) “Planning for Drought: Toward a reduction of societal vulnerability”. Westview
press, Central Avenue, Boulder.
10. Wipple, (1966)
11. WMO, (2002). The drought in central and southern Asia. World Climate News, No. 20, January 2002,
World Meteorological Organisation, Geneva, Switzerland.
12. Wilhite, D.A., Easterling, W.E. and Wood, D. A. (1990) “Planning for drought ‐ toward a reduction of
societal vulnerability (Book review)”. Agriculture, ecosystem and Environment, Vol. 30, issue 1‐2. Pp.140‐141.
13. Robert, K. B., Michael, N., Stephen, T. J. and John E. K. (Robert, et al.) (2006) “Widespread drought
episodes in the western Great Lakes region during the past 2000 years: Geographic extent and potential
mechanisms”. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 242, Issues 3‐4. Pp. 415‐427.
14. Volcani, A., Karnieli, A. and Svoray T. (Volcani, et al. ) (2005) “The use of remote sensing and GIS for spatio‐
temporal analysis of the physiological state of a semi‐arid forest with respect to drought years”. Forest Ecology
and Management, vol. 215. Pp.239–250.
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ICIWG‐24
CAUSES AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF FLOOD HAZARD: A CASE STUDY OF SAMPLE
VILLAGES, SWAT VALLEY, PAKISTAN
Prof. Dr. Amir Nawaz Khan and Dr. Atta‐ur‐Rahman
Department of Geography, urban and regional planning,
University of Peshawar, Pakistan
ABSTRACT
This paper attempts to find out the causes and prevailing environmental impacts of flood hazard in Swat valley,
Pakistan. In this paper an effort has been made to discuss causes of flood hazard and its physical and social
consequences. To achieve the objectives of the study, three sample villages namely, Ningolai, Delay and
Ghureijo were randomly selected for detailed and intensive study. Here, flood occurs during summer season,
which is mainly caused by torrential rainfall and melting of snow and ice, with deforestation and overgrazing as
flood intensifying factors. During flood season, water overflows the natural levees and cause tremendous
damage to housing, agricultural land, standing crops and other properties. Based on the finding of the study, it
is recommended that flood relief channel and embankment be improved and the active flood plain must be
completely banned for residential purpose.
This paper is divided into four sections. Section one deals with the detailed introduction of the study. Section
two gives research methodology adopted for this study. Section three describes the analysis, results and
discussion, whereas summary, findings and policy recommendations are given in the final section.
KEYWORDS: Flood, Causes, Impact, mitigation
INTRODUCTION
This paper examines the extent of flood hazard causes and prevailing environmental impacts on Swat valley,
Pakistan. In this paper an effort has been made to integrate both physical and social aspects of causes and
adverse consequences. Water is one of the greatest blessings of Almighty Allah, but some time excess of
running water called flood becomes serious hazard. It causes heavy losses to lives and other properties in both
developed and developing countries (Smith, 1992). Pakistan is no exception to it. Historically, several
devastated floods have occurred in Pakistan. A few examples are flood of 1955, 1959, 1973, 1976, 1988, 1992,
1996, and 2005 (Atta‐ur‐Rahman, 2003; Shams, 2006).
Like some other parts of Pakistan, flood is also a serious and recurrent phenomenon in Swat valley. Here,
floods occur during summer season, which is mainly caused by the torrential rainfall, melting of snow as well as
some intensifying factors like deforestation and overgrazing. In the past, flood has caused severe damages to
the standing crops, infrastructure and other properties of the resident’s of swat valley.
To achieve the research objectives, three‐sample villages were randomly selected for micro level analysis. The
sample villages included Ningolai, Delay and Ghureijo. They are located in the floodplain of river Swat. All the
three sample site lies on the right bank of river. The study area was selected as it experienced severe and
recurrent floods in the past. The study area incurred tremendous flood damages in the past and is a serious
threat to the lives and properties in future. In the study area, no empirical and systematic study was carried out
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Discussions (FGDs) and questionnaire for the concerned line agencies. Questionnaire for individual households
were randomly filled from the general public of the sample villages, while FGDs were filled during group
discussion with the community leaders and elderly people of the community. About two to three FGDs were
filled from each community. Questionnaire from the line agency was also filled from the officials of related
departments, to get clear picture of causes and impacts of flood hazard in the study area.
Secondary data was obtained from irrigation department, revenue department, office of the District
Coordination Officer, Water Management department, meteorology station (Swat) and Survey of Pakistan. On
the basis of collected data, it was made possible to find out possible causes of flood hazard and extent of flood
damages in Swat valley. Analysis of data was carried out through computer based statistical techniques and
was presented in the forms of maps, tables and statistical diagrams.
Concept and definition of flood hazard
Man and rivers are closely tied together from the time immemorial. It is because of the fact that floodplains
offer a fertile land for agriculture and proximity to water bodies. Floodplains are also providing opportunities of
irrigation and navigation. However, with all these benefits it has to have some adverse effects, when man is
unable to manage it. Ironically, the same river or stream that provide sustenance to the surrounding
population also renders those people vulnerable to disaster involving loss of lives and destruction of property.
These floods have brought in their wake hardships suffering, disease and famine at global level (Ward, 1978;
Burton, et al., 1978; Khan, 1996).
Defining a flood is not an easy task, partly because floods are complex phenomena and partly they are viewed
differently by various scholars. For most practical purposes and certainly in popular usage a meaningful flood
definition would incorporate the notions of damage and inundation. Floods can occur in many ways, usually in
plains, valleys and coastal areas. Its location and magnitude varied considerably and as a result, they have
markedly different effects on the environment. As most of the flood definitions related to river floods but to
incorporate some coastal as well as valley inundation, a more comprehensive definition is needed.
Hence, flood could be defined as, a body of water rises to overflow land, which is not normally submerged
(White, 1945; Burton, et al., 1978; Alexander, 1993). White (1974) defined that flood is a relatively high flow,
which over tops the natural channel provided for the runoff. According to Ward (1978) flood is the over flow of
water. Flood may be any relatively high water level or discharge above any selected flood discharge (Paul,
1984). From physical standpoint, a flood is high flow of water, which over tops either the natural or the
artificial bank of river (Smith, 1992). Likewise, Foster (1998) defined floods as any high flow of water, which
inundates the natural channel provided by natural flow of a river. In addition, flood is any high stream flow,
which overtops natural or artificial banks of stream (Atta‐ur‐Rahman, 2003). All these definitions focus on the
two factors i.e. inundation and adverse consequences.
ANALYSIS, RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Causes of flood hazard in the study area
The study area is located in the active floodplain of Swat valley. Flood is one of the serious and recurrent
environmental hazards in the study area. Swat River is famous for its summer floods due to monsoon rainfall
and rapid melting of snow/ice and glaciers. In river Swat, each year during the months of June, July and August
heavy floods occur that causes heavy damages to lives and other properties (Table1).
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Table 1. Highest recorded discharge at Amandara headwork’s, 1983‐1999
Date Discharge in thousand Cusec
August 20, 1983 114.202
July 13, 1984 111.080
July 24, 1985 107.958
July 15, 1986 114.202
September 9, 1992 126.692
July 25, 1995 126.692
Source: Hydrology Department, Peshawar
The tributary streams of river Swat also experiences heavy floods, especially in the summer months. It is due to
short period of convective thunderstorms and monsoon rains, which results into heavy downpours causing
fatal floods in river Swat and its major tributaries.
Hence, in summer season, melting of snow, ice, glacier and excessive rainfall lead into high river discharge,
which ultimately causes floods in the downstream area. During winter season, precipitation received from
western depression. The highest precipitation is recorded during the months of February and March (Table 2),
which latter on becomes the water source of river Swat. In summer, there is sudden increase in temperature as
a consequence melting of snow, ice and glaciers speed up. Hence, melting along with monsoon rainfall
increases river discharge that result devastated floods in Swat valley. The analysis reveals that high discharge
recorded from May to August (Table 2).
Table 2. Mean monthly discharge of river Swat at Amandara Headwork’s and Month‐wise mean temperature
and precipitation, (1965 to 1995)
Month Discharge in Mean Max. Mean Mini Precipitation
Cusec Temp(˚C) Temp(˚C) (mm)
January 1298.6 11.22 ‐2.39 111.37
February 1532.8 12.07 ‐1.28 172.56
March 6771.7 16.23 3.09 242.22
April 6708.0 22.41 7.67 167.86
May 10924.2 27.59 11.56 88.05
June 11385.7 32.52 15.67 51.26
July 16222.2 31.38 19.29 145.75
August 9539.2 30.24 18.54 159.79
September 4347.1 29.04 13.60 81.84
October 2422.1 25.05 7.62 53.73
November 1763.4 19.94 2.55 50.70
December 1497.6 13.83 ‐0.86 90.75
Source: Hydrology Department, Peshawar and GoP, 1999
Besides these major causes, there are some intensifying factors as well, which accelerate floods and enhance
resultant damages in the valley. They included more and more encroachments towards floodplain as well as
deforestation in the catchment area of river Swat. During field survey, majority of the respondents were of the
view that floods in river Swat has been caused by two main factors; torrential rainfall and heavy melting of
snow/glacier (Table 3). In the sample village Ningolai 72% respondents were of the view that melting of snow
causes flood, while 28% respondents gave torrential rainfall as a reason of flood (Table 3). However, in Delay
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and Ghureijo majority of the respondents were of the opinion that torrential rainfall is the principal cause of
flood in the Swat valley. It can finally be concluded that river Swat receive heavy floods during summer season,
due to heavy melting of snow/ice and glaciers accompanied with summer rainfall.
Table 3. Human perception about the Causes of Flood in Study Area
Villages Melting of the Torrential rainfall Prolonged
snow (%) (%) rainfall (%)
Ningolai 72 28 ‐
Delay 28 65 7
Ghureijo 35 65 ‐
Source: Field survey, 2001
Human perceptions about the flood risk
This section presents the human perceptions regarding flood risk to their properties and frequency of future
flood occurrence. Field survey reveals that predominant majority of the respondents denied as living in the risk
free zone. The reason is that the flood dealing authorities had not yet implemented any large‐scale flood
alleviation scheme throughout the study area. In Ningolai, majority of the respondents (65%) were of the view
that their land and houses are at risk, while almost same situation prevailed in Delay (Table 4). However, in
Ghureijo, 75% of the respondents replied that both their houses and land are at risk. This perception about
flood risk is more likely prevailing because of limited flood alleviation schemes by the Government.
Table 4. Elements at risk (%)
Villages House Land Land and house Land, house and others
Ningolai 20 10 65 5
Delay 10 30 50 10
Ghureijo 20 ‐ 75 5
Source: Field Survey, 2001
The perception about past flood frequency and future flood occurrence within a specific time period was also
analyzed. Majority of the respondent’s were of the view that flood frequency is decreasing with time. The table
5 indicates predominant majority of the respondents said that frequency of flooding has decreased in last ten
years. This decrease has mainly been attributed to the prevailing drought conditions (during 1997‐2003) in the
country (Sheikh, 2004). However, they were of the opinion that prior to 1991, devastated floods in river Swat
was a regular phenomenon.
Table 5. Flood Frequency (%)
Name of villages Increased in time Decreased in time Uncertain
Ningolai 45 45 10
Ghureijo 7 93 ‐
Delay 35 50 15
Source: Field Survey, 2001
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Impacts of floods on the study area
The analysis reveals that flood hazard has badly disrupted the physical infrastructure in Swat valley. As most of
the floods undercut foundation, buries building, damages human settlements, erodes topsoil, change river
course, damage bridges and destroys irrigation system (Burton, et al., 1978; GOP, 2000). Floods in Swat valley
have been very damaging. Field survey together with the secondary data reveals that from time to time flood
hazard adversely affected the normal life in Swat valley. The data indicates that many times flood has caused
serious damages to infrastructure, standing crops and even led to death tolls (Table 6). According to revenue
record, floods in Swat river even damaged several protective structures like marginal embankments etc (Table
6).
It is important to note that no proper record is available in terms of monitory cost of the annual damages from
flood hazard. However, in the three selected communities, damages to life and other properties have been
estimated from the respondents during questionnaire survey for the past ten years (Table 6). The impact of
floods in the study area was classified as follows:
Table 6. Flood damages in Swat district, 1992‐1996
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DAMAGES TO BRIDGES AND WATER MILLS
Roads and bridges act like a backbone for communication network of an area. From river Swat, many small and
large distributaries have been taken out for irrigation purpose. Whenever floods occur, these small and large
channels overflow their banks. The bridges that were not of sufficient height to allow floodwater pass through
them were blocked by trunks and branches of trees. Subsequently, it damaged the bridges that were made up
of wood and mud. During last ten years, severe destruction to bridges has occurred. In the three selected
villages, a total three unpaved and one concrete bridge were badly, damaged (Table 8). Ghureijo is the most
affected village, where four bridges flashed away.
During flood time, the watermill on the watercourses were also badly, affected. In the sample villages, a total
of about 14 watermills were damaged. Amongst these, seven were fully damaged and rest was partially
damaged (Table 8). Likewise, in the study area, one mosque was also fully damaged (in Delay) in past ten years.
Table 8. Damages to bridges and water mills
Name of Bridges damaged Est. loss in Water mill damaged
village Katcha Concrete Total Pak rupees Fully Partially Total Est. loss in
(000) Pak Rupees
(000)
Ningolai 1 1 2 50 5 4 9 80
Ghureijo 2 2 4 3 0 1 1 10
Delay 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 45
Source: Field survey, 2001.
IMPACT ON AGRICULTURAL LAND
As the study area is mountainous and agricultural land is very scarce. Therefore, agriculture sector was severely
affected due to disastrous flood events in the past ten years. Therefore, damages to agricultural land are very
important according to the respondents. Respondents from the three selected communities reported that in
the last ten years, a total of six hectares lands have been affected due to flood hazard. Most of the land was
under rice crop at the time of flood. Major land losses have been reported from Delay (2.45 ha) followed by
Ghureijo (2.26 ha) and Ningolai (1.29 ha) (Table 9).
Table 9. Damages to agricultural land (Cost is in Pak Rupees)
Village Name Total area Affected area Est. Cost of land Cost of crop
(ha) (ha) lost (000) destroyed (000)
Ningolai 6.74 1.29 94 168
Ghureijo 4.69 2.26 33 194
Delay 15.62 2.45 150 17.7
Source: Field survey, 2001.
DAMAGES TO LIVESTOCK
In Swat valley, livestock is considered to be an important sector of the agriculture economy. The havoc of flood
has not only hit the physical environment but also the livestock of the study area. According to field survey,
total livestock casualties occurred in the past ten years were 3 (Table 10). Delay is the major looser of livestock,
where three livestock perished.
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Table 10. Damages to livestock
Village Name No of livestock No of Total Est. loss in Pak
died livestock Rupees(000)
Ningolai 0 0 0
Ghureijo 0 0 0
Delay 3 0 5
Source: Field survey, 2001.
IMPACT ON HUMAN LIFE
In the study area, there have been considerable human casualties in the selected communities. According to
field survey, in Delay eight and in Ningolai two human lives were also lost, in the past ten years (Table 11).
During summer season, flood has also led into many casualties in the study area. The table 11 shows that
twelve people in Ningolai and six in Delay were injured due to flood effects in last ten years. In terms of over all
damages Delay is the most adversely affected village.
Table 11. Loss of human life
Village Death toll Injuries
Name Male Female Male Female
Ningolai 2 0 10 2
Ghureijo 0 0 0 0
Delay 7 1 5 1
Source: Field survey, 2001.
MONITORY COST OF FLOOD DAMAGES
As discussed earlier, there have been severe adverse effects of flood in the study area in various sectors
including housing, agriculture and infrastructure etc. It was found that the losses from floods were significantly
high, in all the three sample sites (Table 12). These were mostly the losses to agricultural land, crops and
houses. In the sample villages, a total of about fourteen houses were damaged. In Ghureijo, 3 houses were
damaged with an estimated cost of 8 thousands Pakistani rupees1. In Delay, 8 houses were damaged with total
cost of 10 thousands Pakistani rupees, during last ten years (Table 12). The low cost of damages in Ningolai and
Delay is mainly due to the partial collapse. In the study area, six bridges were also damaged due to flood hazard
in last ten years, out of which two in Ningolai and four in Ghureijo with gross estimated loss of 53 thousand
Pakistani rupees (Table 12). In the three selected villages, total fourteen watermills were damaged in last ten
years. Nine in Ningolai, four in Delay and one in Ghureijo were damaged with an estimated cost of 135
thousand Pakistani rupees. Likewise, one mosque was also damaged in Delay due to flood hazard with an
estimated cost of 5 thousand Pakistani rupees. Three livestock were reported as dead (in Delay) due to flood in
last ten years with an estimated cost of 5 thousand Pakistani rupees. In the sample villages, according to the
respondents, land worth 27 thousand Pakistani rupees were lost due to flood hazard. Most of this was prime
agricultural land. Therefore, with the damage of this, land under standing crops of approximately 20 thousand
Pakistani rupees was also uprooted. Hence, it can be concluded that in last ten years, a gross total estimated
economic loss to the properties of three sample communities reached to 533.627 thousand Pakistani rupees
1
40 Pakistani rupees = 1 US $ (Price level, 2001).
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
(Table 12). This is very high loss to the poor communities of a developing country like Pakistan, which clearly
indicates negligence and lack of government preferences to this hazard hit community.
Table 12. Gross damages in the study area (Cost is in thousand Pak Rupees)
Village of Est. loss of Est. loss Est. loss Est. loss of Livestock Est. land Est. crops
Name houses from of water mosque damages lost destroyed
bridges mill
Ningolai 8 50 80 0 0 94 168
Ghureijo 20 3 10 0 0 33 194.7
Delay 10 0 45 5 5 150 17.7
Total 38 53 135 5 5 277 20.627
Source: Field survey, 2001.
SUMMARY, FINDINGS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
Findings and policy recommendations
Based on the analysis of the study, following are the main findings and policy recommendations to mitigate
human lives and other properties.
i. The analysis revealed that the study area is one of the most vulnerable flood hazard zones. In Swat river,
flood is a seasonal phenomena i.e. occurring mostly during summer. Torrential rainfall and heavy melting of
snow, ice and glacier were found major causes of flood. However, in the study area flood was also intensified
by certain anthropogenic factors, like encroachments of human settlements towards river channel as well as
deforestation and overgrazing in the catchment’s area of river swat. Hence, it is strongly recommended that
efforts may be made to ban these activities, which intensify the flood hazard. For this purpose, deforestation
and overgrazing may be controlled and encroachments in the active floodplain must be stopped.
ii. The study also found that most severe flood experiences were that of 1973, 1992, and 1995. These flood
events have severely affected the normal life in the study area. The houses were mostly constructed from mud
and stones, which had very little resistance to floods. Therefore, it is recommended that houses may be
constructed from available resistant material. Likewise, government should built roads and bridges from such
material, which is durable and could with stand high flood discharge.
iii. It was found from the analysis that most of the damages were due to the encroachments of local
population to the riverbanks. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that land use regulation should be
formulated and be strictly implemented, in order to check encroachments in the active channel of river Swat.
iv. Protective work like marginal embankments and guided head spurs should be constructed at vulnerable
sites in consultation with the local people.
v. To modify the adverse consequences of flood hazard, such policies should be devised, which are
technically viable, socially feasible and economically capable to achieve the mandated task flood mitigation. It
is also important to involve community in the decision making and implementation planning process.
Summary and conclusion
The analysis revealed that in the study area, flood is a destructive and recurrent phenomenon. Swat valley has
fertile soil and encourage settled agriculture, since long. It was found from the analysis that in river Swat
mostly floods occur during summer season, which is mainly caused by the torrential rainfall, melting of
snow/ice and glaciers. The analysis also indicated that human encroachments towards the river channel,
deforestation and overgrazing were some of the flood intensifying factors in the area. The data further
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
revealed that melting along with summer monsoon rainfall during June, July and August had increased river
discharge, which result devastated floods in Swat valley. The analysis revealed that in river Swat high discharge
was recorded from May to August.
The study found that the area has experienced severe and frequent floods, which have also caused
tremendous damages to standing crops, infrastructure, lives and other properties of the resident’s of Swat
valley. The analysis also elaborated that flood hazard in Swat valley is still a serious threat to the lives and
properties of the people. The collected data together with the field observation revealed that most of the
damages were incurred to human lives, agricultural land and physical infrastructure including housing, water
mill, mosque, bridges etc.
REFERENCES
¾ Alexander, I. (1993). National Disasters. UCL Press Ltd. p.631.
¾ Atta‐ur‐Rehman (2003). Effectiveness of Flood Hazard Reduction Policies: A case study of Kabul‐Swat
floodplain, Peshawar Vale. An unpublished M.Phil thesis submitted to the Department of Geography, Urban
and Regional Planning, University of Peshawar, Pakistan.
¾ Burton, I., Kates, R. W. And White, G. F. (Burton, et al.) (1978). The Environment as Hazard. New York.
Oxford University Press, London. P.240.
¾ Foster, E. E. (1998). Rainfall and run‐off. The Macmillan Co. New York. P. 487.
¾ Government of Pakistan (GOP) (1999). District census report of Swat, 1998. Population census
organization, Islamabad.
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
¾ Government of Pakistan (2000). Annual Flood Report, 2000. Ministry of Water and Power, Federal Flood
Commission, government of Pakistan, Islamabad.
¾ Khan, A. N. (1996). Planning for Reduction of Flood Hazard. Proceedings of 6th All Pakistan Geographical
Association, the Islamia University Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Pp. 182‐230.
¾ Khan, F. K. (2001). Geography of Pakistan. Oxford University press, Karachi.
¾ Paul, B. K. (1984). Perception and Agricultural Adjustment to floods, Jamuna flood plain, Bangladesh.
Journal of Human Ecology, Vol.12. No. 1.
¾ Shams, F. A. (2006). Land of Pakistan. Kitabistan Publishers, Lahore.
¾ Sheikh, M. M. (2004). Drought management and prevention in Pakistan. Pakistan Meteorology Journal.
Pp.117‐131.
¾ Smith, K. (1992). Environmental hazards: Assessing and reducing disasters. Rutledge, London. p.325.
¾ Ward, R (1978). Floods: A geological perspective. The Macmillan Press Ltd. P.244.
¾ White, G.F. (1945). Human adjustment to floods: A geographical approach to flood problem in United
States. Department of Geography, university of Chicago. Research paper No. 29.
¾ White, G.F. (1974). Natural hazard: Local, National, Global”. New York: Oxford University press.
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ICIWG‐25
CIVILIZATIONAL OF INTERACTION & IMPACT GEOGRAPHY
ﻴﻘﻭل ﺍﷲ ﺘﻌﺎﻟﻰ } :ﻭﻟﻭﻻ ﺩﻓﻊ ﺍﷲ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﺱ ﺒﻌﻀﻬﻡ ﺒﺒﻌﺽ ﻟﻔﺴﺩﺕ ﺍﻷﺭﺽ { ﺁﻴﺔ ٤٠ﻤﻥ ﺴﻭﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺤﺞ
ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻡ ﻋﻠﻤﺎﻥ :
ﻋﻠﻡ ﺒﺎﻟﻜﺘﺎﺏ . -
ﻋﻠﻤﺎ ﺃﺸﺎﺭ ﺇﻟﻴﻪ ﺍﻟﻜﺘﺎﺏ . -
ﻭﺍﻟﻌﻠﻭﻡ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺃﺸﺎﺭ ﺇﻟﻴﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﻜﺘﺎﺏ ﻜﺜﻴﺭﺓ ﻤﻨﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺩﻱ ﻭﻤﻨﻬﺎ ﻤﺎ ﻴﺘﻌﻠﻕ ﺒﺤﺭﺍﻙ ﺍﻟﻭﺠﻭﺩ ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻨﻲ " ﺍﻻﻨﺜﺭﻭﺒﻭﻟﻭﺠﻲ ﻭﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﺍﻙ ؛ ﻭﻟﹼﺩ ﻤﺒﺭﺭﺍﺕ ﻋﺩﻴﺩﺓ -
ﻜـ ) ﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺍﺕ ( ﺼﻤﻭﻴل ﻫﻨﺘﻐﻭﻥ ؛ ﻭﻓﻭﻜﻭﻴﺎﻤﺎ ﻓﻲ ) ﻨﻬﺎﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ( ؛ ﻭﻗﺩﻤﺕ ﺃﻁﺭﻭﺤﺎﺕ ﻜﺎﻟﻨﻅﺎﻡ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻲ ﺍﻟﺠﺩﻴﺩ ﻭﻜﻠﻬﺎ ﻋﺒﺎﺭﺓ ﻋﻥ
ﻤﺠﻤﻭﻋﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻻﻗﺘﺭﺍﺤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﺭﺘﺒﺔ ﻤﻨﻬﺠﻴﹰﺎ ﻓﺘﻘﻭﻡ ﺒﺘﻘﺩﻴﻡ ﺍﻟﺘﻔﺴﻴﺭﺍﺕ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻅﻭﺍﻫﺭ ﻭﺘﻁﻭﺭﻫﺎ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻜﻬﻥ ﺒﺎﻟﺘﻁﻭﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺘﻘﺒﻠﻲ ﻟﻬﺎ .
ﻭﻫﻲ ﺨﺎﻀﻌﺔ ﻟﻤﻘﺩﻤﺎﺕ ﺒﺸﺭﻴﺔ ؛ ﻭﻋﺯﺏ ﻋﻥ ﺫﻫﻥ ﻜﺜﻴﺭ ﻤﻥ ﺃﺭﺒﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ؛ ﺘﻘﺩﻴﻡ ﺘﻔﺴﻴﺭ ﻴﺴﺘﻨﺩ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻤﻘﺩﻤﺎﺕ ﻤﺒﻨﻴﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ) ﻤﻘﺎﺼﺩ ﺍﻟﻭﺠﻭﺩ
ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻨﻲ ( ؛ ﻭﺘﺤﻘﻴﻕ ﻤﻨﺎﻁﻬﺎ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻭﺍﻗﻊ ﻟﻠﺨﺭﻭﺝ ﺒﺘﺤﻠﻴل ﻴﻘﻭﺩﻨﺎ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻤﺂل ﺍﻟﺒﺸﺭﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﻀﺭ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺴﺘﻘﺒل .
ﻭﻤﻥ ﺫﻟﻙ ﻴﺘﺒﻠﻭﺭ ﻓﻘﻪ " ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ " ؛ ﺍﻤﺘﺩﺍﺩﹰﺍ ﻟﻤﻬﻤﺔ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺨﻼﻑ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻤﻜﻴﻥ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻷﺭﺽ ﻭﺍﻟﺸﻬﻭﺩ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ .
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ﻭﺍﻟﺨﻭﺽ ﻓﻲ ﻤﻌﺘﺭﻙ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ﻴﻜﻤﻥ ﻓﻲ ﺍﺴﺘﻴﻌﺎﺏ ﻋﻘﺩﺓ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﻌﻠﻘﺔ ﺒﺈﺸﻜﺎﻟﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻭﺠﻭﺩ ؛ ﻭﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ﺘﺤﺩﻴﺩ ﻭﺍﻟﻭﺼﻭل ﺇﻟﻰ ﺠﻭﻫﺭ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ
؛ ﻭﻁﺒﻴﻌﺔ ﻋﻭﺍﻤل ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ﻤﻥ ﺤﻴﺙ ﺍﻟﻨﺸﺄﺓ ؛ ﻟﺘﺤﺩﻴﺩ ﻨﻭﻋﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻲ ؛ ﻭﻤﺠﺎﻻﺘﻪ ﻭﺃﺩﻭﺍﺘﻪ ،ﻭﻗﻭﺍﻋﺩﻩ ﻭﻤﺘﻌﻠﻘﺎﺘﻪ ،ﻭﺃﺜﺭ
ﺍﻟﺒﻌﺩ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻲ ) ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ " ﺘﻭﺯﻴﻊ ﺍﻟﻴﺎﺒﺱ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺎﺀ " +ﺍﻟﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ +ﺍﻟﺴﻜﺎﻥ ( ﻓﻲ ﺫﻟﻙ .
ﺜﻡ ﺍﻟﺨﻭﺽ ﻓﻲ ﺘﺤﻠﻴل ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻗﺩﻤﺕ ﻟﺘﺤﻠﻴل ﻤﻭﺍﻁﻥ ﺍﻟﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﻭﺍﻟﺴﻴﻁﺭﺓ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﻟﻠﻭﺼﻭل ﺇﻟﻰ ﺤﻘﻴﻘﺔ ﻤﻔﺎﺩﻫﺎ " ﺇﻥ ﺍﻟﺒﺎﺭﻋﻴﻥ ﻓﻲ
ﺍﻟﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﻴﺘﺨﺫﻭﻥ ﻤﻭﻗﻌﹰﺎ ﻏﻴﺭ ﻗﺎﺒل ﻟﻠﻬﺯﻴﻤﺔ ،ﻭﻻ ﻴﻀﻴﻌﻭﻥ ﺁﻴﺔ ﻓﺭﺼﺔ ﻟﻬﺯﻴﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﺨﺼﻡ " .
ﺘﻤﻬﻴﺩ
٢ ١
ﺘﻘﺘﻀﻲ ﺃﺴﻁﻘﺴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺼﻨﺎﻋﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻤﻴﺔ ﻋﻨﺩ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺎﺭ ﻤﻥ ﺃﺭﺒﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ؛ ﻭﺍﻟﺤﺠﻰ ﺍﻟﺒﺩﺀ ﺒﺒﻨﺎﺀ ﺍﻟﺘﺼﻭﺭ ﺍﻹﻀﺎﻓﻲ " ﺍﻟﻤﺼﻁﻠﺤﺎﺕ " ؛ ﻭﻴﻠﻲ ﺫﻟﻙ ﺘﻜﻭﻴﻥ
ﺍﻟﻤﻔﻬﻭﻡ ﺍﻟﻠﻘﺒﻲ" ﺍﻟﺘﺼﺩﻴﻘﺎﺕ " ٣؛ ﺤﻴﺙ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﻁﻠﺢ ﻫﻭ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻡ ؛ ﻭﺍﻟﺤﻜﻡ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺸﺊ ﻓﺭﻉ ﻋﻥ ﺘﺼﻭﺭﻩ ..ﻭﻫﺫﺍ ﻤﺎ ﻴﺤﺩﺩ ﻗﻴﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻭﺭﻗﺔ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺜﻴﺔ ﺒﻘﻴﻤﺔ
ﺇﺸﻜﺎﻟﻬﺎ ﺃﺴﺎﺴﹰﺎ ﻭﻤﻭﻗﻌﹰﺎ ﻭﺤﺠﻤﹰﺎ ﻭﺃﻫﻤﻴﺔ ،ﻓﻼ ﺃﻁﺭﻭﺤﺔ ﺠﻴﺩﺓ ﺒﻐﻴﺭ ﺇﺸﻜﺎل ﺠﻴﺩ ... ،ﻭﺇﻥ ﺍﻹﺸﻜﺎل ﺍﻟﺫﻱ ﻻ ﻴﻨﺒﻊ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﻭﺍﺌﻕ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻨﻐﺼﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺤﻘﻴﻘﻴﺔ ﻫﻭ
ﻍ ، ٤ﻓﺎﻹﺸﻜﺎل ﻻ ﻴﺩﺭﺱ ﺇﻻ ﺒﻘﺼﺩ ﺒﻨﺎﺀ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﻬﻭﻡ ٥ﻭﻫﻭ ﻤﻭﻁﻥ ﺍﻷﻓﻜﺎﺭ .
ﺇﺸﻜﺎل ﻭﻫﻤﻲ ﻭﺍﻟﺒﺤﺙ ﺍﻟﻤﺒﻨﻲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﺇﺫﻥ ﻻ ﹴ
ﺃﻭ ﹰﻻ :ﺘﻌﺭﻴﻑ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ :
ﻟﻐﺔ :ﺍﻟﺘﺩﱠﺍﻓﻊ :ﺍﻹﺯﺍﻟﺔ ﺒﻘﻭﺓ .ﺍﻟﺩﺍل ﻭﺍﻟﻔﺎﺀ ﻴﺩل ﻋﻠﻰ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺘﻨﺤﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺸﺊ .٦ﻭﻫﻭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺒﺎﺏ ﻭﺯﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﻔﺎﻋل ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺘﻘﺘﻀﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﺸﺎﺭﻜﺔ ﺒﻴﻥ ﻁﺭﻓﻴﻥ -
٨ ٧
ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﻨﺤﻴﺔ ﺃﻭ ﺍﻹﺯﺍﻟﺔ ؛ ﺇﺫﺍ ﺍﺘﻔﻘﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻭﺤﺩﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﺜﻤﺎﻥ ؛ ﺒﺨﻼﻑ ﺍﻟﺭﻓﻊ .
ﺍﺼﻁﻼﺤﹰﺎ :ﺘﻨﺤﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺸﺎﺭﻙ ﻭﻤﻨﻊ ﺍﻟﺘﺄﺜﺭ ﺒﻪ ﻗﺒل ﺍﻟﻭﺭﻭﺩ . -
ﺜﺎﻨﻴ ﹰﺎ :ﺘﻌﺭﻴﻑ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ :
١
ﻼ ﻋﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﻥ ﺍﻟﺭﺍﺸﺩﻱ ،ﺠﻤﺎل ﺍﻟﺩﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻭﻱ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺘﻭﺒﻘﺎل ،ﺍﻟﺒﻴﻀﺎﺀ ،ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ١٩٨٦ ) ،
( ﺃﺴﻁﻘﺴﺎﺕ :ﺍﻷﺼﻭل ﻭﺍﻟﻌﻨﺎﺼﺭ ،ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻴﺎﺕ ﻤﺨﻁﻭﻁ ﻏﺭﻨﺎﻁﺔ ) ﺹ ( ٧٤ﻨﻘ ﹰ )
ﻡ ( ؛ ) ﺹ ( ١٨١؛ ﻭﻗﺩ ﺠﺎﺀﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻭﺍﻓﻘﺎﺕ ؛ ﺘﺼﻨﻴﻑ ﺍﻟﻌﻼﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺤﻘﻕ ﺃﺒﻲ ﺇﺴﺤﺎﻕ ﺇﺒﺭﺍﻫﻴﻡ ﺒﻥ ﻤﻭﺴﻰ ﺒﻥ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺍﻟﻠﺨﻤﻲ ﺍﻟﺸﺎﻁﺒﻲ ؛ ﻀﺒﻁ ﻨﺼﻪ ﻭﻗﺩﻡ ﻟﻪ ﻭﻋﻠﻕ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺨﺭﺝ
ﺃﺤﺎﺩﻴﺜﻪ :ﺃﺒﻭ ﻋﺒﻴﺩﺓ ﻤﺸﻬﻭﺭ ﺒﻥ ﺤﺴﻥ ﺁل ﺴﻠﻤﺎﻥ ؛ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﺒﻥ ﻋﻔﺎﻥ ؛ ﺍﻟﺨﺒﺭ ،ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ؛ ) ١٤١٧ﻫـ ١٩٩٧ﻡ ( ) ﻤﺠـ /٥ﺹ ( ٤٧ﻭﻗﺎل ﺍﻟﺸﻴﺦ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺤﺴﻴﻥ ﻤﺨﻠﻭﻑ ﺇﻨﻬﺎ
ﻜﻠﻤﺔ ﻴﻭﻨﺎﻨﻴﺔ ؛ ﻭﺫﻜﺭ ﺍﻟﺸﻴﺦ ﺍﻟﺸﻨﻘﻴﻁﻲ ﻴﻘﺎل ﻟﻬﺎ ﺍﻷﺭﻜﺎﻥ .
٢
( ﻫﻭ ﺇﺩﺭﺍﻙ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻨﻰ ﺒﺘﻤﺎﻤﻪ ﺩﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﺤﻜﻡ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﺒﻨﻔﻲ ﺃﻭ ﺇﺜﺒﺎﺕ ﻜﺈﺩﺭﺍﻙ ﻤﻌﻨﻰ ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻥ .ﺍﻨﻅﺭ :ﺭﺴﺎﻟﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻁﻕ ﺇﻴﻀﺎﺡ ﺍﻟﻤﺒﻬﻡ ﻓﻲ ﻤﻌﺎﻨﻲ ﺍﻟﺴﻠﻡ ؛ ﺃﺤﻤﺩ ﺍﻟﺩﻤﻨﻬﻭﺭﻱ ،ﺘﺤﻘﻴﻕ : )
ﻋﻤﺭ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﺎﻉ ؛ ﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺎﺭﻑ ﺒﻴﺭﻭﺕ ) ١٤١٧ﻫـ ( ) ،ﺹ ( ٣٤؛ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﺭﻴﻔﺎﺕ ﻟﻠﺸﺭﻴﻑ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺒﻥ ﻋﻠﻲ ﺒﻥ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺍﻟﺠﺭﺠﺎﻨﻲ ﻤﻊ ﺍﻹﻀﺎﻓﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﻴﺩﺓ :ﻤﻥ ﻤﻭﻻﻨﺎ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﺘﻲ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ
ﻴﻭﺴﻑ ﺍﻟﺘﺄﻭﻟﻭﻱ ،ﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﻓﻘﻴﻪ ﺍﻻﻤﺕ ﺩﻴﻭﺒﻨﺩ ؛ ﺒﺩﻭﻥ ﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ﻭﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﻬﻨﺩﻴﺔ ) ﺹ ( ٥٥
٣
( ﻫﻭ ﺇﺩﺭﺍﻙ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻨﻰ ﺒﺘﻤﺎﻤﻪ ﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻜﻡ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﺒﻨﻔﻲ ﺃﻭ ﺇﺜﺒﺎﺕ ﻜﺈﺩﺭﺍﻙ ﻤﻌﻨﻰ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﺭ ﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻜﻡ ﻋﻠﻴﻬﺎ ﺒﺄﻨﻬﺎ ﻤﺤﺭﻗﺔ . )
ﻭﻟﻬﺫﺍ ﻴﻘﻭل ﺼﺎﺤﺏ ﺍﻟﺴﻠﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻭﺭﻕ :
ﺇﺩﺭﺍﻙ ﻤﻔﺭﺩ ﺘﺼﻭﺭﹰﺍ ﻋﻠﻡ ﻭﺩﺭﻙ ﻨﺴﺒﺔ ﺘﺼﺩﻴﻕ ﻭﺴﻡ
ﺍﻨﻅﺭ :ﺭﺴﺎﻟﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻁﻕ ﻓﻲ ﺇﻴﻀﺎﺡ ﻤﻌﺎﻨﻲ ﺍﻟﺴﻠﻡ ،ﺘﺄﻟﻴﻑ :ﺃﺤﻤﺩ ﺍﻟﺩﻤﻨﻬﻭﺭﻱ ) ،ﺹ ( ٣٤
٤
( ﺍﻨﻅﺭ :ﺃﺒﺠﺩﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺙ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻭﻡ ﺍﻟﺸﺭﻋﻴﺔ ؛ ﺍﻟﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﻓﺭﻴﺩ ﺍﻷﻨﺼﺎﺭﻱ ؛ ﻤﻨﺸﻭﺭﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﻔﺭﻗﺎﻥ ؛ ﺍﻟﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﻀﺎﺀ ) ١٤١٧ﻫـ ( ؛ ) ﺹ ( ٢٨ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ . )
٥
( ﺍﻟﻤﺼﻁﻠﺢ ﺍﻷﺼﻭﻟﻲ ﻋﻨﺩ ﺍﻟﺸﺎﻁﺒﻲ ؛ ﺍﻟﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﻓﺭﻴﺩ ﺍﻷﻨﺼﺎﺭﻱ ) ﺹ ( ٨٧ﻨﺴﺨﺔ ﺍﻷﻁﺭﻭﺤﺔ . )
٦
( ﻟﺴﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺏ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺒﻥ ﻤﻜﺭﻡ ﺒﻥ ﻤﻨﻅﻭﺭ) ﻤﺠـ /٨ﺹ ( ٨٦؛ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﺜﺎﻟﺜﺔ ؛ ﺒﻴﺭﻭﺕ ؛ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺼﺎﺩﺭ ؛ ﻋﺎﻡ ) ١٤١٤ﻫـ ( ،ﻤﻌﺠﻡ ﻤﻘﺎﻴﻴﺱ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ؛ ﺃﺤﻤﺩ ﺒﻥ ﻓﺎﺭﺱ ﺒﻥ )
ﺯﻜﺭﻴﺎ ) ﻤﺠـ / ٢ﺹ ( ٢٨٨ﺘﺤﻘﻴﻕ :ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﺴﻼﻡ ﻫﺎﺭﻭﻥ ؛ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ؛ ﺒﻴﺭﻭﺕ ؛ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﺠﻴل ؛ ﻋﺎﻡ ) ١٤١١ﻫـ ( ؛ ﺠﻤﻬﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ؛ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺒﻥ ﺍﻟﺤﺴﻥ ﺒﻥ ﺩﺭﻴﺩ ؛ ﺘﺤﻘﻴﻕ :
ﺩ .ﺭﻤﺯﻱ ﺒﻌﻠﺒﻜﻲ ؛ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ؛ ﺒﻴﺭﻭﺕ :ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻡ ﻟﻠﻤﻼﻴﻴﻥ ﻋﺎﻡ ) ١٩٨٧ﻡ ( ) ﻤﺠـ / ٢ﺹ ( ٦٦٠
٧
( ﺍﻨﻅﺭ :ﻀﻭﺍﺒﻁ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ؛ ﻟﻠﺸﻴﺦ ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﺭﺤﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﻴﺩﺍﻨﻲ ؛ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻘﻠﻡ ؛ ﺩﻤﺸﻕ ؛ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﺨﺎﻤﺴﺔ ) ١٩٩٨ﻡ – ١٤١٩ﻫـ ( ؛ ) ﺹ ( ١٦٦ﻭﺍﻟﻭﺤﺩﺍﺙ ﺍﻟﺜﻤﺎﻥ ﻭﺤﺩﺓ )
ﺍﻟﻤﺤﻜﻭﻡ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ،ﻭﺒﻪ ،ﻭﺍﻟﺯﻤﺎﻥ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻜﺎﻥ ،ﻭﺍﻹﻀﺎﻓﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﻭﺍﻟﻔﻌل ،ﻭﺍﻟﺸﺭﻁ .
٨
( ﺍﻨﻅﺭ :ﺍﻟﺨﻁﺄ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻲ ﻟﻠﺒﺎﺤﺙ ؛ ﻭﺭﻗﺔ ﻋﻠﻤﻴﺔ ﻗﺩﻤﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﺅﺘﻤﺭ ﺍﻟﻔﻘﻬﻲ ﺍﻟﺜﺎﻨﻲ ﺒﺠﺎﻤﻌﺔ ﺍﻹﻤﺎﻡ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺒﻥ ﺴﻌﻭﺩ ﺍﻹﺴﻼﻤﻴﺔ ﺒﺎﻟﺭﻴﺎﺽ ؛ ) ﺹ ( ٦ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ . )
193
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ﻟﻐﺔ :ﺍﻹﻗﺎﻤﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺭ ؛ ﻭﻀﺩ ﺍﻟﺒﺩﺍﻭﺓ ﻭﻫﻲ ﻤﺭﺤﻠﺔ ﺴﺎﻤﻴﺔ ﻤﻥ ﻤﺭﺍﺤل ﺍﻟﺘﻁﻭﺭ ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻨﻲ .ﻭﻤﻅﺎﻫﺭ ﺍﻟﺭﻗﻲ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻤﻲ ﻭﺍﻟﻔﻨﻲ ﻭﺍﻷﺩﺒﻲ ﻭﺍﻻﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻲ -
١
ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺭ .
٢
ﺍﺼﻁﻼﺤﹰﺎ :ﻫﻲ ﺤﺎﻟﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺒﻨﺎﺀ ﺍﻟﻨﻤﻭﺫﺝ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﺸﻭﺩ ﻓﻲ ﻋﺎﻟﻡ ﺍﻟﻭﺍﻗﻊ ﻤﺘﻤﺜﻼﹰ ﻓﻲ ﻋﺎﻟﻡ ﺍﻷﻓﻜﺎﺭ ﻭﻋﺎﻟﻡ ﺍﻷﺸﺨﺎﺹ ﻭﻋﺎﻟﻡ ﺍﻷﺸﻴﺎﺀ . -
ﺜﺎﻟﺜﺎ :ﺘﻌﺭﻴﻑ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ :
٣
ﻓﻲ ﻟﻡ ﺃﻋﺜﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺘﻌﺭﻴﻑ ﺠﺎﻤﻊ ﻤﺎﻨﻊ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﻕ ﻭﺫﻟﻙ ﺃﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﺭﻴﻔﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﻨﻁﺎﻕ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻭﻡ ﺍﻻﻨﺴﺎﻨﻴﺔ ﺘﺴﻭﺩﻫﺎ ﺴﻤﺔ ﻋﺩﻡ ﺍﻟﺘﺠﺎﻨﺱ ﻭﻋﺩﻡ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺍﺒﻁ
ﺍﻟﻐﺎﻟﺏ .
٤
ﻭﺃﺼﺩﺭ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺠﻴﺢ ﻤﻥ ﻜﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﺭﻴﻑ ؛ ﻟﺒﻴﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﻫﻴﺔ ﻭﺇﻅﻬﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﺤﻘﻴﻘﺔ ) ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺼﺩﻕ ( ﻭﺫﻟﻙ ﺇﻤﺎ ﺒﺘﻜﻭﻨﻪ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺫﺍﺘﻴﺎﺕ ﺃﻱ ﺍﻟﻌﻨﺎﺼﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﻭﻨﺔ
ﻟﻠﻤﻌﺭﻑ ﺇﻥ ﻜﺎﻥ ﺤﺩﹰﺍ ،ﻭﺇﻤﺎ ﺒﺎﻟﻌﺭﻀﻴﺎﺕ ﺃﻱ ﺍﻟﺼﻔﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻤﻴﺯﺓ ﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﺫﺍﺘﻴﺎﺕ ﻟﻠﻤﻌﺭﻑ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻁﻴﺔ ﺘﺼﻭﺭﹰﺍ ﻭﺍﻀﺤﹰﺎ ﻋﻨﻪ ﺇﻥ ﻜﺎﻥ ﺭﺴﻤﹰﺎ ،ﻭﻓﻲ ﻨﻅﺭﻱ ﺃﻥ
ﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﺭﻴﻑ ﻴﺤﻘﻕ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺽ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﺎﺭﻴﻑ ،ﻭﻴﻌﻁﻲ ﺘﺼﻭﺭﹰﺍ ﻭﺍﻀﺤﹰﺎ ﻤﻨﻪ .
ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ :ﺘﻘﺎﺒل ﻨﻤﻭﺫﺠﻴﻥ ﻴﻤﻨﻊ ﻜل ﻤﻨﻬﻤﺎ ﻤﻘﺘﻀﻰ ﺍﻵﺨﺭ. ٥
ﺭﺍﺒﻌ ﹰﺎ :ﺘﻌﺭﻴﻑ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ :
ﺘﺸﻤل ) ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ " ﺘﻭﺯﻴﻊ ﺍﻟﻴﺎﺒﺱ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺎﺀ " +ﺍﻟﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ +ﺍﻟﺴﻜﺎﻥ ( ﻭ ﺘﺘﻀﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻨﺴﺒﺔ ﺍﻟﻜﺒﺭﻯ ﺒﻴﻥ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻌﻭﺍﻤل ﻭ ﻴﻌﺘﺒﺭ ﺍﻹﻗﻠﻴﻡ ) ﺍﻟﺭﻗﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺔ (
ﻭﺤﻕ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺩﺓ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﺃﺤﺩ ﻤﻘﻭﻤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺼﺭﻴﺔ ؛ ﻭﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺒﺫﻟﻙ ﺘﻜﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﻋﺩﺓ ﺍﻷﺴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ .
ﻭﻴﺘﻁﻠﺏ ﻓﻘﻪ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ﺍﺴﺘﻴﻌﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﻭﻋﺎﺀ ﺍﻟﺯﻤﻨﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ) ﺍﻟﺯﻤﻥ +ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﺭ +ﺍﻟﺘﻁﻭﺭ ( ؛ ﺒﺤﻴﺙ ﺘﻘﺩﻡ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﻋﺩﺓ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﻴﻀﺔ ﻟﻠﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ؛
ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ﻴﻘﺩﻡ ﺍﻟﻨﻤﺎﺫﺝ ﺍﻟﺘﻁﺒﻴﻘﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﻘﺎﻋﺩﺓ .
٦
ﻜﻤﺎ ﺃﻨﻪ ﻴﺴﺘﺤﻴل ﺘﻔﺴﻴﺭ ﺍﻟﻌﻼﻗﺔ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﻭ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ،ﺩﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﺭﺠﻭﻉ ﺒﺎﺴﺘﻤﺭﺍﺭ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺨﻁﻭﻁ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﺎﺭﻗﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻜﻨﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺔ " ﺜﺎﻟﺜﺔ ﺍﻷﺜﺎﻓﻲ " ،
ﺃﻭ ﺩﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﺭﺠﻭﻉ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻤﺎ ﺴﺒﺒﺘﻪ – ﻜﻌﻭﺍﻤل ﺤﺭﻜﺔ – ﻤﻥ ﻨﻘﺎﻁ ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﺭ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺤﻭﻻﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺨﻴﺔ ،ﻭﻤﺎ ﺃﺩﺕ ﺇﻟﻴﻪ ﻤﻥ ﻤﺴﺘﻭﻴﺎﺕ ﻟﻠﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﻓﻲ ﺨﺭﻴﻁﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ،
ﻗﺩﻴﻤﺔ ،ﻭﻭﺴﻴﻁﺔ ﻭﺤﺩﻴﺜﺔ ،ﻭﺫﻟﻙ ﻤﻊ ﻋﺩﻡ ﺘﺠﺎﻫل ﺃﻫﻤﻴﺔ ﺍﻗﺘﺭﺍﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﻜﻨﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺎ ﺒﻨﻭﺍﺤﻲ ﺜﻘﺎﻓﻴﺔ ﻤﻌﻴﻨﺔ ﺘﻤﻨﺤﻬﺎ ﻤﻌﻨﺎﻫﺎ ،ﻭﺘﺤﻭل ﺒﻴﻨﻬﺎ ﻭﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﺤﻭل ،ﺇﻟﻰ
ﻤﺠﺭﺩ ﺃﺩﻭﺍﺕ ﻟﻠﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺒﻤﻌﻨﺎﻫﺎ ﺍﻟﻌﺩﻭﺍﻨﻲ ﺍﻟﻌﺴﻜﺭﻱ ﺍﻟﻀﻴﻕ ﺒل ﻭﺘﺼﻨﻴﻑ ﺇﻟﻴﻬﺎ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺩﻻﻻﺕ ﻤﺎ ﻴﺠﻌل ﻤﻨﻬﺎ – ﺍﻟﺘﻜﻨﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺎ – ﺘﺭﺍﺜ ﹰﺎ ﻭﺭﺼﻴﺩﹰﺍ ﺇﻨﺴﺎﻨﻴ ﹰﺎ
ﻋﺎﻤﹰﺎ ﻭﻤﺘﺠﺩﺩﹰﺍ .
ﻭﻗﺩ ﻜﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﻨﺎﻗﺱ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﻌﻤﺎﺭﻱ ﺍﻟﺫﻱ ﻫﻴﻤﻥ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻌﻼﻗﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻌﻘﻭﺩ ﺍﻷﺨﻴﺭﺓ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺴﻊ ﻋﺸﺭ ،ﺍﻨﻁﻠﻕ ﻤﻥ ﺨﻠﻘﻴﺔ ﺍﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻴﺔ ﻭﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ
ﻭﺍﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﻭﺜﻘﺎﻓﻴﺔ ،ﻭﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﺍﻟﺩﻭل ﺍﻷﻭﺭﻭﺒﻴﺔ ﺘﺴﺒﻎ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺴﻴﺎﺴﺘﻬﺎ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﻌﻤﺎﺭﻴﺔ ﺸﺭﻋﻴﺔ ﺭﻭﺠﻬﺎ ﺭﺠﺎل ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻔﻜﺭﻭﻥ – ﺒﻤﺎ ﻓﻴﻬﻡ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﻴﻥ –
ﻜﻤﺎ ﺃﻨﻬﻡ ﺴﻌﻭﺍ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺇﻴﺠﺎﺩ ﺘﻔﺴﻴﺭﺍﺕ ﻋﻠﻤﻴﺔ ﺃﻭ ﻨﺼﻑ ﻋﻠﻤﻴﺔ ﻟﻺﻨﺠﺎﺯﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺤﻘﻘﺘﻬﺎ ﺩﻭﻟﻬﻡ ﺃﻭ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﻁﻤﻭﺤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻟﻡ ﻴﻜﺘﺏ ﻟﻬﺎ ﺃﻥ ﺘﺨﺭﺝ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺤﻴﺯ
١
( ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺠﻡ ﺍﻟﻭﺴﻴﻁ ؛ ﻤﺠﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﻫﺭﺓ ؛ ) ﻤﺠـ / ١ﺹ ( ١٨٧ )
٢
( ﺍﻨﻅﺭ :ﻨﺤﻭ ﻭﻋﻲ ﺍﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻲ ﺒﺎﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ " ﺍﻟﺫﺍﻜﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺨﻴﺔ " ﻟﻠﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﺠﺎﺴﻡ ﺴﻠﻁﺎﻥ ،ﺃﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻯ ؛ ﻤﺼﺭ ؛ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ؛ ) ( ٢٠٠٥؛ ) ﺹ ٣٢ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ ( ﻭﺍﻨﻅﺭ )
ﺸﺭﻭﻁ ﺍﻟﻨﻬﻀﺔ ؛ ﻤﺎﻟﻙ ﺒﻥ ﻨﺒﻲ ؛ ﺘﺭﺠﻤﺔ :ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﺼﺒﻭﺭ ﺸﺎﻫﻴﻥ ،ﻋﻤﺭ ﻤﺴﻘﺎﻭﻱ ،ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺭ ،ﺒﺩﻭﻥ ﻁﺒﻌﺔ ١٩٧٩ ) ،ﻡ ( ؛ ) ﺹ ( ٧٩
٣
) ( ﺍﻹﺭﻫﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻲ ﺩﺭﺍﺴﺔ ﺘﺤﻠﻴﻠﻴﺔ ؛ ﺘﺄﻟﻴﻑ :ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﺼﺭ ﺤﺭﻴﺯ ) .ﺹ ( ٢١؛ ﻭﻨﺤﻥ ﺒﺄﻤﺱ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﺠﺔ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺘﻁﺒﻴﻕ ﺍﻟﺩﺭﺍﺴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﻁﻠﺤﻴﺔ ﻋﻥ ﻤﻔﻬﻭﻡ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ .
٤
( ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺼﺩﻕ :ﻴﻘﺼﺩﻭﻥ ﺒﻪ ﺍﻟﻔﺭﺩ ﺃﻭ ﺍﻷﻓﺭﺍﺩ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻴﻨﻁﺒﻕ ﻋﻠﻴﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﻠﻔﻅ ﺇﺫ ﻴﺘﺤﻘﻕ ﻓﻴﻬﺎ ﻤﻔﻬﻭﻤﻪ ﺍﻟﺫﻫﻨﻲ .ﺍﻨﻅﺭ ﻀﻭﺍﺒﻁ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ،ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﺭﺤﻤﻥ ﺤﻨﺒﻜﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻴﺩﺍﻨﻲ ،ﺹ ، ٤٥ﺩﺍﺭ )
ﺍﻟﻘﻠﻡ ،ﺩﻤﺸﻕ ،ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ :ﺍﻟﺨﺎﻤﺴﺔ ( ١٩٩٨ ) ،
٥
( ﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﺭﻴﻑ ﻤﺒﻨﻲ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺘﻁﺒﻴﻘﺎﺕ ﻗﻭﺍﻋﺩ ﻋﻠﻤﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﺩﺭﺱ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﻁﻠﺤﻲ ﺤﻴﺙ ﺍﻟﺘﻘﺎﺒل ﻴﻘﺎﺒل ﺍﻟﺘﻌﺎﺭﺽ ؛ ﺍﻟﻨﻤﻭﺫﺠﻴﻥ :ﺃﻋﻨﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺘﻴﻥ ﻜﻤﺎ ﻤﺭ ﻓﻲ ﺘﻌﺭﻴﻑ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ،ﻭﻴﻤﻨﻊ )
ﻜل ﻤﻨﻬﻤﺎ ﻤﻘﺘﻀﻰ ﺍﻵﺨﺭ :ﺒﻤﻌﻨﻰ ﺃﻥ ﻜل ﻤﻨﻬﻤﺎ ﻴﻠﻐﻲ ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻤﺭﻜﺯﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻘﻴﻤﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻷﺨﺭﻯ ؛ ﻭﻻ ﻏﺭﻭ ﻓﺎﻟﻤﻨﻊ ﻴﻜﻭﻥ ﻓﻜﺭﻴ ﹰﺎ ﺃﻴﺩﻴﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴ ﹰﺎ – ﻜﻤﺎ ﺴﻴﺄﺘﻲ ﺘﻭﻀﻴﺤﻪ -ﻴﻌﻨﻲ
ﺍﺴﺘﺨﺩﺍﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﻤﺭﻨﺔ ﺜﻡ ﻴﺘﺤﺭﻙ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻊ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﺴﺘﺨﺩﺍﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺼﻠﺒﺔ ﺍﻟﺼﺩﺍﻡ ﻭ ﺍﻟﺼﺭﺍﻉ .
٦
( ﻤﺜل ﻋﺭﺒﻲ ﻗﺩﻴﻡ ﺃﻋﻨﻲ ﺒﻪ ) ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ +ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ +ﺍﻟﺘﻜﻨﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺎ ( )
194
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ﺍﻟﻭﺍﻗﻊ ﻭﺫﻟﻙ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺭﻏﻡ ﻤﻥ ﺃﻥ ﺇﻤﻜﺎﻨﺎﺕ ﺇﻨﺠﺎﺯﻫﺎ ﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﻤﺎﺜﻠﺔ .ﻓﺎﻟﺒﺤﺙ ﻓﻲ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ) ﺠﻴﻭ ﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﹰﺎ ( ﻟﻡ ﻴﻜﻥ ﻤﺤﺽ ﺘﻁﻭﺭ ﻋﻠﻤﻲ ﻤﻥ ﺩﻭﻥ
ﺃﻏﺭﺍﺽ ﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ،ﻓﺎﻟﻨﺯﻋﺔ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﻌﻤﺎﺭﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻫﻴﺄﺘﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﺘﻁﻭﺭﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﺭﺌﻴﺴﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺃﻭﺭﻭﺒﺎ ﺒﻌﺩ ﺜﺒﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺜﻭﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺼﻨﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﺤﺜﺕ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺩﺭﺍﺴﺔ ﻤﺼﺩﺭ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ )
ﺠﻴﻭﺴﺘﺭﺍﻴﺘﺠﻴﺎ ( ﻭﻋﻠﻰ ﻤﺼﺎﺌﺭ ﺘﻠﻙ ﺍﻟﺩﻭل .
ﻜﻤﺎ ﺃﻥ ﻤﺨﺎﺭﺝ ﺘﻠﻙ ﺍﻟﺩﺭﺍﺴﺎﺕ ﺃﺼﺒﺤﺕ ﺫﺨﻴﺭﺓ ﻟﻠﺘﻭﺴﻊ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﻌﻤﺎﺭﻱ ﺘﻌﻴﻥ ﺼﻨﺎﻉ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﺍﺭ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺩﻭل ﺍﻷﻭﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﻨﺎﻓﺴﺔ ﻭﻤﻥ ﻫﻨﺎ ﺍﻟﺘﺼﻘﺕ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ
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) ﺍﻟﺠﻴﻭﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﺒﺎﻟﻅﺎﻫﺭﺓ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﻌﻤﺎﺭﻴﺔ ﻭﺒﺈﻁﺎﺭ ﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﺘﻭﺴﻊ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﻌﻤﺎﺭﻱ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻨﺸﻁﺕ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺃﻴﺩﻱ ﺍﻟﺠﻴﻭﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﺠﻴﻴﻥ ﺍﻷﻟﻤﺎﻥ (
ﻓﻬﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺘﻁﺒﻴﻘﻬﺎ ﺘﻌﻤل ﺇﻤﺎ ﻟﺨﺩﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﺎﻟﺢ ﺍﻻﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻌﺴﻜﺭﻴﺔ ﻭﺘﺤﻘﻴﻘﻬﺎ ﻭﺘﺄﻤﻴﻥ ﺍﺴﺘﻤﺭﺍﺭﻴﺘﻬﺎ ﺃﻭ ﺍﻟﺘﺤﺫﻴﺭ ﺃﺤﻴﺎﻨﹰﺎ ﻤﻥ
ﺍﺤﺘﻤﺎل ﻗﻴﺎﻡ ﻗﻭﺓ ﻤﻨﺎﻓﺴﺔ ﺘﺘﻬﻴﺄ ﻟﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﻤﻘﻭﻤﺎﺕ ﻟﺒﻨﺎﺀ ﻗﻭﺘﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﺫﺍﺘﻴﺔ ﻭﻋﻨﺩﺌﺫ ﻴﺒﺭﺯ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﻭﺠﻭﺩ ﺨﻁﺭ ﻴﻬﺩﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﺎﻟﺢ. ٢
ﺍﻟﻤﺒﺤﺙ ﺍﻟﺜﺎﻨﻲ
ﻗﻭﺍﻋﺩ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ
ﺃﻭ ﹰﻻ :ﺍﻷﻟﻔﺎﻅ ﺫﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﺼﻠﺔ:
ﻫﻨﺎﻙ ﺜﻼﺙ ﻤﺼﻁﻠﺤﺎﺕ ﺘﺴﺘﺨﺩﻡ ﻓﻲ ﺴﻴﺎﻕ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﻭﺘﻠﻌﺏ ﺩﻭﺭﹰﺍ ﺭﺌﻴﺴﻴﹰﺎ ﻓﻲ ﻋﻤﻠﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ﻭﺘﺤﺩﻴﺩ ﻤﺴﺘﻭﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ :
ﺍﻟﺼﺭﺍﻉ ) ( Zero‐sum ) :ﻓﺎﺌﺯ – ﺨﺎﺴﺭ ( ﻫﻭ ﺃﻋﻠﻰ ﺩﺭﺠﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻔﻌل ؛ ﺤﻴﺙ ﻨﺠﺎﺡ ﺃﺤﺩ ﺍﻟﻁﺭﻓﻴﻥ ﻴﻌﻨﻲ ﺍﻟﺨﺴﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻜﺎﻤﻠﺔ ﻟﻶﺨﺭ . -
ﺍﻟﺘﻨﺎﻓﺱ :ﻫﻭ ﺩﺭﺠﺔ ﺃﺩﻨﻰ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻔﻌل ﺤﻴﺙ ﺇﻥ ﺍﻟﻁﺭﻓﻴﻥ ﻴﺨﺭﺠﺎﻥ ﻓﺎﺌﺯﺍﻥ ﺒﻨﺴﺒﺔ ) . ( win –win -
ﻲ ﻭﻋﻠﻲ ﺃﻋﺩﺍﺌﻲ .
ﺍﻟﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﺍﻟﻌﺩﻤﻲ (loss‐loss ) :ﺤﻴﺙ ﻴﻜﻭﻥ ﻫﻨﺎﻙ ﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﻋﻠ ّ -
ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﻴﺴﺘﺨﺩﻡ ﻟﻴﺸﻤل ﻜل ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺘﻭﻴﺎﺕ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻔﻌل ﺃﻱ ﺍﻟﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻨﺎﻓﺱ ﻭﺍﻟﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﺍﻟﻌﺩﻤﻲ ؛ ﻭﻫﻲ ﻤﻤﻜﻥ ﺃﻥ ﻨﻁﻠﻕ ﻋﻠﻴﻬﺎ ﻤﺭﺍﺤل ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ
ﺍﻻﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻱ
١
( ﺃﻨﻅﺭ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﻁﺭﺓ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﻭﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺍﺕ ،ﺘﺄﻟﻴﻑ :ﻋﺒﺎﺱ ﻏﺎﻟﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﺩﻴﺜﻲ ،ﺩﺍﺭ ﺃﺴﺎﻤﺔ ؛ ﺍﻷﺭﺩﻥ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ) ٢٠٠٤ﻡ ( ؛ ) ﺹ ( ٩ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ . )
٢
( ﺃﻨﻅﺭ :ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﻤﻊ ﺘﻁﺒﻴﻘﺎﺕ ﺠﻴﻭﺒﻭﻟﺘﻴﻜﻴﺔ ؛ ﺼﺒﺭﻱ ﻓﺎﺭﺱ ﺍﻟﻬﻴﺘﻲ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﺼﻔﺎﺀ ،ﻋﻤﺎﻥ ) ، ( ٢٠٠٠ ) ،ﺹ ( ١٧٧ )
٣
ﻼ ﻋﻥ ﺍﻟﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﻟﻠﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ .ﻤﺠﺩﻱ ﻗﺭﻗﺭ .
( ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ﺒﺩﻴ ﹰ )
٤
( ﻤﺠﻤﻭﻉ ﺍﻟﻨﺼﻭﺹ ﺍﻟﻤﺭﺠﻌﻴﺔ ﺴﻭﺍﺀ ﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﻤﻘﺩﺴﺔ ﺃﻭ ﻏﻴﺭ ﻤﻘﺩﺴﻤﺔ ﺒﺼﻔﺘﻬﺎ ﻨﺼﻭﺼﺎﹰ ﻤﺭﺠﻌﻴﺔ ﻓﻌﺎﺩﺓ ﻤﺎ ﻴﺤﺘﻜﻡ ﺇﻟﻴﻬﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﺩﻴﺙ . )
195
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ﻭﻜﻭﻨﻪ ﻤﻜﻠﻔﺎ ﻤﺴﺅﻭﻻ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﺤﻴﺎﺓ -ﺒﻤﻭﺠﺏ ﻨﺼﻭﺹ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﺁﻥ ﺍﻟﻜﺭﻴﻡ ، -ﻤﻔﻁﻭﺭﺍ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻤﺠﻤﻭﻋﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺍﺌﺯ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺜﻴﺭﺍﺕ ﺘﺠﻌﻠﻪ ﻴﺘﻘﻠﺏ ﺘﺒﻌﺎ
ﻟﻤﺠﻤﻭﻋﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﺜﻴﺭﺍﺕ ﻭﺘﺒﻌﺎ ﻟﻘﻭﺘﻪ ﻭﻀﻌﻔﻪ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺠﺎﺒﺔ ﻟﻠﻤﺴﺅﻭﻟﻴﺔ.١ .
ﻭﺇﻨﻤﺎ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺴﻴﻨﺎﺭﻴﻭ ﺭﺒﺎﻨﻲ ؛ ﻭﻫﻭ ﺒﺩﻴل ﻟﻜل ﻤﺎ ﺴﺒﻕ ﻤﻥ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ؛ ﻴﻘﻭل ﺍﷲ ﺘﻌﺎﻟﻰ " :ﻭﻟﻭ ﺸﺎﺀ ﺭﺒﻙ ﻟﺠﻌل ﺍﻟﻨﺎﺱ ﺃﻤﺔ ﻭﺍﺤﺩﺓ ﻭﻻ ﻴﺯﺍﻟﻭﻥ
٢
ﻤﺨﺘﻠﻔﻴﻥ ﺇﻻ ﻤﻥ ﺭﺤﻡ ﺭﺒﻙ ﻭﻟﺫﻟﻙ ﺨﻠﻘﻬﻡ "
١
( ﻭﻤﻥ ﻭﺼﻑ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﺁﻥ ﻟﻬﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﻟﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻥ ﻗﻭﻟﻪ ﺘﻌﺎﻟﻰ) :ﺇﻥ ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻥ ﺨﻠﻕ ﻫﻠﻭﻋﺎ ﺇﺫﺍ ﻤﺴﻪ ﺍﻟﺸﺭ ﺠﺯﻭﻋﺎ ﻭﺇﺫﺍ ﻤﺴﻪ ﺍﻟﺨﻴﺭ ﻤﻨﻭﻋﺎ( ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺎﺭﺝ ،٢١-١٩ﻭ ﻗﻭﻟﻪ ﺘﻌﺎﻟﻰ ) :ﺇﻨﺎ )
ﻋﺭﻀﻨﺎ ﺍﻷﻤﺎﻨﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺴﻤﻭﺍﺕ ﻭﺍﻷﺭﺽ ﻭﺍﻟﺠﺒﺎل ﻓﺄﺒﻴﻥ ﺃﻥ ﻴﺤﻤﻠﻨﻬﺎ ﻭﺃﺸﻔﻘﻥ ﻤﻨﻬﺎ ﻭﺤﻤﻠﻬﺎ ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻥ ﺇﻨﻪ ﻜﺎﻥ ﻅﻠﻭﻤﺎ ﺠﻬﻭﻻ (...ﺍﻷﺤﺯﺍﺏ .٧٢
٢
( ﻫﻭﺩ ١٢٨ )
( ﺍﻨﻅﺭ ﻜﻴﻑ ﻨﺘﻌﺎﻤل ﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﺁﻥ ؛ ﻴﻭﺴﻑ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻀﺎﻭﻱ ﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﻭﻫﺒﺔ )١٩٩١ ،ﺹ . ( ١٢٨ﻭﺍﻨﻅﺭ :ﺍﻟﺴﻨﻥ ﺍﻻﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﺁﻥ ﺍﻟﻜﺭﻴﻡ ﺒﻘﻠﻡ ﺍﻟﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻴﺱ ﺸﻌﺒﺔ ٣ )
ﺍﻟﺩﺭﺍﺴﺎﺕ ﺍﻹﺴﻼﻤﻴﺔ/ﻜﻠﻴﺔ ﺍﻵﺩﺍﺏ ﻤﻜﻨﺎﺱ.
٤
( ﺃﻨﻅﺭ :ﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺍﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﻬﻭﻡ ﺍﻻﺴﻼﻤﻲ ؛ ﻟﻠﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﻌﺯﻴﺯ ﺍﻟﺘﻭﻴﺠﺭﻱ ﻤﻨﺸﻭﺭﺍﺕ ﻤﻨﻅﻤﺔ ﺍﻻﺴﻴﺴﻜﻭ . )
196
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
١
ﻓﻘﺩ ﺘﺒﻴﻥ ﺴﺎﺒﻘﹰﺎ ﺃﻥ ﺠﻭﻫﺭ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﻫﻭ ﺍﻟﺴﻨﻥ ﺍﻟﻜﻭﻨﻴﺔ ؛ ﻭﺫﻟﻙ ﻻﺨﺘﻼﻑ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﺎﻟﺢ ﻭﺍﻟﺭﺅﻯ ،ﻭﻗﻭﻤﻬﺎ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻋﻨﺼﺭ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ،ﻓﻬﻲ ﻋﻤﻠﻴﺔ ﻻﺒﺩ ﻤﻨﻬﺎ
ﻭﻅﺎﻫﺭﺓ ﻤﺴﺘﻤﺭﺓ
ﺴﺎﺩﺴ ﹰﺎ :ﺃﺴﺒﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ :
ﺇﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﻌﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻔﺎﺤﺹ ﻓﻲ ﻭﺠﻭﺩ ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻥ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺨﻠﻴﻘﺔ ﻗﺩ ﻭﺍﺠﻬﺘﻪ ﺜﻼﺙ ﻅﻭﺍﻫﺭ ﻭﻫﻲ :
ﻅﺎﻫﺭﺓ ﺍﻻﺨﺘﻼﻑ :ﻭﺃﻫﻡ ﻤﻅﻬﺭ ﻟﻬﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻅﺎﻫﺭﺓ ﺍﻻﺨﺘﻼﻑ ﺍﻻﻴﺩﻴﻭﻟﻭﺠﻲ ﻭﺍﻟﺫﻱ ﻴﻌﺩ ﻤﻥ ﺃﺒﺯﺭ ﺃﺴﺒﺎﺏ ﻨﺸﻭﺀ ﺍﻟﺼﺭﺍﻉ ؛ ﻓﺎﻟﻜﺜﻴﺭ ﻤﻥ -
ﺍﻷﻴﺩﻴﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺎﺕ ﺘﺴﻌﻰ ﻟﻠﻬﻴﻤﻨﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ؛ ﺤﻴﺙ ﺘﺴﻌﻰ ﻜل ﺃﻴﺩﻴﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺎ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻅﻭﺭ ﺍﻟﻘﻴﻤﻲ ﺴﻨﺩﹰﺍ ﻟﻬﺎ ؛ ﻭﻋﺎﺩﺓ ﻤﺎ ﻴﺭﻯ ﻜل ﺼﺎﺤﺏ ﺃﻴﺩﻴﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺎ ﺃﻥ
ﻤﺸﺭﻭﻋﻪ ﺼﺎﻟﺢ ﻟﺌﻥ ﺘﻨﻁﻭﻴل ﺘﺤﺕ ﻤﻅﻠﺘﻪ ﺍﻟﺒﺸﺭﻴﺔ ﺠﻤﻌﻴﺎﺀ .ﻓﻴﻜﺎﻓﺢ ﻤﻥ ﻤﻨﻁﻠﻕ ﻋﻘﺩﻱ ؛ ﻭﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻅﺎﻫﺭﺓ ﺘﺘﺨﺫ ﻤﻨﺤﻰ ﻓﻜﺭﻱ .
ﻅﺎﻫﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻨﺩﺭﺓ :ﺫﺍﺕ ﻁﺎﺒﻊ ﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻲ ﺘﺘﻌﻠﻕ ﺒﻨﺩﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ ﻭﻋﺩﻡ ﻤﻜﺎﻓﺄﺘﻬﺎ ﻻﺤﺘﻴﺎﺠﺎﺘﻪ ﺴﻭﺍﺀ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻤﺴﺘﻭﻯ ﺍﻟﻀﺭﻭﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﺃﻭ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﺠﻴﺎﺕ ﺃﻭ -
ﺍﻟﺘﺤﺴﻴﻨﺎﺕ .
ﻭﺘﻨﻘﺴﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ ﺇﻟﻰ :
ﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ ﻨﺎﻀﺒﺔ :ﻜﺎﻟﻁﺎﻗﺔ ﻭﻫﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻤﺤﻭﺭ ﺍﻟﺘﻨﺎﺯﻉ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ . -١
ﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ ﻤﺘﺠﺩﺩﺓ :ﻜﺎﻟﺴﻴﻁﺭﺓ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﻴﺎﻩ ﻭﻗﻀﺎﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﺌﺔ . -٢
ﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ ﺒﺩﻴﻠﺔ :ﻜﺎﺤﺘﻜﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻭﺼﻠﺔ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﻁﺎﻗﺔ ﺍﻟﺒﺩﻴﻠﺔ . -٣
٢
ﻅﺎﻫﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺘﻨﻭﻉ :ﺘﻔﺎﻭﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ ﺍﻟﺒﺸﺭﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻁﺒﻴﻌﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﻴﺔ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﺩﻭل . -
ﻭﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻷﺴﺒﺎﺏ ﺘﺴﺒﺏ ﻤﺎ ﺍﺼﻁﻠﺢ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﺒﻌﺽ ﺍﻟﺒﺎﺤﺜﻴﻥ ﺒﻅﺎﻫﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻀﻐﻁ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ :ﻭﻫﻲ ﻭﺠﻭﺩ ﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﻀﺎﻏﻁﺔ ،ﻭﻤﺠﺘﻤﻊ ﻤﻀﻐﻭﻁ ﻭﻤﻴل
ﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ .
ﻭﺒﻤﺩﺍﻓﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺠﺘﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﻤﻀﻐﻭﻁ ﺍﻷﻗل ﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﻟﻠﻤﺠﺘﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ﺍﻟﻀﺎﻏﻁ ﺘﺘﺸﻜل ﻅﺎﻫﺭﺓ " ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ " ﺤﻴﺙ ﻴﻌﻤل ﺍﻟﻤﺠﺘﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﻤﻀﻐﻭﻁ
ﻋﻠﻰ ﺤﻤﺎﻴﺔ ﺨﺼﻭﺼﻴﺘﻪ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻴﺔ ،ﻭﺘﺄﺨﺫ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﺤﻤﺎﻴﺔ ﺸﻘﻴﻥ :
ﺫﺍﺘﻲ :ﻴﻌﻨﻲ ﺃﻥ ﻴﺘﺴﻡ ﺍﻟﻔﺭﺩ ،ﺒﺄﻋﻠﻰ ﺴﻤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﺹ ﻭﺍﻟﻴﻘﻅﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺒﺼﺭ ؛ ﺤﺘﻰ ﻴﺤﻤﻲ ﻤﺠﺘﻤﻌﻪ ،ﻭﻴﺤﺭﺱ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﺠﺯﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻴﺔ ﻷﻤﺘﻪ ؛ ﻭﺤﺘﻰ ﻴﻅل
ﺍﻟﺘﺠﺎﻭﺕ ﺍﻟﻭﺍﻋﻲ ﻤﻨﻪ ﻟﻜل ﻤﺎ ﻴﻤﺭ ﺒﻪ ﻤﺠﺘﻤﻌﻪ ﻤﻥ ﺘﺤﻭﻻﺕ ﻭﺘﻐﻴﺭﺍﺕ ،ﺫﺍ ﺃﺜﺭ ﻤﺘﺠﺩﺩ ،ﻭﻤﺭﺩﻭﺩ ﻓﻌﺎل ،ﻴﻔﺭﺽ ﺤﻭل ﺍﻟﻤﺠﺘﻤﻊ ﺴﻴﺎﺠﹰﺎ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻀﻤﺎﻨﺎﺕ
،ﻟﺤﻤﺎﻴﺔ ﻗﻴﻤﻪ ﺍﻟﺼﺎﻟﺤﺔ ،ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺫﺒﻭل ﻭﺍﻟﺯﻭﺍل .
ﺨﺎﺭﺠﻲ :ﻓﻴﻠﻌﺏ ﺩﻭﺭﹰﺍ ﻤﻬﻤﹰﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺩﺭﺀ ﺍﻷﺨﻁﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﺩﻤﺔ ﻤﻥ ﻭﺭﺍﺀ ﺍﻟﺤﺩﻭﺩ ﺒﺠﻤﻴﻊ ﺃﺸﻜﺎﻟﻬﺎ ،ﻭﻓﻲ ﻤﻨﻌﻬﺎ ﻤﻥ ﻏﺯﻭﻨﺎ ،ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺴﻠل ﺇﻟﻴﻨﺎ ﻤﻥ ﺨﻠﻑ ﺍﻟﺜﻐﻭﺭ
.ﻭﻫﺫﺍ ﺃﻤﺭ ﻴﺠﺏ ﺃﻥ ﻴﻌﻨﻲ ﺒﺎﻟﻘﺩﺭﺓ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺒﻨﺎﺀ ﺃﻨﻅﻤﺔ ﻤﻨﻴﻌﺔ ﻭﺃﺠﻬﺯﺓ ﺩﻓﺎﻉ ﻗﻭﻴﺔ ﺘﺫﻭﺩ ﻋﻥ ﺤﻤﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﺠﺯﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻴﺔ ﻜﻠﻬﺎ :ﻋﺴﻜﺭﻴ ﹰﺎ ،ﻭﺍﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﹰﺎ ،
ﻭﻨﻔﺴﻴﹰﺎ ﻭﺜﻘﺎﻓﻴﺎﹰ ،ﻭﺘﺭﺒﻭﻴﺎﹰ ،ﻭﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴ ﹰﺎ ...ﺃﻟﺦ. ٣
* ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻷﻴﺩﻴﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺎ ﻭ ﺍﻟﺒﺎﺭﺩﺍﻴﻡ ﻭﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ :
ﺍﻷﻴﺩﻴﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺎ :ﻋﺒﺎﺭﺓ ﻋﻥ ﺃﻓﻜﺎﺭ ﻤﺘﺭﺍﺒﻁﺔ ﺒﺩﺭﺠﺔ ﺃﻭ ﺒﺄﺨﺭﻯ ،ﺘﻭﻓﺭ ﺃﺴﺎﺴﹰﺎ ﻟﻌﻤل ﺴﻴﺎﺴﻲ ﻤﻨﻅﻡ ﺴﻭﺍﺀ ﻜﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﻬﺩﻑ ﻤﻨﻪ ﺤﻔﻅ ﺃﻭ ﺘﺸﺫﻴﺏ ﺃﻭ ﻫﺩﻡ -
ﻨﻅﺎﻡ ﺘﻭﺯﻴﻊ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﺌﻡ " ..
ﺍﻟﺒﺎﺭﺍﺩﺍﻴﻡ :ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻅﻭﺭ ﺍﻟﺸﺎﻤل ﺍﻟﻤﻨﺘﺸﺭ ﻓﻲ ﻓﺘﺭﺓ ﺯﻤﻨﻴﺔ ﻤﻌﻴﻨﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺫﻱ ﻴﺅﺜﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺃﻓﻜﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﺱ ﻭﻴﺠﻌﻠﻬﻡ ﻴﻨﻁﻠﻘﻭﻥ ﻤﻨﻪ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﺩﻴﺙ ﻋﻥ ﺍﻷﺸﻴﺎﺀ. -
١
( ﺃﻨﻅﺭ :ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺍﻋﺩ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ﻗﻭﺍﻨﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻨﻬﻀﺔ ﻟﻠﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﺠﺎﺴﻡ ﺴﻠﻁﺎﻥ ) ﺹ ( ١٧٦ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ )
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( ﻗﻭﺍﻋﺩ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻤﺎﺭﺴﺔ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ؛ ﻟﻠﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﺠﺎﺴﻡ ﺴﻠﻁﺎﻥ ؛ ﻤﺅﺴﺴﺔ ﺃﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻯ ،ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ) ٢٠٠٨ﻡ ( ) ﺹ ( ٢٨ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ . )
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( ﺃﻨﻅﺭ :ﺘﺤﺩﻴﺩ ﺃﻫﺩﺍﻑ ﻨﻅﺎﻡ ﺍﻹﺴﻼﻡ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻀﻭﺀ ﺴﻨﻥ ﺍﷲ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﻴﺭ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻤﻜﻴﻥ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ،ﻭﺠﺩﻱ ﺒﻥ ﺃﺤﻤﺩ ﺨﺎﺸﻘﺠﻲ ،ﺇﺸﺭﺍﻑ ﺃ .ﺩ /ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺠﻤﻴل ﺒﻥ )
ﻋﻠﻲ ﺨﻴﺎﻁ ١٤٢٠ ،ﻫـ ) ﺹ ( ٣٤ -٣٣
197
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﻫﻲ ﺩﺭﺍﺴﺔ ﻤﺠﻤﻭﻋﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﻭﺍﻤل ﻓﻲ ﻭﺍﻗﻊ ﻤﻌﻴﻥ ﻓﻲ ﻤﻜﺎﻥ ﻤﻌﻴﻥ . -
ﻭﺍﻟﻔﺎﺭﻕ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻷﻴﺩﻴﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺎ ﻭ ﺍﻟﺒﺎﺭﺍﺩﺍﻴﻡ ﻭﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﻫﻭ ﺃﻥ ﺍﻷﻴﺩﻴﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺎ ﻭ ﺍﻟﺒﺎﺭﺩﺍﻴﻡ ﻴﻤﺜل ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺘﻭﻱ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻱ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﻜﻡ ،ﻭ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﻫﻲ
ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺘﻭﻯ ﺍﻟﺘﺨﻁﻴﻁﻲ. ١
ﻭﺒﺫﻟﻙ ﻨﺘﺠﻨﺏ ﺍﻟﻭﻗﻭﻉ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺨﻠﻁ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﻁﻠﺤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻭﻗﻊ ﻓﻴﻬﺎ ﺒﻌﺽ ﺍﻟﺒﺎﺤﺜﻴﻥ ؛ ﺤﻴﺙ ﺘﺼﺒﺢ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﻫﻲ ﺠﺯﺀ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻷﻴﺩﻴﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺎ ؛ ﻭﻫﻲ
ﺍﻟﺒﺎﺭﺍﺩﺍﻴﻡ ﻓﻲ ﻓﻘﻪ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺘﺒﻠﻭﺭ ﺍﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﻯ .
ﺍﻟﻤﺒﺤﺙ ﺍﻟﺜﺎﻟﺙ
ﻓﻲ ﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻟﻤﺒﺤﺙ ﺍﺴﺘﻌﺭﺽ ﺒﻌﺽ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﻁﺭﺓ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻗﺩﻤﺕ ﻓﻬﻤ ﹰﺎ ﻟﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺍﺕ ﺍﺴﺘﻤﺭ ﻗﺭﻭﻨ ﹰﺎ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺯﻤﻥ ﺒل ﻭ ﻤﺎﺯﺍﻟﺕ
ﺍﻟﺩﺭﺍﺴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺎﺼﺭﺓ ﻤﺘﺄﺜﺭﺓ ﺒﻬﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ.
ﻭﻫﻲ ﻤﺤﺎﻭﻟﺔ ﻟﻠﺘﻁﺒﻴﻕ ﻗﻭﺍﻋﺩ ﻭﺃﺩﻭﺍﺕ ﻭﻤﺠﺎﻻﺕ ﻭﻤﺴﺘﻭﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﻓﻲ ﺴﺒﺭ ﺃﻏﻭﺍﺭ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ؛ ﻻﺴﺘﺸﻔﺎﻑ ﺃﺜﺭ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﻭﺩﻭﺭﻫﺎ ﻓﻲ ﻓﻘﻪ
ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ .
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ﺃﻭ ﹰﻻ :ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻴﺔ ) ﻤﺎﻫﺎﻥ (
ﺒﻌﺩ ﺍﻜﺘﻤﺎل ﺤﺭﻜﺔ ﺍﻟﻜﺸﻭﻑ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺔ ﻭﻅﻬﻭﺭ Nation State ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺒﺎﺘﺕ ﺘﺒﺤﺙ ﻓﻲ ﺘﺩﻋﻴﻡ ﺴﻠﻁﺘﻬﺎ ﻭﻗﻭﺘﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻻﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻴﺔ ؛ ﻓﻲ ﻭﻗﺕ
ﻜﺎﻥ ﺍﻷﻭﺭﻭﺒﻴﻭﻥ ﻗﺩ ﺘﻤﻜﻨﻭﺍ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻬﻴﻤﻨﺔ ﻭﺍﻻﺴﺘﻴﻼﺀ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺘﻌﻤﺭﺍﺕ ﻭﺫﺍﻗﻭﺍ ﻁﻌﻡ ﺍﻟﺜﺭﻭﺍﺕ ،ﻭﻗﺩ ﺸﻬﺩﺕ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﺭﺤﻠﺔ ﺃﻋﻨﻑ ﺃﺸﻜﺎل ﺍﻟﺼﺭﺍﻉ
ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻨﺎﻓﺱ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺘﻘﺴﻴﻡ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﺩﻭل ﺍﻷﻭﺭﺒﻴﺔ ،ﺒﻌﺩ ﺃﻥ ﻤﻜﻨﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﺤﺴﻴﻨﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻜﻨﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺼﻨﺎﻋﺔ ﺍﻟﺴﻔﻥ ﻭﺍﻟﻘﺩﺭﺓ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻹﺒﺤﺎﺭ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻌﺩﻴﺩ ﻤﻥ
ﺍﻟﺩﻭل ﺍﻷﻭﺭﻭﺒﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﻤﻐﺎﻤﺭﺓ ﺒﺤﺜ ﹰﺎ ﻋﻥ ﻓﺭﺹ ﺠﺩﻴﺩﺓ ﻟﺘﻜﻭﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﺜﺭﻭﺓ ،ﻜﻤﺎ ﺃﻥ ﺭﺃﺱ ﺍﻟﻤﺎل ﺍﻟﺘﺠﺎﺭﻱ ﻗﺩ ﺴﻴﻁﺭ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﺭﺤﻠﺔ ﻭﺃﺼﺒﺢ ﺍﻟﺘﺠﺎﺭ ﻴﺅﺍﺯﺭﻫﻡ
ﻓﻲ ﺫﻟﻙ ﺍﻟﻤﻠﻭﻙ ﻭﺍﻷﻤﺭﺍﺀ ﻭﺍﻟﺤﻜﻭﻤﺎﺕ ﻴﻠﻌﺒﻭﻥ ﺩﻭﺭﹰﺍ ﺒﺎﺭﺯﹰﺍ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﻴﺎﺓ ﺍﻻﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ .ﺇﺫ ﺃﺼﺒﺤﺕ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﺠﺎﺭﺓ ﻭﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﻋﻼﻗﺔ ﻤﺘﺸﺎﺒﻜﺔ) ٣
ﻭﻫﻲ ﻤﺭﺤﻠﺔ ﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩ ﺍﻟﺤﺩﺍﺜﺔ ( ﻭ ﻴﻨﺎﺩﻭﻥ :
ﺇﻥ ﻤﻥ ﻴﺤﻜﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﺤﻴﻁ ﻴﺤﻜﻡ ﺘﺠﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ .
ﻭﺇﻥ ﻤﻥ ﻴﺤﻜﻡ ﺘﺠﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﻴﺤﻜﻡ ﺜﺭﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ .
ﻭﺃﻥ ﻤﻥ ﻴﺴﻴﻁﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺜﺭﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﻴﺤﻜﻡ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﺫﺍﺘﻪ .
ﻭﻜﺎﻥ ﻫﺫﺍ ﻫﻭ ﺍﻟﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﻭﺭﺍﺀ ﻗﻴﺎﻡ ﺃﻟﻔﺭﺩ ﺜﺎﻴﺭ ﻤﺎﻫﺎﻥ ﺒﻁﺭﺡ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺘﻪ ﺤﻭل ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻴﺔ ﻭﻤﻘﻭﻤﺎﺕ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺤﺩﺩﻫﺎ ﺒﺎﻟﻤﻭﻗﻊ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻲ ﻭﻤﺴﺎﺤﺔ
ﻼ ﻋﻥ ﻁﺒﻴﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﺸﻌﺏ ﻭﺍﻟﺤﻜﻭﻤﺔ ﻭﺘﻭﺠﻬﻬﺎ ﻨﺤﻭ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺎﺭ .
ﺍﻟﺩﻭل ﻭﻅﻬﻴﺭﻫﺎ ﻤﻥ ﺤﻴﺙ ﺍﻟﻔﻘﺭ ﻭﺍﻟﻐﻨﻰ ﺍﻟﺫﻱ ﻴﺴﺎﻋﺩ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺎﺠﺭﺓ ﻭﻁﺒﻴﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﺤل ﻓﻀ ﹰ
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( ﺃﻨﻅﺭ :ﺍﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﺍﻹﺩﺭﺍﻙ ﻟﻠﺤﺭﺍﻙ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺼﺤﻭﺓ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﻴﻘﻅﺔ ؛ ﻟﻠﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﺠﺎﺴﻡ ﺴﻠﻁﺎﻥ ؛ ﻤﺅﺴﺴﺔ ﺃ ﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻯ ؛ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ) ٢٠٠٥ﻡ ( ) ﺹ ( ٢٨ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ . )
٢
( ﻭﻟﺩ ﺍﻷﻤﻴﺭﺍل ﺃﻟﻔﺭﺩ ﺜﺎﻴﺭ ﻤﺎﻫﺎﻥ ) ١٨٤٠ﻡ – ١٩١٤ﻡ ( ﻓﻲ West Pointﻓﻲ ﻨﻴﻭﻴﻭﺭﻙ ﻟﻌﺎﺌﻠﺔ ﻋﺴﻜﺭﻴﺔ ،ﻭﺍﺨﺘﺎﺭ ﻤﺎﻫﺎﻥ ﻤﻬﻨﺘﻪ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻴﺔ ،ﻭﺘﻘﻠﺩ ﻤﻨﺼﺏ ﺃﺴﺘﺎﺫ ﻤﺤﺎﻀﺭ )
ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻱ ﻭﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻲ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﺤﻴﺙ ﺃﺼﺒﺢ ﺭﺌﻴﺴ ﹰﺎ ﻟﻬﺎ ﺴﻨﺔ ) ١٨٨٥ﻡ (
ﻭﻜﺎﻥ ﻭﻟﻪ ﺍﻨﺘﺎﺝ ﻋﻠﻤﻲ ﺒﺩﺃﻩ The Influence of sea power, upon History 1660-1783ﻭﺍﻟﺫﻱ ﻨﺸﺭ ١٨٩٠ﻡ ﻭﻟﻪ ﻜﺘﺎﺏ Navel Administration and warfare
some general principleﻭﻟﻪ ﻜﺘﺎﺒﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﻗﻀﺎﻴﺎ ﻤﻌﻴﻥ ﻤﺜل The Interest of American in sea power , present and future :ﻭﻟﻪ ﻤﻘﺎﻻﺕ ﻋﺩﻴﺩﺓ ؛ ﻭﻗﺩ ﺯﺍﺭ
ﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺭﺤﻼﺕ ﺒﺤﺭﻴﺔ ) ( ١٨٩٥ – ١٨٩٣ﻭﻗﺩ ﻗﻭﺒل ﻤﺎﻫﺎﻥ ﻤﻘﺎﺒﻠﺔ ﻻ ﻤﺜﻴل ﻟﻬﺎ ؛ ﻓﻠﻘﺩ ﺘﻨﺎﻭل ﻁﻌﺎﻡ ﺍﻟﻌﺸﺎﺀ ﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﻤﻠﻜﺔ ﻭﺭﺌﻴﺱ ﺍﻟﻭﺯﺭﺍﺀ ،ﻭﻤﻨﺢ ﻟﻘﺒﹰﺎ ﻋﻠﻤﻴ ﹰﺎ ﺸﺭﻓﻴ ﹰﺎ ﻤﻥ ﺠﺎﻤﻌﺘﻲ
ﺍﻜﺴﻔﻭﺭﺩ ﻭﻜﺎﻤﺒﺭﺩﺝ ﺜﻡ ﺍﺴﺘﻘﺒل ﻜﻀﻴﻑ ﺸﺭﻑ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﺩﻱ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻱ ﺍﻟﻤﻠﻜﻲ – ﻭﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻟﺸﺭﻑ ﻟﻡ ﻴﻨﺢ ﻷﻱ ﺸﺨﺹ ﻏﻴﺭ ﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻲ – ﻭﻜﺎﻥ ﺍﻻﻨﺠﻠﻴﺯ ﻴﻘﻭﻟﻭﻥ " :ﺇﻨﻪ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﺅﻟﻡ ﺃﻥ ﻴﻜﻭﻥ
ﺃﻤﺭﻴﻜﻲ ﻫﻭ ﺍﻟﺫﻱ ﻴﻴﻘﻅ ﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻟﺠﻴل ﻤﻥ ﺍﻻﻨﺠﻠﻴﺯ ﻟﻴﻔﻬﻤﻭﺍ ﻭﻟﻴﺩﺭﻜﻭﺍ ﺃﻫﻤﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻴﺔ ( ﺇﻻ ﺃﻥ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﻭﻤﻼﺤﻅﺎﺕ ﻤﺎﻫﺎﻥ ﻏﻴﺭ ﻤﻨﺘﻅﻤﺔ ﺃﻭ ﻤﺘﻤﺎﺴﻜﺔ ﻜﻌﻤل ﻭﺍﺤﺩ ،ﻭﻟﻜﻨﻬﺎ ﻤﺒﻌﺜﺭﺓ
ﻓﻲ ﻋﺸﺭﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﻜﺘﺏ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻘﺎﻻﺕ ﻭﻴﻤﺜل ﺫﻟﻙ ﻤﺸﻜﻠﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﺤﻠﻴل .
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( ﺃﻨﻅﺭ :ﺍﻹﻤﺒﺭﻴﺎﻟﻴﺔ ﻤﻥ ﻋﺼﺭ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﻌﻤﺎﺭ ﺤﺘﻰ ﺍﻟﻴﻭﻡ ،ﻤﺅﺴﺴﺔ ﺍﻷﺒﺤﺎﺙ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻴﺔ ،ﺒﻴﺭﻭﺕ ؛ ﺴﻨﺔ ) ) ( ١٩٨١ﺹ ( ٣ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ . )
198
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ﻟﻘﺩ ﺍﺘﺨﺫ ﻤﺎﻫﺎﻥ ) ﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺎ ( ﻨﻤﻭﺫﺠﹰﺎ ﻻﺨﺘﺒﺎﺭ ﻓﺭﻭﻀﻪ ﻤﻊ ﺇﺠﺎﺒﺎﺘﻪ ﻟﻴﺱ ﻓﻘﻁ ﺒﺎﻋﺘﺒﺎﺭ ﺼﺩﺭﺍﺘﻬﺎ ﻟﻠﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻴﺔ ﻋﻘﺏ ﺍﻟﻜﺸﻭﻑ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﺴﺘﻤﺭﺍﺭ
ﺴﻴﺎﺩﺘﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻴﺔ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ ﻗﺭﻭﻨ ﹰﺎ ﻁﻭﻴﻠﺔ ،ﺒل ﺃﻴﻀﹰﺎ ﺒﺎﻋﺘﺒﺎﺭﻫﺎ ﻭﺭﺜﺘﻪ ﻤﻨﻬﺎ ﻭﻤﺎ ﺠﺴﺩﺘﻪ ﻓﻲ ﺒﻨﻴﺘﻬﺎ ﻤﻥ ﺨﺼﺎﺌﺼﻬﺎ ،ﻭﻫﻭ ﻴﻀﻤﻥ ﺁﺭﺍﺀﻩ ﻓﻲ ﻜﺘﺎﺒﺎﺘﻪ ﻋﻨﻬﺎ
ﺒﻤﺎ ﻴﺸﻜل ﻓﻲ ﻤﺠﻤﻭﻋﻪ ﺇﻁﺎﺭﹰﺍ ﻓﻜﺭﻴﹰﺎ ﻭﺘﻁﺒﻴﻘﻴ ﹰﺎ ﻤﻌﹰﺎ ﻋﻥ ﺠﻴﻭﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﻗﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭ ﻭﻗﺩ ﺼﻨﻑ ﻤﺎﻫﺎﻥ ﻓﺭﻭﻀﻪ ﺍﻷﺴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﺇﻟﻰ :
ﺃﻭ ﹰﻻ :ﺍﻟﻔﺭﻭﺽ ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺎﻨﻴﺔ :
ﺍﻟﻔﺭﻭﺽ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺼﻠﺔ ﺒﺎﻟﻤﻭﻗﻊ : -١
ﺃ – ﺍﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻭﻗﻊ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻬﺎﺸﻤﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺭﻜﺯﻴﺔ :ﻭﻴﺘﻀﺢ ﻤﻥ ﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺎ ﻭﻜﻴﻑ ﺴﺎﻫﻤﺕ ﻓﻲ ﻭﻀﻊ ﻴﺩﻫﺎ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺯﻤﺎﻡ ﺍﻟﻁﺭﻕ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﺘﺠﺎﺭﺓ ؛
ﻭﺃﺼﺒﺤﺕ ﻤﻭﺍﻨﻲ ﺒﻌﺽ ﺍﻟﺩﻭل ﻓﻲ ﺴﻴﻁﺭﺘﻬﺎ ؛ ﺒﻌﺩ ﺃﻥ ﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﺘﻌﺎﻨﻲ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﻭﺍﻨﻲ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻬﺎﺸﻤﻴﺔ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﺭﻜﺯﻴﺔ ﺒﺴﺒﺏ ﻤﺭﻭﺭ ﻁﺭﻕ ﺍﻟﺘﺠﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻴﺔ ﺒﻬﺎ
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ﺏ – ﻤﺭﻭﻨﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻭﻗﻊ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﺯﻟﺔ ﻭﺍﻻﺘﺼﺎل :ﻭﻫﺫﺍ ﻤﺎ ﺍﺼﻁﻠﺢ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﺒـ ) ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﺔ ﺍﻟﺠﺯﻴﺭﻴﺔ ( ﻭﻴﻘﺼﺩ ﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺎ ﺤﻴﺙ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭ ﻋﻤل ﻋﻠﻰ ﻓﺼﻠﻬﺎ
ﻭﻫﺎﻤﺸﻴﺘﻬﺎ ؛ ﻫﻭ ﻋﺎﻤل ﺠﻴﺩ ﺤﻴﺙ ﻤﻤﻜﻥ ﺘﺤﻭﻴل ﺍﻟﻌﺯل ﺇﻟﻰ ﻓﺼل ﺒﻭﺍﺴﻁﺔ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭ ﺃﻤﺎ ﺇﺫﺍ ﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﻤﺘﺼﻠﺔ ﻓﺎﻟﻌﺯل ﻴﻜﻭﻥ ﺼﻌﺒﹰﺎ ﺇﺫﺍ ﻟﻡ ﻴﻜﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﺯل ﻁﺒﻴﻌﻴ ﹰﺎ
ﻜﺎﻟﺠﺒﺎل ﻭﺍﻟﻭﺩﻴﺎﻥ ﺃﻭ ﻨﺤﻭﻩ .
ﺝ -ﻓﻌﺎﻟﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻭﻗﻊ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﺩﻓﺎﻉ ﺍﻟﻬﺠﻭﻡ :ﻭﻫﻲ ﻓﻴﻬﺎ ﺘﻜﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﺠﺯﺭ ﺒﻤﻨﺄﻯ ﻋﻥ ﺍﻟﻬﺠﻭﻡ ﻓﺎﻟﻬﺠﻭﻡ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﻁﻭﺡ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺤﺭﻜﺔ ) ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭ ( ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﺴﻁﻭﺡ ﺍﻟﺜﺎﺒﺘﺔ )
ﻼ ﺒﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺎ ﻭﻗﺩ ﻋﺎﻟﺠﺕ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﺸﻜﻠﺔ ﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺎ ﻟﻜﻲ ﺘﻤﺘﻠﻙ ﺯﻤﺎﻡ
ﺍﻟﻴﺎﺒﺱ ( ﻴﺸﻜل ﺨﻁﻭﺭﺓ ﻜﺒﻴﺭﺓ ﻟﻠﻤﻬﺎﺠﻡ ﻭﻴﻌﺘﺒﺭ ﺤﺎﺠﺯ ﻁﺒﻴﻌﻲ ﻟﻠﺩﻓﺎﻉ ؛ ﻭﻀﺭﺏ ﻤﺜ ﹰ
ﻁﺭﻕ ﺍﻟﺘﺠﺎﺭﺓ ﺒﺘﺄﺴﻴﺱ ﻗﻭﺍﻋﺩ ﻓﻲ ﻤﻭﺍﻗﻊ ﺍﺨﺘﻴﺭﺕ ﺒﻌﻨﺎﻴﺔ ﻤﺜل ﺠﺒل ﻁﺎﺭﻕ ﻭﻤﺎﻟﻁﺎ ﻭﻗﻨﺎﺓ ﺍﻟﺴﻭﻴﺱ ﻭﺴﻨﻐﺎﻓﻭﺭﺓ ...
ﺍﻟﻔﺭﻭﺽ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺼﻠﺔ ﺒﺎﻟﺴﻭﺍﺤل ﻭﺍﻟﺠﺒﻬﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺌﻴﺔ . -٢
ﺃ – ﻤﻭﺭﻓﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﺤل :ﻭﻓﻴﻬﺎ ﻴﺘﺤﺩﺙ ﻋﻥ ) ﺍﻟﺒﺭﻭﺯ +ﺍﻻﻨﺤﻨﺎﺀ +ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﺤﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺌﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻬﺎﺩﺌﺔ ( ﻭﻴﺴﻠﻁ ﺍﻟﻀﻭﺀ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻨﺴﺒﺔ ﻤﺴﺎﺤﺔ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﺔ ﻭﻁﻭل
ﺴﺎﺤﻠﻬﺎ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﻓﺔ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺴﻭﺍﺤﻠﻬﺎ ﻭﺃﺠﺯﺍﺌﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﺩﺍﺨﻠﻴﺔ .
ﺏ -ﺍﻟﺠﺒﻬﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺌﻴﺔ :ﻭﻴﺴﺘﻁﺭﻕ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﺤﺩﻴﺙ ﻤﺎ ﺘﺤﻭﺯﻩ ﺍﻟﻴﺎﺒﺱ ﻤﻥ ﻤﺴﺎﺤﺔ ﻤﻤﻜﻨﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﻴﺎﻩ ؛ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﻓﺎﺕ ﻤﺎ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻴﺎﺒﺱ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻘﺎﺒل ﺒﺤﻴﺙ ﻜﻠﻤﺎ
ﻀﺎﻗﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﻓﺔ ﺯﺍﺩ ﻨﺴﺒﺔ ﺍﺨﺘﺭﺍﻕ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻴﺎﺒﺱ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺠﻬﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻘﺎﺒﻠﺔ ﻭﻟﺯﻡ ﻤﻨﻌﻪ .
ﺝ -ﺍﻟﺭﺼﻴﻑ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﺭﻱ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻴﺎﻩ ﺍﻹﻗﻠﻴﻤﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﻴﺔ :ﻭﻓﻲ ﻴﺘﻜﻠﻡ ﻋﻥ ﻋﻨﺎﺼﺭ ) ﺨﻁ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﺤل +ﺍﻟﺭﺼﻴﻑ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﺭﻱ +ﺍﻟﻤﻴﺎﻩ ﺍﻹﻗﻠﻴﻤﻴﺔ +ﺍﻟﻤﻴﺎﻩ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﻴﺔ (
ﺍﻟﻔﺭﻭﺽ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺼﻠﺔ ﺒﺎﻟﻅﻬﻴﺭ : -٣
ﺃ – ﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ ﺍﻟﻅﻬﻴﺭ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻜﻔﺎﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻔﺎﺌﺽ :ﻭﻓﻴﻬﺎ ﻴﻨﺘﻘل ﺍﻟﻅﻬﻴﺭ ﻤﻥ ﺤﺩ ﺍﻟﻜﻔﺎﻴﺔ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻤﺭﺤﻠﺔ ﺍﻟﻔﺎﺌﺽ ﻓﻴﺘﺠﻪ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺘﺼﺭﻴﻑ ﻓﺎﺌﻀﻪ ؛ ﻓﺘﻅﻬﺭ ﻤﻭﺍﻨﻲ
ﺍﻟﺘﺼﺩﻴﺭ ؛ ﻭﻴﺴﻴﻁﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺤﺭﻜﺔ ﺍﻟﻅﻬﻴﺭ ﺍﻟﻁﺭﺩ ﻭﺍﻟﺠﺫﺏ ﺍﻻﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻱ ؛ ﻭﻫﻲ ﻟﻴﺴﺕ ﺜﺎﺒﺘﺔ ﻜﻤﺎ ﺃﻨﻬﺎ ﻻ ﺘﻌﻤل ﻓﻲ ﺍﺘﺠﺎﻩ ﻭﺍﺤﺩ .
ﺏ -ﺨﻁﻭﻁ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﻜﺔ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻅﻬﻴﺭ ﻭﺍﻟﺴﻭﻕ :ﺤﻴﺙ ﻴﻨﺘﻘل ﺍﻟﻅﻬﻴﺭ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻴﺔ ﺒﺴﺒﺏ ﺤﺎﺠﺔ ﺍﻟﺩﻭل ﺍﻻﺴﺘﻌﻤﺎﺭﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﺨﺎﻤﺎﺕ ؛ ﻭﺒﺫﻟﻙ ﺘﺼﺒﺢ ﺨﻁﻭﻁ
ﺍﻟﺘﺠﺎﺭﺓ ﺒﻴﻥ ﻤﻭﺍﻨﻲ ﺍﻟﻅﻬﻴﺭ ﻭﻤﻭﺍﻨﻲ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﻬﻼﻙ ﺒﺤﺎﺠﺔ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺤﻤﺎﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻗﺩ ﺘﻌﺘﺭﻴﻬﺎ ﺒﻌﺽ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﻭﺏ ﺃﻭ ﺍﻟﻨﺯﺍﻋﺎﺕ .
ﺝ -ﺍﻟﺜﻐﺭﺓ ﻭﺍﻟﻅﻬﻴﺭ :ﻭﻴﻘﺼﺩ ﺒﺎﻟﺜﻐﺭﺓ ﻫﻨﺎ ﺍﻟﻤﻤﺭﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺌﻴﺔ ﺩﺍﺨل ﺍﻟﻴﺎﺒﺴﺔ ؛ ﺤﻴﺙ ﺘﺴﻤﺢ ﺒﺘﺩﻓﻕ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﻜﺔ ﻓﻴﻬﺎ ؛ ﺘﺸﻕ ﻜﺘﻠﺔ ﺍﻟﻴﺎﺒﺱ ؛ ﻭﻫﻲ ﺘﺘﻔﺎﻭﺕ
ﺒﺤﺴﺏ ﻤﺎ ﺘﺼل ﺇﻟﻴﻪ ﻤﻥ ﻤﻨﺎﻁﻕ ﻭﻤﺎ ﺘﻭﻓﺭ ﻤﻥ ﻴﺴﺭ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﻜﺔ ؛ ﻭﺃﻗﺼﺭﻫﺎ ﻓﻲ ﻋﺎﻤل ﺍﻟﺯﻤﻥ .
ﻭﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻟﻔﺭﺽ ﻜﻠﻪ ﺫﺍ ﺼﻠﺔ ﻭﺜﻴﻘﺔ ﺒﺎﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﻭﺘﻅﻬﺭ ﺁﺜﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ؛ ﻭﻤﺎ ﻴﺸﻜﻠﻪ ﻤﻥ ﺃﺩﻭﺍﺕ ﻁﺒﻴﻌﻴﺔ ﺘﺘﻌﻠﻕ ﺒﻤﺠﺎل ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻻﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻱ
ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﻬﻴﻤﻨﺔ ﻭﻓﺭﺽ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﻁﺭﺓ .
ﺜﺎﻨﻴ ﹰﺎ :ﺍﻟﻔﺭﻭﺽ ﺍﻻﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻴﺔ :
ﺩﺭﺠﺔ ﺘﻤﻭﻴل ﺍﻟﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻴﻌﻴﺔ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ ﺍﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻴﺔ :ﻭﻫﻲ ﺘﻤﺜل ﺍﻟﻌﻤﻠﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﺴﻭﻴﻘﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺤﻭﻴﻠﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﻤﻭﺍﺩ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻴﻌﻴﺔ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻤﻭﺍﺩ ﺼﻨﺎﻋﻴﺔ ؛ -١
ﺤﻴﺙ ﺘﺘﻭﺍﺠﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﻭﺍﻁ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻴﻌﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺒﻘﻌﺔ ﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺔ ﺒﻌﻴﺩﺓ ﻋﻥ ﻤﻜﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﺼﻨﻴﻊ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺤﻭﻴل .
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ﺍﻻﻨﺘﺎﺝ ﺍﻟﻜﺒﻴﺭ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺼﺭﻴﻑ ﺍﻟﻭﺍﺴﻊ :ﻭﻓﻴﻬﺎ ﻗﺩﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺤﺸﺩ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻨﻅﻴﻡ ﻭﺍﻗﺘﺭﺍﻥ ﺍﻟﺼﻨﺎﻋﺔ ﺒﺎﻟﻁﺎﻗﺔ ) ﺍﻻﻨﺘﺎﺝ ﺍﻟﻜﺒﻴﺭ ،ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻭﺍﺼﻼﺕ " ﺍﻟﺘﺴﻭﻴﻕ ﺍﻟﻜﺒﻴﺭ -٢
" ( ﻭﻴﺼﺒﺢ ﺍﻻﺤﺘﺸﺎﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﻁﻭﺭ ﻓﻲ ) ﺍﻟﻤﺼﻨﻊ ( ؛ ﺤﻴﺙ ﺘﺭﺍﻜﻤﺕ ﺭﺅﺱ ﺍﻷﻤﻭﺍل ﺍﻟﺘﺠﺎﺭﻴﺔ ﻓﻘﺩﻡ ) ﺍﻟﺒﻨﻙ ( ﻭﻋﺎﺀ ﺍﻻﺤﺘﺸﺎﺩ ﻓﻲ ﺼﻭﺭﺘﻪ ﺍﻻﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻴﺔ ؛
ﻭﺃﺼﺒﺤﺕ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﺠﺔ ﻤﺎﺴﺔ ﻹﺩﺍﺭﺓ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻷﻭﺠﻪ ﺍﻻﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻴﺔ ﻓﺘﻭﻟﺩﺕ ) ﺍﻟﺸﺭﻜﺔ ( ؛ ﻭﺍﻨﺩﻤﺠﺕ ﺍﻻﻗﻁﺎﻋﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺇﻁﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﺔ ﻓﻌﻤﻠﺕ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺤﻤﺎﻴﺔ
ﻨﻔﺴﻬﺎ ﻭ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﻨﻊ ﻭﺍﻟﺒﻨﻙ ﻭﺍﻟﺸﺭﻜﺔ ؛ ﻤﻤﺎ ﻤﻜﻨﻬﺎ ﻤﻥ ﺘﻤﻭﻴل ﺍﻻﻨﻘﻼﺏ ﺍﻟﺼﻨﺎﻋﻲ .
ﺍﻟﻤﺒﺤﺙ ﺍﻟﺭﺍﺒﻊ
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( ﺃﻨﻅﺭ :ﺃﺴﺱ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ،ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺭ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻲ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﻫﺭﺓ ١٩٩٨ ) ،ﻡ ( ) ،ﺹ ( ٣١٧ﻭ ﺍﻨﻅﺭ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﻁﺭﺓ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ) ﺹ ( ١٥ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ )
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( ﺍﻨﻅﺭ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ؛ ﻨﺎﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﻘﺼﺎﺏ ﻭﺼﺒﺎﺡ ﻤﺤﻤﻭﺩ ﻭ ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﺠﻠﻴل ﻋﺩﺏ ﺍﻟﻭﺍﺤﺩ ،ﺠﺎﻤﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻭﺼل ) ﺴﻨﺔ ١٩٨٠ﻡ ( ) ﺹ ( ١٤٦ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ ،ﺃﺴﺱ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ )
ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ،ﻋﻠﻰ ﺃﺤﻤﺩ ﻫﺎﺭﻭﻥ ،ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺭ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻲ ،ﺍﻟﻘﺎﻫﺭﺓ ﻤﺼﺭ ) ١٩٩٨ﻡ ( ) ﺹ ( ٣١٧ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ ،.ﺍﻟﻤﺒﺸﺭ ﺍﻟﺩﺍﻋﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻴﺔ .ﻓﻲ ﺃﺩﻭﺍﺭﺩ ﻤﻴﺩﺍﻴﺭل :ﺭﻭﺍﺩ
( ١٢٣- ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺤﺩﻴﺜﺔ ،ﻤﺎﺭﻜﺭﻴﺕ ﺕ .ﺴﺒﺭﺍﻭﺕ ﻤﺎﻫﺎﻥ .ﺘﺭﺠﻤﺔ :ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﻔﺘﺎﺡ ﺇﺒﺭﺍﻫﻴﻡ ،ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﺜﺎﻨﻴﺔ ،ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻴﺔ ﺒﺒﻐﺩﺍﺩ ) ١٩٨٥ﻡ ( ) ﺹ ١١٣
200
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
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ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ﻗﻠﺏ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﻟـ ) ﻤﺎ ﻜﻨﺩﺭ (
ﺘﻌﺘﺒﺭ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﺩﺭﺍﺴﺔ ﺃﻜﺜﺭ ﺃﻫﻤﻴﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺩﺭﺍﺴﺔ ﻤﺎﻫﺎﻥ ﺤﻭل ﺘﺄﺜﻴﺭ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ﻓﻘﺩ ﺼﺎﻏﻬﺎ ﻫﺎﻟﻔﻭﺭﺩ ﺝ .ﻤﺎ ﻜﻨﺩﺭ ﻭ ﻗﺩﻤﻬﺎ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﺠﻤﻌﻴﺔ
ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻠﻜﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻟﻨﺩﻥ ﻋﺎﻡ ١٩٠٤ﻡ ،ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺨﻀﻌﺕ ﻟﻠﻤﻨﺎﻗﺸﺔ ﻟﻤﺩﺓ ﺘﻘﺭﺏ ﻤﻥ ﻨﺼﻑ ﻗﺭﻥ .
ﺘﻨﺤﺼﺭ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺃﻥ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﻤﻥ ﻨﺘﺎﺝ ﺍﻟﻨﻀﺎل ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻲ ﻀﺩ ﺍﻟﻐﺯﻭ ﺍﻵﺴﻴﻭﻱ ﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﻤﻴﻡ ﻴﺤﺎﻭل ﺇﺜﺒﺎﺘﻪ ﺒﺈﻅﻬﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﺘﻔﺎﺼﻴل ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺨﻴﺔ
..ﻭﺃﻥ ﺍﻷﻗﻠﻴﻡ ﺍﻟﺫﻱ ﻴﺄﺘﻲ ﻤﻨﻪ ﺍﻟﻐﺯﺍﺓ ﻫﻭ ﺍﻷﺭﺍﻀﻲ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺒﺱ ﻓﻲ ﻭﺴﻁ ﺁﺴﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺘﺘﻤﺘﻊ ﺒﻘﺎﺒﻠﻴﺔ ﺤﺭﻜﺔ ﻋﺎﻟﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﺨﻴﻭل ﻭﺍﻟﺠﻤﺎل ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺘﻜﻭﻥ ﺴﻬﻠﺔ ﻓﻭﻕ
ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺒﺱ ﻭﺍﻟﺫﻴﻥ ﻴﺴﺘﻁﻴﻌﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﻜﺔ ﺒﺄﻱ ﺍﺘﺠﺎﻩ ﻤﻥ ﻤﻨﻁﻘﺘﻬﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﺤﻭﺭﻴﺔ ﻭﺒﻬﺫﺍ ﻜﺎﻥ ﻟﻬﻡ ﺃﺜﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ﺍﻟﺸﺭﻕ ﺍﻷﻭﺴﻁ ﻭﺠﻨﻭﺏ ﺸﺭﻕ ﺁﺴﻴﺎ ﻭﻜﺫﻟﻙ
ﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ﺃﻭﺭﻭﺭﺒﺎ .
ﻭﻗﺩ ﻤﺎل ﻤﺎ ﻜﻨﺩﺭ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﻜﻴﺯ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻤﺴﺄﻟﺔ ﺍﺴﺘﺨﺩﺍﻡ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﻜﻌﻠﻡ ﻟﻠﻁﺒﻴﻌﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻓﻬﻡ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﺔ ﻭﺨﺩﻤﺘﻬﺎ ﻜﻤﻭﻀﻭﻉ ﻟﻪ ﺩﻻﻻﺕ ﺤﺎﺴﻤﺔ .ﻜﺘﺏ ﻴﻘﻭل
ﻓﻲ ﻤﻘﺩﻤﺔ ﺤﺩﻴﺜﻪ ﺤﻭل ) ﺍﻟﻤﺤﻭﺭ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻲ ﻟﻠﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ( ﻋﺎﻡ ١٩٠٤ﻡ " ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻥ ﻭﻟﻴﺱ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻴﻌﺔ ﻴﺒﺩﺃ ﻭﻴﺒﺎﺩﺭ ﻭﻟﻜﻥ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻴﻌﺔ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺤﺩ ﻜﺒﻴﺭ ﺘﺘﺤﻜﻡ ؛
ﻭﺍﻻﻫﺘﻤﺎﻡ ﻤﻨﺼﺏ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﺤﻜﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺩﻱ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻡ ﺍﻟﺫﻱ ﺘﻔﺭﻀﻪ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻴﻌﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻥ ﻭﻟﻴﺱ ﻓﻲ ﺃﺴﺒﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ﺍﻟﻜﻭﻨﻲ "
ﻭﻗﺩ ﺍﻋﺘﻤﺩ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻬﺞ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺤﺼﺭ ﺍﻻﻫﺘﻤﺎﻡ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﺤﻜﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺩﻱ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺫﻱ ﺘﻔﺭﻀﻪ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻴﻌﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻹﻨﺴﺎﻥ ﻭﺃﻋﻁﺎﻩ ﺩﻭﺭﹰﺍ ﺤﺎﺴﻤﹰﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺘﻘﺭﻴﺭ ﻤﺠﺭﻯ
ﺍﻷﺤﺩﺍﺙ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﺩﻯ ﺍﻟﺒﻌﻴﺩ ،ﻫﻜﺫﺍ ﺤﻘﻕ ﺘﺤﻠﻴﻠﻪ ﻟﺩﺨﻭل ﺍﻹﻤﺒﺭﺍﻁﻭﺭﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺫﻱ ﺍﺴﺘﻨﺩ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﺒﻌﺩ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻲ ﺒﻤﻨﺄﻯ ﻋﻥ ﺃﻱ ﺒﻌﺩ ﺍﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻲ ﺃﻭ
ﺴﻴﺎﺴﻲ ﺃﻭ ﺍﻗﺘﺼﺎﺩﻱ .ﻭﻫﻨﺎ ﻴﻜﻤﻥ ﻟﺏ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺘﻪ ﻭﻫﻨﺎ ﺃﻴﻀ ﹰﺎ ﻴﻜﻤﻥ ﻤﺄﺯﻗﻪ ﺍﻟﻼﻋﻠﻤﻲ ﺃﻴﻀ ﹰﺎ .
ﻭﺍﻋﺘﺒﺭ ﺃﻴﻀ ﹰﺎ ﺃﻨﻪ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﻘﺒﺔ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﻟﻴﺔ ﻨﻭﺍﺠﻪ ﻟﻠﻤﺭﺓ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ﻭﻀﻌﹰﺎ ﻴﺴﻤﺢ ﻟﻠﻤﺤﺎﻭﻟﺔ ﻭﻀﻊ ﻭﺇﻟﻰ ﺩﺭﺠﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻜﻤﺎل ،ﻋﻼﻗﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺒﺎﺩﻟﺔ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﻤﻴﻤﺎﺕ
ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻤﺴﺘﻭﻯ ﻜﺒﻴﺭ ﻭﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﻤﻴﻤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺨﻴﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺘﻭﻯ ﻨﻔﺴﻪ. ٢
ﻓﺭﻭﺽ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ :
ﺤﻴﺙ ﻭﻀﻊ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺘﻪ ﻤﺴﺘﺸﻌﺭﺍﹰ ﺒﺄﻥ ﻤﺼﻴﺭ ﺍﻟﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﺍﻟﺩﺍﺌﻡ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺴﺘﻤﺭ ﻟﺘﺤﻘﻴﻕ ﺍﻟﻨﺼﺭ ﻫﻭ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻨﻬﺎﻴﺔ ﺒﺠﺎﻨﺏ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺒﺭﻴﺔ ﻭﻟﻴﺱ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻴﺔ .
ﻭﻟﻠﺘﺩﻟﻴل ﻋﻠﻰ ﺫﻟﻙ ﺩﺭﺱ ﺍﻟﻨﺴﺏ ﻤﺎ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻴﺎﺒﺱ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺎﺀ ؛ ﻭﺃﻤﺎﻜﻥ ﺍﻟﻜﺜﺎﻓﺔ ﺍﻟﺴﻜﺎﻨﻴﺔ ﻭﻁﺒﻴﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﺭﺽ ﻜﺎﻟﺴﻬﻭل ﻭﺍﻷﻨﻬﺎﺭ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻨﺎﻓﺫ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺤﺩﻭﺩ
ﺍﻟﺒﺭﻴﺔ ،ﻭﻭﻀﻊ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺘﻪ
ﻤﻨﻁﻭﻕ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ :
ﻤﻥ ﻴﺤﻜﻡ ﺃﻭﺭﻭﺒﺎ ﺍﻟﺸﺭﻗﻴﺔ ﻴﻬﻴﻤﻥ ﻋﻠﻰ ) ﻗﻠﺏ ﺍﻷﺭﺽ ( ،ﺒﺎﻋﺘﺒﺎﺭﻫﺎ ﺍﻟﺒﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﺘﻭﺡ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﻘﻠﺏ.
ﻤﻥ ﻴﺤﻜﻡ ﻗﻠﺏ ﺍﻷﺭﺽ ﻴﺴﻴﻁﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺠﺯﻴﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ) ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﺩﻴﻡ (
ﻤﻥ ﻴﺤﻜﻡ ﺠﺯﻴﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﻴﺴﻴﻁﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﻜﻠﻪ .٣
* ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﻭﺍﺜﺭﻫﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ﻋﻨﺩ ) ﻤﺎﻜﻨﺩﺭ ( :
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( ﻭﻟﺩ Halford John Mackinder :ﻓﻲ ﻤﺩﻴﻨﺔ ﺠﺎﻨﺯﻭﺒﻭﺭﻭ ﺒﻤﻘﺎﻁﻌﺔ ﻟﻨﻜﻭﻟﻨﺸﺎﻴﺭ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺨﺎﻤﺱ ﻤﻥ ﻓﺒﺭﺍﻴﺭ ١٨٦١ﻡ ﻷﺏ ﻤﻥ ﺃﺼل ﺍﺴﻜﺘﻨﺩﻱ ﻜﺎﻥ ﻴﻌﻤل ﻁﺒﻴﺒﹰﺎ ﺩﺭﺱ ﻓﻲ )
ﺤﻴﺎﺘﻪ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻭﻡ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻴﻌﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺒﻴﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺔ ﺜﻡ ﺩﺭﺱ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ﻭﺍﻟﻘﺎﻨﻭﻥ ﻭﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ .ﻭﺤﺎﻀﺭ ﻓﻲ ﻋﺩﺓ ﺃﻤﺎﻜﻥ ﻭﺃﺸﻬﺭ ﻤﺤﺎﻀﺭﺍﺘﻪ ﺤﻭل ) ﻫﺩﻑ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﻭﺃﺴﺎﻟﻴﺒﻬﺎ ( ﺤﻴﺙ ﺩﻋﻰ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺩﻤﺞ
ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﺒﺎﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻴﻌﻴﺔ ،ﻭﻀﺭﻭﺭﺓ ﺇﻀﻔﺎﺀ ﻗﺎﻋﺩﺓ ﻤﺤﺩﺩﺓ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﻴﺩل ﺃﻥ ﺘﻜﻭﻥ ﻤﺠﺭﺩ ﻜﻡ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻭﻤﺎﺕ ( ﻤﺅﻜﺩﹰﺍ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺃﻥ ﻤﺎ ﻴﺯﻴﺩ ﻤﻥ ﺇﻟﺤﺎﺤﻴﺔ ﻫﺫﻩ
ﺍﻟﻀﺭﻭﺭﺍﺕ ﻫﻭ ﻨﻬﺎﻴﺔ ﺍﻻﻜﺘﺸﺎﻑ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻜﺭﺓ ﺍﻷﺭﻀﻴﺔ .ﻭﻗﺩ ﻅﻬﺭﺕ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺘﻪ ﻓﻲ ) The Geographieal Pivot of Historyﻭﺘﺘﻁﻭﺭ ﻓﻲ ﻜﺘﺎﺒﻪ Democratic Ideals and
) ( Realityﻋﺎﻡ ١٩١٩ﻭﻗﺩ ﻋﻴﻥ ﻓﻲ ﻤﻨﺎﺼﺏ ﺃﻜﺎﺩﻴﻤﻴﺔ ﺒﺠﺎﻤﻌﺔ ﺃﻜﺴﻔﻭﺭﺩ ﻭﻟﻌﺏ ﺩﻭﺭﹰﺍ ﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴ ﹰﺎ ﻓﻲ ﻤﺠﻠﺱ ﺍﻟﻌﻤﻭﻡ ﺍﻟﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻲ ﻭﺃﺨﺭ ﻤﺎ ﺘﻠﻘﺩ ﻤﻥ ﻤﻨﺎﺼﺏ ﺭﺌﻴﺱ ﺍﻟﺸﺭﻜﺔ
ﺍﻹﻤﺒﺭﻭﻁﻭﺭﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﻤﻼﺤﺔ ﻜﻤﺎ ﺤﺼل ﻋﻠﻰ ﺠﻭﺍﺌﺯ ﻋﻠﻤﻴﺔ .
٢
( ﻫﺎﻟﻔﻭﺭﺩ ﻤﺎ ﻜﻨﺩﺭ ﻭﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ﻗﻠﺏ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ " ﺍﻟﺠﻴﻭﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ،ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺭ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻲ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻲ ،ﺃﺤﻤﺩ ﺍﻟﺒﺭﺼﺎﻥ ؛ ﺍﻟﻌﺩﺩ ) ( ١٠ﺴﻨﺔ ) ) ( ١٩٨٤ﺹ ( ٢٨٣- ٢٨٢ )
٣
( ﺍﻷﺼﻭل ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻤﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺠﻴﻭﻟﻭﻟﻴﺘﻜﺎ ؛ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺭﻴﺎﺽ ،ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻨﻬﻀﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﺒﻴﺭﻭﺕ ١٩٧٩ ) ،ﻡ ( ) ،ﺹ ( ٨٦ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ . )
201
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ﺘﻅﻬﺭ ﺒﺠﻼﺀ ﺃﻫﻤﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺒﻌﺩ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻲ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ؛ ﻭﻗﺩ ﺤﺎﻭل ﻤﺎ ﻜﻨﺩﺭ ﺇﻀﻔﺎﺀ ﺍﻟﺼﺒﻐﺔ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺘﻪ ﻭﻋﻠﻰ ﻜل ﺃﻭﺠﻪ ﺘﻔﻜﻴﺭﻩ ﺃﻜﺜﺭ
ﻤﻤﺎ ﻫﻭ ﻋﻨﺩ ﻤﺎﻫﺎﻥ .ﻭﻴﺘﻀﺢ ﺫﻟﻙ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻤﺭﻜﺯﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺒﻨﻰ ﻋﻠﻴﻬﺎ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺘﻪ ﻭﻫﻲ ﺍﻟﻨﺴﺒﺔ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻴﺎﺒﺱ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺎﺀ ﻭﺩﺭﺍﺴﺔ ﺨﺼﺎﺌﺹ ﺍﻟﺒﻘﻊ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺔ
ﻭﻤﻤﺭﺍﺘﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﺌﻴﺔ ...
ﻭﻻ ﺃﺩل ﻋﻠﻰ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺴﻴﻁﺭﺓ ﺍﻻﺘﺤﺎﺩ ﺍﻟﺴﻭﻓﻴﺘﻲ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻗﻠﺏ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﻓﻲ ﻤﺩﺓ ﺘﻘﺎﺭﺏ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻥ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺯﻤﻥ .
ﻭﻤﺤﺎﻭﻟﺔ ﺒﺴﻁ ﺍﻟﻭﻻﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺤﺩﺓ ﺍﻷﻤﺭﻴﻜﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ ﺫﺍﺘﻬﺎ ﻋﻥ ﻁﺭﻴﻕ ﺃﻓﻐﺎﻨﺴﺘﺎﻥ ﻭﺇﻗﺎﻤﺔ ﺘﺤﺎﻟﻔﺎﺕ ﻜﻤﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺠﻤﻬﻭﺭﻴﺔ ﻁﺎﺠﻴﻜﺴﺘﺎﻥ ﻭﺃﻭﺯﺒﻜﺴﺘﺎﻥ
ﻭﻨﺤﻭﻫﺎ .
ﻭﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ﻫﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺍﺴﺘﺨﺩﻤﻬﺎ ﻫﻨﺘﻐﻭﻥ ﻓﻲ ﺼﻴﺎﻏﺔ ) ﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﺤﻀﺎﺭﺘﻪ ( ﻓﺎﻟﺠﻴﻭﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻹﺴﻼﻤﻴﺔ ﺘﻘﻊ ﻓﻲ ﻗﻠﺏ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺠﻴﻭﺤﻀﺎﺭﺍﺕ
ﻭﺘﺘﻤﺎﺸﻰ ﺒﺼﻭﺭﺓ ﻏﻴﺭ ﻤﺒﺎﺸﺭﺓ ﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻷﻤﺭﻴﻜﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻴﺎﺒﺎﻨﻴﺔ .
ﻭﻗﺩ ﻭﺠﻬﺕ ﻋﺩﺓ ﺍﻨﺘﻘﺎﺩﺍﺕ ﻟﻬﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ﻜﺘﻐﺎﻓﻠﻬﺎ ﻋﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﻜﻨﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺘﺠﻌل ﺒﺎﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺠﻭﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻘﻠﺏ ﻟﻴﺱ ﺒﻤﻨﺄﻯ ﻋﻥ ﺍﻟﻭﺼﻭل ﺇﻟﻴﻪ ؛ ﻭﻜﺫﻟﻙ ﺍﻟﺜﻭﺭﺍﺕ
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ﺍﻷﻴﺩﻴﻭﻟﺠﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻟﻌﺒﺕ ﺩﻭﺭﹰﺍ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ .
ﺍﻟﻤﺒﺤﺙ ﺍﻟﺭﺍﺒﻊ
٢
ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ﺍﻹﻁﺎﺭ ﺍﻷﺭﻀﻲ ﻟـ ) ﺴﻴﻜﻤﺎﻥ (
ﺘﻌﺎﻟﺞ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ﻋﺩﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﻭﺍﺓ ﻓﻲ ﺘﻭﺯﻴﻊ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﻌﺴﻜﺭﻴﺔ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻷﻗﻁﺎﺭ ﻭﻟﻀﻤﺎﻥ ﺍﻷﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﻲ ﻴﺭﻯ ﺴﻴﻜﻤﺎﻥ ﻫﻨﺎﻙ ﺜﻼﺜﺔ ﻁﺭﻕ ﻫﻲ :
ﻁﺭﻴﻘﺔ ﻓﺭﺩﻴﺔ :ﺤﻴﺙ ﺘﻌﺘﻤﺩ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻤﻘﻭﻤﺎﺘﻬﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺎﻡ ﺍﻟﺩﻓﺎﻋﻲ ﻤﺒﻨﻲ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻌﻭﺍﻤل ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻴﻌﻴﺔ ﻜﺎﻟﺠﺒﺎل ﻭﺍﻟﺼﺤﺎﺭﻱ ﻭﻨﺤﻭﻫﺎ . -١
ﻁﺭﻴﻘﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﺎﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﺜﻨﺎﺌﻲ :ﻋﻠﻰ ﺃﺴﺎﺱ ﺍﻟﺘﺴﺎﻭﻱ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻭﺍﺯﻥ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﻯ . -٢
ﻁﺭﻴﻘﺔ ﺍﻷﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺠﻤﺎﻋﻲ :ﺍﻟﻘﺎﺌﻡ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺃﺴﺎﺱ ﺩﻭﻟﻲ ﻜﻌﺼﺒﺔ ﺍﻷﻤﻡ . -٣
ﻭﻓﻴﻬﺎ ﻗﻠل ﺴﻴﻜﻤﺎﻥ ﻤﻥ ﻗﻠﺏ ﺍﻷﺭﺽ – ﻨﻘﺩ ﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ﻤﺎ ﻜﻨﺩﺭ – ﺒﺴﺒﺏ ﺍﻟﻤﺅﻫﻼﺕ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻤﺠﺎل ﺍﻟﻤﻭﺍﺼﻼﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ ؛ ﻭﺴﻤﺎﻩ " ﻗﻠﺒﹰﺎ ﻤﻴﺘﹰﺎ "
ﻭﺍﻨﺘﺨﺏ ﻤﻜﺎﻨﻪ ﺍﻟﻬﻼل ﺍﻟﺩﺍﺨﻠﻲ ﻓﻲ ﻓﺭﻀﻴﺔ ﻤﺎ ﻜﻨﺩﺭ ﻭﺃﻁﻠﻕ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ) ﺍﻹﻁﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﺭﻱ ( ﺃﻭ ﺇﻁﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﺤﺎﻓﺔ ﻻﻋﺘﺒﺎﺭﺍﺕ ﺍﻷﻗﻁﺎﺭ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻴﺘﻀﻤﻨﻬﺎ ﻭﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩﻩ
ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻴﻌﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺒﺸﺭﻴﺔ ﻭﻫﻲ ﺘﺸﻤل ﻗﺎﺭﺓ ﺃﻭﺭﻭﺒﺎ -ﻋﺩﺍ ﺭﻭﺴﻴﺎ – ﻭﺁﺴﻴﺎ ﻭﺍﻟﺼﻴﻥ ﻭﻜﻭﺭﻴﺎ ﻭﺸﺭﻕ ﺴﻴﺒﻴﺭﻴﺎ .ﻭﻋﺒﺭ ﻋﻥ ﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻹﻁﺎﺭ ﺒﺎﻟﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ ﺍﻻﻨﺘﻘﺎﻟﻴﺔ
ﺍﻟﻭﺴﻁﻰ ﺒﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ ﺍﻻﻟﺘﻘﺎﺀ ﺃﻭ ﺍﻟﺘﺼﺎﺩﻡ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﻯ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻭﻓﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻘﻭﻯ ﺍﻟﺒﺭﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﻤﺜﻠﺔ ﺒﺎﻻﺘﺤﺎﺩ ﺍﻟﺴﻭﻓﻴﺘﻲ .
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( ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ،ﻤﻨﻅﻭﺭ ﻤﻌﺎﺼﺭ ،ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﻤﺤﻤﻭﺩ ﺇﺒﺭﺍﻫﻴﻡ ﺍﻟﺩﻴﺏ ،ﺍﻷﻨﺠﻠﻭ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﺭﻱ ،ﺍﻟﻘﺎﻫﺭﺓ ) ١٩٩٥ﻡ ( ) .ﺹ ( ٦٦٩ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ . )
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( ﻨﻴﻜﻭﻻﺱ ﺠﻭﻥ ﺴﻴﻜﻤﺎﻥ ﻫﻭﻟﻨﺩﻱ ﺍﻷًﺼل ﺃﻤﺭﻴﻜﻲ ﺍﻟﻨﺸﺄﺓ ﻋﻤل ﻜﺼﺤﻔﻲ ﻭﺍﻫﺘﻡ ﺒﺎﻟﻌﻼﻗﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﻴﺔ ﻭﺃﺜﺭ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﻓﻴﻬﺎ ؛ ﻭﻫﻭ ﺃﺤﺩ ﺭﻭﺍﺩ ﻤﺩﺭﺴﺔ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻌﻼﻗﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﻴﺔ ؛ )
ﻭﻗﺩ ﺍﻫﺘﻡ ﺒﺎﻟﺴﻴﺎﺩﺓ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻴﺔ ﻭﺘﺤﻠﻴﻠﻬﺎ ؛ ﻭﻤﻥ ﺁﺭﺍﺌﻪ :ﺃﻥ ﺍﻟﻭﺯﺭﺍﺀ ﻴﺄﺘﻭﻥ ﻭﻴﺫﻫﺒﻭﻥ ﻭﻜﺫﻟﻙ ﺍﻟﺤﻜﺎﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﻁﻠﻘﻭﻥ ﻓﺈﻨﻬﻡ ﻴﻤﻭﺘﻭﻥ ،ﺃﻤﺎ ﺍﻷﻨﻬﺎﺭ ﻭﺴﻼﺴل ﺍﻟﺠﺒﺎل ﻓﺈﻨﻬﺎ ﺒﺎﻗﻴﺔ ﺩﻭﻤﹰﺎ " ﺃﺒﺯ ﻤﺅﻟﻔﺎﺘﻪ
The Geography of Peace :ﻋﺎﻡ ١٩٤٤ﻭﺤﻤل ﻜﺜﻴﺭ ﻤﻥ ﺃﺭﺍﺌﻪ ﺍﻟﺨﺎﺼﺔ ﺒﺎﻟﺘﻔﻜﻴﺭ ﺍﻟﺠﻴﻭﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻲ .
202
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ﺍﻟﻤﺒﺤﺙ ﺍﻟﺨﺎﻤﺱ
ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺠﻭﻴﺔ ﺴﻔﺭﺴﻜﻲ: ١
ﻓﺭﻭﺽ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ :
ﺃﻋﻁﻰ ﺃﻫﻤﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﺴﻴﺎﺩﺓ ﺍﻟﺠﻭﻴﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺨﻼل ﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ ﺍﻟﻘﻁﺏ ﺍﻟﺸﻤﺎﻟﻲ ﻟﻘﺭﺒﻪ ﻟﻠﻭﻻﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺤﺩﺓ ﺍﻷﻤﺭﻴﻜﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻹﺘﺤﺎﺩ ﺍﻟﺴﻭﻓﻴﺘﻲ ﻓﻲ ﻋﺼﺭﻩ ؛ ﻭﻫﻲ ﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ
ﺨﺎﻟﻴﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﻜﻴﺒﺔ ﺍﻟﺴﻜﺎﻨﻴﺔ ﻓﺒﺎﻟﺘﺎﻟﻲ ﺍﻟﺨﻁﺭ ﻓﻴﻬﺎ ﻗﻠﻴل ﻭﻤﻨﻌﺩﻡ ؛ ﻭﻫﻲ ﻤﻨﺎﻁﻕ ﺘﻨﺩﺭ ﻓﻴﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﻤﻭﺍﺭﺩ ﻤﻤﺎ ﻴﺠﻌل ﺍﻟﺨﺴﺎﺌﺭ ﺃﻗل ؛ ﻭﻴﻌﻤل ﺃﻴﻀﹰﺎ ﻋﻠﻰ
ﺘﻁﻭﻴﻕ ﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ ﺍﻟﻘﻠﺏ .
ﻭﻗﺩ ﻗﺴﻡ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺃﺴﺎﺱ ﺘﺤﺩﻴﺩ ﻤﺠﺎل ﻗﺩﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺠﻭﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺒﻌﺔ ﻟﻜل ﻤﻥ ﺍﻻﺘﺤﺎﺩ ﺍﻟﺴﻭﻓﻴﺘﻲ ﻭﺍﻟﻭﻻﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﺤﺩﺓ ﺍﻷﻤﺭﻴﻜﻴﺔ ﻭﺇﻤﻜﺎﻨﻴﺔ ﺴﻴﻁﺭﺘﻬﺎ ﻋﻠﻰ
ﻗﺎﺭﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻡ .
ﻭﻗﺩ ﻗﺴﻡ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺩﺍﺌﺭﺘﻴﻥ :
ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ :ﻤﻨﺎﻁﻕ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺩﺓ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺠﻭﻴﺔ ﻟﻼﺘﺤﺎﺩ ﺍﻟﺴﻭﻓﻴﺘﻲ .
ﺍﻟﺜﺎﻨﻴﺔ :ﻤﻨﺎﻁﻕ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺩﺓ ﻟﻠﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺠﻭﻴﺔ ﺍﻷﻤﺭﻴﻜﻴﺔ .
١
( ﺍﻟﻜﺴﻨﺩﺭ ﺩﻱ ﺴﻔﺭﺴﻜﻲ ﺃﺤﺩ ﺃﺒﻁﺎل ﺍﻟﺠﻭ ﺍﻟﺴﻭﻓﻴﺘﻲ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﺭﺏ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺜﺎﻨﻴﺔ ﻭﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ ،ﻭﻋﻴﻥ ﻤﻠﺤﻘﹰﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺴﻔﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺴﻭﻓﻴﺘﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻭﺍﺸﻁﻥ ؛ ﻭﻨﻅﺭﹰﺍ ﻟﺨﻠﻔﻴﺎﺘﻪ ﺍﻻﺭﺴﺘﻘﺭﺍﻁﻴﺔ ﻁﻠﺏ )
ﺍﻟﻠﺠﻭﺀ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻲ ﻓﻲ ﺃﻤﺭﻴﻜﺎ ﻭﺃﺼﺒﺢ ﻴﻌﻤل ﻓﻲ ﻭﺯﺍﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺩﻓﺎﻉ ﺍﻷﻤﺭﻴﻜﻴﺔ ﺨﺒﻴﺭﹰﺍ ﺠﻭﻴﹰﺎ .ﻭﻗﺩ ﻋﻤل ﻋﻠﻰ ﺇﻨﺸﺎﺀ ﺍﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﺠﻭﻴﺔ ﺠﺩﻴﺩﺓ ﻤﻊ ﺘﻁﻭﺭ ﺍﻟﺘﻜﻨﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﻌﺴﻜﺭﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻘﻴﺎﻡ ﺒﻌﻤل
ﺨﻁ ﺍﻹﻨﺫﺍﺭ ﺍﻷﻤﺭﻴﻜﻲ ﻟﺤﻤﺎﻴﺔ ﺃﻤﺭﻴﻜﺎ ﻤﻥ ﺃﻱ ﺨﻁﺭ ﺭﻭﺴﻲ .ﻭﺠﺎﺀﺕ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺘﻪ ﻓﻲ ﻜﺘﺎﺒﻪ Power : Key to Survivalﻋﺎﻡ ١٩٥٠ﻡ ،ﺍﻨﻅﺭ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﻭﺍﻟﻌﻼﻗﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﻴﺔ
؛ ﺍﻟﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﻐﻨﻲ ﺴﻌﻭﺩﻱ ،ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﺍﻟﻨﻤﻭﺫﺠﻴﺔ ) ،ﺹ ، ٦ﺹ (٣١٣ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ ؛ ﻭﺍﻨﻅﺭ ﺩﺭﺍﺴﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ؛ ﻭﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﺔ ﺃﺴﺱ ﻭﺘﻁﺒﻴﻘﺎﺕ ؛ ﺍﻟﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ
ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﺠﻴﺩ ﻋﺎﻤﺭ ؛ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ﺍﻟﺠﺎﻤﻌﻴﺔ ؛ ﻤﺼﺭ ) ﺹ ( ١٧ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ .
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ﻭﻨﻁﺎﻕ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﺨل ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻁﻘﺘﻴﻥ ﺍﻋﺘﺒﺭﻩ ﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ " ﺘﺤﺩﻴﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﻴﺭ " ﻓﻤﻥ ﻴﺘﺤﻜﻡ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ ﻴﺴﻴﻁﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﻜﻠﻪ ؛ ﻭﺘﻀﻤﻥ ﺃﻤﺭﻴﻜﺎ ﺍﻟﺸﻤﺎﻟﻴﺔ
ﻭﺃﻭﺭﻭﺒﺎ ﻭﺃﻓﺭﻴﻘﻴﺎ ﻭﺸﻤﺎل ﺍﻟﺼﺤﺭﺍﺀ ﺍﻟﻜﺒﺭﻯ ) ﺍﻟﻭﻁﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻲ ( ﻭﻤﻌﻅﻡ ﺁﺴﻴﺎ ﻭﺍﻟﺠﺯﺭ ﺍﻟﻴﺎﺒﺎﻨﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺠﺯﺭ ﺍﻟﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺔ .
ﻤﻨﻁﻭﻕ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ :
ﻤﻥ ﻴﻤﻠﻙ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺩﺓ ﺍﻟﺠﻭﻴﺔ ﻴﺴﻴﻁﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ ﺘﺩﺍﺨل ﺍﻟﻨﻔﻭﺫ ) ﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ ﺘﺤﺩﻴﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﻴﺭ (
ﻭﻤﻥ ﻴﺘﺤﻜﻡ ﻓﻲ ﻤﻨﻁﻘﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﺨل ﻴﺴﻴﻁﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﻜﻠﻪ .
ﺍﻟﻤﺒﺤﺙ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﺩﺱ
ﻭﺜﻴﻘﺔ ﻫﻨﺭﻱ ﻜﺎﻤﺒل
ﻓﻲ ﺴﻨﺔ ) ١٩٠٧ﻡ ( ﻜﺎﻥ ﻫﻨﺭﻱ ﻜﺎﻤﺒل ﺭﺌﻴﺱ ﻭﺯﺭﺍﺀ ﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺎ ﻤﻭﻟﻌﹰﺎ ﺒﺤﺒﻪ ﻟﻠﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ﻭﻓﻠﺴﻔﺘﻪ ؛ ﻭﻜﺎﻥ ﻴﺄﻤل ﺃﻥ ﻻ ﺘﺄﻓل ﺸﻤﺱ ﺍﻷﻤﺒﺭﻭﻁﻭﺭﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻻ
ﺘﻐﻴﺏ ﻋﻨﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﺸﻤﺱ ؛ ﻭﻜﺎﻥ ﻤﺅﻤﻨ ﹰﺎ ﺒﺴﻨﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﻓﻲ ﺃﻋﻤﺎﻗﻪ ﻟﻬﺫﺍ ﺘﺴﺎﺀل ﻤﺎ ﺇﺫﺍ ﻜﺎﻥ ﻨﺠﻡ ﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺎ ﺴﻴﻐﺭﺏ ﻻ ﻤﺤﺎﻟﺔ ﺒﺤﺴﺏ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﻓﻠﺴﻔﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ،
ﻭﺇﺫﺍ ﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺎ ﻭﺤﺩﺓ ﻤﻥ ﻤﻜﻭﻨﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﻴﺤﻴﺔ ﻓﻤﺎ ﺍﻟﺫﻱ ﻴﺴﺘﻁﻴﻊ ﺃﻥ ﺘﻔﻌﻠﻪ ﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺎ ﻟﻤﺩ ﺃﺠل ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﻭﺩﻴﻤﻭﻤﺔ
ﺴﻴﻁﺭﺘﻬﺎ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ،ﺒﺤﻴﺙ ﻴﺴﺘﻤﺭ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﺭ ﺍﻟﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻲ ﺒﺸﻜل ﺃﻭ ﺒﺂﺨﺭ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﻁﺭﺓ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﺒﻘﺎﻉ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ !؟
ﻭﻜﺎﻥ ﻤﺎ ﺃﺭﺍﺩﻩ ﻫﻭ ﺇﻋﺩﺍﺩ ﺍﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﺃﻭﺭﻭﺒﻴﺔ ﻟﻀﻤﺎﻥ ﺴﻴﺎﺩﺓ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﻭﻁﻭل ﺃﻤﺩﻫﺎ .ﻟﺫﺍ ﺒﻌﺙ ﻜﺎﻤﺒل ﺒﺭﺴﺎﻟﺘﻪ ﻭﺘﺴﺎﺅﻟﻪ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﺠﺎﻤﻌﺎﺕ
ﺍﻟﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﻔﺭﻨﺴﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺭﺩﺕ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﺒﺎﻟﺠﻭﺍﺏ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﺼل ﻓﻲ ﻭﺜﻴﻘﺔ ﺴﻤﻴﺕ ﺒﻭﺜﻴﻘﺔ ﻜﺎﻤﺒل ١ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻤﺎﺯﺍﻟﺕ ﻤﻭﺠﻭﺩﺓ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻷﺭﺸﻴﻑ ﺍﻟﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻲ .
ﺘﺤﺩﺜﺕ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻭﺜﻴﻘﺔ ﻋﻥ ﺃﻥ ﻭﺍﺠﺏ ﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺎ ﺃﻥ ﺘﺭﻯ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﻤﻥ ﺨﻼل ﺜﻼﺜﺔ ﻤﺴﺎﺤﺎﺕ :
ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﺤﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ :ﺘﺘﻜﻭﻥ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻭﺤﺩﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺘﻘﻊ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻅﻭﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﻴﺤﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺒﻴﺔ .ﻭﺘﻘﺭﺭ ﺍﻟﻭﺜﻴﻘﺔ ﺃﻥ ﻤﻥ ﻭﺍﺠﺏ ﺒﺭﻴﻁﺎﻨﻴﺎ ﺘﺠﺎﻩ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﺤﺔ ﻤﻥ
ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ – ﻋﻠﻰ ﺃﻱ ﺤﺎل ﻤﻥ ﺍﻷﺤﻭﺍل – ﺃﻻ ﺘﻜﻭﻥ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺩﺓ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﺨﺎﺭﺝ ﺇﻁﺎﺭﻫﺎ .ﺃﻱ ﺃﻥ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻅﻭﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻴﺔ ﻫﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺘﺴﻴﻁﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ
ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ،ﻭﻴﻅل ﺯﻤﺎﻡ ﺍﻷﻤﻭﺭ ﺒﻴﺩﻫﺎ .
ﻓﺈﺫﺍ ﻜﺎﻨﺕ ﺃﻱ ﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﻻ ﺸﻙ ﺴﺘﻨﺘﻬﻲ – ﺒﺤﺴﺏ ﻨﻅﺭﺓ ﻓﻠﺴﻔﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ – ﻓﺈﻨﻬﺎ ﻴﺠﺏ ﺃﻥ ﺘﻀﻤﻥ ﺃﻥ ﻭﺭﻴﺙ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﻤﻥ ﻨﻔﺱ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﺤﺔ ،ﻭﻤﻥ
ﺠﻭﻫﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻅﻭﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺒﻴﺔ .
ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﺤﺔ ﺍﻟﺜﺎﻨﻴﺔ :ﻭﻫﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺼﻔﺭﺍﺀ ،ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﻟﻡ ﺘﺘﻨﺎﻗﺽ ﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﺤﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻘﻴﻤﻴﺔ ،ﻟﻜﻨﻬﺎ ﻗﺩ ﺘﺨﺘﻠﻑ ﻤﻌﻬﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺤﺴﺎﺏ
ﺍﻟﻤﺼﺎﻟﺢ ،ﻭﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﻴﻤﻜﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﻌﺎﻤل ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻌﺎﻁﻲ ﻤﻌﻬﺎ ﺘﺠﺎﺭﻴﹰﺎ ﻭﻴﻤﻜﻥ ﻏﺯﻭﻫﺎ ﺜﻘﺎﻓﻴﹰﺎ ﻟﻬﺸﺎﺸﺔ ﻤﻨﻅﻭﻤﺘﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﻘﻴﻤﻴﺔ .ﻭﺒﺎﻟﺘﺎﻟﻲ ﻓﺎﻟﺘﻌﺎﻤل ﻤﻌﻬﺎ ﻴﻌﺘﻤﺩ
ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺠﺎﻨﺏ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﻠﺤﻲ ﻟﻠﻜﺘﻠﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﻴﺤﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ؛ ﻭﺃﻗﺭﺏ ﻤﺜﺎل ﻟﻬﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﺤﺔ ﺍﻟﺼﻴﻥ .
ﺃﻤﺎ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﺤﺔ ﺍﻟﺜﺎﻟﺜﺔ :ﻓﻬﻲ ﺍﻟﺒﻘﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﺨﻀﺭﺍﺀ ﺃﻭ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺨﻀﺭﺍﺀ ٢ﻭﺘﻘﺭﺭ ﻭﺜﻴﻘﺔ ﻜﺎﻤﺒل ﺃﻥ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﺤﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻷﺭﺽ ﺘﺤﺘﻭﻱ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻤﻨﻅﻭﻤﺔ ﻗﻴﻤﻴﺔ
ﻤﻨﺎﻓﺴﺔ ﻟﻠﻤﻨﻅﻭﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺒﻴﺔ ،ﺼﺎﺭﻋﺘﻬﺎ ﻓﻲ ﻤﻨﺎﻁﻕ ﻜﺜﻴﺭﺓ ﻭﺃﺨﺭﺠﺘﻬﺎ ﻤﻥ ﻤﻨﺎﻁﻕ ﻜﺜﻴﺭﺓ ،ﻭﺃﻨﻪ ﻤﻥ ﻭﺍﺠﺏ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﻴﺤﻴﺔ ﺃﺨﺫ ﺍﺤﺘﻴﺎﻁﺎﺘﻬﺎ
١
( ﻗﺩ ﺃﻓﺭﺝ ﻋﻥ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻭﺜﻴﻘﺔ ﻻﻨﺘﻬﺎﺀ ﺤﺒﺴﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﻨﻭﻨﻲ ﻟﻤﺩﺓ ﺃﺴﺒﻭﻋﻴﻥ ﻓﻘﻁ ،ﺜﻡ ﺃﻋﻴﺩﺕ ﺨﻭﻓ ﹰﺎ ﻤﻥ ﺁﺜﺎﺭﻫﺎ ﺍﻟﻤﻤﺘﺩﺓ . )
٢
( ﻴﻌﺘﺒﺭ ﺍﻟﻠﻭﻥ ﺍﻷﺨﻀﺭ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺜﻘﺎﻓﺔ ﺍﻷﻨﺠﻠﻭ ﺴﺎﻜﺴﻭﻨﻴﺔ ﻴﺩل ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺸﺭ . )
204
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ﻭﺇﺠﺭﺍﺀﺍﺘﻬﺎ ﻟﻤﻨﻊ ﺃﻱ ﺘﻘﺩﻡ ﻤﺤﺘﻤل ﻟﻬﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻅﻭﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻴﺔ ﺃﻭ ﺇﺤﺩﻯ ﺩﻭﻟﻬﺎ ﻷﻨﻬﺎ ﻤﻬﺩﺩﺓ ﻟﻠﻨﻅﺎﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﻴﻤﻲ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺒﻲ .ﻭﺴﺘﺠﺩ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻤﺔ Value
Systemﺘﺘﻜﺭﺭ ﺍﻟﻴﻭﻡ ﻓﻲ ﻜل ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺍﺙ ﺍﻷﻭﺭﻭﺒﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺎﺼﺭ ،ﻭﻓﻲ ﻭﺜﺎﺌﻕ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﺕ ﺍﻷﺒﻴﺽ ﺒﺸﻜل ﻤﺘﻜﺭﺭ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻤﺩﻯ ﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ﺭﺅﺴﺎﺀ ﺍﻟﺩﻭل ﺍﻟﺫﻴﻥ ﻤﺭﻭﺍ
ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻹﺩﺍﺭﺓ ﺍﻷﻤﺭﻴﻜﻴﺔ. ١
ﺇﺠﺭﺍﺀﺍﺕ ﺘﺘﺨﺫ ﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﺤﺔ ﺍﻟﺨﻀﺭﺍﺀ ) ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺘﻲ ﺘﺘﻨﺎﻗﺽ ﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺏ (
ﻭﺘﻘﺘﺭﺡ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻭﺜﻴﻘﺔ ﺜﻼﺜﺔ ﺇﺠﺭﺍﺀﺍﺕ ﺭﺌﻴﺴﻴﺔ :
ﺃﻭ ﹰﻻ :ﺤﺭﻤﺎﻥ ﺩﻭل ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺎﺤﺔ ﺍﻟﺨﻀﺭﺍﺀ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻘﻨﻴﺔ ،ﺃﻭ ﻀﺒﻁ ﺤﺩﻭﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ .
ﺜﺎﻨﻴﺎ :ﺇﻴﺠﺎﺩ ﺃﻭ ﺘﻌﺯﻴﺯ ﻤﺸﺎﻜل ﺤﺩﻭﺩﻴﺔ ﻤﺘﻌﻠﻘﺔ ﺒﻬﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﺩﻭل .
ً
ﺜﺎﻟﺜ ﹰﺎ :ﺘﻜﻭﻴﻥ ﺃﻭ ﺩﻋﻡ ﺍﻷﻗﻠﻴﺎﺕ ﺒﺤﻴﺙ ﻻ ﻴﺴﺘﻘﻴﻡ ﺍﻟﻨﺴﻴﺞ ﺍﻻﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻲ ﻟﻬﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﺩﻭل ﻭﻴﻅل ﻤﺭﻫﻭﻨﹰﺎ ﺒﺎﻟﻤﺤﻴﻁ ﺍﻟﺨﺎﺭﺠﻲ .
ﻭﻤﻥ ﻫﻨﺎ ﺘﺸﻜﻠﺕ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻅﻭﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻀﺨﻤﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﺍﻹﺴﻼﻤﻲ ،ﻭﺘﺸﻜﻠﺕ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻀﺎﺒﻁﺔ ﻟﺤﺭﻜﺔ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻤﺠﺘﻤﻌﺎﺕ .
ﻓﺎﻟﺘﺨﻠﻑ ﻟﻪ ﻋﻭﺍﻤﻠﻪ ﺍﻟﺩﺍﺨﻠﻴﺔ ،ﺃﻤﺎ ﺩﻴﻤﻭﻤﺘﻪ ﻓﻬﻨﺎﻙ ﻋﺎﻤل ﺘﺜﺒﻴﺕ ﺨﺎﺭﺠﻲ ﻭﻴﻤﻜﻥ ﺍﻟﺭﺠﻭﻉ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻭﺜﻴﻘﺔ ﻜﺎﻤﺒل ﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻟﻨﻭﻉ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﻤل ﺍﻟﺠﺎﺩ ﻤﻥ
ﻗﺒل ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻅﻭﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻐﺭﺒﻴﺔ .
ﻭﺒﺫﻟﻙ ﻴﺘﺒﻴﻥ ﻟﻨﺎ ﺃﻨﻪ ﻟﻡ ﻴﻌﺩ ﻫﻨﺎﻙ ﻤﺠﺎل ﻟﻠﻨﻅﺭ ﻟﻤﺴﺎﺤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺃﻨﻬﺎ ﺩﻭل ﺼﻐﻴﺭﺓ ﻤﻨﻌﺯﻟﺔ ،ﺒل ﺇﻥ ﻤﺎ ﻴﺘﻡ ﺍﻵﻥ ﻫﻭ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻤﺴﺎﺤﺎﺕ ﻭﺒﻘﻊ
ﺤﻀﺎﺭﻴﺔ .
ﻼ ﺃﻭ ﻤﺎ ﻁﺭﺤﻪ ﻫﻨﺘﺠﻭﻥ ﺃﻭ ﻏﻴﺭﻩ ﻨﺠﺩ ﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻟﺘﺠﺩﺩ ﻓﻲ ﺘﻁﻭﻴﺭ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺭﺓ ﻭﺒﻨﺎﺌﻬﺎ ،ﻭﻴﺩﻭﺭ ﺍﻟﺤﺩﻴﺙ ﺍﻟﻴﻭﻡ
ﻭﺇﺫﺍ ﻨﻅﺭﻨﺎ ﺇﻟﻰ ﻤﺎ ﻁﺭﺤﻪ ﻓﻭﻜﻭﻴﺎﻤﺎ ﻤﺜ ﹰ
ﻜﺜﻴﺭﺍﹰ ﻋﻥ ﻤﺎ ﺇﺫﺍ ﻜﺎﻥ ﻫﻨﺎﻙ ﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﺤﻀﺎﺭﺍﺕ ﺃﻡ ﺤﻭﺍﺭ ﺤﻀﺎﺭﺍﺕ !؟ ﻭﺍﻟﺤﻘﻴﻘﺔ ﺃﻥ ﺍﻟﻭﺍﻗﻊ ﺍﻟﻌﻤﻠﻲ ﻴﻘﻭل ﺃﻥ ﻫﻨﺎﻙ ﺼﺭﺍﻋﹰﺎ ﻤﺤﺘﺩﻤﹰﺎ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻗﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ،
ﻭﺃﻥ ﻫﻨﺎﻙ ﺃﻤﻡ ﻴﺠﺏ ﺃﻥ ﺘﺤﺭﻡ .٢
ﻭﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﺃﺸﺒﻪ ﻤﺎ ﺘﻜﻭﻥ ﺒﺎﻷﺼﻭل ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻴﺔ ﺘﺭﺩ ﺇﻟﻴﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﺠﺯﺌﻴﺎﺕ ﻟﻴﺘﻜﻠﻡ ﺍﻟﻤﺤﻠل ﺒﻌﻠﻡ ﻭﻋﺩل ﺜﻡ ) ﻴﻌﺭﻑ ﺍﻟﺠﺯﺌﻴﺎﺕ ﻜﻴﻑ ﻭﻗﻌﺕ ( ؟ ﻭﺇﻻ ﻓﻴﺒﻘﻰ ﻓﻲ
٣
ﻜﺫﺏ ﻭﺠﻬل ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺠﺯﺌﻴﺎﺕ ﻭﺠﻬل ﻭﻅﻠﻡ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻜﻠﻴﺎﺕ ﻓﻴﺘﻭﻟﺩ ﻓﺴﺎﺩ ﻋﻅﻴﻡ
ﺍﻟﺨﻼﺼﺔ :
ﺘﻬﺩﻑ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﺘﻭﺼل ﻟﻤﺠﻤﻭﻋﺔ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﻭﺍﻤل ﺍﻷﺴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﻟﻘﻴﺎﻡ ﻨﻤﻭﺫﺝ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﺔ ﺍﻟﻘﻭﻤﻴﺔ ﺒﺨﺼﺎﺌﺼﻬﺎ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺸﺎﻤﻠﺔ .
ﺇﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﺘﻤﻌﻥ ﺍﻟﻔﺎﺤﺹ ﻴﺭﻯ ﺃﻥ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﻓﻲ ﻋﺎﻟﻡ ﺍﻷﻓﻜﺎﺭ ﺒﻴﻥ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻀﺢ ﺠﻠﻲ ﺨﺼﻭﺼﹰﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻋﺘﺒﺎﺭﺍﺕ ﺃﺜﺭ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﻓﻲ ﻫﺫﺍ ﺍﻷﺜﺎﺭ ﻭﻫﺫﺍ
ﻴﺒﻨﻰ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻓﻠﺴﻔﺔ ﻫﻴﺠل ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ﻓﻜل ﻓﻜﺭﺓ ﻤﻊ ﻨﻘﻴﻀﻬﺎ ﺘﻌﻁﻲ ﻓﻜﺭﺓ ﻭﻟﻭﺩ ﻭﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻭﻟﻭﺩ ﻤﻊ ﻨﻘﻴﻀﻬﺎ ﺘﻌﻁﻴﻨﺎ ﻓﻜﺭﺓ ﻭﻟﻭﺩ ﺃﺨﺭﻯ ﺤﺘﻰ ﻨﺼل
ﺇﻟﻰ ﺭﺘﻡ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ .
٤
ﻫﻨﺎﻙ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﺃﺨﺭﻯ ﻜﺎﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺠﻴﻭﺒﻭﻟﻴﺘﻜﻴﺔ ﺍﻷﻟﻤﺎﻨﻴﺔ ؛ ﻭ ﻨﻤﻭﺫﺝ ﻜﻭﻫﻴﻥ ﻭ ﺍﻟﺤﺩﻭﺩ ﺍﻟﺸﻔﺎﻓﺔ ؛ ﻭﻜﻠﻬﺎ ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﺒﻴﻨﻬﺎ ﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﻓﻜﺭﻱ ﻭﺘﺘﻭﺠﻪ ﺇﻟﻰ
ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﻓﻲ ﻋﺎﻟﻡ ﺍﻷﺸﻴﺎﺀ .
ﺘﻌﺘﺒﺭ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺇﺤﺩﻯ ﻤﻘﻭﻤﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﻤﻥ ﺠﻬﺔ ﺍﻷﻓﻜﺎﺭ ؛ ﻜﺎﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺒﻴﻥ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﺃﻭ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ﺒﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺍﺕ ﻭﺍﻷﻤﻡ ﻭﺍﻟﺸﻌﻭﺏ .
١
( ﻗﺩ ﺫﻫﺏ ﺍﻟﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﺠﺎﺴﻡ ﺴﻠﻁﺎﻥ ﻓﻲ ﻜﺘﺎﺒﻪ ﻨﺤﻭ ﻭﻋﻲ ﺍﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻲ ﺒﺎﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ﺍﻟﺫﺍﻜﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺨﻴﺔ ) (١٣٧ﺘﺼﻭﺭ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﺍﻻﺴﻼﻤﻲ ﺒﺎﻟﻁﻴﺭ ﺭﺃﺴﻪ ﻓﻲ ﺘﺭﻜﻴﺎ ﻭ ﺒﺩﻨﻪ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺠﺯﻴﺭﺓ )
ﻭﺠﻨﺎﺤﻴﻪ ﻜﺒﻴﺭﺍﻥ ﻤﻥ ﻤﺼﺭ ﻤﺼﺭ ﻭ ﺍﻻﺨﺭ ﻓﻲ ﺒﻐﺩﺍﺩ ﻭﻓﺎﺭﺱ ﻓﺎﻟﺠﻨﺎﺤﺎﻥ ﻏﻴﺭ ﻗﺎﺩﺭﺍﻥ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺤﻤل ﺍﻟﺠﺴﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻬﻙ .ﻭﻫﺫﻩ ﺘﺤﺘﺎﺝ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺩﺭﺍﺴﺔ ﻭﺇﻤﻌﺎﻥ ﻓﺎﻟﺩﻭﺭ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ ﺍﻻﺴﻼﻤﻲ ﻨﺭﺍﻩ
ﻗﺩ ﻴﺘﻐﻴﺭ ﻤﻥ ﺩﻭﻟﺔ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺃﺨﺭﻯ ﺒﺤﺴﺏ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻁﻴﺎﺕ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺤﺎﻟﻔﺎﺕ .
٢
( ﺍﻨﻅﺭ :ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺭ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻲ ﻓﻲ ﻓﻬﻡ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ " ﻓﻠﺴﻔﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ " ﻟﻠﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﺠﺎﺴﻡ ﺴﻠﻁﺎﻥ ،ﺃﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻯ ،ﻤﺼﺭ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ؛ ) ٢٠٠٥ﻡ ( ) ،ﺹ ( ٧٦ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ . )
) ( ٣ﺃﻨﻅﺭ :ﻤﺠﻤﻭﻉ ﺍﻟﻔﺘﺎﻭﻯ ؛ ﺸﻴﺦ ﺍﻹﺴﻼﻡ ﺃﺤﻤﺩ ﺒﻥ ﺘﻴﻤﻴﺔ ؛ ﺠﻤﻊ ﻭﺘﺭﺘﻴﺏ :ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﺭﺤﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻨﺠﺩﻱ ﻭﺍﺒﻨﻪ ﺩﺍﺭ ﻋﺎﻟﻡ ﺍﻟﻜﺘﺏ ﺍﻟﺭﻴﺎﺽ ) ١٩٩١ﻡ ( ) ﻤﺠـ/ ٢٠٣ﺹ( ١٩
٤
( ﻤﺴﺘﻘﺒل ﺍﻷﻤﺔ ﻭﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺎﺕ ،ﺘﻘﺭﻴﺭ ﺍﺭﺘﻴﺎﺩﻱ ) ﺍﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻲ ( ﻴﺼﺩﺭ ﻋﻥ ﻤﺠﻠﺔ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﺎﻥ ﺍﻹﺼﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﺩﺱ ١٤٣٠ﻫـ ﺃﻨﻅﺭ ) ﺹ ( ٦٩ﻭﻤﺎ ﺒﻌﺩﻫﺎ . )
205
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ﻗﺩ ﻋﻤﺩﺕ ﻜﺜﻴﺭ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺎﺕ ﺴﻭﺍﺀ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻨﺔ ﻜﺎﻟﺘﻲ ﺃﺸﺭﺕ ﺇﻟﻴﻬﺎ ﻓﻲ ﺜﻨﺎﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺙ ﺃﻭ ﻏﻴﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﻠﻨﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻭﺜﺎﺌﻕ ﻭﺍﻷﺭﺸﻔﺔ ﻭﻓﻲ ﻋﻘﻭل ﺍﻟﺴﺎﺴﺔ ؛ ﺇﻟﻰ
ﺘﺒﻨﻲ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺃﺤﺩ ﻗﻭﺍﻋﺩ ﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ .
ﺒﺘﺘﺒﻊ ﺍﻷﻨﺜﺭﻭﺒﻭﻟﻭﺠﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺓ ﻓﺈﻥ ﻫﺫﻩ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺍﺕ ﺘﺘﻘﺎﻁﻊ ﻭﺘﺘﻭﺍﺼل ﻭﺘﺘﻼﻗﺢ ﻭﻻ ﺘﺘﺼﺎﺭﻉ .
ﺍﻟﻤﺼﺎﺩﺭ ﻭﺍﻟﻤﺭﺍﺠﻊ
ﺍﻟﻤﺘﻥ ﺍﻟﺭﺍﺸﺩﻱ ،ﺠﻤﺎل ﺍﻟﺩﻴﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻭﻱ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺘﻭﺒﻘﺎل ،ﺍﻟﺒﻴﻀﺎﺀ ،ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ١٩٨٦ ) ،ﻡ ( •
ﺭﺴﺎﻟﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻨﻁﻕ ﺇﻴﻀﺎﺡ ﺍﻟﻤﺒﻬﻡ ﻓﻲ ﻤﻌﺎﻨﻲ ﺍﻟﺴﻠﻡ ؛ ﺃﺤﻤﺩ ﺍﻟﺩﻤﻨﻬﻭﺭﻱ ،ﺘﺤﻘﻴﻕ :ﻋﻤﺭ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﺎﻉ ؛ ﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺎﺭﻑ ﺒﻴﺭﻭﺕ ) ١٤١٧ﻫـ ( •
ﺍﻟﺘﻌﺭﻴﻔﺎﺕ ﻟﻠﺸﺭﻴﻑ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺒﻥ ﻋﻠﻲ ﺒﻥ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺍﻟﺠﺭﺠﺎﻨﻲ ﻤﻊ ﺍﻹﻀﺎﻓﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﻴﺩﺓ :ﻤﻥ ﻤﻭﻻﻨﺎ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﺘﻲ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﻴﻭﺴﻑ ﺍﻟﺘﺄﻭﻟﻭﻱ ،ﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﻓﻘﻴﻪ ﺍﻻﻤﺕ •
ﺩﻴﻭﺒﻨﺩ ؛ ﺒﺩﻭﻥ ﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ ﻭﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﻬﻨﺩﻴﺔ
ﺃﺒﺠﺩﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺙ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻭﻡ ﺍﻟﺸﺭﻋﻴﺔ ؛ ﺍﻟﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﻓﺭﻴﺩ ﺍﻷﻨﺼﺎﺭﻱ ؛ ﻤﻨﺸﻭﺭﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﻔﺭﻗﺎﻥ ؛ ﺍﻟﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﻀﺎﺀ ) ١٤١٧ﻫـ ( •
ﺍﻟﻤﺼﻁﻠﺢ ﺍﻷﺼﻭﻟﻲ ﻋﻨﺩ ﺍﻟﺸﺎﻁﺒﻲ ؛ ﺍﻟﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﻓﺭﻴﺩ ﺍﻷﻨﺼﺎﺭﻱ ،ﻨﺴﺨﺔ ﺍﻷﻁﺭﻭﺤﺔ . •
ﻟﺴﺎﻥ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺏ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺒﻥ ﻤﻜﺭﻡ ﺒﻥ ﻤﻨﻅﻭﺭ ؛ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﺜﺎﻟﺜﺔ ؛ ﺒﻴﺭﻭﺕ ؛ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺼﺎﺩﺭ ؛ ﻋﺎﻡ ) ١٤١٤ﻫـ ( ، •
ﻤﻌﺠﻡ ﻤﻘﺎﻴﻴﺱ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ؛ ﺃﺤﻤﺩ ﺒﻥ ﻓﺎﺭﺱ ﺒﻥ ﺯﻜﺭﻴﺎ ﺘﺤﻘﻴﻕ :ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﺴﻼﻡ ﻫﺎﺭﻭﻥ ؛ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ؛ ﺒﻴﺭﻭﺕ ؛ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﺠﻴل ؛ ﻋﺎﻡ ) ١٤١١ﻫـ ( •
ﺠﻤﻬﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ؛ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺒﻥ ﺍﻟﺤﺴﻥ ﺒﻥ ﺩﺭﻴﺩ ؛ ﺘﺤﻘﻴﻕ :ﺩ .ﺭﻤﺯﻱ ﺒﻌﻠﺒﻜﻲ ؛ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ؛ ﺒﻴﺭﻭﺕ :ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻌﻠﻡ ﻟﻠﻤﻼﻴﻴﻥ ﻋﺎﻡ ) ١٩٨٧ﻡ ( •
ﻀﻭﺍﺒﻁ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ؛ ﻟﻠﺸﻴﺦ ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﺭﺤﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻤﻴﺩﺍﻨﻲ ؛ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻘﻠﻡ ؛ ﺩﻤﺸﻕ ؛ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﺨﺎﻤﺴﺔ ) ١٩٩٨ﻡ – ١٤١٩ﻫـ ( . •
ﺍﻟﺨﻁﺄ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻲ ﻟﻠﺒﺎﺤﺙ ؛ ﻭﺭﻗﺔ ﻋﻠﻤﻴﺔ ﻗﺩﻤﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﺅﺘﻤﺭ ﺍﻟﻔﻘﻬﻲ ﺍﻟﺜﺎﻨﻲ ﺒﺠﺎﻤﻌﺔ ﺍﻹﻤﺎﻡ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺒﻥ ﺴﻌﻭﺩ ﺍﻹﺴﻼﻤﻴﺔ ﺒﺎﻟﺭﻴﺎﺽ . •
ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺠﻡ ﺍﻟﻭﺴﻴﻁ ؛ ﻤﺠﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﻫﺭﺓ . •
ﻨﺤﻭ ﻭﻋﻲ ﺍﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻲ ﺒﺎﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ " ﺍﻟﺫﺍﻜﺭﺓ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺨﻴﺔ " ﻟﻠﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﺠﺎﺴﻡ ﺴﻠﻁﺎﻥ ،ﺃﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻯ ؛ ﻤﺼﺭ ؛ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ؛ ) ( ٢٠٠٥ •
ﺸﺭﻭﻁ ﺍﻟﻨﻬﻀﺔ ؛ ﻤﺎﻟﻙ ﺒﻥ ﻨﺒﻲ ؛ ﺘﺭﺠﻤﺔ :ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﺼﺒﻭﺭ ﺸﺎﻫﻴﻥ ،ﻋﻤﺭ ﻤﺴﻘﺎﻭﻱ ،ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺭ ،ﺒﺩﻭﻥ ﻁﺒﻌﺔ ١٩٧٩ ) ،ﻡ ( . •
ﺍﻹﺭﻫﺎﺏ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻲ ﺩﺭﺍﺴﺔ ﺘﺤﻠﻴﻠﻴﺔ ؛ ﺘﺄﻟﻴﻑ :ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﺼﺭ ﺤﺭﻴﺯ •
ﻨﻅﺭﻴﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﻁﺭﺓ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﻭﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺍﺕ ،ﺘﺄﻟﻴﻑ :ﻋﺒﺎﺱ ﻏﺎﻟﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﺩﻴﺜﻲ ،ﺩﺍﺭ ﺃﺴﺎﻤﺔ ؛ ﺍﻷﺭﺩﻥ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ) ٢٠٠٤ﻡ ( •
ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﻤﻊ ﺘﻁﺒﻴﻘﺎﺕ ﺠﻴﻭﺒﻭﻟﺘﻴﻜﻴﺔ ؛ ﺼﺒﺭﻱ ﻓﺎﺭﺱ ﺍﻟﻬﻴﺘﻲ ؛ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﺼﻔﺎﺀ ،ﻋﻤﺎﻥ ( ٢٠٠٠ ) ، •
ﻜﻴﻑ ﻨﺘﻌﺎﻤل ﻤﻊ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﺁﻥ ؛ ﻴﻭﺴﻑ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻀﺎﻭﻱ ﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﻭﻫﺒﺔ ١٩٩١ ، •
ﺍﻟﺴﻨﻥ ﺍﻻﺠﺘﻤﺎﻋﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﺁﻥ ﺍﻟﻜﺭﻴﻡ ﺒﻘﻠﻡ ﺍﻟﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﻴﺱ ﺸﻌﺒﺔ ﺍﻟﺩﺭﺍﺴﺎﺕ ﺍﻹﺴﻼﻤﻴﺔ/ﻜﻠﻴﺔ ﺍﻵﺩﺍﺏ ﻤﻜﻨﺎﺱ. •
ﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﺍﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻔﻬﻭﻡ ﺍﻻﺴﻼﻤﻲ ؛ ﻟﻠﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﻌﺯﻴﺯ ﺍﻟﺘﻭﻴﺠﺭﻱ ﻤﻨﺸﻭﺭﺍﺕ ﻤﻨﻅﻤﺔ ﺍﻻﺴﻴﺴﻜﻭ •
ﻗﻭﺍﻋﺩ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻤﻤﺎﺭﺴﺔ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ؛ ﻟﻠﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﺠﺎﺴﻡ ﺴﻠﻁﺎﻥ ؛ ﻤﺅﺴﺴﺔ ﺃﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻯ ،ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ) ٢٠٠٨ﻡ ( •
ﺘﺤﺩﻴﺩ ﺃﻫﺩﺍﻑ ﻨﻅﺎﻡ ﺍﻹﺴﻼﻡ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻀﻭﺀ ﺴﻨﻥ ﺍﷲ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺘﻐﻴﻴﺭ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻤﻜﻴﻥ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺩﺍﻓﻊ ﺍﻟﺤﻀﺎﺭﻱ ،ﻭﺠﺩﻱ ﺒﻥ ﺃﺤﻤﺩ ﺨﺎﺸﻘﺠﻲ ،ﺇﺸﺭﺍﻑ ﺃ . •
ﺩ /ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺠﻤﻴل ﺒﻥ ﻋﻠﻲ ﺨﻴﺎﻁ ١٤٢٠ ،ﻫـ
ﺍﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﺍﻹﺩﺭﺍﻙ ﻟﻠﺤﺭﺍﻙ ﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﺼﺤﻭﺓ ﺇﻟﻰ ﺍﻟﻴﻘﻅﺔ ؛ ﻟﻠﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﺠﺎﺴﻡ ﺴﻠﻁﺎﻥ ؛ ﻤﺅﺴﺴﺔ ﺃ ﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻯ ؛ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ) ٢٠٠٥ﻡ ( •
:ﺍﻹﻤﺒﺭﻴﺎﻟﻴﺔ ﻤﻥ ﻋﺼﺭ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﻌﻤﺎﺭ ﺤﺘﻰ ﺍﻟﻴﻭﻡ ،ﻤﺅﺴﺴﺔ ﺍﻷﺒﺤﺎﺙ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻴﺔ ،ﺒﻴﺭﻭﺕ ؛ ﺴﻨﺔ ) ( ١٩٨١ •
ﺃﺴﺱ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ،ﻋﻠﻲ ﻫﺎﺭﻭﻥ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺭ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻲ ﺍﻟﻘﺎﻫﺭﺓ ١٩٩٨ ) ،ﻡ ( ، •
206
4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ﺍﻟﻤﺒﺸﺭ ﺍﻟﺩﺍﻋﻴﺔ ﻟﻠﻘﻭﺓ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺭﻴﺔ .ﻓﻲ ﺃﺩﻭﺍﺭﺩ ﻤﻴﺩﺍﻴﺭل :ﺭﻭﺍﺩ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺤﺩﻴﺜﺔ ،ﻤﺎﺭﻜﺭﻴﺕ ﺕ .ﺴﺒﺭﺍﻭﺕ ﻤﺎﻫﺎﻥ .ﺘﺭﺠﻤﺔ :ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﻋﺒﺩ •
ﺍﻟﻔﺘﺎﺡ ﺇﺒﺭﺍﻫﻴﻡ ،ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻟﺜﺎﻨﻴﺔ ،ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻤﻴﺔ ﺒﺒﻐﺩﺍﺩ ) ١٩٨٥ﻡ (
ﻫﺎﻟﻔﻭﺭﺩ ﻤﺎ ﻜﻨﺩﺭ ﻭﻨﻅﺭﻴﺔ ﻗﻠﺏ ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻟﻡ " ﺍﻟﺠﻴﻭﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺔ ،ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺭ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻲ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻲ ،ﺃﺤﻤﺩ ﺍﻟﺒﺭﺼﺎﻥ ؛ ﺍﻟﻌﺩﺩ ) ( ١٠ﺴﻨﺔ ) ) ( ١٩٨٤ﺹ •
( ٢٨٣- ٢٨٢
ﺍﻷﺼﻭل ﺍﻟﻌﺎﻤﺔ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﻭﺍﻟﺠﻴﻭﻟﻭﻟﻴﺘﻜﺎ ؛ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﺭﻴﺎﺽ ،ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻨﻬﻀﺔ ﺍﻟﻌﺭﺒﻴﺔ ﺒﻴﺭﻭﺕ ١٩٧٩ ) ،ﻡ ( . •
ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ،ﻤﻨﻅﻭﺭ ﻤﻌﺎﺼﺭ ،ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﻤﺤﻤﻭﺩ ﺇﺒﺭﺍﻫﻴﻡ ﺍﻟﺩﻴﺏ ،ﺍﻷﻨﺠﻠﻭ ﺍﻟﻤﺼﺭﻱ ،ﺍﻟﻘﺎﻫﺭﺓ ) ١٩٩٥ﻡ ( •
ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﻭﺍﻟﻌﻼﻗﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﻴﺔ ؛ ﺍﻟﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﻐﻨﻲ ﺴﻌﻭﺩﻱ ،ﺍﻟﻤﻜﺘﺒﺔ ﺍﻟﻨﻤﻭﺫﺠﻴﺔ ، •
ﺩﺭﺍﺴﺎﺕ ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﺠﻐﺭﺍﻓﻴﺎ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺎﺴﻴﺔ ؛ ﻭﺍﻟﺩﻭﻟﺔ ﺃﺴﺱ ﻭﺘﻁﺒﻴﻘﺎﺕ ؛ ﺍﻟﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﻤﺤﻤﺩ ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﻤﺠﻴﺩ ﻋﺎﻤﺭ ؛ ﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﻤﻌﺭﻓﺔ ﺍﻟﺠﺎﻤﻌﻴﺔ ؛ ﻤﺼﺭ •
ﻤﺠﻤﻭﻉ ﺍﻟﻔﺘﺎﻭﻯ ؛ ﺸﻴﺦ ﺍﻹﺴﻼﻡ ﺃﺤﻤﺩ ﺒﻥ ﺘﻴﻤﻴﺔ ؛ ﺠﻤﻊ ﻭﺘﺭﺘﻴﺏ :ﻋﺒﺩ ﺍﻟﺭﺤﻤﻥ ﺍﻟﻨﺠﺩﻱ ﻭﺍﺒﻨﻪ ﺩﺍﺭ ﻋﺎﻟﻡ ﺍﻟﻜﺘﺏ ﺍﻟﺭﻴﺎﺽ ) ١٩٩١ﻡ ( ) •
ﻤﺠـ/ ٢٠٣ﺹ( ١٩
ﻤﺴﺘﻘﺒل ﺍﻷﻤﺔ ﻭﺼﺭﺍﻉ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻴﺎﺕ ،ﺘﻘﺭﻴﺭ ﺍﺭﺘﻴﺎﺩﻱ ) ﺍﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻲ ( ﻴﺼﺩﺭ ﻋﻥ ﻤﺠﻠﺔ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﺎﻥ ﺍﻹﺼﺩﺍﺭ ﺍﻟﺴﺎﺩﺱ ١٤٣٠ﻫـ •
ﺍﻟﻔﻜﺭ ﺍﻻﺴﺘﺭﺍﺘﻴﺠﻲ ﻓﻲ ﻓﻬﻡ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ " ﻓﻠﺴﻔﺔ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺭﻴﺦ " ﻟﻠﺩﻜﺘﻭﺭ ﺠﺎﺴﻡ ﺴﻠﻁﺎﻥ ،ﺃﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﺭﻯ ،ﻤﺼﺭ ﺍﻟﻁﺒﻌﺔ ﺍﻷﻭﻟﻰ ؛ ) ٢٠٠٥ﻡ ( ، •
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ASSESSING DEVELOPMENT IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD: AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH
M.S. DeVivo,
Associate Professor of Geography, Grand Rapids Community College.
ABSTRACT
Concentrated in the Middle East, albeit spread across the globe, 48 countries on three continents make up the
Islamic states of the world, each experiencing variable levels of development and characterized by different
indicators. For example, whereas Albania has an infant mortality rate lower than the United States, nearly 16%
of the infants born in Afghanistan do not survive their first year of life. In Kazakhstan, almost 100% of the girls
anticipate attending school for 16 years, but in Guinea‐Bissau only about a quarter will attend for an average of
four years. And in Bangladesh, eight out of ten people live on less than US$2 a day, while in Iran it is merely
eight out of 100.
These measures offer descriptions and contrasts of Islamic societies vis‐à‐vis the character of their populations,
and they also provide a valuable alternative to the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), which
largely ignores important factors associated with female educational achievement and infant mortality (in
addition to other phenomena). Thus, it is suggested that a new approach, which is based on an assessment of
eight key demographic variables, can facilitate geographical literacy in the classroom, as well as provide insight
to decision‐makers and analysts engaged in both development and conflict resolution.
For the purpose of this paper, Islamic countries are defined as those in which a plurality of the population
embraces Islam. They are examined with regard to infant mortality, percentage of population under the age of
15, urbanization, literacy, female literacy, percentage of population living on less than US$2 each day, school
life expectancy, and female school life expectancy. Scores are arithmetically tabulated for each country, which
are then categorized. Though seemingly simplistic, this method has important utility in geographic education
in both formal and informal settings, for it fosters greater comprehension of the liabilities and assets unique to
each state.
INTRODUCTION
Concentrated in the Middle East, albeit spread across the globe, 48 countries on three continents make up the
Islamic states of the world, each experiencing variable levels of development and characterized by different
indicators. For example, whereas Albania has an infant mortality rate lower than the United States, nearly 16%
of the infants born in Afghanistan do not survive their first year of life. In Kazakhstan, almost 100% of the girls
anticipate attending school for 16 years, but in Guinea‐Bissau only about a quarter will attend for an average of
four years. And in Bangladesh, eight out of ten people live on less than US $2 a day, while in Iran it is merely
eight out of 100.
These measures offer descriptions and contrasts of Islamic societies vis‐à‐vis the character of their populations,
and they also provide a valuable alternative to the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), which
largely ignores important factors associated with female educational achievement and infant mortality (in
addition to other phenomena). Thus, it is suggested that another approach can facilitate geographical literacy
in the classroom, as well as provide substantial insight to decision‐makers and analysts engaged in both
development and conflict resolution, which is based on an assessment of eight key demographic variables:
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Percentage of Population under the age of 15 (<15), Percent Urban (Urb), Literacy
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Rate (Lit), Female Literacy Rate (FLit), Percentage of the population living on less than $2.00 a day ($2), School
Life Expectancy (SLE),, and Female School Life Expectancy (FSLE). This paper introduces the Alternative
Development Index (ADI) as a feasible, and perhaps preferable, means of assessing and classifying the
development of the world’s Islamic countries, which are listed in Table 1, and for the purpose of this paper, are
defined as those in which a plurality of the population embraces Islam.
THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX: ORIGINS AND EXPLANATION
No measure of assessing development is perfect, and this rings true for the HDI as well as the proposed ADI;
however, it is important to examine the HDI because despite its alleged shortcomings, it is an accepted
standard that provides a means of examining and categorizing development. It was developed in 1990 by the
United Nations Human Development Report Office to provide a cogent means of assessing human
development by incorporating indicators devoted to the human health condition, educational attainment, and
income, which were applied to generate an illustration of the social and economic development level of an
individual country. Life expectancy was considered the sole means of evaluating health. The adult literacy rate
in conjunction with the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio was used to
determine knowledge. Standard of living measurements relied on estimates of the per capita gross domestic
product.
Table 2 displays the HDI values of the world’s Islamic countries. Note that development levels also are
classified. Very High development is indicated by a value of .90 or higher; High development countries must
have a value of at least .80; those that
Table 1: Islamic Countries (40% or more Muslim)
Total Total
Country % Muslim Population Country % Muslim Population
(in millions) (in millions)
Afghanistan 99 28.4 Malaysia 60 28.3
Albania 70 3.2 Maldives 100 0.3
Algeria 99 35.4 Mali 90 13
Azerbaijan 93 8.8 Mauritania 100 3.3
Bahrain 81 1.2 Morocco 99 31.5
Bangladesh 83 162.2 Niger 80 15.3
Brunei‐Darussalam 67 0.4 Nigeria 50 152.6
Burkina Faso 50 15.8 Oman 93 3.1
Chad 53 10.3 Pakistan 95 180.8
Comoros 98 0.7 Palestinian Territory 85 3.9
Djibouti 94 0.9 Qatar 78 1.4
Egypt 90 78.6 Saudi Arabia 100 28.7
Gambia 90 1.6 Senegal 94 12.5
Guinea 85 10.1 Sierra Leone 60 5.7
Guinea‐Bissau 50 1.6 Somalia 100 9.1
Indonesia 86 243.3 Sudan 70 42.3
Iran 98 73.2 Syria 90 21.9
Iraq 97 30 Tajikistan 90 7.5
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years of age; however, Oman’s IMR is 10, very close to the IMRs of the states considered to be at a Very High
level of development, and Turkey’s IMR is 28.
The percentage of the population under the age of 15 (<15) also is considered an important measure of
development because it indicates the likelihood of access to education, productivity in the work force, and the
opportunities in developing a skilled work force, which can fuel development. Additionally, urbanization (Urb)
is a key ingredient because a strong correlation exists between high urbanization levels and the creation of
relatively cosmopolitan social environments, which are often characterized by higher degrees of social
tolerance, global awareness, and access to educational institutions.
Table 3: Islamic Countries: Alternative Development Index (ADI) Assessment
Country IMR <15 Urb L Ex Lit FLit $2 SLE FSLE
Afghanistan 155 44 22 44 28.1 12.6 ‐ 8 4
Albania 6 25 49 75 98.7 98.3 8 11 11
Algeria 26 28 63 72 69.9 60.1 24 13 13
Azerbaijan 11 23 52 72 98.8 98.2 <2 11 11
Bahrain 8 21 100 75 86.5 83.6 ‐ 15 16
Bangladesh 48 32 25 65 47.9 41.4 81 8 8
Brunei 7 26 72 77 92.7 90.2 ‐ 14 14
Burkina Faso 89 46 16 57 21.8 15.2 81 5 5
Chad 106 46 27 47 25.7 12.8 83 6 7
Comoros 53 38 28 64 58.5 49.3 65 8 7
Djibouti 67 37 87 55 67.9 58.4 41 4 4
Egypt 19 33 43 72 71.4 59.4 18 ‐ ‐
Gambia 93 42 54 55 40.1 32.8 57 7 7
Guinea 104 43 33 56 29.5 18.1 87 8 7
Guinea‐Bissau 117 43 30 46 42.4 27.4 78 5 4
Indonesia 34 29 43 71 90.4 86.8 54 11 11
Iran 35 28 67 71 77 70.4 8 13 13
Iraq 84 41 67 67 74.1 64.2 ‐ 10 8
Jordan 20 37 83 73 89.9 84.7 4 13 13
Kazakhstan 32 24 53 67 99.5 99.3 17 15 16
Kuwait 9 23 98 78 93.3 91 ‐ 13 13
Kyrgyzstan 31 30 35 68 98.7 98.1 52 12 13
Lebanon 19 26 87 72 87.4 82.2 ‐ 13 13
Libya 18 30 77 73 82.6 72 ‐ 17 17
Malaysia 9 32 68 74 88.7 85.4 8 13 13
Maldives 10 30 35 73 96.3 96.4 ‐ 12 12
Mali 110 45 31 48 46.4 39.6 77 7 5
Mauritania 73 40 40 57 51.2 43.4 44 8 8
Morocco 31 29 56 71 52.3 39.6 14 10 9
Niger 88 49 17 53 28.7 15.1 86 4 3
Nigeria 75 45 47 47 68 60.6 84 8 7
Oman 10 29 71 72 81.4 73.5 ‐ 12 11
Pakistan 67 38 35 66 49.9 36 60 7 6
Palestinian Territory 25 44 72 72 92.4 88 ‐
Qatar 7 17 100 76 89 88.6 ‐ 13 14
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CALCULATING ADI
Determining ADI for each country is a relatively simple process, for it merely requires following established
parameters in ascertaining whether or not a country has achieved a certain development level in accordance to
the variables assessed, and scoring the country accordingly in an arithmetic manner. According to this method,
the highest level of development is achieved if IMR is below 20, <15 is below 40%, Urb is above 60%, Lit and Flit
are above 80%, $2 is below 20%, and SLE and FSLE are 10 and above. These variables are considered for each
country; for each standard met (e.g., IMR below 20), no penalty point is assessed, for unlike the HDI, the higher
the score, the lower the level of development, and the lower the score, the higher the level of development.
Thus, the score indicating the highest level of development is “0” and the lowest score would be “8.” In
applying ADI, Very High development is indicated by a value of “0;” High development countries must have a
value of “1” or “2;” those that have values of at least “3,” “4,” or “5” are considered to be at a Medium stage
of development; countries with values of “6,” “7,” or “8” are at the Low development stage.
For example, in noting the values for each variable above one asks with regard to each country: 1) Is the IMR
20 or above? If so, one point for this category is added to the score. 2) Is <15 above 40? If so, one point is
added to the score. 3) Is Urb below 60? If so, one point is added to the score. 4) Is Lit above 80? If so, one point
is added to the score. 5) Is FLit above 80? If so, one point is added to the score. 6) Is $2 above 20? If so, one
point is added to the score. 7) Is SLE less than 10? If so, one point is added to the score. 8) Is FSLE less than 10?
If so, one point is added to the score. In the case of Burkina Faso, the country achieves a score of “8,” which
places it in the Low Development category, whereas in the case of Bahrain a score of “0” places it in the Very
High Development category. The scores and development categories for each country are listed in Table 4,
which also shows corresponding HDI scores and levels of development.
To maintain some means for comparison, development categories for the ADI are the same as the HDI: Very
High, High, Medium, and Low. To a large degree, countries assessed using the ADI seem to be in the same
development categories as they appear in the HDI; however, 16 of the 48 countries experience a change in
categorical placement, and of these, half are elevated to a higher category and half are placed in a lower
category. Of the eight that increased a development level (from HDI to ADI), three (Bahrain, Lebanon, and
Malaysia) were elevated from High to Very High status, and five were raised in status from Medium to High
(Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Turkey, and Tunisia). Of the eight that were lowered in status (HDI to ADI), one
(United Arab Emirates) went from the Very High stage to the High stage. The remaining seven declined from
the Medium to the Low development level (Bangladesh, Comoros, Djibouti, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, and
Yemen).
Some explanation of these variances is in order. Differences in classification for these 16 countries may be
attributed to variables that are weighted differently in one means of development assessment or the other.
Moreover, the HDI is arguably more forgiving at lower levels of classification. For example, the HDI approach
requires countries to hold values of between .50 and .80, in order to be designated at a Medium level of
development. Countries, such as Djibouti, which were demoted from HDI Medium levels to ADI Low levels all
have HDI values below .60. Those countries that remained in the Medium category after the application of ADI,
such as Algeria, all have HDI values above .65. It is suggested that this illustrates how the HDI might be
misleading; for example, Pakistan is considered at the Medium stage of development according to HDI, with a
score of .572. Employing variables associated with ADI, it is determined that IMR =67, <15=38, Urb=35,
Lit=49.9, FLit=36, $2=60, SCLE=7, and FSCLE=6 account for an overall score of “7.” None of these values provide
evidence of a development level beyond Low, and it is in this category, according to the ADI, that Pakistan is
placed. Another country was lowered by the ADI as well; United Arab Emirates went from the HDI Very High
level to the ADI High level largely because adult literacy is just under 80%.
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The increase in HDI High to ADI Very High levels for three countries might be explained by a greater emphasis
on gross domestic product in the HDI and more emphasis on education in the ADI. This very well might be the
reason for the elevation in status for the five HDI Medium to ADI High countries, as well as the ADI emphasis on
education variables, especially with regard to women.
Table 4: Islamic Countries HDI and ADI
HDI
Country Mus Pop HDI ADI ADI Level
Level
Afghanistan 99 28.4 0.352 Low 7 Low
Albania 70 3.2 0.818 High 1 High
Algeria 99 35.4 0.754 Medium 4 Medium
Azerbaijan 93 8.8 0.796 Medium 1 High
Bahrain 81 1.2 0.895 High 0 Very High
Bangladesh 83 162.2 0.543 Medium 7 Low
Very
Brunei 67 0.4 0.92 0 Very High
High
Burkina Faso 50 15.8 0.389 Low 8 Low
Chad 53 10.3 0.392 Low 8 Low
Comoros 98 0.7 0.576 Medium 6 Low
Djibouti 94 0.9 0.52 Medium 6 Low
Egypt 90 78.6 0.703 Medium Insufficient Data
Gambia 90 1.6 0.456 Low 8 Low
Guinea 85 10.1 0.435 Low 8 Low
Guinea‐Bissau 50 1.6 0.396 Low 8 Low
Indonesia 86 243.3 0.734 Medium 3 Medium
Iran 98 73.2 0.782 Medium 3 Medium
Iraq 97 30 ‐‐‐‐ ‐‐‐‐ Insufficient Data
Jordan 92 5.9 0.77 Medium 1 High
Kazakhstan 47 15.9 0.804 High 2 High
Very
Kuwait 85 3 0.916 0 Very High
High
Kyrgyzstan 75 5.3 0.71 Medium 3 High
Lebanon 60 3.9 0.803 High 0 Very High
Libya 97 6.3 0.847 High 1 High
Malaysia 60 28.3 0.829 High 0 Very High
Maldives 100 0.3 0.771 Medium 1 High
Mali 90 13 0.371 Low 8 Low
Mauritania 100 3.3 0.52 Medium 8 Low
Morocco 99 31.5 0.654 Medium 5 Medium
Niger 80 15.3 0.34 Low 8 Low
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CONCLUSION
Although this approach (ADI) is an alternative to the HDI, it is only a beginning, and it may be subject to
modification by changing parameters, discarding variables, and adding new ones. For example, not all
educational measures might be considered necessary and two are possibly sufficient; this is acceptable if one
of the variables is devoted to female achievements, for a major criticism of the HDI is that it does not offer an
adequate assessment of gender disparities (though the GDI is intended to resolve this shortcoming).
Moreover, gross national income in purchasing power parity per capita (GNI PPP) might be considered a more
reliable economic measure than the percent of population living on less than US $2 a day.
Additionally, this study raises a number of questions concerning the assessment of development, not only in
Islamic countries, but throughout the world. What are the most reliable indicators for assessing development?
What are the best ways to gain a descriptive analysis of populations in different countries? How might these
methods be employed in the classroom to facilitate geographic education? Do these data assist in explaining
global migration trends? Lastly, how might policy‐makers tasked with difficult decisions involving humanitarian
aid, peacekeeping, and armed conflict apply these data and this approach to making cogent decisions?
This last question might be the most relevant, for in the world of Islam, the involvement of the U.S. and the
U.K., as well as other allied countries, has been less than stellar, to say the least. A lack of understanding of the
demographic attributes of the world’s largest Islamic countries, among other things, has contributed to
inadequate
Table 5: Islamic Countries ADI Summary Results
Levels of Development
Number of Countries Development
6 Very High
10 High
8 Medium
17 Low
7 Insufficient Data
Very High Development Countries
Number of Countries Region
4 Middle East
2 Southeast Asia
High Development Countries
Number of Countries Region
5 Middle East
2 Africa
1 Europe
1 South Asia
1 Central Asia
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Medium Development Countries
Number of Countries Region
4 Central Asia
2 Africa
1 Middle East
1 Southeast Asia
Low Development Countries
Number of Countries Region
13 Africa
1 Middle East
3 South Asia
Insufficient Data Countries
Number of Countries Region
4 Middle East
3 Africa
Variables Results
Number of Countries Variable
33 Infant Mortality Rate of 20 or more
17 40 % or more of the Population under the age of 15
29 Less than 60% of the Population is considered Urban
28 Less than 80% of the Population is considered Literate
30 Less than 80% of the Female Population is considered Literate
22 20% or more living on less than $2 US a day
16 School life expectancy less than 10 years
18 Female school life expectancy less than 10 years
Source: CIA, World Factbook, 2009; Population Reference Bureau, World Population Data Sheet, 2009, U.N, Human
Development Report, 2009.
planning for ill‐defined missions and mismanagement in the application of military forces. These data reveal
that in the countries the U.S. is currently involved in overt conflict, development status is Low, which is
characterized by high IMR, much lower levels in female literacy than is desired, and the likelihood of little
prospect for economic development.
The data also infer much about individual societies in Islamic countries that leaders and their constituents in
the world’s More Developed Countries are tasked to understand, but seem slow to realize. Among other
things, stark contrasts exist between the “haves” and the “have‐nots” throughout the Islamic World; however,
its inhabitants carry an unfair share of stress and struggle for survival, which has a marked impact on
opportunities for human development and propensity for engagement in terrorism and insurgency.
Mortenson (2006; 2009) as well as others (e.g., DeVivo 2008; Hadari 2005; Kristof 2009; Stone 2008) have
argued that perhaps the most effective way to implement positive changes vis‐à‐vis human development and
society is through education, and more specifically, the education of women. With the attainment of higher
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literacy levels, particularly among females, population growth rates tend to decrease, the overall human health
condition is elevated, and economic development follows. As women take on roles in the labor force that
enable them to generate income, their economic power is elevated, and in turn, their social and political power
increases as well, which has far‐reaching ramifications in ameliorating civil conflict and terrorism. By the same
token, as Moghadan (2004) has suggested, women’s empowerment also appears to throw traditional
patriarchies into crisis, which presents a host of implications in efforts directed toward improving their
educational levels and boosting the status of women.
In essence, fostering sound development and lasting peace requires a lengthy commitment to build
relationships with the people in impoverished regions and an attempt to understand their daily lives. For
example, to note that Afghanistan has a HDI value of .352 removes the human face from the illiterate young
mother who has just given birth to a girl that holds a one in four chance of surviving to her fifth year of life‐‐‐‐
and who herself can only expect to reach 44 years of age. It is developing an understanding of the people who
make up the numbers that will make development efforts work and foster peace and stability.
Given that, it is argued that a paradigm shift is in order among military leaders to move away from
concentrating on combat arms, and moving toward expanding the role and efforts of civil affairs. Though some
efforts have been made in this direction (e.g., Groves 2009), more needs to be done. Engaging in infrastructural
improvements relating to transportation networks, medicine and hospitals, as well as education and schools,
while assisting in the reduction of gender disparities, will likely have a far greater impact in promoting peace
and stability than armed conflict. It is past time for a long‐term commitment to be made in that direction.
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University
United Nations (2009). Human Development Report, 2009. Available at
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2009_EN_Indicators.pdf.
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ICIWG‐28
ADAPTATION MEASURES IN EIA AND RISKS MANAGEMENT: AN OVERVIEW OF THE LEGAL
FRAMEWORK IN PAKISTAN
Zulfiqar Ali* and Rashid Hussain**
* Asst. Professor, Dept. of Geography, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Peshawar, Pakistan
** Monitoring Inspector, Environmental Protection Ageency, Govt. of NWFP, Pakistan
ABSTRACT
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) emerged as a popular discipline in response to widespread ills,
associated with otherwise the environmentally unsound development pursuits in the past. The human
environment witnessed serious manifestations due to inadvertent, persistent neglect of the natural
environment in agricultural and technological revolution; especially after the high‐tech advancement in the
post WW‐II era. The United Nations conference on the human environment in 1972 was the first commitment
at the international level to adopt the principles of environmental conservation in development strategies.
Since then, many developed and developing countries showed quick response to adopt EIA as decision making
tool to avert the potential disasters associated with environmentally unfriendly development projects. The
legal obligations for environmental safeguards in individual states and international donor agencies have led to
development of many EIA methodologies for impacts scoping, evaluation and interpretation for the decision
making processes. Although, EIA has been a useful tool to provide summary descriptions of the economic costs
and benefits at par with the environmental losses and gains of development projects for decision makers and
the public, there are practicable challenges towards its effectiveness in the less developed countries (LDCs).
Realizing the national and international obligations towards environmental conservation, Pakistan embarked
on new institutional and legal measures for environmental preservation. Since the early crudest system of EIA,
the country has been consistent to adopt new measures to strengthen the use of EIA as planning tool at the
project level for ensuring maximum harmony between the environment and development. The first
environment ordinance, 1983 of the country has undergone several changes in this regard during the course of
time to the existing Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997. The changes are worth discussion, especially
in the context of IEE / EIA Regulations, 2000 aimed at ensuring the minimum possible input of EIA experts and
local community in the projects’ review and appraisal. The prospect of EIA in developing countries to foster
environmentally sound decision making lies beyond the legal cum institutional reforms to the political
commitment, capacity building and public involvement in all necessary steps in EIA studies.
KEYWORDS: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Initial Environmental Examination (IEE), Human
Environmnet, EIA Methodologies, Projects' Review and Appraisal
INTRODUCTION
This part summarizes the historical background of EIA, as adopted to harmful effects, and, their subsequent
unfavorable alterations in the environment due to environmentally unfriendly development projects /
programs. Various methodologies have been developed so far, with varying strengths and deficiencies. The tool
of EIA provides an elaborate picture of the future scenario that may arise due to project implementation and
offers assessment of various alternatives, with varying levels of mitigating measures for offsetting adverse
impacts on the natural vs human environment.
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History of eia
The history of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is, in fact, as old as the history of development of human
civilisation (Ali, 1993). Although, the safeguards of the surroundings of humankind has always been the focus of
concern through the long history of development of human civilisation, the terms _"environment" and
"Environmental Impact Assessment" have been referred to most frequently, recently after the widespread
adverse consequences of development during the last 3‐4 decades. Historically, man has always altered the natural
world in his pursuits of food, resources and comforts. The early impacts were emerged due to agricultural
chemicals to achieve maximum yields and avert damages to agricultural produces to meet needs of the faster
population growth. Before the industrial revolution, the inorganic chemicals like Sulphur before 1000 B.C and
Arsenic in 79 A.D were used against pests (Ali and Asif, 1991). After the industrial revolution in the 18th century,
the use of various chemicals and the consequent waste, posed considerable threats to environmental quality.
Other chemicals such as mercuric chloride in year 1705 and copper sulphate in year 1800 were discovered to be
useful for widespread use in agricultural fields (Horsefall, 1956). In 1850 rotenone and pyrethrum (Ali and Asif,
1991) and Bordeaux mixture in 1882 were discovered and brought into use (Mc Callan, 1967).
The discovery of DDT by Muller in 1939 was considered a welcome addition to chemical stock till 1960s, after
which it was banned almost in all developed and many less developed countries due to its broad spectrum nature,
persistence in the environment and bio‐accumulation in living organisms. Mellanby (1970) has described the role
of DDT in WWII, and suggests that it was the widespread use of DDT which helped the western powers to win the
war. According to Curi (1983), EIA has become popular in 1970s, but in reality it was an activity performed under
different names since the human history. Curi interestingly quotes the example of Adam (Peace be upon him) and
Eve (Peace be upon her) in Paradise, when Eve made a very rapid EIA. The older approach towards EIA is different
from the modern one, more because of the past simple approach; but the basic idea behind the analysis is similar
(Fortlage, 1990). Fortlage has given an example from 1548, when a commission comprising of chief assessors and
other investigators was set up to examine the effects of the Wealden iron mills and furnaces in Kent and Sussex.
The wide‐scale public interest and concern for the present state of environmental safeguards through EIA tool was
aroused by Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" published first in USA and then in UK in 1963. She succeeded in
showing the people how their land and lives were getting affected by the large scale and indiscriminate spraying of
pesticides. From this beginning arose public concern for the environment; and eventually pressure by the public
and environmentalists forced state and federal authorities in USA to exert some control over the release of toxic
chemicals into environment (Fortlage, 1990). As a result two bills were introduced to the US congress in 1969 to
establish a national policy for the environment, which were later amalgamated into the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA), which became law on 1st January, 1970. President Nixon issued Executive Order 11514 in March
1970 to implement the provisions of NEPA (Departments of the Environment & Transport, 1978). However, in view
of the author, the principles of environmental assessment were accepted internationally at the United Nations
conference on the Human Environment held on 5th June, 1972 at Stockholm; where serious concerns for
environmental preservation, later on, led to the generation of the significant publication of "World Conservation
Strategy" by IUCN, UNEP and WWF in 1980. Since the Stockholm conference, a number of industrialised countries
have adopted EIA procedures. The Netherlands has been a driving force in the development of the state of the art
of EIA in Europe. In mid seventies, the government announced its intention to submit legislation designed to create
an EIA requirement. Consequently the Dutch government finally introduced its bills on EIA into parliament in May,
1981 (Moltke, 1984). According to Petts. J. and Wood. C. (1999), the Netherlands had in fact already put its EIA
system before the European Community Directive on EIA; that was adopted in July 1985 (Wathern, 1988). The
EC Directive requires for a formal review procedure of EIA reports ((European Commission, 2001). Canada,
Australia, and Japan for example, adopted EIA system in 1973, 1974, and 1984 respectively. According to Turnbull
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(1984), there has been a slow growth of interest EIA in UK. In 1976 the Royal Commission on Environmental
Pollution gave the direction that developers should provide an assessment report of air, water, waste and noise
pollution arising from certain developments.
Many less developed countries have also been quick in adopting EIA procedures. Columbia became the first Latin
American country for adopting EIA in 1974. In Asia and the Pacific, Thailand and Philippines have long established
procedures for EIA. Thailand adopted National Environmental Quality Act in 1975, and made EIA mandatory by
1978 (Sudara, 1984). In Philippines, EIA was promulgated as part of a Presidential Decree on environmental policy;
Korea adopted a mandate for EIA in December, 1979 and put into effect in January, 1980; while Brazil adopted the
National Environmental Policy Law in 1981, which mandates the EIA (Lim, 1986). Pakistan adopted the first
Pakistan Environmental Protection Ordinance in 1983, which requires environmental assessment for development
projects (GoP, 1983), however, it was replaced with the current most comprehensive act called Pakistan
Environmental Protection Act (PEPA), 1997 (GoP, 1997). The Article 50 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of
Iran has provisions for environmental protection and clause 82 of the Law of Second Five‐year Development Plan
(1994‐1998) and the Clause 105 of the Law of the Third Five‐year Development Plan (1999‐2003) puts EIA
obligatory for major development projects (eiairan website). A number of nations in Africa, including Rwanda,
Botswana and the Sudan have the experience of EIA (Klennert, 1984). The United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) has provided guidance on the assessment of development proposals and so to level the way for adopting
EIA (UNEP, 1980) and supported research on EIA strengthening in developing countries (Ahmad and Sammy, 1985).
In view of the recognition of EIA, laws have been enacted in many countries, including the less developed, to
facilitate public involvement and expert consultation in the EIA process (Jennifer C. Li., 2008).
Methodologies to date
A methodology is the structured mechanism(s) for the identification, collection and organisation of environmental
impact data (Bisset, 1987). Methodologies are however, referred to means for classifying and presentation of the
results (Departments of the Environment and Transport, 1978). There is a reasonable range of differences in
approach towards methodologies around the World. There has been considerable research for developing
comprehensive, easier and cheaper methodologies. Canter (1977), Cheremisinoff and Morresi (1977) and Jain et al.
(1977) are the typical examples in this regard produced in USA; while Clark et al (1976, 1981) produced comparable
handbooks for the UK. Ahmad and Sammy (1985) and Carpenter (1983) developed guidelines for developing
countries. UNEP (1980) represents valuable guidance on environmental assessment for industrial projects.
Environmental assessment methodologies in widespread use today, can be catalogued into the four major groups:
_overlay mapping, matrix, index and modelling approaches (Sondheim, 1978). Some of the authors like Warner
and Preston (1974) have divided methodologies into five types _"adhoc, checklists, overlays, matrices and
networks" where as Bisset (1984) has divided them for direct impacts into checklists and matrices only. However
Wathern (1984) has emphasised interaction matrices, flow diagrams and network analysis and overlay techniques
for indirect impacts.
Lohani and Halim (1987) have listed them into seven categories as follows:
(1) Ad hoc
(2) Checklists
(3) Matrices
(4) Networks
(5) Overlays
(6) Cost‐Benefit Analysis
(7) Simulation Modelling
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The classification of methodologies, provided by Lohani and Halim (1987) is the most comprehensive and
understandable by the EIA practitioners, especially in the less developed countries. These are briefly discussed as
below:
(1) Ad hoc: This methodology is usually one of the oldest and crudest methods (Depts of the Environment and
Transport, 1978). This methodology gives the broad qualitative information which is of value in comparing
alternative development sites; in terms readily understandable by a lay decision maker or member of the public
(Lohani and Halim, 1987).
(2) Checklists: The checklists can be considered one of the earlier methods after ad hoc methodologies and are still
used in many different forms. The term checklist covers a variety of methodologies having widely varying
characteristics and degree of complexity. Many authors have divided the checklists into different forms of simple
checklists, descriptive checklists, questionnaire checklists, scaling checklists and scaling‐weighting checklists. There
is elaboration of various checklists by Bisset, 1987, Bisset, 1984, Dee et al., 1979 and Lohani and Halim, 1987.
(3) Matrices: This methodology was first developed by Leopold et al. (1971) called as "Leopold matrix". The matrix
giving simply the two lists of development actions (horizontal) and environmental parameters (vertical) has been
termed as simple interaction matrix by Lohani and Halim (1987). Environment Canada (1974) has also given a
minimum link matrix for indirect impacts; for example crabs are dependent on larvae as a food chain, while larvae
depend on bacteria, which in turn depend on upland vegetation (Wathern, 1984).
(4) Networks: The Networks are an extension of matrices incorporating the long‐term impacts of the project
activities (Lohani and Halim, 1987). The first EIA network was developed by Sorenson (1971) to evaluate conflicting
land uses in a coastal zone of California. Network concludes with the assessment of probable importance of
terminal effects (Singh and Scarlates, 1986).
(5) Overlays: The overlay mapping has a long history in a wide variety of planning activities. However, McHarg
(1968) has described the use of such a method for selecting highway routs even before the legal introduction of
EIA in USA (Bisset, 1987). Both the manual and computerised approaches are similar, but the computers allow
greater data manipulation and flexibility (Depts of the Environment and Transport, 1978).
(6) Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA): CBA is based on the principle of evaluating the economic and environmental costs
and benefits over a time as considered by the experts. According to Lohani and Halim (1987), the CBA utilizes the
natural resources data base in the conventional EIS as a starting point; but refining it for the purpose of
development related decision‐making. Lohani and Halim (1987) have classified the valuation technique broadly
into (i) market‐oriented and (ii) survey‐oriented. Bohm and Henry (1979) have given consideration to "option
value" in the process of CBA. Moreover, they have introduced the concept of the "Risk premium" _a higher cost
than the expected cost in case of uncertainty. According to Ahmad and Sammy (1985), CBA can't be regarded in
isolation or as a unique methodology. Harris (1984) has emphasised the calculation of "Health damage (predicted
changes in mortality and morbidity); Soiling and cleaning (changes in cleaning frequency); Vegetation (due to acid
rain, oxidants, sulphur compounds and fluorides); Material damage and Aesthetics and visibility". Similarly, he has
argued the calculation of the damage from water pollution in terms of its recreational, domestic, and commercial
and fishery uses.
(7) Simulation Modelling: The Simulation Modelling is based on the work of Halling and his associates at the
Institute of Animal Resource Ecology at the University of British Columbia, Canada and is often known as Adaptive
Environmental Assessment and Management (AEAM) (Bisset, 1987). This methodology is based on recognising or
creating the situation in a model that exists naturally in the field. Eventually all the exogenous factors
(development project or proposal) are introduced in the model and the consequent impacts are determined and
evaluated. This methodology has been developed in response to the main inherent problems of data inadequacy
and impact prediction in other methodologies.
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Eia and risk management
The role of EIA for risks management, associated with a proposed project on the natural and human environment
can be explained by the definitions and the procedures adopted for the conduct of EIA studies. EIA being relatively
new discipline, there is a range of variation regarding the EIA definition and approach towards procedures /
process from country to country and amongst the academicians and scholars. Therefore, it is important to note
that there is no general and universally accepted definition of EIA (Clark, 1984). The procedure involves a
systematic approach towards examining all the relevant parameters of the environment. Most of the authors have
evaluated the role of EIA for providing “with project” and “without project” situation to the decision makers and
explores a number of alternatives to minimise the adverse impacts. The concept of alternatives has been
elaborated by Blanchard (1974), while Hopkins et al., (1973) emphasises the description of present conditions,
alternative actions (including engineering options, design options, location options and current action), description
of probable adverse impacts and description of mitigating actions for offsetting the adverse impacts and the
potential risks.
According to OECD (1979), EIA is comprised of five essential elements; in which the element (iv) is particularly on
the assessment of different alternatives to minimise the unfavourable impacts. According to Garner and O'Riordan
(1982), EIA plays its ultimate role for economic development by describing the repercussions of proposals on bio‐
physical process, social processes and cultural norms; thus aiding decision making process to avert the potential
disasters associated with development proposals. Turnbull (1983), in discussion of "The Role of EIA in Decision
Making" has described its function as to generate and make available information on the environmental
implications of a particular plan or development project. Studying solely the essential elements or contents of EIA,
one can easily reach the conclusion that EIA is the only option left to protect the environment while achieving
economic development by giving the basis for making a sound decision. Motayed (1980) has advocated this
approach for investigating a large number of alternatives and feasible sites for power plants and also a "Weighting‐
Scaling" technique for the evaluation of alternatives, in order to eliminate the problems and complexities; arising
due to subjectivity in the assessment. Pearce and Turner (1990) have submitted considerable findings for sound
decision making. The Tyldesley. D, and Associates (2005) have highlighted the role of EIA from the UK
experience and its usefulness / added value in a comprehensive survey in Netherlands (Scholten. J., 1997).
The elements / contents of EIA discussed above are no less convincing but Ahmad and Sammy (1985), has
suggested more explicit format of EIA, especially for the developing countries. The EIA procedure and the resulting
contents suggested by them is comprised of:
i) Preliminary activities including,
_identify decision maker(s), taking decision on the fate of the project.
_select a coordinator for the EIA study
_decide on work allocation by the specialist experts
_write description of proposed action
_review existing legislation (about environment, other resources and land acquisition etc)
ii) Impact identification (scoping)
iii) Baseline study
iv) Impact evaluation (quantification)
v) Mitigation measures
vi) Assessment (comparison of alternatives)
vii) Documentation
viii) Decision making
ix) Post auditing
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The step (v) above, is especially considered in EIA, which is comprised of different measures to eliminate the
adverse impacts altogether or to minimise their intensity to tolerable levels. The last component of EIA devises
plan for monitoring / post auditing of the environmental impacts during the construction and operation phase of
the project.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The materials and methods used for this paper are comprised of the following research tools:
Literature review of books / journals and government documents
Compendium of the Pakistan Environmental Laws, including IEE / EIA Regulations, 2000
Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency’s EIA Registers
Interviews with officials of Federal and Provincial Environmental Protection Agency (NWFP)
RESULTS
Legal Framework
The first umbrella cover to environmental assessment system in Pakistan was provided under the “Pakistan
Environmental Protection Ordinance, 1983” (GoP, 1983). The ordinance, although incomprehensive in scope and
application, was the first commitment at the state level to ensure environmental safeguards in development
pursuits. The ordinance required for environmental impact statement under section 8 and outlined the necessary
process under subsections (1‐5) of section 8. The ordinance focused primarily on industrial operations and
unspecified public waters.
The perceived technical lacunas were overcome with the existing legislation of “Pakistan Environmental Protection
Act, 1997” (PEPA, 1997), which is highly ambitious to incorporate preventive and curative measure for the
promotion of sustainable development in the country (GoP, 1997). The Act is comprised of 34 sections and
consist 45 definitions of environment related concepts / activities to help avoid technical ambiguities /
confusions in its implementation. Besides, properly defined powers and functions of Pakistan environmental
protection Council, a policy formulating body under section 3‐4, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency,
Islamabad along with the respective provincial Environmental Protection Agencies have been established under
section 5‐8 of the Act.
IEE and EIA System in Pakistan
The section 12 of the Act provides for IEE and EIA of development projects, which is detailed further under
subsection (1‐7). The public participation has been made mandatory during every review process of EIA under
subsection (3), and requires for maintaining Registers for IEE and EIA to be kept open to public for inspection at all
reasonable hours under the subsection (7) of the Act. The Act has prescribed penalties under section 17, trial able
by the Environmental Tribunals, established under section 20‐21, and, the Environmental Magistrate under section
24.
The non‐compliance with section 12, relating to IEE and EIA is considered a major offence and is trial able by the
Environmental Tribunals, with the power of imposing up to Rs. one million (approx. US $ 12,000) and in case of
continuing contravention or failure, with an additional fine up to Rs. 100,000 (approx. US $ 12, 00) for every day
during which such contravention continues.
The newly adopted IEE and EIA Regulations, 2000 (GoP, 2000) make the system more effective and strengthens
EIA as decision making tool. The Regulations are detailed into 24 in number, and requires for IEE under Regulation
3 and for detailed EIA under Regulation 4. The Regulation 10 requires for Public Participation, which is further
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outlined into sub‐regulations (1‐6). There is a comprehensive Review process under Regulation 11; and, Monitoring
requirement under Regulation 19 to examine the implementation of the mitigating measures and any other
unforeseen adverse impact on the environment. The development projects have been categorised into Schedule I
for IEE and Schedule II for EIA.
Implementation Status of EIA System in the Country
Since the first environment ordinance in the country in 1983, there has been growing recognition of the EIA tool to
mitigate unfavourable impacts of development projects; and, to help pave the way for sustainable development.
The data in table # 1 about the last nine years (2000‐2008) illustrate a continuous increase in the number of EIA
reports i.e. from 06 in the year 2000 to 109 in the year 2008, submitted to Federal and provincial EPAs for
processing approval of EIA. This shows a progressive trend in implementation of the EIA system as 159
environmental clearance / NOCs were issued against 315 reports received for the purpose.
Table 1: Year‐wise Implementation Status of EIA System in the Country (2000‐2008)
S. # Year EIA Received NOC Issued
1 2000 6 6
2 2001 6 6
3 2002 11 10
4 2003 12 11
5 2004 29 14
6 2005 28 15
7 2006 28 19
8 2007 86 33
9 2008 109 45
Total 315 159
Source: Pak‐EPA, Islamabad (2009)
Figure 1: Year‐wise Implementation Status of EIA System in the Country (2000‐2008)
350
300
No. of E IA Reports
250
200
150 E IA R ec eived
NO C Is s ued
100
50
0
l
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 ta
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 To
Year
The province wise status is as shown in table # 2.
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Table 2: Province‐wise EPAs’ Performance statistics (2000‐2008)
Pak‐ EPA‐ EPA‐
S. # SEPA EPA‐NWFP Total
EPA Punjab Baluchistan
1 19 202 45 34 15 315
Source: Pak‐EPA, Islamabad (2009)
The statistics show that EPA‐Punjab processed significant number of EIA reports during the period (2000‐2008),
followed by EPA, Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan as being based on the size of population, Annual Development
portfolio and number of industrial units.
Figure 2: Province‐wise EPAs’ Performance Statistics (2000‐2008)
NOs. of EIA Report Submitted
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
l
ab
PA
PA
A
FP
ta
EP
To
nj
SE
BE
W
Pu
k-
N
Pa
A-
A-
EP
EP
Implementation Status in NWFP
The data about the last six years (2004‐2009) illustrate a continuous increase in the number of EIA reports i.e.
from 02 in the year 2004 to 07 in the year 2009; The highest number, however, of 14 EIA reports have been
recorded for the year 2008, submitted to EPA NWFP, for processing approval thereupon. This shows a positive
trend in implementation of the EIA system as 21 environmental clearance / NOCs have been issued against 33
reports received for the purpose.
Table 3: Year‐wise Implementation Status of EIA System in NWFP (2004‐2009)
S. # Years EIA Received NOC Issued NOC not Issued Under Process
1 2004 1 1 NA NA
2 2005 3 3 NA NA
3 2006 2 2 NA NA
4 2007 6 4 1 1
5 2008 14 8 1 5
6 2009 7 3 1 3
Source: EPA‐NWFP (2009)
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Figure 3: Year‐wise Implementation Status of EIA System in NWFP (2004‐2009)
16
14
12
EIA Reports Submitted
10
8
EIA Received
6 NOC Issued
NOC Not Issued
4 Under Process
0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Year
The data show, almost, a consistent growth in the number of EIA reports, submitted to EPA, NWFP. The highest
number is recorded for the year 2008; however, the decline in the year 2009 may be attributed to security
situation arising out of large scale military operation in the province in war against terrorism.
POLICY CHALLENGES
Lack of Integration of EIA at the Planning Level
The existing EIA system needs a policy shift from using EIA tool at the project level to its use at the planning level /
inception of the project, a term Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) often used. Under the existing system, it
becomes mere compliance with the legal imperative rather to use EIA for offsetting adverse implications of the
projects in terms of exploring alternatives and disapproval of the projects. The disapproval, especially of the public
sector projects becomes rather difficult after the commitment of funds etc.
Lack of Co‐ordination between the Line Departments
The existing PEPA, 1997 should assign overbearing responsibility to all the line departments to carry out IEE / EIA of
their respective sectoral projects on their own, and must involve the Pak‐EPA / provincial EPAs in the review /
approval processes. This will contribute to highest consistent growth in the number of IEE/ EIA reports for projects
approval.
Institutional Strengthening
This study reveals that Pak‐EPA / provincial EPAs are not adequately equipped with the monitoring and inspection
capabilities in terms of the state of the art equipments, manpower and financial support. The effective
enforcement of PEPA, 1997 and the Regulations, 2000 is largely dependent on the institutional strengthening in
the country.
Lack of Public Participation
The past IEE / EIA reports show that the local communities are not involved in the EIA studies, the least during the
impacts scoping (identification), impact evaluation and decision making. Under the existing Regulations, 2000,
there is a crude provision of public hearing during the review process, which carries many shortcomings. The public
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
participation must be comprised of local communities, environmental groups / associations and academia at the
crucial stages, especially during the decision making process.
Political Clout
The existing political thought in the country is largely empty of extending the required support to translate
environmental conservations into practice through institutional cum legal reforms and enforcement. The political
support can be heightened through vigorous campaigns, media attention and boosting green journalism in the
print and electronic media.
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
The study shows that EIA is relatively a new multidisciplinary decision making tool in the field of environment,
adopted in response to widespread adverse implications of the environmentally flawed development pursuits.
Although, the importance and significance of the application of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as
decision making tool was realized in 1970s, its application is being promoted vigorously globally, including
Pakistan, to eliminate / minimise the ill‐effects of development projects on the natural and human environment.
There has been a consistent focus, since then, to develop advance comprehensible EIA methodologies.
Pakistan has passed through adopting legal and institutional reforms since the first ordinance in 1983 to the
existing PEPA, 1997 and the recently adopted IEE/ EIA Regulations, 2000. The PEPA, 1997 is more comprehensive
and, sufficiently possessive of preventive and curative measures to prevent environmental degradation; and pave
the way for environment friendly sustainable development. The non‐compliance with Section 12, pertaining to IEE
/ EIA entails punitive proceedings against the violators in the form of imprisonment and fines. The Regulations,
2000 have consolidated the application of EIA tool in terms of projects categorisation, review process and public
hearing. Although, the review and decision making process need further improvements, the Act and the EIA system
in the existing format is remarkably comparable with good EIA processes in other countries in the world. The
implementation of the EIA system is progressive and there is a steady growth in the number of EIA reports in the
country.
The environmental implications of the modern technological advancement, which continue to pose new challenges
from time to time, Pakistan has been consistent to pace with the global community in taking legal and institutional
initiatives. However, to make the EIA system more responsive, the following suggestions are underlined below:
¾ The EIA tool should be applied at the project’s planning level to facilitate project’s financial and technical
vetting vis a vis environmental acceptability and to help identify viable alternatives. This provision must be applied
to projects preparation in all line departments of the Federal and provincial governments.
¾ The existing guidelines should be improved to make the procedure of EIA study cost effective and with the
involvement of real experts for carrying out EIA studies. Further, the experts / consultants should be required to do
public consultation / participation during the impacts scoping and evaluation. A code of conduct must be adopted
for the EIA experts / consultants to use the EIA system for the usefulness of the project as well as the environment.
¾ Amendments should be made to Review Procedure of the EIA reports and the system must incorporate the
local communities, media and academia during the review process.
¾ As EIA study is based on predictions, the actual impacts must be evaluated through a sound Post Auditing /
Monitoring System in the Federal and provincial EPAs. This will help identify the gaps between the predictions and
actual impacts of the projects and to act as an important feedback for future EIA studies; most importantly, for the
timely intervention for the safeguard of the environment in wake of the unforeseen adverse impacts.
¾ The information sharing should be reinforced for accommodating concerns of all stakeholders and to ensure
transparent / unbiased review of EIA reports, submitted to environmental agencies. Information sharing act as
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feedback for EIA experts / environmental agencies and winning trust of the local communities about the utility of
EIA system.
REFERENCES
Ahmad, Y. J. & G. K., Sammy, (1985), Guidelines to Environmental Impact Assessment in Developing Countries,
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www.eiairan.org/sea/Main.htm (accessed14 January, 2010)
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ICIWG‐29
INTERACTION BETWEEN URBANIZATION AND CLIMATIC FACTORS ON FORMATION OF
URBAN HEAT ISLAND AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGE: THE CASE OF TEHRAN
METROPOLITAN, IRAN
Parisa Shahmohamadi, A. I. Che‐Ani, M.F.I. Mohd‐Nor, M. N. Tawil, M. Surat
Architecture Department, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM Bangi, 43600, Selangor, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Tehran has experienced rapid growth of urbanization and industrialization since it became the capital (200
years ago) and this has caused serious environmental problems in the city. In an urban area, one of the great
problems is urban heat island effect, which is due to many factors such as urbanization and climatic factors,
resulting from the production and accumulation of heat in the urban mass. The main characteristics of UHI
effect are the raised temperatures in the city centre, leading to excessive energy use for cooling and putting
urban population at great morbidity and mortality risks. Therefore, it becomes increasingly important to study
that how could various factors form UHI over the city in order to reduce environmental challenges. This paper,
therefore, is focused on urbanization and climatic factors to understand the influence way of these factors on
formation of UHI. In addition, it is showed this formation is related to the interaction between the urbanization
and climatic factors. Thus, the percentage of UHI formation is high when great interaction exists. To achieve
this aim, with the case study of city of Tehran, this paper explores literally the conceptual framework of
interaction between urbanization and climatic factors on formation of UHI. It is then discussed how these two
different kinds of factors can be affected and give implication to the city, and then, focuses on whether actions
should be taken for balancing adaptation and mitigation UHI effects in Tehran metropolitan. It will be
concluded by making the recommendations for preventive action and provide quality of life.
KEYWORDS: Climatic Factors, Environmental Challenge, Urban Heat Island, Urbanization Factors.
INTRODUCTION
Since urban heat island is due to two factors, urbanization and climatic factors, many features of the physical
structure of the city can affect the urban climate and with negative impacts leas to increase urban heat island
intensity. In addition, it is not always a one way influence from urbanization toward climate. Increasing of
temperature and sunlight, decreasing wind speed, humidity and precipitation can be major factors on
formation of urban heat island. As a matter of fact, existing the interaction between urbanization and climatic
factors may influence greatly on formation of UHI. In other words, the percentage of UHI formation is high
when great interaction exists.
Therefore, according to the above concept, it becomes increasingly important to investigate effective factors
on formation of heat island and the interaction between these factors in order to recognize the formation way
of UHI.
Thus, this paper studies the major factors which affect urban heat island formation, such as urbanization and
climatic factors. Then, it explores a conceptual framework in order to show the interaction between these two
factors and how they can influence on formation of urban heat island on different layers of city. However, this
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paper only focuses on urban canopy layer heat island which is from urban design perspective. Then, by
considering the case of Tehran, it suggests some strategies for mitigating the effects of urban heat island.
RECOGNITION OF ALL DIMENSIONS OF UHI AS ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
The majority of cities are sources of heat, pollution and the thermal structure of the atmosphere above them is
affected by the so‐called “heat island” effect. A heat island is best visualized as a dome of stagnant warm air
over the heavily built‐up areas of cities (Emmanuel 2005). The heat that is absorbed during the day by the
buildings, roads and other constructions in an urban area is re‐emitted after sunset, creating high temperature
differences between urban and rural areas (Asimakopoulos et al. 2001). The exact form and size of this
phenomenon varies in time and space as a result of meteorological, locational and urban characteristics (Oke
1987). Therefore, urban heat island morphology is strongly controlled by the unique character of each city. As
it can be seen in Figure 1, Oke (1987) stated that a larger city with a cloudless sky and light winds just after
sunset, the boundary between the rural and the urban areas exhibits a steep temperature gradient to the
urban heat island, and then the rest of the urban area appears as a “plateau” warm air with a steady but
weaker horizontal gradient of increasing temperature towards the city center. In this Figure, the uniformity of
the “plateau” is interrupted by the influence of distinct intra‐urban land‐uses such as parks, lakes and open
areas (cool), and commercial, industrial or dense building areas (warm). In metropolitans especially in Tehran,
Iran, the urban core shows a final “peak” to the urban heat island where the urban maximum temperature is
found. The difference between this value and the background rural temperature defines the “urban heat island
ΔT
intensity” ( u − r ). The intensity of the heat island is mainly determined by the thermal balance of the urban
region and can result in a temperature difference of up to 10 degrees (Asimakopoulos et al. 2001).
Figure 1: Theoretical urban temperature cross‐section (Oke, 1987)
The heat island phenomenon may occur during the day or during the night. Givoni (1998) mentioned that the
largest elevations of the urban temperatures occur during clear and still‐air nights. During these times
temperature elevations of about 3‐5°C are common, but elevations of about 8‐10°C were also observed.
Today, the majority of cities are around 2°C warmer than rural areas and commercial and height density of
residential areas are hotter between 5 and 7°C (Bonan 2002). There are some main parameters, city size and
population, weather conditions such as cloud cover, wind speed, humidity, urban canyon characteristics, etc.,
which influence the temperature increase in cities and play significant role on it. Oke (1982) has correlated the
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ΔT
heat island intensity to the size of the city. Using population (P) as a surrogate of city size, u − r is found to be
proportional to log P. He remarks that produced urban warm temperature has direct relationship to urban
population. Because density of built‐up area and produced resources of anthropogenic heat, such as public
transportation, automobiles and industrial activities, will be developed with population growth.
Wind speed also influences on the heat island intensity which studied by Escourrou (in Asimakopoulos et al.
2001) for the city of Paris, the heat island intensity decreases for increasing wind speeds. Table 1 gives the heat
island intensity as a function of the wind speed. For winds higher than 5 m/s the temperature difference was
not important.
Table 1 : Heat island intensity and corresponding wind speeds in the greater Paris area (Escourrous in
Asimakopoulos et al. 2001)
Wind speed in rural areas Heat island intensity (K)
(m/s)
1 4.5
2 3.4
3 3.4
4 2.6
5 2.2
Jauregui (1984) has added to Oke’s data on numerous cities located in low latitudes in Sout America and India
(Figure 2). As shown in this Figure, the heat island in these cities is weaker. According to Jauregui, this
phenomenon can be attributed in part to the difference in morphology (physical structure) between South
American and European cities.
Figure 2: The maximum difference between urban and rural temperatures for US and European cities (Oke,
1982) together with data for tropical and mid‐latitude cities (Jauregui, 1984)
IPCC (1990) has compiled data from various cities so as to be able to assess the impact of the heat island. The
data show that the effect is quite strong in large cities. The temperature increase due to the heat island varies
between 1.1 K and 6.5 K (Table 2).
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Table 2 : Heat island effects in some cities (IPCC 1990)
City Temperature Increased (K)
30 US Cities 1.1
New York 2.9
Moscow 3‐3.5
Tokyo 3.0
Shanghai 6.5
According higher construction, urban heat island is due to many factors, the most important of which are
summarized by Oke et al. (1991) and deal with:
• Canyon radiative geometry contributes to decreasing the long‐wave radiation loss from street canyons as
a result of the complex exchange between buildings and the screening of the skyline. Infrared radiation is
emitted from the various building and street surfaces within the canyons. Buildings replace a fraction of the
cold sky hemisphere with much warmer surfaces, which receive a high portion of the infrared radiation emitted
from the ground and radiate back an even greater amount;
• Thermal properties of materials may increase storage of sensible heat in the fabric of the city during the
daytime and release the stored heat into the urban atmosphere after sunset. Furthermore, the replacement of
natural soil or vegetation by the materials, such as concrete and asphalt, used in cities reduces the potential to
decrease ambient temperature through evaporation and plant transpiration;
• Anthropogenic heat is released by the combustion of fuels from either mobile or stationary sources, as
well as by animal metabolism;
• The urban greenhouse effect contributes to the increase in the incoming long‐wave radiation from the
polluted urban atmosphere. This extra radiative input to the city reduces the net radiative drain;
• Canyon radiative geometry decreases the effective albedo of the system because of the multiple reflection
of short‐wave radiation by the canyon surfaces;
• The reduction of evaporating surfaces in the city puts more energy into sensible heat and less into latent
heat;
• There is reduced turbulent transfer of heat from within streets.
Asimakopoulos et al. (2001) also says that human is capable of influencing climate through human activities of
many different kinds and changes in ground cover (deforestation) or on the surface of the earth (building,
highways) are also important on a local scale, since they modify the albedo, the surface roughness, thermal,
moisture behavior and etc.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: INTERACTION BETWEEN URBANIZATION AND URBAN CLIMATIC FACTORS ON
FORMATION OF UHI
It is clear that climate has major impact on urbanization. Temperature, precepitation, humidity, wind, sunlight
and other climatic parameters can greatly influence the design of the city in terms of its general structure,
orientation, building forms, materials and the like. Instance, in hot arid areas, structure of the city is densely
and compact in order to avoid penetraation of sunlight.
Wong and Chen (2009) state that climate has impacts on buildings in terms of their thermal and visual
performances, indoor air quality and building integrity. For example, a properly oriented building will receive
loss solar heat gain and result in better thermal performance. In addition climate can influence the pattern of
energy consumption.
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It is not always a one way influence from climate toward urbanization. Urbanization, espacially in higher
density of built‐up areas, has more influence climate. Buildings in cities influence the climate in five major ways
(Bridgman et al., 1995):
1. By replacing grass, soil and trees with asphat, concrete and glass;
2. By replacing the rounded, soft shapes of trees and bushes with blocky, angular buildings and towers;
3. By releasing artificial heat from buildings, air conditioners, industry and automobiles;
4. By efficiently disposing of precipitation in drains, sewers and gutters, preventing surface infiltration; and
5. By emitting contaminants from a wide rang of sources, which, with resultant chemical reactions, can
create an unpleasent urban atmosphere.
Urban areas are the sources of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels for
heating and cooling; from industrial processes; transportation of people and goods, and the like (Grimmond,
2007; Oke, 1981; Santamouris, 2001). Increased in pollutant sources both stationary (industrial) and non‐
stationary (vehicles) result in worsening atmospheric conditions (Roth, 2002). The urban environment affects
many climatological parameters. Global solar radiation is seriously reduced because of increased scattering and
absorption (Santamouris, 2001). Many cities in the tropics experience weak winds and limited circulation of air
which helps the accumulation of pollutants (Roth, 2002). The wind speed in the canopy layer is seriously
decreased compared to the undisturbed wind speed and its direction may be altered. This is mainly due to the
specific roughness of a city, to channelling effects through canyons and also to the heat island effects
(Santamouris, 2001). In addition, higher temperatures increase the production of secondary, photochemical
pollutants and the high humidity contributes to a hazy atmosphere.
In parallel, the urban environment affects precipitation and cloud cover. The exact effect of urbanization
depends on the relative place of a specific city with respect to the general atmospheric circulation
(Santamouris, 2001). For example, urbanization causes a proportional increase in precipitation in cities like
London, which, because of its gepgraphic location, is more often in a perturbation zone, than in cities like Paris
(Escourrou in Asimakopoulos et al. 2001).
The city affects both physical and chemical processes in the atmospheric boundary layer (the lowest 1000 m of
the atmosphere) (Mayer,1992; Fezer, 1995), including:
• flow obstacles;
• The area of an irregular elevated aerodynamic surface roughness;
• Heat islands; and
• Sources of emissions, such as sulfate aerosols that affect cloud formation and albedo.
Table 3 shows the modification of meteorological parameters in urban areas. One of the best known
phenomena of the urban climate is the urban heat island. The term urban heat island denotes the increased
temperature of a city compared with the temperature of the surrounding rural area which is described in the
following way.
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Table 3 : Comparison of climate variables between urban and rural areas (WHO 2004)
Meterological Parameter Compared with Rural
Areas
Radiation Solar radiation Less
Ultraviolet radiation (winter) Less
Ultraviolet radiation (summer) Less
Sunshine duration Less
Air Temperature Annual mean Higher
Radiation days Higher
Minimum temperature Higher
Maximum temperature Higher
Humidity Relative Less
Absolute No change
Fog Less
Cloudiness More
Precipitation Annual mean More
Snow Less
Wind Mean wind‐speed Less
Calms More
*
Gusts Less
Contaminants Particles More
Gases More
* A gust is defined by the fact that wind velocity during the gust is more than 5.1 m/s higher than the mean wind velocity.
The minimum duration of a gust is 3 seconds.
Therefore, the temperature difference increases with an increase in the number of inhabitants and the building
density. According to table 3, in an urban area, an increase in the number of inhabitants and the building
density is caused higher temperature rather than rural areas, as well as lower humidity due to low albedo and
non‐reflective materials, lower wind speed due to high density, which they can provide different kind of urban
heat islands over the city. Many kind of urban heat islands can be identified depending on what kind of
temperature is examined. Depending on settlement structures, not only one urban heat island develops but an
urban heat archipelago (WHO, 2004). The various urban heat islands display different characteristics and are
controlled by different assemblages of energy exchange processes. According to the Oke (1987), there are
different types of UHI which can be classified as below:
1. Air UHI, which include urban canopy layer heat island (UHIUCL) found in the air layer beneath roof‐level
and urban boundary layer heat island (UHIUBL) found in the air layer above roof‐level. These are closely
coupled but have different magnitudes and are generated by different processes;
2. Surface UHI, this kind of UHI can be distinguished based on the temperatures of urban surfaces; and
3. Sub‐surface, found in the ground beneath the surface.
Figure 3 illustrates the interaction between urbanization and climatic factors which is caused the formation of
UHI in different layers.
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Figure 3: Interaction between urbanization and climate factors
EFFECTIVE FACTORS ON FORMATION OF UHI: WITH A GLANCE OF TEHRAN METROPOLITAN
Givoni (1998) states that the differences between the urban and the rural temperatures are affected by two
types of factors: (1) they are correlated with meteorological factors such as the cloud cover, humidity, and
wind speed; and (2) various features of the urban structure, such as the size of cities, the density of the built‐up
areas, and the ratio of buildings’ heights to the distances between them can have strong effect on the
magnitude of the urban heat island.
Chandler (1976), Landsberg (1981) and Oke (1982) noted that microclimatic effects of urban parameters on
heat island are: population size, topography, rivers and other water bodies, wind speed, anthropogenic heat,
water runoff and vegetation cover.
Therefore, urban heat island is the mutual response of many factors which can be divided into two factors: (1)
meteorological factors; and (2) urban structure factors.
1. Meteorological Factors
Meteorological factors include temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind and sunlight. Since current
meteorological conditions associated with heat island intensification are also associated with intense pollution
episodes in cities, higher temperatures and changes in cloud cover in the future could lead to higher rates of
smog formation, and lower wind speeds may tend to keep pollutants concentrated over urban areas.
Air temperature, cloud cover and precipitation are higher in cities than in the surrounding areas. The mean
wind speed is lower but gusts are more frequent. Insufficient air exchange in street canyons because of low
wind speeds can decrease ground‐level air quality (WHO, 2004) and increase the percentage of UHI formation
over the city.
2. Urbanization Factors
Increasing urbanization and industrialization has caused the urban environment to deteriorate. Deficiencies in
development control have important consequences for the urban climate and the environmental efficiency of
buildings. The size of housing plots has been reduced, thus increasing densities and the potential for traffic
congestion. The increasing numbers of buildings have crowded out vegetation and trees (Asimakopoulos et al.
2001). As a matter of fact, many features of the physical structure of the city can affect the urban climate and
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with negative impacts lead to increase urban heat island intensity. As shown in Table 4 urbanization can
directly affect climatic parameters such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind and solar radiation.
Table 4 : Effect of urbanization on climatic parameters (Emmanuel 2005)
Climatic Effect of Urbanization
Parameter
Temperature Rise in daily minimum temperature: Some change in maximum
temperature.
Humidity Reduction in daytime humidity, but increase in night‐time values.
Precipitation Large increases in summer (up to 21 percent) and smaller increases in
winter (5‐8 percent). In the tropics, the increase is attributed more to
air pollution than heat emission.
Wind Increases on the number of calm periods observed. Up to 20 percent
reduction in wind speeds are known. The effect is greater upon
weaker winds.
Solar Radiation Though incoming radiation values are not changed, the apparent
values are high due to the containment of reflected radiation by the
heat dome.
Figure 4 illustrates the effects of urbanization factors on climate. By considerable growth of buildings, climate
are surrounded by urban areas, leading to higher temperature, precipitation and sunlight and reduction in wind
speed and humidity, particularly in high density of built‐up area, which contributes to formation of UHI over
the city.
Figure 4: The effects of urbanization factors on climatic lead to higher temperature, precipitation, lower wind
speed and humidity
Therefore, it is important to describe the mean features by which the urban climate differs from the climatic
conditions of the surrounding rural areas. The general effects of urban structure on its climate can be divided in
the several groups described in the following way:
1. Location of the city: different locations within a given region may vary greatly in their temperature, wind
conditions, humidity, precipitation, fog, inversion prevalence and so on. Such variations may be caused by
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differences in distance from the sea, altitude, direction of slopes, and the general topography of the area
(Givoni 1998).
The existing of mountain ranges in the city can directly affect the formation of urban heat island. In Tehran city,
north and east mountains prevent taking out the air pollution which is brought by west prevailing wind into the
urban spaces and it is caused to pollutant the weather especially in east and central areas and increase
inversion in Tehran (Figure 5).
Figure 5: North Mountains in Tehran as obstacles and aggregation of pollution
According to Givoni (1998), local variations in topography may affect greatly the wind conditions. Windward
slopes of a hill experience much higher wind speeds than the leeward slopes. A flat valley surrounded by
mountains may experience poor ventilation conditions, a high frequency of nightly temperature inversions, and
the associated likelihood of air pollution. A narrow valley facing the wind concentrates the airflow and the
inhabitants, especially in cold regions, may suffer from excessive wind speed. On the other hand, in warm‐
humid regions, where natural ventilation is essential for comfort and where the general wind speed may be
rather low, such windier locations may be the desirable ones.
In Tehran, topography condition increases pollution and provides warm air canopy over the central city and
absorbs pollutions from the other parts of the city (Madanipore, 1998).
3. The size of the city and population: moving the large number of population from the suburbs to the urban
areas are caused accelerating of urbanization and increasing the size of the city. The formation of the urban
heat island phenomenon depend upon the size and density of the population, as well as of its standard of living
(such as vehicular traffic, intensity of heating in the winter and air conditioning in the summer, and industrial
plants). As described before Oke (1982) has correlated the heat island intensity to the size of the urban
population. They have a direct relationship which with higher population, the heat island intensity will be
increased.
The main causes of increasing Tehran city size are rapid and unsuitable urbanization since it became capital
(200 years ago). In this period of time, population, city size and density have grown respectively 400, 142.5 and
2.8 times as much (Madanipore, 1998).
Higher population in Tehran annually increase millions kilo calorie energy in urban thermal temperature from
biological activities. Producing lots of energy from these activities is caused UHI (Alijani and Safavi,2007).
3. Density of built‐up area: density of the various built‐up areas in a city affects the local climate in each of the
discrete urban areas. In Tehran, accelerating of urbanization in order to comply demands of large number of
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population is caused increasing the density of built‐up area which leads to raised temperature and heat island
intensity.
Buildings modify the wind, the radiant balance, and the temperature conditions near the ground level. As
shown in Figure 7, land covered by buildings can not be planted. Therefore, the fraction of land covered by
buildings in a given area is a relevant factor in evaluating the climatic effect of urbanization.
In addition, the distances between buildings along axis affect the solar exposure of the buildings and the
potential for day lighting and for solar energy utilization for space and water heating (Figure 6).
Figure 6: High density of built‐up areas in the central Tehran
4. Urban geometry: the urban geometry of a city is characterized by a repetitive element called the urban
canyon (Emmanuel 2005). Air circulation and temperature distribution within urban canyons are significant for
the energy consumption of buildings, pollutant dispersion studies, heat and mass exchange between the
buildings and the canyon air (Asimakopoulos et al. 2001).
Emmanuel (2005) has defiened urban canyon as the three‐dimensional space bounded by a street and the
buildings that abut the street. Urban canyons restrict the view of the sky dome (characterized by the sky view
factor SVF), cause multiple reflection of solar radiation, and generally restrict the free movement of air (Figure
7). For long urban canyons it is customary to specify the geometry by its height of building/width of street
(H:W) ratio, sometimes known as the aspect ratio. Oke (1981) belives that the sky view faktors is a geometrical
concept that describes the fraction of the overlying hemisphere occupied by the sky. Since the view of the sky
is critical for long‐wave radiation (as well as short‐wave energy gain), it goes without saying that SVF is of
critical utility to urban and increase UHI intensity.
Figure 7 Canyon geometry and SVF
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In Tehran city, complex urban geometry especially in the Central Tehran increases friction created by a rough
urban surface (Figure 8).
Figure 8: Urban geometry of the central Tehran
5. Thermal properties of fabric: materials such as stone, concrete, and asphalt tend to trap heat at the surface
(Landsberg 1981; Oke 1982; Quattrochi et al. 2000). These kinds of materials absorb and retain solar radiation
in urban fabric and at night, this stored heat is released slowly from the urban surface.
The albedo of a surface is responsible for the amount of solar radiation it absorbs. High albedo building
surfaces (such as white ones) have been proven to cool down urban temperatures (Akbari et al. 1997; Taha
1997; Konopacki et al. 1998).
In Tehran, the most of urban construction materials are concrete and asphalt with low albedo and non‐
reflective surfaces which absorb solar radiation and cause higher temperature and UHI formation (Figure 9).
Figure 9: Urban construction materials in Tehran
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6. Surface waterproofing: lack of porosity materials in urban surface, a high percentage of non‐reflective,
water‐resistant surfaces and a low percentage of vegetated and moisture trapping surface create an
evaporation deficit in the city caused intensity of urban heat island. Vegetation, especially in the presence of
high moisture levels, plays a key role in the regulation of surface temperatures, even more than may non‐
reflective or low‐albedo surfaces (Goward et al. 1985) and a lack of vegetation reduces heat lost due to
evapotranspiration (Lougeay et al. 1996).
In Tehran, construction of new buildings has crowded out the vegetation. Destroying vegetation and green
spaces has been caused the lack of evapotraspiration and higher temperature (Figure 10).
Figure 10: Lack of porosity materials in Tehran urban spaces
7. Anthropogenic heat: anthropogenic heat into the urban atmosphere further contributes to the intensity of
the UHI effect (Taha 1997). Urban centers tend to have higher energy demands than surrounding areas as a
result of their high population density. Though the heat island effect reduces the need for heating in the
winter, this is outweighed by the increased demand for air‐conditioning during the summer months (Landsberg
1981), which in turn causes increased local and regional air pollution through fossil‐fuel burning electric power
generation. The pollution created by emissions from power generation increases absorption of radiation in the
boundary layer (Oke 1982) and contributes to the creation of inversion layers. Inversion layers prevent rising
air from cooling at the normal rate and slow the dispersion of pollutants produced in urban areas (Sahashi et al.
2004).
In Tehran, increasing large number of buildings and population are caused that all the energy consumed by air
conditioning is eventually released to the environment, elevating the urban temperature.
8. Air pollution: in general, urban areas are subject to a wide range of pollutants. Three sources are the most
important sources of air pollutants which includ industry, motor vehicles and the burning of fossil fuels for
heating or electricity generation. The contribution of industrial sources to air pollution varies considerably from
one town to another, depending on the density and type of industry in an area, its precise location and the
extent to which it has adopted restricting measures to control emissions or disperse them over long distances.
In many cases, industrial pollution is exclusively an urban problem. On the other hand, air pollution problems
related to city transport and buildings are more closely linked to the internal functioning of the city
(Asimakopoulos V.D. 2001). The contribution of these energy‐using activities to the levels of particular
pollutants is set out in Table 5.
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Table 5 : Sources of air pollution (Asimakopoulos V.D. 2001)
Sector CO2 SO2 NOx
Energy generation 37.5 71.3 28.1
Industry 18.6 15.4 7.9
Transport 22.0 4.0 57.7
Others 21.9 9.3 6.3
Depending on the energy source, space heating can be one of the most important sources of air pollution. In
Dublin, for example, domestic heating is a major source of SO2 and particulate. A gradual shift away from coal
has removed some of the worst effects of particulate and SO2 pollution on a local scale. However, a shift to
electricity does not solve the problem at the global level, owing to the pollution resulting from forms of
electricity generation. In this wider global perspective, the use of all forms of fossil fuel contributes to problems
of acid rain and, indirectly, to the greenhouse effect(Asimakopoulos V.D. 2001).
While the worst problems of local air pollution caused by heating have been solved, they have been replaced
by increased levels of transport pollution. Automobile engines are major sources of NOx, CO, particulates and
lead. As far as CO2 is concerned, it is worth noting that almost half of transport combustion is estimated to be
due to urban traffic, while in many cities, the transport sector is responsible for almost 90% of carbon
monoxide emissions.
Air pollutants, such as sulphur and nitrogen oxides, can be transported over long distances downwind from the
released position. These pollutants either reach the surface in dry form (dry deposition) or are removed from
the air and carried to the ground by means of rain or snow (wet deposition or acid rain). Acid deposition
contains both dry and wet deposition. Sulphur dioxide and oxide of nitrogen that are on the ground are
transformed into acids interesting with the water. In addition, the air pollutants remaining aloft may be
transformed into drops of sulphuric acid (H2SO4) and nitric acid (HNO3) and fall to the earth. As a result of this
toxic precipitation, different areas of the world become acidic, causing severe effects on the natural
environment.
The foundations of structures, building surfaces, monuments and other structures in many cities have been
seriously affected. This is a major environmental problem that will become much more serious if adequate
precautions are not taken.
It is known that between 65 to 70 percent of total emissions are related to urban transport operations (Alijani
and Safavi, 2007). The problem is compounded by topographical (mountains to the north and the east) and
climatological factors (sunshine, frequent temperature inversions), which favour photochemical transformation
of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) to produce smog and tropospheric ozone
(Figure 11).
Figure 11: Air pollution in Tehran
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9. Landuses: Industrial land uses in the west of Tehran are caused lots of problems. Settling industry in
unsuitable place and not considering hygiene rules are caused Tehran air pollution and West and South
western prevailing winds lead factories surplus materials to the city (Alijani and Safavi, 2007).
10. Wind speed: Lower wind speeds in the city because of high density inhibit evaporation cooling and are
caused warm air stagnates in the urban canyons and pollutions remain and increase the UHI intensity.
MITIGATION OF UHI EFFECTS IN TEHRAN METROPOLITAN WITH APPROPRIATE RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Providing appropriate landscape
Providing appropriate landscape in urban and building scales can contribute to reduce energy consumption.
The impact of appropriate landscape around a building on the energy consumption and the temperature
regime around them is very important. Landscaping of the surrounding area is a basic criterion to the
improvement of the external climatic conditions. As mentioned by Asimakopoulos et al. (2001) shading from
trees can:
1. Decrease significantly energy for cooling;
2. Decrease the rate of heat convection inside of buildings by shaded surfaces which have lower
temperature; and
3. Decrease the radiation exchange of the wall with the sky.
Sailor (1994) considers that the low evaporative heat flux in cities is the most significant factor in the
development of urban heat island. When vegetation is placed on urban surfaces, thermal balances can shift to
new conditions, closer to the cooler conditions of rural areas. It is estimated that 1460kg of water is
evaporated from an average tree during a sunny summer day, consuming about 860MJ of energy; this offers a
cooling effect outside a building that is equal to five average air conditioners (Santamouris, 2001). In addition,
water surfaces and wind channeling through natural or artificial barriers, reduce the effect of solar radiation in
summer, while in winter they shelter the building.
As a matter of fact, for reducing energy consumption it must be considered various types of trees and
vegetations and water bodies in different parts of the city and buildings.
Therefore, this paper recommends using green spaces in vertical and horizontal layers:
Vertical green spaces: using green spaces in some parts of buildings and city in order to provide natural
ventilation or even providing appropriate landscapes in different layers of buildings or in some floors as a
multiuse function can significantly decrease energy for cooling the buildings.
Horizontal green spaces: using green spaces on roofs in order to absorb heat, decreasing the tendency towards
thermal air movement and filter the air movement across it.
Through the daily dew and evaporation cycle, plants on vertical and horizontal surfaces are able to cool the
cities during hot summer months. In the process of evapotranspiration, plants use heat energy from their
surroundings when evaporating water.
2. Using appropriate materials on external surfaces of the buildings and urban areas
An increase in the surface albedo has a direct impact on the energy balance of a building. Large‐scale changes
in urban albedo may have important indirect effects at a city scale. Cities and urban areas in general are
characterized by a relatively reduced effective albedo as a result of two mechanisms (Santamouris, 2001):
1. Darker buildings and urban surfaces absorb solar radiation; and
2. Multiple reflections inside urban canyons significantly reduce the effective albedo.
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As Asimakopoulos et al. (2001) stated numerous studies have been performed to evaluate the direct effects of
albedo change and demonstrate the benefits of using reflective surfaces. In all cases the temperature of roofs
are significantly reduced, but the degree to which cooling load decrease depends on the structure of the roof
and on the overall thermal balance of the building. Surface materials with a high albedo index to solar radiation
reduce the amount of energy absorbed through building envelopes and urban structures and keep their
surface cooler.
Cites and urban areas materials can be divided into pavement materials, roof materials and building envelopes.
Therefore, this paper recommends using reflective materials in different parts of urban areas to reduce heat
island and improve the urban environment which include:
1. Using high albedo materials on building surfaces: A material with high albedo can reduce the solar heat gain
during the daytime. The surface temperature of the material is lower than that of a material with low albedo.
Since the urban ambient temperature is associated with the surface temperatures of the building façade, lower
surface temperature can obviously help decreasing the ambient air temperature and eventually contribute to
better urban thermal environment.
2. Using white pavements instead of asphalt: asphalt temperature close to 63°C and white pavements close to
45°C (Santamouris, 2001). Lower surface temperatures contribute to decreasing the temperature of the
ambient air as heat‐convection intensity from a cooler surface is lower. Such temperature reductions have
significant impacts on consumption of cooling energy in urban areas.
3. Using cool roofs: reduce building heat‐gain, as a white reflective roof, create savings on summertime air
conditioning expenditures, enhance the life expectancy of both the roof membrane and the building’s cooling
equipment, improve thermal efficiency of the roof insulation, reduce the demand for electric power, reduce
resulting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, provide energy savings and mitigate the effect of urban
heat island.
3. Promoting natural ventilation
Natural ventilation as the most effective passive cooling technique can provide cooling during both day and
night, while night ventilation is a very effective strategy in hot climates (Asimakopoulos et al. 2001).
Providing some strategies in urban areas and buildings can be contributed into providing natural ventilation
and saving energy. Therefore, this paper recommends some strategies to achieve this aim, which include:
1. Natural ventilation by arrangement of openings in buildings to face the prevailing wind can provide efficient
natural ventilation and create a healthy indoor air quality.
2. Natural ventilation by ventilated roofs is caused eliminating overheating of buildings envelopes.
3. Variation of building height can create better wind at higher levels if differences in building heights between
rows are significant.
4. Orientation of Buildings with adequate gaps between them are useful for good airflow.
5. Increasing the permeability of building by provision of void decks or pilot at ground level or at mid‐span.
CONCLUSION
The existing interaction between urbanization and climatic factors created the UHI formation over the city. As
observed, the percentage of UHI formation is high when great interaction exists. Although urbanization factors
have great impact on climate, climatic factors also affect on urbanization and turn cities into unwelcome hot
areas.
In Tehran, especially in summers, raised temperatures derive from the altered thermal balances in urban
spaces, mainly due to the materials and activities taking place in city. The increasing numbers of buildings and
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Konopacki, S., Gartland, L., Akbari H. and Rainer, L. (1998). "Demonstration of Energy Savings of Cool Roofs", A
Report Prepared for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Heat Island Project, University of California,
Berkeley.
Landsberg, E.H. (1981). The Urban Climate, Maryland, Academic Press.
Lougeay, R., Brazel, A., & Hubble, M. (1996). “Monitoring Intra‐Urban Temperature Patterns and Associated
Land Cover in Phoenix; Arizona Using Landsat Thermal Data”, Geocarto International, 11: 79‐89.
Madanipour, A. (1998). Tehran: the Making of a Metropolis, England, John Wily & Sons.
Mayer H (1992). Plannungsfaktor Stadtklima. Münchner Forum, Berichte und Protokolle, 107:167–205.
Oke, T.R., Johnson, G.T., Steyn, D.G. and Watson, I.D. (1991). "Simulation of Surface Urban Heat Islands Under
Ideal Conditions at Night"‐ Part 2: Diagnosis and Causation, Boundary Layer Meteorology, 56: 339‐358.
Oke T (1987). Boundary layer climates. 2nd ed. London, Methuen.
Oke, T.R. (1982). “The Energetic Basis of the Urban Heat Island”, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological
Society, 108(455): 1‐24.
Oke, T.R. (1981). “Canyon Geometry and the Nocturnal Urban Heat Island: Comparison of Scale Model and
Field Observations”, Journal of Climatology, 1: 237‐254.
Quattrochi, D. A., Luvall, J. C., Rickman, D. L., Estes Jr., M. G., Laymon, C. A., & Howell, B. F. (2000). “A Decision
Support Information System for Urban Landscape Management Using Thermal Infrared Data”,
Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 66: 1195– 1207.
Roth, M. (2002). Effects of Cities on Local Climates, Proceedings of Workshop of IGES/APN Mega‐City Project,
23‐25 January 2002, Kitakyushu Japan.
Sahashi, K., Hieda, T., Yamashita, E., (2004). “Nitrogen‐Oxide Layer over the Urban Heat Island in Okayama
City”, Atmospheric Environment, 30 (3): 531–535.
Sailor, D.J. (1994). Sensitivity of Coastal Meteorology and Air Quality to Urban Surface Characteristics, Preprints
of the Eighth Joint Conference on the Applications of Air Pollution Meteorology, American Meteorological
Society, Boston, MA, 8, pp. 286‐293.
Santamouris, M., Papanikolaou, N., Livada, I., Koronakis, I., Georgakis, C., Argiriou, A., and Assimakopoulos, D.
N. (2001). On the Impact of Urban Climate on the Energy Consumption of Buildings, Solar Energy, 70(3): 201–
216.
Sepehri, J. and Zarei, P. (2007). “Sport and Heat Island Phenomenon in Cities”, Proceeding of First National
Conference of City and Sport, Tehran, Iran.
Taha, H., (1997). “Urban Climates and Heat Islands: Albedo, Evapotranspiration, and Anthropogenic Heat”,
Energy and Buildings, 25: 99–103.
Wong, N. H. (2002). A Study of the Urban Heat Island in Singapore, A Report of Heat Island Project, National
University of Singapore.
World Health Organization (WHO), Heat‐waves: Risks and Responses. Health and Global Environmental Change
(Series, No. 2). Geneva: German Weather Service (DWD). London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and
WHO/Europe, 2004.
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ICIWG‐30
APPLICATION OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM (GIS) FOR DISTRIBUTION OF FRESH
VEGETABLES CONSIDERING THE VEHICLE ROUTING PROBLEM
(STUDY AREA OF KUALA LUMPUR & KLANG VALLEY, MALAYSIA)
1
Mohammad Abousaeidi, 2Dr. Rosmadi Fauzi,3 Dr. Rusnah Muhamad
1
PhD Candidate, 2Supervisor, 3Co‐Supervisor
1,2
Department of Geography, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
E‐Mail: mohammad_abo@yahoo.com
3
Department of Financial Accounting and Audit, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
This research will conduct a well known company which is producing all kind of fresh vegetables. This company
is interested in reducing the total distribution cost based on the total distance travelled and total length of
drive time. At present this company has customer; such as hypermarket around the country and approximately
most of them are located in Kuala Lumpur. The vehicle must be loaded at the company where producing the
fresh vegetables, and then send for distribution of vegetable to hypermarket around the city and return to the
company.
For this research needs to use the GIS (Geographic Information System) technique. This technique is the
respond for requirements of this research by using the network analyzing in GIS technology. The GIS technique
aims to improve the effectively of information availability and can be used for determining the suitable road
based on shortest distance and drive time.
Vehicle routing has many practical applications within the fields of operations research, logistics, distribution,
supply chain management, and transportation, etc. In general, vehicle routing involves finding efficient routes
for vehicles along transportation networks, in order to minimize; route length, service cost, travel time,
number of vehicles, etc.
It will develop a computer model able to decide the optimal distribution for certain needs. The system will try
to improve the delivery service by decreasing the length of drive time and overall distribution cost, wherever
possible. Finally this model will help the company reducing their distribution cost and can build the delivery
network base on their requirement.
The result of this research will show later that how decision support system tool very useful to describe the
suitable route in order for distribution. The VRP gives the solution on how to take the routes with less drive
time or less distance for the purpose of this research.
KEYWORDS: Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP); Geographic Information System (GIS); Distribution; Distribution
Cost; Fresh Vegetables; Network Analysis
INTRODUCTION
Most of the companies and central planning systems would like to distribute their goods at a destination in the
least amount of time, shortest distance and lowest cost. The important role for route feature is used for
transportation include highways, streets, transportation routes. Networks also play an important role in our
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everyday lives and network analyzing improves the movement of goods, services and flow of resources
(Memon, 2005).
It is accepted that distribution problems are currently one of the most important problems that both, public
and private companies have to face day to day. This is especially true for companies involved in the delivery of
goods, whose income is strongly dependent on how distribution problems are solved. Therefore, it is crucial
that computer systems able to perform such a task as efficiently as possible be developed. These kinds of
problems are known as Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) (Belenguer, 2005).
For this research needs to use the GIS (Geographic Information System) technique. This technique is the
respond for requirements of this research by using the network analyzing extension in GIS technology. The GIS
technique aims to improve the effectively of information availability and can be used for determining the
suitable routs based on shortest distance and drive time and finally developing a model to reduce the overall
cost in order to distribute the fresh vegetables to the customer such as hypermarkets.
The Network Analyst extension for GIS ArcView software solves problems of network traffic on streets,
highways or any interconnected set of lines. It can find the shortest or fastest route depends on the attribute
table between your origin and your destination, including all the stops along the route.
Vehicle routing has many practical applications within the fields of operations research, logistics, distribution,
supply chain management, and transportation, etc. In general, vehicle routing involves finding efficient routes
for vehicles along transportation networks, in order to minimize; route length, service cost, travel time,
number of vehicles, etc (Rice, 2003).
Nowadays, many convenience store operators or larger retailers contract with distribution center operators to
deliver perishable food within allowable delivery times, or time‐windows. If vehicles arrive after a specified
time‐window, a penalty cost may be incurred. Therefore, a well designed delivery route will not only ensure
delivery of the freshest food, but also satisfy customers’ requirements in a cost‐effective and timely manner.
Delivery time may be dependent on traffic conditions; travel time is longer during the rush hour in urban areas.
Therefore, the consideration of time‐dependent travel should be incorporated into determining optimal
delivery routes, under time‐window constraints (Chaug‐Ing Hsu, 2007).
The study area which has been considered in this research is the place for producing fresh vegetables. The
name of the place is Sime Aerogreen Technology Sdn Bhd, which is called Sime Fresh.
a. Objectives
The following objectives will be accomplished in this study
1. To develop a spatial database management system for analyzing the Data.
2. To develop a GIS model for distribution problem and find out the set of routes
3. To minimize the overall distribution cost based on distance and length of drive time and fuel consumption,
using the ArcView GIS software and offer the best cost‐effective route.
b. Problem statement
One of the most important points about fresh vegetables which have to be considered is preserving nutritional
characteristics during transportation. Fresh vegetables is an example of perishable goods, so requires the
optimal route for distribution and preserving the nutrition value and taste as their best in order to have a
better cost effectiveness value (Osvald, 2008).
In here also I have to mention about the price of petrol which is increasing every day, and brings more
attention to this factor, especially in the private sector is interested in determining which route is the best to
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follow as means to save time and essentially gain the best cost/benefit ratio and reduce their costs. This can be
used to distribute goods and delivering foods such as fresh vegetables.
c. Contribution of this research
Many researches have been done on transportation management system and transportation planning in the
field of civil engineering. The network analyzing also has been discussed in the field of computer science and
engineering. This research will be conducted in the geography department and focuses more on spatial data.
The reason for using Geographic Information System according to (Camara, 2001) is due to the availability of
low cost Geographic Information System (GIS) with user‐friendly interfaces. To achieve that it is enough to have
a database and a geographic base (like a map of the municipalities), and the GIS is capable of presenting a
colored map that allows the visualization of the spatial pattern of the phenomenon.
For this paper, it will present a model for the representation of the length of drive time and considers it as part
of the overall total distribution cost. The mode is for the distribution problem between the distribution center
which is Sime Fresh and the hypermarket as a vehicle routing problem.
Preview researches have been done to solve the vehicle routing problem (VRP) also address the transportation
of food stuffs and fresh issue to the problem in here. For instance, Osvald developed an algorithm for the
distribution of fresh vegetables in which the perishability represents a critical factor. Their model considers the
impact of the perishability as part of the overall distribution costs. For this work they didn’t use the Geographic
Information System and spatial analysis for displaying the maps. Tarantilis analyzed the distribution of the
fresh milk. They formulated the problem as a heterogeneous fixed fleet vehicle routing problem; this is a VRP
with vehicles that have different capacity. The aim of route scheduling for this research was to find a set of
routes that minimize the total cost of delivering fresh milk from the single factory of the diary company to
supermarkets and small stores by using a heterogeneous fixed fleet of vehicle. For this work they didn’t
consider about the GIS and spatial analyzes. Alvarez has used stated preference method for determining the
value of time in traffic situation considering a road parallel network. Finally he has compared two cases which
illustrate the relevance of the value of time.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Osvald has been focused on the distribution of fresh vegetables in which the perishability represents a critical
factor. This particular problem was formulated as a vehicle routing problem with time windows and time‐
dependent travel‐times (VRPTWTD) where the travel‐times between two locations depends on both the
distance and on the time of the day. The model considers the impact of the perishability as part of the overall
distribution costs and a heuristic approach. This paper presents a model for the representation of the loss of
quality and considers it as part of the overall distribution costs. They model the distribution problem between
the distribution centers and the customers (retailers) as a vehicle routing problem with time windows and with
time‐dependent travel‐times (VRPTWTD) where the travel‐times between two locations depends on both the
distance and on the time of day.
Belenguer, presents a computer program that has been developed to design the dispatching routes of a
medium‐sized meat company in Spain. In this research modeled the real problem as a variant of the vehicle
routing problem with Time Windows and implemented a number of heuristic algorithms based on the most
advanced solution techniques for this problem. In order to solve the problem in this research, it has been
developed the program RutaRep that has been coded in Visual C++ and runs on a personal computer.
Tarantilis presented a real‐life distribution problem of fresh meat in an area of the city of Athens. They
formulated the problem as an open multi‐depot vehicle routing problem. They presented a new stochastic
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search meta‐heuristic algorithm belonging to the class of threshold‐accepting algorithms. Their company
estimated that the fixed cost of the vehicle involved in the distribution process of fresh meat is high enough,
and therefore decided to assign distribution task to hired vehicles.
Chen proposed a nonlinear mathematical model to consider production scheduling and vehicle routing with
time windows for perishable food products in the same framework. The demands at retailers are assumed
stochastic and perishable goods will deteriorate once they were produced.
a. Mathematical Model
We model the problem of the distribution of the vegetables between the central depot and the final customers
(retailers) as a VRP. In Model assume:
• homogeneous fleet of vehicles with a limited capacity
• time‐dependent travel‐times between the customers;
The objective function to minimize the total cost is as following:
Total Distribution Cost = ∑ Distance + ∑ (Length of drive time) Time
Distance, distance in kilometer traveled by the vehicle; Time, time in minutes that the vehicle spends on the
route;
Length of drive time = ∑ drive time+∑ Speed of the vehicle + ∑ Traffic light
The units of the parameters are as follows: [$/km], [$/min]
The travel‐time between the customers is time‐dependent, i.e., the travel‐time between two locations depends
on both the distance and on the time of day. Due to the time‐dependency of the travel‐times, the distance‐
traveled is also time‐dependent (different routes for different times can be chosen in order to reduce the
travel‐time).
After all it will consider about the minimizing the total drive time:
Min= ∑ Length of drive time
GIS (Geographic Information System) technology is now enhancing the status of geography in business and
service planning, since geography holds the key to further enhancement of management information system.
Most utilities implement a Distribution Management System (DMS) to increase service reliability, improve
customer responses, reduce operational costs (mostly labor), and meet regulatory requirements. GIS based
routing solutions have proven to be one of the most popular and cost effective GIS applications of recent years.
Typically these systems find a lowest cost path among a series of nodes on a linear network against a series of
constraints (Tram, 1999).
Using GIS in the field of transportation opens up a wide range of possible applications, as diverse as the field of
transportation itself. Whether these are cars and trucks along a road, trains along a track and ships across the
sea and airplanes in the sky, all applications have one thing in common: They are the objects that move along a
path in space. A GIS can provide a valuable tool for managing these objects in a spatially referenced context,
viewing the paths as a transportation network (Memon, 2005).
In figure 1, has considered about the data input and the data output in GIS. After inputting and collecting the
non‐spatial data, it will be stored in attributes table in ArcView GIS software. With the combination of the road
network layer as a spatial data and the non‐spatial data which can be retrieval later, the data will be analyzed
and the result is the output of the alternative scenarios for solving the problem by using the DSS tool.
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Figure 1 The architecture of a GIS
INPUT
Collection, Input and
correction
Storage and
Geographical Information
Data Base
Retrieval
Management
Manipulation and
Analysis
Output and
Reporting
OUTPUT
Considering to database design there are three majors phase can be found. They are: Conceptual, logical and
physical designs. The following explanation describes each of them:
Conceptual Design, it defines the application needs and end objectives of the database. This includes
identification of spatial and non – spatial elements and identifies how entities will be represented in database.
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Logical Design, in this case the components, which involved here has the independent hardware and specific
software. Logical design is usually determined by database management system. It gives details about how
entities are related to each other.
Physical Design, Physical design refers to assessment of load, disk space requirement, memory requirement,
access, and speed requirement of the GIS (Healey, 1991).
The figure 2 shows of the three major components for database design:
Figure 2 GIS database design stages
Conceptual design
• Application requirements
• End – utilization goals
GIS Package • Target users
Dependent
Logical design
• Database specification
• Database elements
• Database structures
Physical design
• Hardware configuration
• Software characteristics
Database Organization
b. Two components of a GIS database:
Spatial data component; It consists of maps and which have been prepared either by field surveys or by the
interpretation of remotely sensed data. Some examples of the maps are: soil survey, geological, land use,
village. Many of these maps are available in analog form and recently some other map’s information is
available directly in digital format (Nielsen, 1994).
Non – Spatial data component; It consists of attributes as complementary to the spatial data. Attributes
describe what is at a point, what about along a line or in a polygon and as socio – economic characteristics
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form census and other sources. The attribute of socio – economic category could be demographic data, or
traffic volume data of roads in a city.
METHODOLOGY
For this research will be considered about the three main hypermarket which is located in Selangor. The aim of
this research is also to select the optimal route between the SIME FRESH and the three main hypermarket
destinations.
Data
According to the research objectives and the need of the decision support system for distribution of fresh
vegetables, the data that must be collected for this research include the following table 1.
Table 1 The data needed for selecting the optimal route
No. Type of Data
Spatial Data (Feature) Non – Spatial Data (Theme)
1. Base Map Travel Expense:
• Road Network ¾ Mileage
¾ Price of petrol
Length of Drive Time:
• The specific travel
distance between the certain
places
• The speed of the car along
the driving way and also limited
speed
• School zone
• Drive time
• Traffic light
2. Land use Map The market for the specific
• Market location location
According to the assessment of this research and the data needed for analyzing, the spatial data has to be
collected and uses for calculating the optimal route. Following is the result of data collection and the source of
the data.
Table 2 The Spatial data
No. Theme of spatial data Feature Sources
1 Road Network Line Navi & Map SDN BHD
2 Land use Map Polygon Navi & Map SDN BHD
3 Market Location Point Sime Aerogreen Technology Sdn
Bhd (SIME FRESH)
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Need Assessment
A need assessment is a systematic look at how user function and data needed is working. In order to make the
decision based on the information about parameters, it needs to manage the existing information. The figure 3
is showing the process on how the available parameters in this research are involving in the model for further
calculation of the total distribution cost.
Figure 3 The process for calculating the total distribution cost
Distance
Length of drive time
Speed of the
Total
Distribution
Travel Cost
Traffic
CONCLUSION:
This research will demonstrate how the decision support system toll uses in order to distribute the fresh
vegetables. Network analyzing, which exists in ArcView GIS software will be a very useful tool in order to define
the best route based on distance and also length of drive time. Network analyzing will help the users to easy
identify the shortest distance between main place and customers, also gives information about the directions
for the roads based on non‐spatial data, which will collect in attribute tables. In this research the purpose of
using GIS (Geographic Information System) technology will accurately locate the tasks and personnel and then
will calculate the optimal least costs paths between tasks and personnel.
GIS based routing applications can solves the complex routing and scheduling problems, such as travel time,
distance, appointment time, as well as other user defined constraints.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Rosmadi Fauzi and Dr. Rusnah Muhamad, my Supervisors,
for their constructive comments, for leading the study, generous supports of knowledge and their assistance
through this research.
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REFERENCES
Osvald, A. L. Z. S. (2008) A vehicle routing algorithm for the distribution of fresh vegetables and similar
perishable food. Journal of Food Engineering, 85, 285–295.
Burroughs, P.A. (1986). Principles of Geographic Information Systems for Land Resources Assessment. Oxford
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Tarantilis, C. D. and Kiranoudis, C. T. (2001). A meta‐heuristic algorithm for the efficient distribution of
perishable foods. Journal of food engineering, 50(1), 1‐9
Tarantilis, C. D. (2002) Distribution of Fresh Meat. Journal of Food Engineering 51, 85‐91.
Tarantilis, C. D. and Kiranoudis, C. T. (2004) Combination of Geographical Information System and efficient
routing algorithms for real life distribution operations. European Journal of Operational Research, 152, 437–
453.
Chaug‐Ing Hsu, S.‐F. H., Hui‐Chieh Li (2007) Vehicle routing problem with time‐windows for perishable food
delivery. Journal of Food Engineering, 80 465–475.
Câmara, G. Monteiro, A.M.; Fucks, S.D. (2001) Spatial Analysis and GIS. São José dos Campos, INPE, (2a. edição,
revista e ampliada, disponível em www.dpi.inpe.br/gilberto/livro).
Faulin, J. (2003) Applying MIXALG procedure in a routing problem to optimize food product delivery. The
internationa Jornal of Management Science 31, 387 – 395.
Francis, V. Y. S. (2008) Transportation versus perishability in life cycle energy consumption: A case study of the
temperature‐controlled food product supply chain. Transportation Research Part D 13, 383–391.
Irfan, M. A. (2005) Application of Geographic Information System in Transportation for Road Network Analysis
Civil Engineering Johur Bahru, Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
Belenguer, J. M. E. and Marti´nez, M. C. (2005) RutaRep: a computer package to design dispatching routes in
the meat industry. ScienceDirect, Journal of Food Engineering 70, 435–445.
Huey‐Kuo Chen, C.‐F., Mei‐Shiang Chang (2009) Production scheduling and vehicle routing with time windows
for perishable food products. Computers & Operations Research, 36, 2311‐ 2319.
Healey, R.G. (1991). Database management systems. In D.J. Maguire, M.G. Goodchild and D.W. Rhind, eds.
Geographical Information Systems: Principles and Applications, vol. I. London: Longman, pp. 251‐267.
Nielsen, F. (1994). GIS Database Design and Organization. Danish Defence Research Establishment. Denmark.
http://www.clr.utoronto.ca/VIRTUALLIB/KBASE/gis_db.htm
A´ lvarez, O. P. C., Garcı´a, L (2007) The value of time and transport policies in a parallel road network.
Transport Policy 14, 366–376.
Rice, M. N. (2005) A New Hybrid Computational Intelligence Algorithm For Optimized Vehicle Routing
Applications In Geographic Information Systems. Georgia, Athens, University of Georgia.
Tram, H., 1999, “The Smart Way to Deliver Energy,” Utilities IT, July/August (1999).
http://www.gisdevelopment.net/proceedings/gita/2003/nom/nom064b.shtml
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ICIWG‐31
DEVELOPING NATURAL ATTRACTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE DESERT ECOTOURISM IN KASHAN,
IRAN
1
Mahdi Eshraghi, 2Habibah Ahmad, 3Ekhwan Mohd Toriman,
4Saied Kamyabi
1,2,3
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities,
National University of Malaysia
4
Islamic Azad University of Semnan, Iran
mehdi.eshraghi@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Desert areas are usually characterized with a low and sparse population spread over large areas of low
productivity land. Bearing in mind there are changes of global tourism demand, development of desert as a
tourism destination provides several opportunities. In fact, development of desert Ecotourism provides
benefits such as the following. Desert Ecotourism helps creating a sustainable employment for the local people,
prepares the ground for macro planning and increases gross internal production as well as preserves valuable
plant and animal species, cultural heritage and stabilizes local societies at the macro levels. The prosperity of
desert Ecotourism not only results in economic output for broad spectrum of the country which has no
productive, agricultural and industrial competitive capabilities, but also it revives some of the forgotten
traditional customs, such as camel driving, and helps to improvement of quality of life of communities. Tunisia,
for example, showed that the income of desert Ecotourism could achieve up to 3 billion dollars per annum.
Most important, desert Ecotourism preserves a unique perspective which has been ornamented by quick
dunes, flora and fauna, unique vision and peace, difficulty and intensity of climatic conditions. Consequently,
temperature differences between day and night and the historical memories as well as the adaptations of
human life in the desert during elapse of time, have made the desert one of the unique attractions of the
nature and have resulted in the interest of tourists to visiting desert and experiencing its climate. Iran with
varied climatic conditions, different geological characteristics and biodiversity, as well as different cultures with
particular identity, can use geographical phenomena throughout the country such as caves, straits, valleys, rift
valleys, great rifts, geologic formations, volcano mud, karst lands, sandy pyramids, rocky beaches, ancient
mines and yardangs as the constrictive means for developing of desert Ecotourism industry. This paper,
however, focuses on providing the profiles of the natural attractions of Kashan desert Ecotourism, as empirical
cases from Iran are limited.
KEYWORDS: Tourism, Ecotourism, Sustainable Development, Desert, Kashan.
INTRODUCTION
As a dynamic industry, tourism with its development‐oriented characteristics is now one of the biggest
industries throughout the world and has attracted attention of many governments for economic benefits. Due
to the importance of the issue, “Agenda 21” of the United Nations focuses on integration of sustainable
development and tourism industry, because travel and tourism are the source of income for many people.
According to the investigations made in the year 2002, tourism industry has included 12 percents of the
economy of world through gaining an income of 476 billion dollars. In this year, tourism industry has a rate of
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7.4 percentages, and the numbers of tourists were more than 699 million persons. According to the prediction
of United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the number of tourists will be more than 1.6 billion
up to the year 2020. Based on the statistics presented by this organization, more than 50 percentage of
employment problem in the developing countries will be solved through development of this industry, in a way
that according to the studies of World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the number of direct and indirect
occupations resulting from tourism were 290 million occupations in the year 1996 with an income of 3.4 trillion
dollars and the number of occupations of this section reached to 338 million occupations in 2005 with an
income of 7.2 trillion dollars (UNWTO).
Chart No. 1. Tourism development in the world based on number of tourists visiting different areas within the
years 1950 to 2005
Source: World Tourism Organization, Historical perspective of world tourism
In the circumstances which the Iran has the tenth rank of ancient and historical attractions and the fifth rank of
natural attractions of the world based on the report of UNWTO, but its share is very little from tourism market
and according to the statistics Iran has not been practically successful in attraction of foreign tourists and
approximately Iranian tourism market is exclusive for domestic tourism.1
Based on National Document of 20‐Year Outlook Plan of Islamic Republic of Iran, the Iranian share from
number of world tourists is only 0.09 percent in the year 2004. Although this document has predicted that this
number would increase to 1.5 percent in the year 2025 (the final year of future 20‐Year Outlook) through
execution of the fourth to seventh plans of Islamic Republic of Iran, i.e. about 20 million tourists and the Iranian
share from world tourism income would be increased from 0.07 percent in 2004 to (2 percent) in 2025. In such
a manner that Iran will gain about 25 billion dollars per annum from foreign tourists in 2025. The perspective of
Iranian tourism development within the four outlook plans of Islamic Republic of Iran is as per table No. 1,
considering about 700 thousand persons as the basic number of tourists traveling to Iran in 2004.
1
20‐Year Outlook Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Outlook for 2025)
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Table No. 1. Diagram of Iranian Tourism Development within 20‐Year Outlook Plan of the Islamic Republic of
Iran
Foreign Exchange Income in
Tourists in final year of
Growth final year of future 20‐Year
Revenues future 20‐Year Outlook
rate Outlook
(Millions People)
(Milliards Dollar)
4th development plan
30% 2.6 1.5
(2005‐2009)
5th development plan
20% 6.5 4.5
(2010‐2014)
6th development plan
15% 13 10
(2015‐2019)
7th development plan
10% 20 25
(2020‐2024)
Source: 20‐Year Outlook Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Outlook for 2025)
Hence, Islamic Republic of Iran Government expect that main part of its revenues will be supplied by
development of tourism industry through execution of the fourth to seventh development plans in the form of
20‐Year Outlook of Iran.
Ecotourism, one of the branches of tourism is considered as one of the important income sources of the
countries especially those countries which have unique natural attractions. Ecotourism, also called Ecological
Tourism, is a form of tourism which pays attention to ecological and unique social attractions. In a more simple
word, ecotourism is voluntary travel of people to the regions where natural and cultural heritage (plant and
animal) are considered as the first attractions and tourists learns to the ways of favorable living in the earth by
these travels. In other word, ecotourism is a kind of tourism which its routes have been developed by nature
and open areas. The first travelers who visited Serengeti in Africa about half a century ago, or the adventurers
who climbed the Himalaya can be considered as the first ecotourists (Lindberg, 1993). The International
Ecotourism Society (TIES) defines ecotourism as follows:
Ecotourism is “Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well‐being
of local people”. (TIES, 1990)
Today, ecotourism have a special position and remarkable growth among different types of tourism and we
witnessed rapid development of ecotourism activities throughout the world within the last twenty years and it
is expected that this development would be increased (Randall, 1987). In a way that it is predicted that it would
have highest development percent in different sections of tourism by annual growth of 30 to 40 percent and 50
percent of the tourists would be related to ecotourism section at the end of year 2010 (TIES, 2006).
Due to potential impact of ecotourism on environment conservation and the economy of countries, United
Nations decided to name the year 2002 as international year of ecotourism. And Commission on Sustainable
Development has caused this organization (UNEP) and World Tourism Organization to perform some activities
in this year. The purpose of this work is to review the previous experiences in the field of ecotourism,
recognition and extension of various kinds of ecotourism in which the ecotourism being in danger are
conserved, division of advantages resulting from activities with Local Communities and respect to native
culture (Eplerwood, 2002). According to the estimation of Food & Agricultural Organization, the development
of ecotourism in the present decade will be 10% ‐ 30%. In the current situation, the number of ecotourists is
7% of the total number of world travelers and it’s predicted that this number would reach to 20% in the next
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decade. Therefore, ecotourism has a highly prosperous and brilliant future and cases many advantages for
people.
Table No. 2. Distribution of Ecotourism in the World
Foreign tourists Nature tourists Wildlife tourists
also its latitude. The deserts of Asia receive polar influences and are quite cold in winter, when their
temperatures can descend to ‐500 C. The African deserts nearest the equator are much hotter, with
temperatures reaching up to +560 C.
• A desert is a particularly arid region of the planet where plant life is limited or virtually absent and fauna
are rare.
• Precipitation is one of the basic parameters used to define deserts; deserts are generally, but not
exclusively, considered to include areas receiving no more than 250 mm of rainfall per year.
• Temperature is another distinctive factor of deserts; average monthly temperatures are generally quite
high, reaching up to 600 or 700 C in the hottest deserts. In colder deserts, average temperatures can fall as low
as ‐300 C. In terms of this criterion, there are three main categories of desert: hot, transitional and cold.
Figure 1. Map of the world’s deserts. (Benmecheri, 2007)
THE POTENTIAL OFFERED BY NATURE AND HERITAGE IN DESERT AREAS
Desert ecotourism, especially for the inhabitants of European Countries who are deprived from this natural
biome, is considered as one highly attractive tourism fields. Unique perspective of deserts, which has been
ornamented by quick dunes, flora and fauna, unique vision and peace, difficulty and intensity of climatic
conditions and consequently much temperature difference between day and night, historical memories and
adaptations of human life in desert during elapse of time, has made the desert one of the unique attractions of
the nature and has resulted that the tourists would be interested in visiting desert and experiencing its climate.
Even some of adventurous tourists have commenced adventurous travels for themselves by accepting many
difficulties for passing from broad deserts and endurance of hard conditions of desert. Nowadays, in some
countries such as Tunis, the income of desert tourism is up to 3 billion dollars per annum.(NGDIR, 2006). The
prosperity of desert tourism not only results in economic output for broad spectrum of the country which has
no productive, agricultural and industrial competitive capabilities, but also it revives some of forgotten
traditional customs, such as camel driving, and helps to improvement of life quality of local communities.
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Figure 2. Tunisia deserts. (Flicker)
Potentials of Desert Offered by Nature
Natural tourism resources in desert include various natural resources which have been made of mutual effect
of topography, climate, water resources and plant type and density. These resources include:
1. Sun 2. Sky
3. Seasonal Wetlands 4. Desert Mountains
5. Desert Woodlands 6. Distinctive Tree
7. Desert Landscapes 8. Desert Sphere
9. Dunes 10. Caves
11. Xeromorphic Fauna (specially various kinds of mammalians)
Human Resources and Potentials of Desert Offered by Heritage
Those manifestations of human life, which have been placed in desert and salt desert today and in ancient
times along with traditional social actions, believes, local customs and mores, historical and ancient
monuments, are from among human manifestations of desert which are demanded by tourists. We can point
to the following subjects from among the most important tourism resources related to the human in desert:
1.Historical and ancient memories in desert 2. Historical passages
(Caravansaries & Bridges)
3. Caves with paleo‐anthropology value 4. Subterranean channel
5. Shrines and tombs 6. Ceremonies
7. Architectural attractions of human 8. Manifestations of human & nature coexistence
shelters
9. Gardens and paradises 10. Water reservoirs
11. Handicrafts 12. Local clothing & foods
13. Local sports and plays 14. Small Bazaars
15. Tea shops 16. Method of people’s traditional living
17. Production of plant and animal products of desert
Desert Ecotourism Activities
The activities of desert Ecotourism are limited but they are specific for these natural areas. These activities are
depended on tourism resources, desert climate and land accidents. The following list is part of possible tourism
activities of deserts:
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1. Sunbath 2. Sun therapy
3. Sand therapy 4. Walking at desert and salt desert
5. Bicycle deriving at desert 6. Motorcycle driving
7. Driving over dunes 8. Desert rally
9. Skiing on sand hills 1. Wind boat driving at desert
11‐ Camel driving 12. Visiting camel breeding centres
13. Flight with gliders and Para gliders 14. Desert visiting by balloon
15. Visiting desert perspectives 16. Visiting subterranean channels
17. Visiting water reservoirs 18. Observation of the stars
19. Visiting desert fauna at night 20‐ Visiting old trees
21. Walking at desert woodlands 22. Visiting waterfowls and waders
23. Using local restaurants 24. Purchasing handicrafts
25. Shopping from local small bazaars 26. Visiting monuments and shrines
27. Visiting coexistence manifestations of human and nature 28. Hunting
29. Village tourism 30‐ Mountain climbing
THE POSITIVE IMPACTS OF DESERT ECOTOURISM
If ecotourism is properly managed and planned, it will bring numerous economic resources for the
government, private sector, and local groups and societies and could help improve living conditions of people
and changing quality of lifestyle in rural environments. On the other side this will be a tool for protection of
natural environment and historical works.
Figure 3. Ecotourism as an Opportunity (Drumm and Moore, 2005)
Employment Creation
New jobs are often cited as the biggest gain from tourism. Protected areas may hire new guides, guards,
researchers or managers to meet increased ecotourism demands. In surrounding communities, residents may
become employed as taxi drivers, tour guides, lodge owners or handicraft makers, or they may participate in
other tourism enterprises.
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In addition, other types of employment may be augmented indirectly through tourism. More bricklayers may
be needed for construction. More vegetables may be needed at new restaurants. More cloth may be needed to
make souvenirs. Many employment sources are enhanced as tourism grows. In some cases, community
residents are good candidates for tourism jobs because they know the local environment well. Residents are
ideal sources of information; for example, they can tell visitors why certain plants flower at particular times and
what animals are attracted to them. As indigenous residents of the area, community members have much to
offer in ecotourism jobs. However, care must be taken to protect the rights (sometimes referred to as
intellectual property rights) of local peoples so that their knowledge is not exploited or appropriated unfairly by
visitors or a tourism program. (Drumm and Moore, 2005)
A Stronger Economy
Tourists visiting nature sites boost economies at the local, regional and national levels. If tourism brings jobs to
residents at the local level, they then have more money to spend locally, and economic activity within the area
increases. Nature tourists arrive in the capital city of a country. They may stay for a few days or travel to the
countryside. Along the way they use hotels, restaurants, shops, guide services and transportation systems.
Typically, a multitude of businesses benefit directly from nature tourists. Although these businesses usually are
set up to accommodate the broader groups of international and national tourists, nature tourists are an added
market.(Drumm and Moore, 2005)
Environmental Education
Nature tourists provide an ideal audience for environ‐ mental education. During an exciting nature hike, visitors
are eager to learn about the local habitats. They want to hear about animal behaviour and plant uses as well as
the challenges of conserving these resources. Many want to know the economic, political and social issues that
surround conservation. Nature guides are one critical source of environmental education. Visitor surveys show
that good guides are a key factor in a trip’s success.(Drumm and Moore 2005)
Improved Conservation Efforts
As a result of interest location, growing appreciation and pride conservation efforts often increase. Many
residents are motivated to protect their areas and may change their patterns of resource use. Cultivation
practices may be altered. Litter on roads may be cleaned up. Water may be better managed. Local populations
often learn more about conservation and modify their daily habits because of tourism. Awareness often
increases at the national level also, resulting in such improved conservation efforts as mandating and
supporting protected areas. Even at the international level, ecotourism may engender an international
constituency for improved conservation efforts and support for particular protected areas. International and
local visitors to a protected area are likely to rally to its defence if a valuable area is being threatened.(Drumm
and Moore, 2005)
THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF DESERT ECOTOURISM
Besides positive effects, negative effects of tourism must also be considered. Particularly in areas surrounding
arrival points, attracting the neediest population to peripheral urban areas, spawning shantytowns, and
generating unhealthy living conditions with all the attendant consequences lack of proper health care, drinking
water, and waste management facilities. The consequences of intercultural contact can also be negative: too
many tourist arrivals can be both a brutal for local population and “turn‐off” for tourist preferring their travel in
small groups, without encountering other tourists as the same sites, since their short stay do not allow them to
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stray too far from local airports. Local tourism actors, moreover, are prepared to accommodate only so many
tourists; when their capacity is exceeded, the result can be poor service and tensions within the host
community. Also, given the fragility of desert ecosystems, there is a threshold of tolerance beyond which
tourism can produce significant negative impacts. Desertification is part of the context in these areas, and
tourism should not have the effect of aggravating it. Soil degradation is synonymous with famine and poverty.
To find other means of subsistence, populations living in regions threatened by desertification have been
forced to move on, and such population movements are among the major consequences of desertification.
Between 1997 and 2020, it is estimated that 60 million people will have left the desert areas of sub‐Saharan
Africa for the Maghreb and Europe. Africa, Asia, and Latin America are the regions most threatened by
desertification.(Benmecheri, 2007)
Figure 4. Potential Tourism Threats (Drumm and Moore, 2005)
Environmental Degradation
This is the problem most commonly associated with tourism in protected areas. Visitors may destroy the very
resources they come to see. Degradation happens in many ways and in varying degrees. Much of tourism’s
damage to natural resources is visible: trampled vegetation, trail erosion and litter.(Drumm and Moore, 2005)
In desert areas tourists pose other kinds of threats to protected areas. In addition to surface damage, they
affect the intricate workings of nature, causing subtle changes and problems including the alteration of such
animal behaviour as eating habits, migration and reproduction. Many changes are difficult to detect, but all are
important indicators of the health of natural resources.(Drumm and Moore, 2005) For demographic reasons,
the needs of sedentary populations living in semiarid rural environments are increasing steadily, exerting ever
greater pressure on natural resources. This pressure takes the form in particular of overexploitation of land,
and the excessive clearing and harvesting of plant cover. The results are diminished crop yield, depleted and
polluted streams and groundwater, and leached soil. (Benmecheri, 2007)
Tourism can accentuate this phenomenon if not limited by quotas set beneath the threshold of tolerance of
desert areas:
• through the overcrowding of tourist sites;
• through the trampling of dunes and excessive 4 x 4 vehicle traffic;
• through the destruction of a rare vegetation;
• through the uprooting of aromatic and medicinal plants;
• through the excessive use of timber;
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• through the impact on water resources.
Impact on Local Populations and Their Cultures
The ways of desert life continue to survive, despite the fragile balance they require and threats to the social
ties that underpin them. As the desert's principal resource, culture both tangible and intangible warrants
particular attention.(Benmecheri, 2007)
Tourism can significantly affect and ultimately destroy these ways of life:
• through a lack of respect for traditional ways of life;
• through highly competitive pricing and inequitable distribution of the economic benefits of tourism;
• through the looting of archaeological sites, the removal of artefacts required to properly understand
them, and the degradation of rock‐art carvings and paintings;
• through excessive visitor traffic and overcrowding, leading to the deterioration of sites;
• through an artificially folkloric treatment of culture and a society's intangible heritage.
A SUCCESSFUL SAMPLE OF ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF DESERTS IN CHINA
China is among the countries which has been able to encourage tourists visiting its desert attractions and also
its historical and ancient monuments. For the purpose of gaining revenue from domestic and foreign tourists in
part of its desert areas where quicksand fixation projects have been implemented and desert areas have been
afforested, this country has constructed beautiful recreational and amusing centers and parks through
establishment of welfare facilities. (Khosrowshahi, 2008).
Figure 5. Desert Ecotourism Development in Gansu Province of China. (Khosrowshahi, 2008)
China has officially introduced 44 national geo‐parks for the purpose of attraction of domestic and foreign
ecotourists based on geological heritage and with the purpose of protection from this heritage since 2000.
Protection and development of this heritage has brought favorable social, economic and environmental
advantages in China and has resulted a distinguish rank for this country in network of world geo‐parks under
the supervision of UNESCO. Having executed the plans of tourism development, the number of tourists and
ecotourists was 5.7 million persons in 1980, while it was over 89 million persons in 2001. It means that China
has had a development percentage of 1700 in number of its tourists and ecotourists within 20 years. The
income gained from tourism in 1996 was 30.6 billion US dollars, while it was gained to 61.7 billion dollars in
2001 and it has the fifth rank among other countries.
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POTENTIALS OF SUSTAINABLE ECOTOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN KASHAN DESERTS
Kashan area, which is located in west side of central Iran, is considered as an important part of geological and
structural unit of Iran where placed in centre of Iran in the form of a trigonometry.
The deserts of Kashan area contain all things that would be required in an adventure tourism or desert
Ecotourism in the beautiful and virgin nature. These deserts have been attractively formed from various and
multicoloured configurations. Broad and white salt plains, golden dunes as well as light green, yellow and red
hilly areas make a wonderful spectrum of worth seeing colours for desert tourists in daylight. It contains very
beautiful perspectives from desert forms (such as various forms of wind erosion), virgin area of salt desert,
subterranean channels, special flora and fauna, beautiful sky with plentiful starts and ... But following
geographical isolation and non‐continuous presence of human during the recent decades and consequently
lack of their conservation, repair and rehabilitation, most of its symbols would be demolished or they are in
process of demolishing and destruction. It is certain that these cultural, historical and social symbols have a
remarkable share of tourist progresses with cultural motivation.(NGDIR, 2006)
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN KASHAN
The existing ecotourism resources in Iran, as mentioned before, consist various spectrums of separated
attractions; however, in Kashan zone, it seems that the four factors of anthropology, desert trips, hunting,
fishery and nature therapy attract more tourists than others. A short description is given of each:
Anthropology Tourism (Ecotourism Aspect)
Most anthropology tourism is a part of cultural tourism; however, despite the contents conformity, some
anthropological attractions such as migration tourism, rural tourism…are in the heart of natural poles and
estimations show that most clients that apply for migration and village tours or appear in deserted local areas
are nature tourism. Therefore, particularly in macro planning and economic analysis, cases such as tourism of
migration and village tourism should be separated form cultural tourism and put in ecotourism classification.
Principally, anthropology tourism beyond ecotourism analysis is a vaster category and includes items such as
architecture, language…which are generally focused by the cultural tourism authorities as well. However, in
ecotourism, the only part of anthropology attraction is those which in first glance is the product of man's
adaptability with his surrounding nature and could find identity as tourism attraction merely in combination
with their natural origin. (Ebrahimi, 2005).
Village Tourism
Approximately half of Iranian population lives in rural regions. Life style and economy of far off villages of Iran
are unique and are considered as a part of indexes of ancient Iranian civilizations. Many villages are both
tourism attraction and source for providing accommodation and welfare needs of tourisms.
Tradition and Customs Tourism
Many local customs and traditions have become tourism industries potentials in Kashan. Rose water
ceremonies in Ghamsar, Kashan and carpet washing ceremony of Mashahd Ardehal are among them and many
tourists like to participate in those ceremonies and visit the events. (Ebrahimi, 2005).
Agricultural Method
Watermelon dry farm even in Rig Boland ranges has been an old agricultural practice in Kashan. During recent
years, when the underground water surfaces have dropped, people of Kashan make embankment from limited
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surfaces and lower the distance of roots and the underground water beds. Some products such as watermelon
are cultivated in pool‐shapes. In some instances, a limited surface is embanked and brings the roots near to
underground water levels. In such cases, water is collected in the pit and a relatively large pool is made which
could be used as fish farm. These innovations and local thoughts are traditionally among attractions of this
region.
DESERT ADVENTURES TOURISM
With respect to the largeness of Kashan zone, desert tourism and desert sports such as car races, desert
competitions, bike races, bicycle riding, horse riding, camel riding, sand dunes ski, kite, paraglide field running,
jogging and field sports could be arranged, a few of them are as follows:
Figure 6. Ecotourists in desert of Kashan. (Eshraghi, 2008)
Kite and Paraglide
The sand hills of deserts have suitable height and soft slope. The soft sand makes it possible to arrange kite and
paraglide or glider programs. Salt lake with its vast and beautiful landscape, beautiful sand hills and variable
sites in the region are the most beautiful landscapes that satisfy the flight fans and provide their ideals.
Sand Dunes Ski
Sand dunes ski has special attraction in the desert and by special plans; they could be used in those hills.
Desert Tourism with Motorcycles
Tourism in the desert with a motorcycle is one of the interest is activities for some tourists. Development
facilities can be attracted the desert motorcycle tourists. In deserts of Kashan there are unique grounds for all
train wheels sports.
HISTORICAL ATTRACTIONS OF KASHAN
Kashan is one of the cities where interesting examples of magnificent Iranian arts could be found. The
architecture masterpieces of this city have remained from Safavid and largely from Qajar period. This city has
its own architecture due to its geographic conditions and natural position and each year, many tourists from
farthest points of world travel to Kashan for this purpose. Some of the buildings are:
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Figure 7. Tabatabieha old house (Ebrahimi, 2005) Figure 8. Sialk ancient archaeological (Ebrahimi, 2005)
Large and Old Houses in Kashan
These houses have been recognized as one of the best houses in terms of local architecture specifications in
the last two decades. House of Boroujerd, Ameriha House, Abbasian House, Sharifian House, Haji Seyed Agha
old house, Mirza Abolfazl Hakimbashi's old house and similar ones have survived in alleys of Kashan city. The
regional architecture style and the local taste of arts are very interesting and most of them are significant
enough to be registered as ancient masterpiece lists. (Naraghi, 2003).
Old Public Baths
The historical public bath is one of the important buildings of Kashan and during Safavid era, the old public
baths received much attention from foreign tourists. There are between 25 to 30 public baths depending on
special changes, some of them are: Molla Ghotb public bath, Abolrazagh Khan's public bath, Miremad Public
Bath, Sarbazar public bath.
Ab Anbar or Water Reservoirs
They are roofed pools which are built in basement for reserving water. With respect to the old situation of
Kashan and its location in dry and low rain region near central Kavir of Iran, building public canals for drinking
waters in cities and public roads and villages were the famous donations and charity works. The water of those
canals was provided from mountain waters during frost time and in the hot summer seasons, the water was
cool and pleasant. Until building streets and drinking water pipelines in Kashan, there were more than seventy
large and average water reservoirs in Kashan with water intake in winter, once a year. There are water
reservoirs built during Safavid and remained to this date, namely, Kouy Sarpeleh large water reservoirs, Mir
Seed Ali, Kouy Kushk Safi, Janb Masjed Vazir, Masjed Mesghal,…(Naraghi, 2003).
Famous Tombs and Mosques in Kashan
Shahzadeh Ebrahim, Habib Bin Mousa, Soltan Amir Ahmad, Panjeh Shah, Baba Afzal Marghi, Shahzadeh
Hossein Alavi, Soltan Ali Mohammad Bagher (in Mashad Ardehal), Taher and Mansour, Abulolo, Khajeh
Tajeddin, Mirneshaneh, Shah Yalan, and Pir Davoud Ghamsar Tombs, Shah Abbas mausoleum in Habib Bin
Mousa, Aghabozorg Mosque and School, Gozar Babavali Mosque, Meydan Khohen grand mosque and
Miremad mosque, known as Meydan Sang are among famous mosques and tombs in Kashan.
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Famous Gardens in Kashan
Fin historical garden where Amir Kabir was murdered by the order of Shah, Soleymanieh spring and
anthropology museum and Vakili garden in Aliabad Kashan are famous gardens of Kashan (Naraghi, 2003).
Towers and Castles of City
Jalali castle from Malek Shah Saljuqid Era, was built in 12th century in south Kashan. It could be seen with two
icebergs (Armaki, 2003).
Bazaar Kashan
This bazaar is located in spatial landscapes in historical structure of the city and has 3 kilometers length. Bazaar
Kashan was built during Saljuqid era.
10‐8 Niasar Fire Place
Niasar quadrant roof is one of the historical places in Niasar city, 20 kilometers west Kashan. The fire place
belongs to Ardeshir Babakan ancient era and among the first buildings of Sassanid era. During Sassanid, this
place was used to keep fire and religious rituals were performed near it. Since the building was in height, the
fire could be seen from far and was used as a guide for caravans or for warning during war. (Ebrahimi, 2005).
Maranjab Caravanserai
This caravanserai was built during Safavid and is located in 70 kilometers east of Kashan city. The caravanserai
is in the pat of tourists towards sand hills around Kashan and could be used as temporary accommodation for
tourists.
Tappeh Sialk
Tappeh Sialk and ziggurat are in a hill and are 8 thousand yeas old. In the middle of desert, there are hills with
irregular structure and heights covered with dust underneath which, a city is breathing and it seems it takes
man to the depth of history. These hills are among important factors in attracting tourists. Sialk is located near
Dizchhe village and has changed into a large township. It is located in the road that connects Kashan to Fin.
CONCLUSION
For many reasons, Kashan desert zone have several technical and economic justification in ecotourism
development and by making suitable ground, tourism could be improved in this region:
1. In general, desert zones, particularly Kashan, have much natural and cultural variety.
2. In most desert zones, including Kashan, due to climate, the agricultural, cattle breeding and industrial
activities are limited and therefore, tourism could be a source of jobs and income.
3. The Kashan area has unique geographic and geology phenomena rarely found in other regions.
4. In sum, due to unique geomorphologic, suitable substructures in the zone (asphalt roads and airport),
ecotourism development in this part of Iran has many technical and economic justifications.
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REFERENCES
1. Akhavan Armaki. E. (2003). Kashan Sarfarz, Morsal Publication.
2. Alix Rogstad, T. M. B., Aaryn Olsson, and Grant M. Casady (2009). "Fire and Invasive Species Management
in Hot Deserts: Resources, Strategies, Tactics, and Response." Society for Range Management: 1.
3. Quinn, J. A. (2008). Desert biomes. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press.
4. Benmecheri, S. (2007). Sustainable Development of Tourism in Deserts – Guidelines for Decision Makers.
Madrid, World Tourism Organization.
5. National Base for Geological Data (2006). Comparison of Income Share of Geotourism and Mine in China &
Tunis and Study of Desert Tourism Potentials in Iran.
6. Naraghi, H. (2003). Historical Monuments of Kashan and Natanz Cities, Publication of Society of Cultural
Works & Luminaries.
7. NGDIR, N. G. D. o. I. (2006) The comparison of income share of geo‐tourism and mine in China and Tunis
and study of desert tourism potential in Iran.
8. UNEP (2006). Tourism and Deserts: A Practical Guide to Managing the Social and Environmental Impacts in
the Desert Recreation Sector.
9. UNEP (2006). Guide on Tourism and Deserts Launched on World Environment Day Robert.
10. Ebrahimi, F. (2005), Introduction to Desert Ecotourism, Case Study of Kashan, Thesis of Master’s Degree ,
Islamic Azad University, Shahr‐e‐Ray Branch
11. Drumm, A. and A. Moore (2005). Ecotourism development : a manual for conservation planners and
managers. Arlington, Va., Nature Conservancy.
12. GAUL, D. (2003). Environmental Impacts of Ecotourism, A review of literature FAO.
13. Epler Wood, M. (2002). Ecotourism: Principles, Practices & Policies for Sustainability. UNEP (United
Nations Environment Programme), Division of technology, industry and economics, Paris.
14. Rahbar. D. (2000). Environmental Impacts of Tourism Industry, Management Development Monthly, No.
19.
15. Weigel, M. (2000). Encyclopedia of biomes. Detroit
16. Karami, N. (1999). Ecotourism Plan, Iran & World Tourism Organization.
17. Khosrowshahi, M. (1999), Management & Techniques of Desertification Control, Case study of China.
18. Wearing, S. and J. Neil (1999). Ecotourism: impacts, potentials, and possibilities. Oxford; Boston,
Butterworth‐Heinemann.
19. Swarbrooke, J. (1998). Sustainable tourism management. New York, CABI Pub.
20. UNWTO (1995). Lanzarote Charter for Sustainable Tourism, Madrid.
21. Lindberg G. and Huber, R.M., Jr (1993) Economic issues in ecotourism management, The Ecotourism
Society, North Bennington,
22. The International Ecotourism Society. (1991). – TIES Global Ecotourism Fact Sheet ‐www.ecotourism.org
23. Trikar. J. (1990). Roughness Features in Dry Regions, translated by Sedighi, Mehdi, Pourkermani, Mohsen,
Astan Ghods Razavi Publication.
24. Mahdavi, M. (1987). Feasibility Study of Kavir Plain for the purpose of establishment and operation of Salt
Desert Tours.
25. Randall, A. (1987). Resource economics, Second Edition. New York, USA: John Wiley and Sons.
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ICIWG‐32
URBAN GRAVITY, RURAL SETTLEMENTS AND LANDUSE GRADIENT A MICRO LEVEL SPATIAL
ANALYSIS
Prof. Salahuddin Qureshi
Department of Geography at the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
ABSTRACT
Urban gravity is the function of urban hierarchy. The impact of city gravity reveals that there is often a linear
relationship between the rural landuse intensity and the city size in urban hierarchy. The city size also
influences the rural landuse pattern and the landuse diversity. Hence, the law of urban hierarchy can be
complementary to the widely acknowledged spatial law of distance‐decay in geography. These together may
further help the geographers in discovering generalizations in the distribution patterns, areal variations and
spatial organization of phenomena in the regional context. This may further help the geographers that the
regional canvass depicts both the uniqueness of space as well as the generalization of phenomena.
The paper enquires the city size, function and gravity influence on the landuse structure, intensity and gradient
in the command area of Aligarh city, India. It determines the demographic and social structure. It propels the
vertical and horizontal mobility as well as the degree of migration in the fringe area. Urban gravity can help
measure the dependency ratio as well as per capita resource availability in the rural‐urban fringe. Urban gravity
acts as a rural stimulus in the fringe area. The paper raises a question, whether geographers can develop a
working methodology to demarcate a functional and mathematically precise boundary of rural‐urban fringe or
the gradient of the inner and the outer fringe.
CONCEPT OF RURAL‐URBAN FRINGE
The term urban fringe was first used by T.L. Smith in 1937 to signify the discontinuous built up area just outside
the corporate limits of Louisiana City. Subsequently, the concept of rural‐urban fringe was developed by Robin
J. Pryor in 1968. Rural‐urban fringe is a complex zone on the periphery of a growing urban area. Rural‐urban
fringe is a zone rather than a boundary. Hence, the rural‐urban fringe cannot be precisely demarcated. In an
attempt to understand and demarcate the rural‐urban fringe it is imperative to measure the rural and urban
interaction. Rural‐urban differentiation can be examined in several aspects. For example, occupational
differences, environmental differences, difference in the nature of housing and households, difference in the
density of population, difference in social mobility and migration and the differences in social interaction and
stratification.
DEFINITION OF RURAL‐URBAN FRINGE
Rural‐urban fringe is a universal phenomenon. Hence, we should examine the Western and Indian definitions.
1. George S. Wehrwein was an American land economist who first defined the rural‐urban fringe in Economic
Geography in 1942. According to him, “rural‐urban fringe is a transitional area between the well recognised
urban land uses and the area of agricultural land use.”
2. Blizzard and Anderson in 1952 defined “the rural‐urban fringe as the area of mixed urban and rural landuses
where the full city services cease to be available and where the agricultural landuses predominate.”
3. R.L. Singh in 1955 defined the rural‐urban fringe of Varanasi as ‘the area where the urban influences mingle
with the rural forces without striking a line of distinction.’
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Several definitions have been charted out in order to distinguish the rural‐urban divide. Pocock believes that
both village and the city are elements of the same civilization. Hence, neither rural‐urban dichotomy, nor the
rural‐urban continuum is meaningful. Rao had projected that although both village and town are part of the
same civilization, yet there are specific institutional and organizational ways which differentiate the social and
cultural life between the village and the town. Thus, according to Rao, the rural‐urban continuum makes more
sense. Ghurye believes that as urbanization is the result of migration of the people from the villages, the
migrants carry and retain their rural consumption patterns, traditions and value systems which tangibly
demonstrate the rural urban continuum, i.e. a lack of urbanism. It means that urbanization is a process much
faster than urbanism. Urbanism is a much slower social, cultural and institutional transformation.
ORIGIN OF RURAL‐URBAN FRINGE IN INDIA
The rural‐urban fringe did not exist even around the large cities of India, until the 1950. This is because the city
growth in India was very slow. The fringe phenomenon in India appeared around the Green Revolution in 1965.
The fringe phenomenon appeared with the emergence of rural‐urban linkages. Linkage density determines the
inner fringe and the outer fringe. In the ancient and medieval walled cities, there was no interface between the
city and its surroundings. The physical limits of the city were defined by the walls, moats, gates and other
protective structures. The city and the country side were clearly divided by marked boundary features. Even
today the boundary of small towns and 1 lakh cities can be demarcated in India. Hence, rural‐urban fringe is a
phenomenon around the large and fast growing cities.
It has become difficult to precisely demarcate as to where does the urban end and where does the rural begin.
Moreover, the rural‐urban fringe is such a dynamic zone of mixed functions that it is always changing. In a zone
of changing functions and landuse it may not be necessary to demarcate the rural‐urban boundary as well as
the landuse gradient. In this sense, Maclever points out that although the communities are divided into rural
and urban, the line of demarcation in space is not always clear. There is no sharp demarcation line or gradient
line to visibly depict as to where does the city end and where does the country begin.
As most of the rural migrants inhabit the city periphery, the older city periphery becomes inner part of the city
in due course of time and the newer periphery grows outward. Hence, every city carries some elements and
ingredients of the village. However, Sorokin and Zimmermann insist that the rural can be distinguished from
the urban in terms of occupation, size, population density, social mobility, social stratification and social walks
of life.
NATURE OF LANDUSE IN THE RURAL‐URBAN FRINGE
The rural‐urban fringe is a landscape interface between the city and the countryside. As the fringe is located
under the sphere of urban influence, it has a wide variety of landuse such as dormitory settlements, houses of
middle income commuters, airports, sewerage works, cremation grounds, golf courses and riding clubs etc. The
rural‐urban fringe along the arterial roads has small residential colonies, partially developed housing plots,
vacant lands and few factories along the inner fringe. Further away towards the outer fringe are landuses such
as warehouses, cold storage, brick kilns and timber yards. Despite the urban uses, the fringe remains open with
the majority of agricultural land, woodland or other rural uses. Rural‐Urban fringe is a dynamic zone of
changing landuse characteristics. The width and nature of fringe varies with the size and function of the city.
i. In Netherlands, the fringe is difficult to recognize and delineate.
ii. In England, the city fringe is defined by the Green Belt.
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RURAL‐URBAN INTERACTION AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Urban gravity is a rural stimulus. Urban hierarchy and function determine the intensity of rural‐urban
interaction and social change. Near the larger cities, villages have smaller percentage of current fallow, old
fallow and cultural wastes. India is traditionally an agricultural country with 70 per cent rural population. For
the agricultural growth and development, priority for urban development is imperative. In India the areas
which have relegated to the subsistence agriculture, there is very little urban stimulus. Large areas are
agriculturally stagnant. For example, Bihar is the least urbanised state. Therefore, rural‐urban interaction is
very less. Hence, the agricultural development is lowest. A sustainable rural development planning calls for
such programs which can control and contain the rural‐urban migration. There has been a rapid urban growth
in the last two decades. Urban growth may have one type of impact on the rural‐urban interaction whereas
urban development may have another type of impact on rural‐urban interaction.
PREMISES OF THE STUDY
The present study is based on the following assumptions:
• That urban gravity is in proportion to urban hierarchy.
• That the rural landuse intensity is in proportion to urban gravity.
• The rural landuse decreases as the distance from the urban centre increases.
NATURE OF THE STUDY AREA
The above assumptions have been tested in the rural landscape of Aligarh District. Aligarh District in the middle
Ganga‐Yamuna doab is one of the agriculturally developed districts of Uttar Pradesh. It has 5 tehsils and 12
development blocks.
Table – 1 Geographical Profile of Aligarh District (2001)
General Profile Figure Urban Profile Population
Total Area 3,700.4 sq. km. Aligarh City 6,67,732
Total Population 2,992,286 Atrauli 43,845
Population Density 810 Chharra Rafatpur 40,826
Population Below 6 Years 4,78,766 Khair 27,661
Urban Population 25.7% Jalali 17,451
Rural Population 74.3% Jatari 17,038
Sex Ratio 861 Qasimpur 13,754
No. of Tehsils 5 Iglas 11,861
No. of Development Blocks 12 Harduaganj 11,564
No. of Villages 1212 Kauriaganj 10,581
Average Literacy 71% Pilkhana 9,692
Male Literacy 79% Vijaigarh 5,921
Female Literacy 61% Beswan 5,459
Table 1 depicts the general geographical profile and the urban gravity of the study area. The district has a total
geographical area of about 3700 sq. km. with a total population of nearly 3 million rural‐urban inhabitants. The
population below the 6 years age group has now considerably decreased to a level of 16 per cent. The average
population density according to 2001 census, is around 810 persons per sq. km. The population density by 2010
is nearly 900 persons per sq. km. Hence, there is a considerable pressure of population on the land. On the
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other hand, the percentage urban population in the district is low, accounting to only 25.7 per cent. This urban
percentage is above the state average of 21 per cent. However, the low urban gravity of Aligarh does not seem
to be a good propellant of the agricultural market, infrastructure, landuse intensity and landuse diversity.
Map 1
Source : Computed from Secondary Data
The average literacy of Aligarh district is 71 per cent. This is above the natural and state literacy levels. The
male literacy of 79 per cent is higher than the female literacy of 61 per cent. The female literacy is not very low
as compared to most of the districts of the state. The literacy indicates a growing awareness in the district. The
awareness could also be attributed to a fairly good network of linkages and mobility due to nearness of the
district and its head quarters to the National Capital. The agricultural fortunes and the progress of the district
could have improved had it been deservingly included in the National Capital Region. Aligarh City is only 132
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km from Delhi. In Rajasthan, the National Capital Region has encompassed the places even more than 180 km
away from the National Capital. However, towards Aligarh, the NCR limits its approach to a shortest extent of
80 km from Delhi. Hence, there appears a deliberate exclusion of Aligarh from the NCR.
Map 2
Source : Computed from Secondary Data
RURAL SETTLEMENT HIERARCHY
Aligarh district has a total rural population of 2,154,001 persons (2001). This comprises 74.3 percent of the
total population of the district. There are a total number of 1,212 villages in Aligarh. A theoretical average size
of the village is 1,777 persons. Fig. 1 shows the size hierarchy of rural settlements in the district. According to
population size, there are six categories of villages in their rural hierarchy. The largest villages have over 5,000
persons. The large size villages have a population size of 1000‐4999 persons. The medium size villages have
500‐999 persons. The small size villages have 200‐499 people. The smallest villages have a population size
below 200 persons. The sixth category belongs to the uninhabited villages.
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Fig. 1
Hierarchy of Rural Settlements in Aligarh District
70
58.84
60
50
Percentage Category
40
30
26.1
20
10 6.85
4.21
1.48 2.39
0
> 5000 1000 - 4999 500 - 999 200 - 499 < 200 Uninhabited
Village Size
Source : Computed from Primary Data
Out of 1,212 villages in the district, 51 villages belong to more than 5000 population size. They comprise 4.21
per cent of the total population. The villages of 1000‐4999 persons had a largest number of 712 villages. These
comprise 58.84 per cent of the total population. There are 316 villages of 500‐999 persons. These represent
26.1 per cent of the total population. There are 83 small size villages of 200‐ 499 persons. They constitute 6.85
per cent population. The smallest villages had less than 200 persons. There are 18 such villages, representing
1.48 per cent population. The uninhabited villages were as many as 29 in number.
The most characteristic size of rural settlements in the district is the large size villages of 1000‐4999 persons. As
far as the geographical distribution of the largest size of villages in more than 5000 category is concerned,
there is a clear evidence of the impact of urban gravity on the very large size of villages.
The development blocks as shown in Fig. 2 namely, Jawan Sikanderpur, Gabhana and Koil have the highest
proportionate concentration of the over 5000 population villages in relation to the centrality of their location.
On the other hand, the development blocks of Atrauli, Bijauli and Gangiri are located on the periphery of the
district. These blocks are at a distance‐decay
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Fig. 2
Blockwise Comparison of Village Size in Aligarh District
70
52.85 53.76
50
Percentage
40
30.64
28.57 28.87
30
25 25.68 25.81
24.46
20
11.95
10
6.42
5.21 5.32 5.38
4.35 3.74
2.86 2.94
Atrauli,Bijauli,Gangiri
Dhanipur, Akrabad
Tappal
Khair
Chandaus
Lodha
Gonda, Iglas
Jawan Sikanderpur
ICIWG‐33
FAMILY STRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC STAGNATION OF MUSLIM INDUSTRIAL LABOUR IN THE
PERIPHERAL WARDS OF OLD ALIGARH CITY
Ghazal Salahuddin
Research Scholar, Department of Geography, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
ABSTRACT
Aligarh is a historical city which grew into a sizeable Muslim population centre in the late medieval period.
Apart from Aligarh Muslim University in the Civil Lines area, Aligarh is famous for its unique lock industry in the
old city some 5km. away from the city centre. This household cottage industry was started by the Muslims in
the late 19th century. Most of the lock industry units are still owned by the Muslims. In the absence of any
government support or incentives of modernization, the industry is entirely in the unorganized sector with its
traditional, labour intensive mode of production. The wage structure is adhoc with meagre payments. The
inadequate wages compel the prevalence of large scale child and women labour in the Muslim community.
Under resultant poverty, the family structure has largely degenerated into joint and extended joint family
system. The per capita living space and the per capita resource availability to this large industrial labour is
much lower than their per capita resource generation. The paper is based on the primary data generated from
an elaborate questionnaire. The effect of family structure on literacy has been examined to ascertain whether
these people have a way out of the vicious circle of poverty, politico administrative exploitation and socio‐
economic marginalization. The municipal neglect of these peripheral wards demonstrates the law of distance‐
decay of public services.
INTRODUCTION
Family structure and size are the crucial human resource indicators of a social group. These indicators depict
the potentials of social sustainability. These are basic independent variables upon which largely depend the
literacy and education, employment and income and the overall economic conditions of the social group. The
present study evaluates the socio‐economic conditions and the associated problems of the three wards
namely, Slaughter House, A.D.A. Colony and Bhujpura of an industrial city periphery. The study area is mostly
inhabited by the Muslim minority. Most of the problems of social and urban neglect such as deprivation of civic
or municipal facilities hinge on to the city periphery. However, if the city periphery is inhabited by a minority
social group of meagre politico‐administrative gravity, then it is all the more deprived of the basic and essential
services.
LOCATION AND NATURE OF THE STUDY AREA
Aligarh is a city of 6,69,087 population, according to the 2001 census. It has an estimated Muslim population of
2,34,528 persons which is nearly 35 per cent of the total population. Aligarh is famous for its unique lock
industry which was started by the Muslims in the late 19th Century. It is largely a household, cottage industry.
The other growing industry of Aligarh is the building‐fittings industry. These labour intensive industries are
culturally related to the Muslim workers.
i. As these industries are labour intensive in nature, they induce considerable migration from the
neighbouring rural‐urban fringe. Hence, even the peripheral wards may have a large population size.
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ii. Here, it is significant to suggest that the cities of labour intensive industries may also have a relatively
higher natural growth of population than the commercial and educational cities.
Figure 1 shows the location of the study area which comprises three wards on the south‐western periphery of
the city.
Source: Municipal Corporation, Aligarh.
These have a total geographical area of 4.2 sq. km. The total population of these wards is 32,195 persons. Their
average population size is 10,732 persons. It is against an average ward population size of only 9,558 persons in
the city. These peripheral wards have a surprisingly higher population than the inner wards of the city mainly
due to a large concentration of labour. A bigger population size of the peripheral wards is against the spatial
laws of population concentration. This could be attributed to the excessive migration of labour from the fringe
areas.
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DEMOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE
Figure 2 depicts the spatial variation of population density in the study area. The population density in the
peripheral wards is generally lower than the density in the inner wards.
Source: Based on Municipal Data, Aligarh.
The average population density of these peripheral wards is 7,665 persons per sq. km. It varies from 4,116
persons per sq. km. in the Slaughter House ward to 14,213 persons per sq. km. in the A.D.A. Colony ward. On
the other hand, the average population density in Aligarh city as a whole is 21,253 persons per sq. km. These
low population density figures in the peripheral wards are superficial and misleading because even though the
apparent densities are lower, the actual settlement and residential densities are much higher. This is because
of the poverty stricken residential crowding and their smaller housing units. The Muslim sex‐ratio in Aligarh city
is 977 which is considerably higher than the average sex‐ratio of 876 for the whole city. This is also higher than
the state sex‐ratio of 898. The Muslim sex‐ratio in Aligarh is higher than even the all India sex‐ratio of 933
females per 1000 males. The higher sex‐ratio among the Muslims demonstrates a relatively higher gender
justice in the Muslim society. This higher sex‐ratio is visibly under the religious influence. A relatively lower sex‐
ratio of 965 females in Bhujpura and 945 females in A.D.A. Colony could be largely attributed to the male in‐
migration in the form of labour.
SOCIAL AND FAMILY STRUCTURE
Social and family structure determines the contours of sustenance. The household size is an important
component of social structure. A large household size is indicative of poverty and over population. The average
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household size of a social group becomes large mainly due to the higher percentage of extended nuclear
family, joint family and worst of all the extended joint family system in the social group. The average household
size in the Indian cities is inversely proportional to the urban hierarchy. It means that smaller is the size of the
city, larger is the average household size due to tradition and social customs. In the larger cities, the individuals
are self‐centric in nature which grooms a small household size.
In the census definition, a household size is technically measured on the number of persons sharing a common
kitchen. The present author is of the view that a common kitchen criterion does not reveal the gravity of
deprivation to the extent which the proposed criterion of a commonly sharing courtyard of the house might do
to the individuals. It is contended that in the Indian cities with a longer summer season, the living congestion
and the deprivation of the per capita living space can be better understood in terms of the number of persons
sharing the common courtyard in a household rather than the common kitchen. The problems of sharing a
common courtyard may be much more complex than the problems of a common kitchen during the hot, dry
summers when the families cannot sleep in their rooms.
Figure 3 is a bar diagram which shows the average household size from national and regional to local and sub‐
local levels in the study. The average household size in India is 5.7 persons. The average household size in Uttar
Pradesh is 7.23 persons. The average household size of Aligarh city is 8.24 persons. As against this the average
household size of Muslims in Aligarh is much higher with 9.12 persons. A large household size among the
Muslims suggests a lower prevalence of nuclear family system. It is crucial to note that a nuclear family system
is an ideal representation of the family structure. It is a generally observed pattern that the average household
size in the peripheral wards is smaller than that of the inner wards.
Fig. 3
ALIGARH CITY : PERIPHERAL WARDS
Average Household Size
10
9.12
8.86
9 8.52
8.24
7.94
8
7.23
7
Number of persons
6 5.7
0
India U.P. Aligarh City Aligarh Slaughter A.D.A. Colony Bhujpura
Muslims House
Source: Based on Primary and Secondary Data
This is because of the fact that the peripheral wards are largely inhabited by the migrant population. It is also
an established rule that the migrant families of the peripheral wards are smaller than the aboriginal families of
the inner wards.
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Figure 4 depicts the spatial variation of the household size in the study area. The distribution pattern of
household size can be seen in Bhujpura ward with 7.94 persons. The smallest average household size in
Bhujpura is because the average house size of 58.8 sq. yards is also the smallest in the industrial labour ward.
In the outermost Slaughter House ward, the average household size is 8.86 persons. This is in conformity with a
relatively larger household size of approximately 95.6 sq. yards. Although Bhujpura is less peripheral ward, its
smaller household size is because it is largely a poor labour dominated ward. A large household size is
indicative of poverty, joint family, higher dependency ratio and overall deprivation.
Fig. 4
Source: Based on Field work and Primary Data
The average family size is also an important indicator of the social structure. The average Muslim family size in
Aligarh City is 6.28 persons. This is larger than the average family size for the whole city of Aligarh. The average
Muslim nuclear family size is 6.06 persons, while the average Muslim extended nuclear family size is 8.54
persons. The average Muslim joint family size is the smallest 5.28 persons per family within the joint system.
This clearly indicates a lower sustainability of the Muslim joint family. The average Muslim extended joint
family in Aligarh is 6.8 persons.
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Figure 5 shows the national, regional and local levels of the nuclear family system. A higher percentage of
nuclear family is the most satisfactory expression of the social structure. It is a genuine indicator of women
empowerment, because every woman has a legitimate human right to have her own independent house. In
this context, it is important to note that the percentage urban nuclear family in India is 78.03 per cent. In Uttar
Pradesh it is
Fig.5
90
80 78.03
75.08
70 65.62
61.89
60
Percentage
49.44 50.69
50
40
30
20
10
0
India U.P. Aligarh Muslims Slaughter House A.D.A. Colony Bhujpura
Source: Based on Primary and Secondary Data
75.08 per cent, while Aligarh Muslims have only 49.44 per cent of the nuclear family and extended nuclear
family. The Slaughter House ward has 65.62 per cent nuclear family, while Bhujpura has 61.89 per cent. A.D.A.
Colony has the lowest 50.69 per cent nuclear family.
LITERACY RATES AND EDUCATIONAL LEVELS
Figure 6 depicts a comparative literacy scenario at national, regional, local and sub‐local levels. The urban
literacy in India is 80.06 per cent, while in Uttar Pradesh the average urban literacy is 70.61 per cent. The
average literacy of Aligarh is 53.39 per cent. As against this the average Muslim literacy in Aligarh City is only
40.37 per cent. The study wards further depict a highly gloomy picture of literacy. The average literacy in the
Slaughter House ward is 23.25 per cent. The A.D.A. Colony ward has 19.72 per cent literacy while Bhujpura has
a meagre 8.19 per cent literacy. Bhujpura has the lowest literacy because of the maximum incidence of child
labour. The percentage higher and technical education is understandably very low. One can assign several
reasons for such a dismal Muslim literacy in Aligarh.
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Fig. 6
90
80.06
80
70.61
70
60
53.39
(Percentage)
50
40.37
40
30
23.25
19.72
20
8.19
10
0
India U.P. Aligarh city Aligarh Slaughter A.D.A. Colony Bhujpura
Muslims House
Source: Based on Primary and Secondary Data
i. There appears a feeble influence of Aligarh Muslim University in raising the literacy levels of Muslims in
Aligarh.
ii. The poor economic condition and the high dependency ratio of the wards prevent the adoption of literacy.
iii. There is no organised sector employment and the middle class among the Muslims to induce the cultural
traditions of literacy in these wards.
EMPLOYMENT RATES AND INCOME LEVELS
The nature of employment in these peripheral wards is largely labour oriented. From income perspectives,
most of the manual labour is in the unorganized private sector. The entire economy of these wards is based on
household industrial and business undertakings. Their economic ventures are small scale. There is a large
concentration of marginal workers. There are also large employment uncertainties.
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Figure7 shows the wage structure in the study area. Bhujpura is the poorest labour ward.
ALIGARH CITY : PERIPHERAL WARDS
Percentage Wage Structure
100
91
90
80
70
60
Percentage
55
50
40
40
30 27 27
23
20
12
10
10 6 6
2 1
0
Slaughter House A.D.A. Colony Bhujpura
Source: Based on Primary Data
i. The percentage daily‐wagers are the lowest 6 per cent.
ii. The percentage weekly‐wagers are the highest 91 per cent.
iii. The percentage fortnightly‐wagers are the lowest 2 per cent.
iv. The percentage monthly wagers are also the lowest 1 per cent.
Figure 8 shows the spatial distribution of labour intensity. The percentage labour intensity is an index of the
economy and occupation.
Source: Based on Field Work and Primary Data
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ICIWG‐34
COMPARISON OF A NEW GIS‐BASED METHOD AND A MANUAL METHOD FOR DETERMINING
BOUNDERY BASIN: ZAYANDEH ROOD BASIN IN IRAN
1
Maryam Marani Barzani, 2Prof. Dr. khairulmaini bin osman salleh, 3Morteza Sadeghi ,
1
PhD student, 2Supervisor, Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences ,University of Malaya
Marani82@yahoo.com , Khairulo@um.edu.my
3
Gis Group in Relationships and Informations Organization ,Isfahan,Iran
Sadeghi_M313@Yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Hydrologic modeling is one of many useful applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Elevation
data in a grid format can be used to delineate drainage basins, create stream Networks, and compute drainage
basin data. (Christopher M. Smemoe1997, E. James Nelson1994). By digital elevation data and SRTM; it is
simple to delineate boundary basins. This paper focuses on using a hydrologic model in a GIS as determining
boundary of basin and to compare with hand drawing boundary of basin. In this paper, we used the Arc Info
Workstation component of Arc GIS 9.3 Software and were used some data, included: SRTM and 1:25000
topographic maps with a contour interval of 25 meters. The study area for this investigation, chosen for its one
of large basin in center of Iran, included about 42,000 km2. Differences between the determination boundaries
basins derived from the two methods for the basin were useable. The study found that to determine exact
boundaries of basin on contour maps is limited by map scale and contour interval. Gathering and analyzing
basin data for studies in mature regions has historically required the tedious, time‐consuming process of
manually boundary of basin shown on topographic maps. By these results: 1) to get an exact boundary of basin
by GIS method. 2) Saving time for gathering data and doing work by GIS method. 3) The map is more benefit
for analyzing in order to other purposes.4) it is some deference between close basin and open basin.
INTRODUCTION
Hydrological basins
The first step in planning geomorphology and hydrology is, to determined boundary of water shed. The land
measurement which is surrounded by heights is called pouring water basin, so the running water which is the
result of rain concentrates on the deepest surface and exits from the point that includes the lowest height
watershed is a in depend unit for planning . Rainfall and water resource causes to exist human unites and
human activities in basins. Most of the human unites are near outlet or floodplain, especially in arid zone are
near quant or springs and this area is important for agriculture and settlement. Hillcrests are boundary of basin
in hydrology .in close basins; water flow is entered to ground and it is saved as groundwater.
Hydrological method by GIS
Geographic Information System (GIS) software such as Arc/Info has had the capability to
Perform hydrologic modeling for several years. Elevation data in a grid format can be used to delineate
drainage basins, create stream networks, and compute drainage basin data. (M. Smemoe.,1997). GIS
technology provides the means for analyzing the spatial distribution of geographic information, modeling its
interactions, and finding patterns and relationships in the data that may be overlooked by previously‐used
techniques (Szukalski 2002, Julie c.et.al, 2004,).
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STUDY AREA
The Zayandeh Rood Basin, which is located in the central part of Iran (Fig. 1), In dividing the comprehensive
diagram of the country water, this basin is specified as the first basin of the sixth studying region with 6‐1 no.
This basin is composed of 7 sub‐basins as: Pelasjan, shoor, Dehaghan, khoshk Rood, Morghab, Zarcheshmeh,
Rahimi and Govkhooni marsh.
This basin is limited to salt Lake Basin from north, Abadeh and Semirom province from south, Karoon river
basin from west and Ardestan basin from east. Most of the west basin is mountainous (Daran, Farsan and
Feraidoon shahr cities) and its east part is plain (Esfahan, shah Reza and Meimeh).this basin has a main branch,
called Zayandeh Rood river and some sub‐branches. It main branch, originates from eastern slope of Bakhtiari
mountains,(Kooh rang) which is located in middle Zagross and flows from west to east, after passing about 350
km it pours in Govkhooni Marsh.
Figure 1: location of Z.R.B based on coordinate
50°0'0"E 51°0'0"E 52°0'0"E 53°0'0"E
34°0'0"N 34°0'0"N
±
33°0'0"N 33°0'0"N
32°0'0"N 32°0'0"N
31°0'0"N 31°0'0"N
0 15 30 60 90 120
Kilometers
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METHOD
We used the Arc Info Workstation component of Arc GIS 9.3 Software to make a GIS‐based method that
provides an alternative for determining and distribution studies. To determine boundary of basin prepared by
SRTM image and then checked by contour map by using the GIS‐based method from digital map of the study
area.
Data development
Hydrologic data development is the process of delineating a watershed and its sub‐basins then
Computing geometric sub‐basin parameters from the delineated basins. (Christopher. M. Smemoe 1997). This
section will focus on the following steps involved in developing geometric hydrologic data for a watershed.
Boundary basin delineation using an elevation grid
• Using SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission)
• Determining geometric parameters such fill, flow direction grid
Boundery Basin Delineation Using an Elevation Grid
The first step in this project is defining basin boundaries. These boundaries normally fall along the ridges in a
watershed. On one side of the ridge, water flows into the watershed, while on the other side of the ridge,
water flows into a separate watershed.
Three steps are involved in defining these drainage basin boundaries from an elevation grid:
1. Fill any pits in the elevation grid.
2. Compute the flow direction grid using the elevation grid.
4. Make polyline coverage of the watershed.
1. Fill any pits in the elevation grid
A pit forms when a grid cell is lower than all its neighboring grid cells. Before computing a flow direction grid, it
is necessary to fill any pits in the elevation grid. Flow directions would be undefined for all unfilled pits (Figure
1). Further, when the watershed is delineated, the grid cells surrounding a pit will not belong to a defined
watershed.
Figure1: Flow paths to a pit. (Christopher M. Smemoe1997)
2. Compute the flow direction grid using the elevation grid
A flow direction grid has one of eight values for each grid cell. The possible values are up,
down, right, left, lower right, lower left, upper right, and upper left. These flow directions for each grid cell are
computed from the elevation grid.
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Figure 2: Flow directions computed from an underlying elevation grid. (Christopher M. Smemoe, 1997)
Figure 3: A flow direction grid with an underlying elevation grid. (Christopher M. Smemoe, 1997)
Figure 4: Boundary of Zayandeh Rood Basin by GIS Based Method
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Figure5: Boundary of Z.R.B by manual method and GIS Based Method
Figure 6: Comparison boundary of Z.R.B by GIS Method and Manual Method based on contour map
CONCLUSION
Automate method was tested for two type of basin (open basin and close basin).for open basin automatic
method is applied because there is mountain section and outlet is sea point. Semi automat method is used for
Close basin, because outlet of this kind of basin is marsh or some lake so some of hillcrests are not very clear
and we have to check them by topographical map or survey so we can call semiautomatic method. Hydrological
method is useful because we can save the time for to determined boundary of basin by having DEM or SRTM
and it is not necessary to have topography and hydrological map. And other hand this method is very exact
especially for open basin and without survey we can get exact result. Considering limitation about suitable
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
topography map for Z.R.B but we could get exact boundary of the basin we could decrease taking time for this
analysis. And for checking boundary in east part of the basin may be is necessary to go for fieldwork.
REFERENCE
Christopher M. Smemoe. (1997). Linking GIS Data to hydrologic,Models Brigham Young University. Submitted
to the American Water Resources Association, Utah Section
Husseini Ebary,S.(1999).Zayandeh Rood from upstream until Marsh, Isfahan publish.
Julie C. et al. (2004).Comparison of a new GIS‐based technique and a manual method for determining sinkhole
density: an example from illinois’ sinkhole plain Illinois State Geological Survey, Natural Resources Building.
Sinkhole plain. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, v. 66, no. 1, p. 9‐17.
Dastorani M.T. (1998).Cartography Guideline, Natural Resources Faculty, Yazd University.
http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org
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ICIWG‐35
ESTIMATION OF AGRICULTURAL DYNAMICS IN THE URBAN FRINGE OF THE FERTILE GANGA‐
YAMUNA DOAB, INDIA: A CASE STUDY OF RAMGARH PANJOOPUR VILLAGE
Sahila Salahuddin
Research Scholar , Department of Geography at the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. India
ABSTRACT
Rural‐urban fringe is an area of both the induced agricultural opportunities as well as the urban encroachment
on the nearby villages. Ramgarh Panjoopur village is in the vicinity of sprawling Aligarh city. The village lies in
the inner fringe of the city. The paper enquires the demographic structure and the social change and its impact
upon the agricultural dynamics. The size of landholdings has been taken up as the independent variable and
the landuse pattern and the cropping intensity as the dependent variable of the enquiry. Size of landholding is
the basic resource of the farmers. It is a dynamic resource in response to technology, input and the social
inheritance. Size of landholding not only determines the landuse pattern but also the social status.
The basic objective of the study is to estimate the impact of the landuse dynamics. To assess the proportion of
different size of landholdings in the inner fringe as against the outer fringe. To assess the percentage share of
different landholdings to the total cultivated area. To examine the productivity levels in different size of
landholdings. Finally, the study enquires the socio‐economic conditions of the people in the rural‐urban fringe.
The present enquiry of the agricultural dynamics of Ramgarh Panjoopur village in the rural‐urban fringe of
Aligarh takes into consideration the following aspects of the study area.
OUTLINES OF THE ENQUIRY:
i. Location of the village in the inner fringe.
ii. Demographic structure and social change.
iii. The size, structure and the impact of landholdings.
iv. Landuse pattern in relation to landholdings.
v. Size of landholding, irrigation intensity and cropping intensity.
vi. The size of landholding has been taken as an independent variable and the agricultural dynamics as
dependent variables.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:
The paper enquires the spatial variation of agriculture at a sub micro level, within a large village:
i. In proportion to different size of landholdings.
ii. In response to technology, inputs and social inheritance.
iii. In relation to socio‐economic conditions of the people.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INNER FRINGE :
Rural –urban fringe is a dynamic area of:
i. Enhanced agricultural opportunities induced by the market impulses of the city.
ii. Urban encroachment on the docile and less sustainable village lands.
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LOCATION OF RAMGARH PANJOOPUR:
The village Ramgarh Panjoopur is located within a distance of 3 km. from the Civil Lines periphery of Aligarh
city in Jawan Sikandarpur Development Block. It is a large village with a total geographical area of 406.46
sq.hectares.
Fig. 1
Source: Based on the Census of India, 2001.
Contrary to the Nearest Neighbour Analysis in Fig. 1 the size of the village is comparatively larger. This is
because the village is located on the historically sparsely populated periphery of the Civil Lines. On the other
hand, most of the villages located along the periphery of the old city are small to medium size in accordance to
the theory of city and urban spacing.
DEMOGRAPHIC STRUCTURE OF THE VILLAGE:
The total population of Panjoopur including Nagla Qila and Nagla Patwari was 9,312 persons in 2001 census.
The population of the village increased from 2,653 persons in 1981 to 9,312 persons in 2001. Such an
exponential growth is due to the inclusion of the population of Nagla Qila and Nagla Patwari.
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TABLE 1
Sr. Population 1981 2001 % Growth and Differential
1. Total Population 2,653 9,312 351
2. General Gender Ratio 806 868 +62
3. Average Household Size 5.88 6.71 +0.83
4. % Population 0‐6 years N.A. 23.45 N.A.
5. Gender ratio 0‐6 years N.A. 875 7 above general
6. Total SC Population 156 233 N.A.
7. % SC Population 5.9 2.5 N.A.
8. SC Gender Ratio 950 958 90 above general
Source: Based on District Census Handbook, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, 1981 and 2001.
Table 1 shows a female population growth of 1.84 per cent from 44.63 per cent in 1981 to 46.47 per cent in
2001. The sex‐ratio in 1981 was 806 which increased to 868 in 2001. This female population growth is a
favourable sign of gender tolerance and rising status of women in the social order of the village. A higher sex‐
ratio of 875 in 0‐6 years age group indicates a recent trend of female child acceptance. A still higher Scheduled
Caste gender ratio of 950 in 1981 to 958 in 2001. This could be due to the fact that among the conservative
social groups such as Muslims, Roman Catholics and the Scheduled Castes, there is a lesser degree of gender
engineering and gender bias. They scarcely manipulate their natural population growth.
LOW LITERACY LEVEL:
The literacy level in the village so close to the city was inexplanably low at 38.82 per cent in 2001.It is
considerably below the National Rural Literacy rate of 59.21 per cent and even lower than the State Rural
Literacy rate of 53.68 per cent. Orthodoxy and illiteracy may be the major reasons of a low gender ratio and
women empowerment. Literacy of Panjoopur as a social welfare indicator is much below the average.
STRUCTURE AND IMPACT OF LANDHOLDINGS:
TABLE 2 AVERAGE SIZE OF LANDHOLDINGS AND LAND USE IN PANJOOPUR VILLAGE
Sr. Landholding No. of % Landholding Average Holdings % Area of Avr. Family
Category Landholdings Size Hectarage Holdings Size
1. < 1 Hectare 191 47.16 0.32 61.12 19.61 7.0
2. 1‐2 Hectare 135 33.33 0.82 110.07 35.32 6.9
3. 2‐4 Hectare 73 18.03 1.63 118.99 38.19 7.4
4. 4‐10 Hectare 6 1.48 3.57 21.42 6.88 7.5
5. > 10 Hectare Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil
TOTAL 405 100.00 1.58 311.60 100.00 7.2
Source: Computed from Primary Data
Table 2 and Fig. 3 depict the primary data of landholding structure. A total number of 405 landholdings cover
312 hectares of agricultural land in the village. Out of this, nearly 47 per cent of the landholdings are smaller
than 1 hectare in size. This indicates that the largest number of fields are cultivated by the marginal farmers.
About 33 per cent of the total number of landholdings are cultivated by small farmers of 1‐2 hectare land. Only
18 per cent of the total number of landholdings are cultivated by the medium farmers of 2‐4 hectares field.
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However, the largest 119 hectares of the cultivated land is under this category. A small 1.5 per cent of the total
number of landholdings are cultivated by large farmers of 4‐10 hectare holdings.
Fig. 3
Source: Based on Primary Data and Field Survey
These large landholdings account for as much as 21.4 hectare of the land. It is critical to note that 76 per cent
population of Panjoopur is landless workers. Many of them periodically to regularly come down to the next
door city of Aligarh. This large percentage of landless labourers suggests that closer is a village to the city,
higher is the percentage of landless people due to the higher value of land beyond their reach. Cultivation on
some of the marginal farms is rendered unremunerative. Hence, they sell out their meager land and
compulsively become landless workers. Many of the landless workers daily go to Aligarh city or to other villages
as agricultural labourers. However, for economic and prestige reasons they do not work in their own village.
MAJOR FINDINGS:
As much as 74.5 per cent of the cultivated land in Panjoopur is under the control of medium and small farmers.
There are only 3 government tube wells and 4 private tube wells in the village. This speaks of inadequate
irrigation facilities and low irrigation intensity. As a result, the double cropped area to the net sown area is not
very large. Hence, the cropping intensity is also low. Such an infrastructural inadequacy reveals that Panjoopur
is not a developed village. About 76 per cent of the population is landless and 10 per cent is marginal farmers.
Hence, there is growing evidence of marginalization in Ramgarh Panjoopur. Only 5 per cent population of the
village represents the medium and large farmers.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS :
As per our understanding of the von Thunen’s model of location of agricultural activities and zonation of
agricultural intensity, we had an expectation of (i) High infrastructural facilities (ii) Resultant agricultural
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development. It appears that the village is not properly integrated to the city gravity. There is a marked
heterogeneity in land assets and a telling socio‐economic disparity in the village.
The large farmers often have ownership landholdings bigger than the operational landholdings. Hence, the
surplus land is rendered unused in the form of old fallow and culturable wastes. This renders a lower per unit
area productivity of large landholdings. The lands left uncultivated for more than 5‐7 years may be transferred
to the landless people in the village. There should be atleast 1 efficient tube well of the Gram Panchayat for
every 20 hectares of the agricultural lands in the villages. Farm produce exploitation by the middleman should
be minimized. The rural marketing system should evolve a mandatory “Protection Prices” particularly for the
perishable produce.
REFERENCES
1. Administrative Atlas, Uttar Pradesh, Vol. I, Census of India, 2001, Directorate of Census Operations, Uttar
Pradesh, Lucknow.
2. District Statistical Handbook, Uttar Pradesh, Census of India, 1981.
3. District Statistical Handbook, Uttar Pradesh, Census of India, 2001.
4. District level Household and Facility Survey, Fact Sheet, Uttar Pradesh, Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare, Govt. of India, 2008.
5. District Revenue Office, Collectorate, Aligarh.
6. Provisional Population Totals, Uttar Pradesh, Census of India, 2001, Lucknow.
7. Statistical Abstract, 2004, Central Statistical Organization, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
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ICIWG‐36
SPATIAL PATTERNS AND DISTRIBUTION OF DISASTERS IN THE OIC MEMBER COUNTRIES
Ali Asgary,
Associate Professor of Disaster and Emergency Management,
School of Administrative Studies, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies,
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
asgary@yorku.ca
ABSTRACT
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member countries are exposed to a large number of natural
and technological hazards and many characteristics of these countries make them particularly vulnerable to the
impacts of these hazards. As a result most of the OIC member countries are among the most disaster prone
areas of the world and have experienced significant number of disasters, human casualties and economic
losses during the past century. Continuation of this trend in the future should be a major area of concern for
the OIC. Disasters could delay the development process because they take away a significant proportion of
resources accumulated from development investments over many years. While studies have been done to map
and describe the patterns of disasters at international and country levels, little research has been done about
disaster patterns and their distributions at the OIC level. A better understanding of such patterns and trends
could help these countries to enhance mutual learning and experience sharing by creating common
institutional frameworks.
In order to improve collective capacity of the OIC countries in disaster and emergency management, it is
important to understand the characteristics, location, frequency and magnitude of the past disaster events and
their impacts on people and properties. Mapping is a central tool in disaster risk management. Maps can show
the spatial distribution of different types of disasters in different countries and provide the users with an
understanding of the existing patterns and potential trends. Hazard and disaster mapping is a critical step in
determining the risk to populations, infrastructure, and economic activities. A clear understanding of the
hazard and disaster trends and their distribution in the OIC countries would be the first step in this regard that
must be followed by more detailed hazard and risk mappings.
This paper tries to review and map disasters and their human impacts in the OIC countries in the past 110 years
using the EMDAT database in order to create some pictures of similarities and differences in disaster impacts to
facilitate collective actions. The main aims of this paper are: 1) to provide a comprehensive review of disaster
events in the OIC countries using existing data sources; 2) to map and visualize disaster events in the OIC
countries to provide some insights into the spatial distribution of disasters among these countries and develop
a common framework for collective disaster management efforts for these countries.
INTRODUCTION
The impact of natural and technological disasters on people has consistently been increasing, often resulting in
the retardation of economic and social development. In spite of a long history of natural and technological
disasters, efforts of governments to mitigate potential vulnerability have generally been lethargic (Collymore,
2007). A range of natural and technological disasters threatens lives, properties and development in the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member countries. By understanding the past and the current
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trends and anticipating future disaster events, governments and people in these countries can better manage
and reduce disaster risks and learn from each others’ experiences in disaster mitigation, preparedness,
response and recovery. Failure to prevent and mitigate future disasters can be very costly both in terms of
human and economic losses due to increasing population and .changes in the climate patterns as well as
industrialization. Despite this, many of the OIC member countries are vulnerable to natural and technological
hazards and have limited capacities and institutional settings that are required for effective management of
large disasters that are frequently occurring in these countries. At the same time some of the OIC member
countries have accumulated invaluable experiences in managing different disasters that can be used by other
countries if adequate mechanisms are established for disaster management information and experience
sharing.
In order to improve collective capacity of the Islamic countries in disaster and emergency management, it is
important to understand the characteristics, location, frequency and magnitude of the past disaster events and
their impacts on property and people. Disaster mapping is a central tool in disaster risk management. Maps can
show the spatial distribution of different types of disasters in different countries and provide the users with an
understanding of the existing patterns and potential trends. Hazard and disaster mapping is a critical step in
determining the risk to populations, infrastructure, and economic activities (Collymore, 2007). A clear
understanding of the hazard and disaster trends and their distribution in the OIC countries would be the first
step in this regard that must be followed by more detailed hazard and risk mappings.
Disaster mapping can be to any appropriate scale or level of detail, making them useful for various levels of
disaster management. The type of information recorded varies according to the disaster under investigation.
Mapping may be based on various data sources (e.g., existing data and maps, remote sensing, surveying). Maps
are a good medium for communicating disaster information to decision‐makers but often need interpreting.
The main aim of this paper are: 1) to provide a comprehensive review of disaster events in the OIC member
countries using the existing data sources; 2) to map and visualize disaster events in the OIC member countries
to provide some insights into the spatial distribution of disasters among these countries and develop a
common framework for collective disaster management efforts for the OIC member countries. The remaining
part of this paper is organized as follow. Section two explains the data and methodology used to generate the
disasters maps in the OIC member countries. Section three provides an overall picture of disaster distribution
in the OIC member countries. Section four presents and explains the disaster maps created for selected types
of disasters in the OIC member countries. Section five discusses the findings. Finally, section six concludes the
paper with some recommendations for future works and disaster management in the OIC member countries.
DATA AND METHOD
In this paper EM‐DAT database prepared by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED)
has been used. The database’s main objectives are to assist humanitarian action at both national and
international levels; to rationalize decision‐making for disaster preparedness; and to provide an objective basis
for vulnerability assessment and priority setting. Although the EM‐DAT is not a complete disaster database, it is
probably one of the most complete and publicly available disaster databases.
CRED was established in Brussels in 1973 at the School of Public Health of the Catholic University of Louvain
(UCL) as a non‐profit institution and has been active in the fields of international disaster and conflict health
studies, with research and training activities linking relief, rehabilitation and development. In 1980, CRED
became a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre as part of WHO’s Global Program for
Emergency Preparedness and Response. Since 1988, with the sponsorship of the United States Agency for
International Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), CRED has maintained EM‐
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DAT, a worldwide database on disasters. It contains essential core data on the occurrence and effects of more
than 18,000 disasters in the world from 1900 to the present. The database is compiled from various sources,
including UN agencies, non‐governmental organizations, insurance companies, research institutes and press
agencies. Data provided by the UN agencies, followed by OFDA, governments and the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are given priority. This prioritization is not only a reflection of the
quality or value of the data, but it also reflects the fact that most reporting sources do not cover all disasters or
have political limitations that can affect the figures. CRED constantly reviews the data records for redundancy,
inconsistencies and incompleteness (CRED, 2009).
In the CRED database disaster is defined as “a situation or event which overwhelms local capacity, necessitating
a request to a national or international level for external assistance; an unforeseen and often sudden event
that causes great damage, destruction and human suffering”. For a disaster to be entered into the database, at
least one of the following criteria must be fulfilled:
• 10 or more people reported killed;
• 100 or more people reported affected;
• declaration of a state of emergency;
• call for international assistance.
CRED uses s special categorization for disasters. EM‐DAT distinguishes two generic categories for disasters
(natural and technological), the natural disaster category being divided into 5 sub‐groups, which in turn cover
12 disaster types and more than 30 sub‐types (Figure 1).
Figure 1 Natural disaster classification
The CRED database has various fields for each disaster records such as number of people killed, injured,
affected, damage values in us dollars and so on. In this paper only the maps that have been generated for
number of disasters, number of people killed, and number of people impacted in the OIC member countries
are presented and discussed. The CRED database is a tabular database without any mapping component
attached to it. EM‐DAT does not provide a proper georeference of the reported events. Figures are generally
given on a country by country basis; place names and, less frequently, a unique pair of coordinates provides a
more precise indication of the location, but says nothing about the event extent nor on the exposed elements
(population, land, etc.) (Peduzzi et al, 2005). In this paper we have used country boundaries for disaster
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mapping of the OIC countries. A better way for mapping would be to move from mapping based on
administrative boundaries to detailed mapping of hazards zones and areas affected by geo‐physical models.
For this paper, disaster records of the OIC countries have been extracted and entered into a GIS database. List
of the OIC member countries are available in Appendix 1.
It is very important to mention that EMDAT is not a complete disaster database. Data coverage is poor for
many data categories in this database. As highlighted by Adger et al (2004) the data fields (e.g. numbers killed,
total affected) are often poorly represented in this database prior to 1970, and even after this date data are
scarce or missing for certain countries and disaster types. In many cases a figure for numbers killed is not
associated with a figure for numbers affected. While under‐reporting of mortality is likely to be common,
assessment of numbers affected is even more problematic. Therefore, these limitations must be considered
when interpreting and using the results of studies carried out using EMDAT.
DISASTERS IN THE OIC COUNTRIES, A GENERAL PICTURE
All Disasters
According to the EMDAT database there have been a total of 2,050 disasters recorded for the OIC countries
from 1900 to 2009 (Table 1). As mentioned earlier, this is not necessarily the actual number of disasters that
have occurred in these countries due to different reasons, but it reflects a large number of disasters that have
occurred in these countries with significant human impacts.
Table 1 Total number of different types of disasters in the OIC member countries
Disasters Number of Disasters
Complex Disasters 1
Insect infestation 8
Volcano 14
Wildfire 14
Extreme temperature 32
Drought 36
Mass movement wet 56
Industrial Accident 74
Storm 100
Earthquake (seismic activity) 113
Miscellaneous accident 126
Epidemic 199
Flood 410
Transport Accident 867
Total 2050
Source: Data extracted from EMDAT database on January 2010
Map 2, 3, and 4 show the spatial distribution of these disasters and their human impacts in the OIC region.
According to these data and maps most of the Islamic countries have experienced disasters and disaster
impacts. However, certain countries seem to have higher number of recorded disasters, people killed, and
people affected by disasters. Nigeria (276), Indonesia (243), Iran (154), Bangladesh (140), Pakistan (131),
Afghanistan (104), Turkey (103), Egypt (102), Sudan (69), and Algeria (60) have had the largest number of
disasters. Pattern is a little different for the number of people killed by disasters. Bangladesh (3,004,465),
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Indonesia (248,959), Uganda (205,379), Niger (194,871), Pakistan (175,719), Sudan (164,067), Iran (160,629),
Mozambique (106,636), Turkey (96,893), and Nigeria (35,081) are on the top 10 countries in terms of the
number of people killed by disasters.
Natural Disasters
The OIC countries are very vulnerable to natural hazards. About 48 percent of the disasters that have occurred
in the OIC countries in the past 110 years are natural disasters. These disasters have killed 4,474,829 people
and affected 705,917,407 in the same period. Although only 48 percent of the total number of disasters has
been caused by the natural disasters, 98 percent of the victims belong to this type of disasters. This shows the
significant human impacts of natural disasters in the OIC countries. Majority of the natural disaster (66 percent)
and their impacts have happened in a limited number of countries. Indonesia (151 case), Afghanistan (82 case),
Bangladesh (79 case), Pakistan (67 case), Nigeria (56 case), Iran (53 case), Turkey (50 case), Mozambique (43
case), Algeria (35 case), and Sudan (34 case) have had the top 10 places. Similarly Bangladesh with 2,991,797,
Indonesia with 239,430, Uganda with 203,971, Niger with 194542, Pakistan with 170013, Sudan with 162,184,
Iran with 155,867, Mozambique with 105,533, Turkey with 91,356, and Somalia with 28,843 people killed have
had the top ten places in terms of number of people killed by natural disasters.
Maps 4, 5, 6 show the spatial distribution of number of natural disasters, people killed, and people affected by
natural disasters in the OIC countries since 1900. As these maps show Indonesia and Bangladesh in the south
Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in the west Asia and Sudan, Nigeria, and Mozambique in Africa are among
the countries that have been heavily impacted by natural disasters. Smaller countries especially those in the
Arabian Peninsula are among the countries that have not experienced sever recorded natural disasters during
the study period. Overall, natural disasters have been a major problem and challenge for most of the OIC
member countries and thus natural disaster risk reduction should be an important area for collaboration
among these countries.
Technological Disasters
These so called technological disasters are an inevitable product of technological innovation and usage. These
disasters, that are caused by the failure of an existing technology, tend to be much less understood than their
natural counterparts and are increasing in number as the scope of and our dependence on technology
expands. The most common technological hazards arise from various components of transportation (.e. plain
crash, train derailment or passenger ships accidents), infrastructure (i.e. power failure), industry, and buildings
structures (Coppola, 2007).
In total 1064 disasters have been reported in the EMDAT database for the OIC countries which makes 52
percent of the total number of recorded disasters. In comparison with natural disasters, technological disasters
have had lower human impacts in terms of number of people killed or impacted. All these 1,064 events killed
about 87,666 people. Out of these 1064 disasters, 74 were industrial, 868 were transportation and the rest
were other types of industrial and technological disasters. Transportation sector has the largest number of
disasters in the OIC countries. One point to make is that these are only the large technological disasters which
probably highlight some major issues relating to industrial safety. In other words, total number of people killed
or impacted by minor events is much higher than these numbers. For example, number of people killed in
transportation accidents in some of the OIC member countries such as Iran, Egypt, and Nigeria are the largest
in the world.
In terms of number of disasters Nigeria, Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Morocco, Sudan
and Algeria are among the top 10 countries. Nigeria and Iran each with 220 and 101 have the highest number
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of technological disasters among the OIC countries. In terms of number of people killed the order of countries
in the top 10 list is different. Bangladesh (12668 people killed), Nigeria (with 12559 people killed), Indonesia
(with 9529 people killed), Pakistan (with 5706 people killed), Turkey (with 5537 people killed), Egypt (with 5152
people killed), Iran (with 4762 people killed), Saudi Arabia (with 4211eople killed, Iraq (with 2863 people killed)
and Sudan (with 1883 people killed) are respectively the top deadliest countries from technological disasters.
Maps 7, 8, and 9 provide insights into the spatial distribution of technological disasters in the OIC countries.
Although large number of technological disasters has occurred in some of them, their human impacts have
been relatively low and therefore data shows that overall technological disasters have not been a major issue
for majority of the OIC countries mainly due to the lower levels of industrial and technological activities. If this
trend continues more disastrous industrial and technological events could happen in the future that require
special attention.
Figure 2 Top 10 disaster prone countries of the OIC countries
276
300 243
250
200 154 140 131
150 104 103 102
100 69 60
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SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF SELECTED DISASTERS IN THE OIC COUNTRIES
Section three highlighted the overall patterns of disasters and their two main subgroups (natural and
technological) in the OIC countries for the study period. This section provides some detail information and
maps created for the most frequent and challenging disasters in these countries. These disasters account for
majority of the recorded events, their human and economic losses and therefore a better understanding of
them could help OIC countries and OIC to focus their collective efforts towards them. Earthquakes, floods,
droughts, storms, epidemics and transportation accidents have been the most frequent and costliest natural
and technological disasters in the OIC countries.
Earthquakes
Earthquakes are the most deadly and persistent natural disasters in some of the OIC countries. Except a few
African countries all other OIC countries are located in the seismically active zones. While not as recurrent as
floods, earthquakes do pose a serious threat to many of the OIC countries. In total 117 earthquake disasters
have been recorded for the OIC countries. Majority of the earthquakes have occurred in Indonesia (38), Iran
(23), Turkey (15), Afghanistan (12), Pakistan (6) and Algeria (5). They have killed 609,714 people mostly in
Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Morocco, Afghanistan and Algeria. These figures give an average mortality
rate of 5,211 per disaster.
Significant human fatalities and great property losses accompanied several earthquakes in recent years in some
of the OIC member countries. In Iran the 1990 Manjil and December 2003 Bam earthquakes killed more than
60 thousands people. In 26 of December 2004 the more than 165,708 people were killed by the tsunami that
was caused by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in the Indian Ocean. In 8 October 2005 a large earthquake killed
more than 73,338 people in the Northern Pakistan. Earthquake mortality has a positive correlation with
exposure and in many cases negatively with the economic status of a country as measured by the per capita
GDP. Additionally, rapid urban growth and weak governance contributes to earthquake mortality (UN, 2009).
Earthquakes usually affect large portion of population. The 117 recorded earthquakes for the OIC countries
have affected 709.5 million people in the OIC countries which is an average of 6 million people per earthquake
(Map 10, 11, and 12).
Floods
Floods are known as the most frequent events worldwide. Scientific evidence suggests that the world is facing
an increase in mean precipitation and extreme precipitation events, which implies that extreme flood events
might become more frequent (Christensen and Christensen 2003; Kundzewicz and Schellnhuber 2004).
Exposure to floods is increasing in the OIC countries as well as flood vulnerability. The cause of the increase of
these two factors can be attributed to population and wealth moving into flood‐prone areas (Barredo, 2007).
Worldwide majority of flood disasters’ victims are poor people of developing countries, who suffer most and
are the first causalities of such incidents (Osti et al., 2008). This trend of destruction due to floods in the OIC
countries will continue unless a few reliable coping mechanisms are well established in advance. However, due
to the lack of awareness, resources and suitable approach, the problem couldn’t be solved as in the pace of
developed countries. This particular vulnerability of the OIC countries in this common hazard underlines the
urgent need for collaboration in implementing socio‐economically as well as environmentally feasible
structural as well as non‐structural countermeasures that should be planned and implemented by community
according to their real needs and affordability.
Although floods are very frequent, they usually have smaller human and property impacts compared to other
types of natural disasters. Map 13, 14, and 15 show the spatial distribution of flood disasters and their human
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impacts in the OIC countries. Overall there have been 409 flood disasters in these countries over the study
period that have killed 102613 people and impacted more than 401 million people. Indonesia, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Algeria, Nigeria, Iran, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and Turkey have had the highest number of flood
disasters among these countries are extremely vulnerable. Pakistan is among the OIC countries that has had
the highest number of human causalities from flooding. For example in September 8, 1992 more than 1330
people were killed in a flood disaster in this country. Several other flood disasters killed about the same
number of people in Pakistan during the past decades.
Droughts
Droughts are very much different from other climate related events since it develops slowly and often last over
a period of several months to several years. Around 220 million people are exposed annually to droughts and
African countries including the OIC members are particularly vulnerable to droughts. Drought disasters are
often part of a bigger problem that can include armed conflict, extremes of poverty and epidemic disease
(UNDP, 2004). Droughts are not as frequent as other natural disasters in the OIC countries, but they have
produced considerable human impacts. Overall there have been 36 drought disaster events recorded for the
OIC countries in the EMDAT database that have killed 2264486 and impacted more than 37.6 million people.
Drought seems to be a major issue for OIC countries in the Africa since Mozambique, Djibouti, Afghanistan,
Guinea‐Bissau, Cameroon, Niger, Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, and Sudan have had the highest number of
recorded disasters. Bangladesh (with 1900018 people killed), Sudan, Mozambique, Niger, Somalia, Indonesia,
Uganda, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Guinea (with 12 people killed) are on the top 10 list of countries with the
highest number of people killed by droughts. Isolating the actual number of deaths caused by drought disasters
is highly complicated and difficult. Deaths to drought are not direct, but rather the result of a complex
interaction of drought and vulnerability as embedded in the economy.
Countries with high dependence on primary sector activities usually experience widespread human impacts of
droughts. Their cumulative economic effects on people can be significant even in situations where mortality
attributable to the hazard event is not widespread (UNDP, 2004). During the study period Iran, Bangladesh,
Sudan, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Somalia, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, and Afghanistan are among the top 10
IOC countries in terms of number of people impacted by drought disasters. Droughts in sub‐Saharan Africa
(1980‐2000) caused sever famines that killed many people. Somalia and Mozambique recorded the highest
number of deaths among the OIC countries. Mozambique is also prone to droughts and has experienced very
severe drought periods (1981‐1984 and 1991‐1993). Iran experienced one of the costliest (2.6 billions US$)
droughts from 1999 to 2002. This drought caused major population displacement from rural to urban areas,
deterioration of public health and outbreak of water borne diseases, increased unemployment, the
disappearance of wetlands of international significance, and increases in related hazards such as fires, wind
and soil erosion, flood and landslide hazard. (UNDP, 2004). Droughts in recent years have probably affected
more households in southern and western Afghanistan than the recent conflict. Pakistan has experienced the
worst drought in her history in the same period (FAO, 1999).
Epidemics
Epidemics have been major problems for the OIC countries in Africa. Data shows that Nigeria, Sudan,
Afghanistan, Mozambique, Cote d’Ivoire, Chad, Indonesia, Guinea and Pakistan have experienced the largest
number of epidemic disasters among these countries. In fact for many African countries of the OIC such as
Nigeria, Chad, Gabon, and Cameroon epidemics have been the top killers. In 1991 more than 7,289 people
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were killed in an epidemic disaster and in 1996 about 4,346 died in another epidemic disaster. Climate and
health conditions as well as overall development level contribute to this issue.
In total 199 epidemic disasters have been reported for the IOC countries since 1900. These epidemics have
mainly happened in the African countries of the OIC such as Nigeria (27 records), Sudan (19), Niger (17),
Afghanistan (16), Mozambique (11), Cote d’ivoire (10), Chad (10), Indonesia (10), Guinea (9), and Pakistan (8)
have had the highest epidemic disasters during the study period. These 199 cases have killed 814149 people.
This shows that epidemics have a very high mortality rate. The average mortality rate for epidemics in the IOC
counties is 4091 people. Bangladesh (403188), Uganda (203407), Niger (109410), Nigeria (21443), Burkina Faso
(15949), Sudan (11419), Egypt (10291), Chad (6076), Somalia (6029), and Indonesia (3966) have experienced
the highest number of deaths caused by epidemics respectively (Maps 19, 20, 21).
Epidemics are particularly challenging for the OIC countries because of the continuous population movements
and the religious connections (Hajj in Saudi Arabia) between these countries. Diseases and viruses that are the
main sources for epidemics could be easily transferred from one country to another through affected
population. Preventing and controlling the spread of diseases and viruses and therefore epidemic disasters
would be an impossible task without close cooperation and collaboration between the OIC countries.
Transportation Disasters
Transportation disasters are the most common form of technological disasters throughout the world. Both
developing and developed countries experience these types of disasters every year. Transportation volumes
and safety regulations, and human errors play major roles in the number and fatalities caused by this type of
disasters. Plan, train, ship, and multi‐vehicle road accidents are the general types of transportation disasters.
Although the mortality rate for these disasters are relatively low compared to some types of natural disasters,
still the total number of people killed by transportation disasters are high and need particular attention.
In the OIC countries there have been a total of 868 recorded transportation disasters in the EMDAT during the
study period in which 65853 people have been killed and 78268 have been impacted. Nigeria, Iran, Egypt,
Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Morocco, Sudan, and Comoros are on top of the list in terms of
number of transportation disasters and Bangladesh, Nigeria, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, Sudan,
Senegal, and Morocco have had the highest number of transportation disasters related deaths. The average
mortality rate for this disaster has been 76 people per disaster. Economic, industrial, and socio‐political factors
dictate the impacts of technological disasters such transportation disasters (Maps 22, 23, 24).
COLLECTIVE DISASTER RISK REDUCTION IN THE OIC COUNTRIES
All evidences, including the information and maps generated and described in the previous sections of this
paper show that considerable number of the OIC countries have experienced major natural and technological
disasters in the past century. Existing trends as well as future changes in the global conditions suggest that
both the numbers and the impacts of these disasters could increase if serious and continuous disaster
reduction strategies, policies and plans are not developed and implemented at local, regional, national, and
international levels. All of the OIC countries have either faced disasters of different types in the past or will face
in the future, because they are physically located in different natural hazards zones and experience various
levels of technological and industrial activities that involve technological hazards. To reduce disaster risks all of
the existing and available resources and capacities at all levels should be mobilized and used. One of the
potential resources and capacities for disaster reduction is the international institutions that exist in forms of
international organizations, forums, networks, and conferences. The OIC is one of such potential organizations
that could facilitate and enhance the collective disaster risk reduction capacities among the member countries
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through various strategies. Experience sharing, cross border collaboration, institutional building, and
collaborative education and training are among these strategies.
Each OIC member country has accumulated knowledge, expertise and experiences in managing one or more
hazards that could be shared and transferred to other countries in a systematic way through the OIC. This
could be manifested through joint seminars, conferences, and workshops. Finally, institutional arrangements
should be developed in such a way so that scientific and technological knowledge and past experiences can be
effectively utilized. The OIC wide or regional and multi‐country forums depending on the types of hazards
would help in building such linkages, as well as to prevent and mitigate future disasters in the OIC countries.
Some of the hazard sources in the OIC countries such as storms, biological hazards, industrial pollutions,
terrorism, etc. are cross border hazards. Mitigation, preparedness and response to these hazards demand close
collaborations between the bordering countries. Such countries can establish joint programs to mitigate these
hazards and prepare for them in case emergencies arise from them.
Formal disaster management education and training is lacking in many of the OIC countries. Relevant staffs
often have limited understanding of comprehensive and all hazard disaster and emergency management
approach. Yet there are countries within the OIC countries that have already developed educational and
training capacities that can be used by other members as well. However, there is a need for systematic
knowledge and information on resources, legislative and legal requirements, and regional networking and
cooperation.
Governments of some of the OIC member countries such as Iran, Turkey, Bangladesh, Algeria, and the UAE
have established disaster and emergency management organizations. In contrast to this, many other OIC
countries have not set up an organization responsible for comprehensive disaster and emergency management
yet. These countries often rely on the traditional disaster management structures that are mainly disaster
response and relief agencies.
Finally, it has to be emphasized once again that development and disaster experience are tightly coupled. A
more developed country with healthier population is less vulnerable to hazards (UNDP, 2009). According to the
most recent human development index report, Majority of the OIC countries belong to low or medium human
development groups. Only Qatar, UAE, and Kuwait are in the very high human development index group and
Bahrain, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Albania, Turkey and Kazakhstan are in the high human
development index group.
CONCLUSION
The OIC member countries have a long history of natural and technological disasters associated with such
hazards as earthquakes, floods, storms, droughts, landslides, tsunamis, transportation and industrial accidents.
The OIC countries have different socio‐economic as well as geographic characteristics that shape the types of
hazards that they have experienced.
An analysis of the information presented in this study leads to the conclusion that there is an alarming number
of disasters and people killed and affected by them in the OIC countries in the past 110 years. In addition,
damage due to major disasters in the OIC countries has been very huge especially in the recent years. While
each country is responsible for safety and security of its citizens, collective efforts generated through
collaboration between the OIC countries can provide additional capacities and resources in reducing disasters
and their impacts by each country.
The rising trend in population affected by disasters in the OIC countries has to be assessed on the light of
hazard, exposure and vulnerability in order to be able to explain the increased risk as consequence of changes
in the exposed values/ humans and its vulnerability. The study presented in this article is a preliminary effort
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towards understanding disasters in the OIC countries. Further research are needed in order to enhance our
understanding of the root causes of these disasters and the best ways that the OIC countries can help each
other in reducing disaster risks.
Map 1 Number of natural disasters in the OIC countries from 1900 to 2009
Map 2 Number of people killed by disasters in the OIC countries, 1900 to 2009
Map 3 Number of people affected by disasters in the OIC countries, 1900 to 2009
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REFERENCES
Adger, W.N., Brooks, N., Bentham, G., Agnew M., Eriksen S., 2004, “New indicators of vulnerability and
adaptive capacity”, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Environmental Sciences, University
of East Anglia Norwich, UK.
Barredo, J.I., 2007, “Major flood disasters in Europe: 1950–2005”, Nat Hazards (2007) 42:125–148.
Benson, C. and Clay, E. 1998. “The impact of drought on sub‐Saharan African economies.” Technical paper 401,
Washington D.C., World Bank.
Christensen JH., Christensen OB (2003) Climate modelling: severe summertime flooding in Europe. Nature
421:805–806.
Collymore, J., 2007, “Disaster Impacts on the Caribbean”, in J.P. Stoltman et al. (eds.), International
Perspectives on Natural Disasters: Occurrence, Mitigation, and Consequence, 303‐322.
Coppola, 2007, “Introduction to International Disaster Management”, Springer, New York.
EM‐DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database. Brussels; Université Catholique de Louvain .Data
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FAO (1999) Adverse Effect of the Drought on Domestic Food Production during 1998/1999 in Iraq.
(http://www.casi.org.uk/info/fao_dr.html).
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economic Correlates and Needs Assessment”, Natural Hazards 29: 465–483, 2003.
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Osti, R., Tanaka S., and Tokioka, T., 2008, „Flood hazard mapping in developing countries: problems and
prospects”, Disaster Prevention and Management, N17(1), 104‐113.
Peduzzi, P., Dao H., and Herold C., 2005, “Mapping Disastrous Natural Hazards Using Global Datasets”, Natural
Hazards (2005) 35: 265–289.
Rodriguez J., Vos Regina F., Below R., and Guha‐Sapir D., 2009, “Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2008 The
numbers and trends”, CRED.
UN, 2009, “2009 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction”, United Nations.
UNDP, 2004, “REDUCING DISASTER RISK A CHALLENGE FOR DEVELOPMENT”, United Nations Development
Programme, Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery: (www.undp.org/bcpr).
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ICIWG‐37
ISSUES ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND WATER RESOURCES IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA: A CASE
OF NORTHERN KEDAH
1
Mohd Ekhwan Hj Toriman, 1Sharifah Mastura Syed Abdullah,3Muhamad Barzani Gasim,
1
School of Social Development and Environmental Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2
School of Environmental & Natural Resources Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
E.mail: ikhwan@ukm.my
ABTSRACT
The increasing demand between man and water makes “urban water” an issue: water resources and services
including public water supply, water resources availability and future water projection. In North of Kedah, the
area has suffered from extreme serious water deficiency for decades. Besides the climate change in physical
dimension, unlimited industrial enlargement, extensive agricultural irrigation and continuous improvement of
living standard constitute the main factors in human dimension to influence the change of balance between
water supply and demand. This article focuses on the research carried out in Kubang Pasu and Padang Terap
regions with the aim to obtain the clear information on the potential water resource availability. Current water
resources conditions and future water supply projection will be discussed in the context of water supply and
demand characteristics. The resulting water demand per water supply schemes can be useful information for
forecasting water demand in the area as well as actual water supply particularly those come from Sungai Tok
INTRODUCTION
In Islam, the relationship between humans and water is part of daily social existence. Humans are responsible
for the welfare and the sustenance of all citizens of the world and it is believed that water is the most precious
resource needed by all living creatures. Therefore, as the most important source of life, water must be
managed in a holistic manner in order to ensure its sustainability so as to serve various users while protecting
the essential ecological and physical processes. However, current situation shows that this relationship became
more complex. Rapid development and miss management of fresh water causing many Islamic countries
suffered from fresh water supply (Mohd Ekhwan et al 2009). Furthermore, international issues related to
climate variability and change has always been a major factor. The effects of climate change has been
manifested significantly the nature of the drought events and the resulting water related issues typically water
deficit and shortage (Mohd Nor & Rakhecha 2007).
As a tropical Islamic country, Malaysia is blessed with more than 1,500 rivers. The annual rainfall of 2,500‐3,000
mm is derived from the alternating northeast and southwest monsoon. The northeast monsoon occurs from
mid‐November to March, bringing with it heavy rains. Although surface runoff is about 57 per cent, rapid
population growth (approximately 158 per cent), coupled with urbanization and industrialization, has
contributed towards increased water demand. It has been projected that by the year 2050 the total domestic,
industrial and irrigation demand for Peninsular Malaysia will increase to 17,675 million m3 from 10,833 million
m3 in 2000.
The challenge of the Government of Malaysia is to provide clean, fresh and adequate water to their peoples.
For urban areas, water domestic supply shows excellence distribution with almost every houses received fresh
water supply through 2863 km pipe network (Malaysian Water Association 2006). Nevertheless, some rural
areas are still experience lacks of fresh water. In the North of Peninsular Malaysia, namely in the State of
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Kedah, water shortage occurred almost all dry seasons, particularly during April to July every year. Over the last
10 years, water shortage became severe when it’s coupled with climate change phenomena. This paper, on the
impacts of climate change on local water supply will be discussed in North Peninsular Malaysia, namely in the
State of Kedah in order to estimate current water balance and possibility of future water resources from
existing river flow.
STUDY AREA AND METHOD
This study focuses at North Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia consists of ten major regions (Figure 1). In terms of
general climate, the areas are characterised by dry and wet seasons which governed by the regime of the
south‐west monsoon. This monsoon blows from approximately between May and September. Major rivers
within the study area are Sg. Tok Kassim, Sg. Nan Chit, Sg. Mati and Sg. Laka. Generally, most of the rivers are
categorized under Class III or IV water quality index (Hafizan et.al 2004). Topographically, the area is generally
flat with slopes of 1 in 5000 to 1 in 10 000 ranging from +4.5 m in elevation in the inland fringe to +1.5 m in
elevation in the coastal area (MADA 1977).
The study applies current practices on water resources study including the use of general equations carried out
by Thornwaite (1948) and Drainage and Irrigation Malaysia (DID). The current water resources conditions were
analysed based on the secondary data obtained from Jabatan Bekalan Air Kedah and Mardi Bukit Tingga
Climatological Station (N06o 25’ E100o 26’). Potential water supply from new water treatment plant, especially
at Sungai Tok Kassim was estimated using –D hydrodynamic model XPSWMM. To estimate the effects of design
structures to river hydraulic, the 1‐D hydrodynamic model using XPSWMM software will be used. The software
simulates one‐dimensional channel flow by solving the fully dynamic de Saint‐Venant equations, which, define
the conservations of mass and momentum. The computational grids are created with alternating Q (discharge)
and h (water level) points. The h points are created at the location where cross sectional data are available, and
Q points are generated automatically in between the h points. The XPSWMM software provides an option
where bed resistance (Manning’s n) can be calculated as a function of hydraulic parameters such as water
depth, hydraulic radius, and flow velocity (Mohd Ekhwan 2008, Mohd Ekhwan and Baharuddin 2003).
Figure 1: Location of the study area
(Not in scale)
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Water Balance
The computed potential evapotranspiration, PE using the Thornwaite equation compared with actual
evapotranspiration (AE) for the site project is presented in Fig. 2. In this respect, the actual evapotranspiration
is calculated using a simple linear relationship between the potential evapotranspiration and the initial
moisture content of the soil (i.e., the moisture content on the previous day) (Arnell & Liu 2001). When the
moisture content is above the field capacity for the specific soil type, the AE is equal to the PE. When the
moisture content is below the permanent wilting point of the soil, the evapotranspiration is set to zero. For
times when the moisture content lies between the field capacity and permanent wilting point, the AE will equal
the PE multiplied by the fraction of saturation between the permanent wilting point and field capacity. Based
on this model, the cumulative estimated PE and AE for the site project watershed for the calculation year are
approximately 1487 mm and 1286 mm, respectively.
Fig. 2: Mean monthly PE and AE for the proposed site project
180
Evapotranspiration (mm)
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Month
be irrigated (Kitamura, Y., 1990. Management of irrigation systems for rice double cropping culture in the
tropical monsoon area. Technical Bulletin of the Tropical Agriculture Research Center, No. 27, Tsukuba, Ibaraki
305, Japan.Kitamura, 1990). The shortage of reservoir water remains the most serious constraints on the
establishment of stable double cropping of rice and domestic uses.
Sg. Tok Kassim was selected as another alternative of water resources in this area. The river located at latitude
6o 30’ and longitude 100o 27’. This unregulated river is sub‐tributary of Sg Temin catchment which flowing
from north to south (Table 1).
Table 1: The hydrological characteristics of Sg. Tok Kassim
River catchment description Value
Total stream length (km) 38.4
Size of catchment area (km2) 18.6
Length of main channel (km) 13.5
Drainage density km/km2 0.48(low)
Average slope 38.2
Manning roungness 0.0010
River morphology Meandering stable with
minor bank erosion
Flooding Minor downstream
The main river of Sg. Tok Kassim starts from international boundary at elevation about 170m. It flows
approximately 9.4km towards south to Sg. Temin. The main input for the hydraulic model is the river hydraulic
(Fig. 3). The cross section survey was done at 1‐2km interval which extents up to bankfull discharge each side of
the river bank.
Fig. 3: Sg. Tok Kassim showing nodes and conduits of hydraulic simulation model
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The hydraulic model was developed using XPSWMM. It is a 1‐D hydrodynamic model which is able to simulate
both steady and unsteady flows. The main input to the model is rainfall, river cross section, spill level, flood
plain information. In this exercise, the simulation will be focused on two scenarios, namely (1) Represents the
present condition, and (2) 50 % reduction on the volume of river flow.
The result is presented in Fig. 4 and 5. From the simulation, various behavior of the river flow can be observed.
At present condition, simulation on water level along the river indicates that the flow is fluctuates between 0.3
to 1.2 m. However, At 50 % reduction on the volume of flows, almost all river stretches are registered to dry. At
this stage, the river capacity will nearly to zero to support any aquatics. It also can reduce river bank stability
and more importantly, reducing its capability to supply fresh water to Sg. Temin treatment plant.
Fig. 4: Water level simulation model of Sg. Tok Fig 5: Water level simulation model of Sg. Tok
Kassim‐ present condition Kassim‐ 50 % reduction
The hydraulic simulation carried out for Sg. Tok Kassim clearly indicates that the river flow is really sensitive to
any modification on its volume. Any reduction on the volume will reduce the water level. When coupled with
the climate change issue, It’s will cause severe damage on river ecosystem. In long term basis, the river must be
preserved and restored as part of the runoff system, flood releases, sediment transported as well as aesthetic
values for the surrounded areas.
CONCLUSION
Water is a renewable resource: rivers, lakes, springs, and other water sources are all periodically replenished
by natural processes. However, this does not mean it is inexhaustible; one the contrary, water is a finite good.
Moreover, water is a vulnerable element liable to be easily polluted, wasted or in other ways damaged, with
long‐term consequences for human livelihoods and the impacts of climate change. In this regard, water is
expected to be the main issue in the north of Kedah as this vital resource becomes increasingly polluted and
scarce (Hafizan et al 2008). Information on quantity of natural resources is essential for sustainable
development. In particular, information on freshwater resources, their availability and use is becoming
increasingly important with the emergence of regional water shortages and the need to improve water use
efficiency.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study was conducted and supported by the GUP fund (UKM‐GUP‐PI‐08‐34‐081). The authors are also
thankful to the Centre for Research and Innovation Management (CRIM), Universiti Kebangsaan malaysia for
funding the research. Special thank also due to the Lestari Software (M), UKM Pakarunding Sdn Bhd, Kota
Perdana Development Project and Water Supply Department, State of Kedah for general assistant.
REFERENCES
Arnell, N. And Liu, C. 2001. Hydrology and water resources; in Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation and
Vulnerability, (ed.) J.J. mccarthy, O.F. Canziani, N.A. Leary, D.J. Dokken and K.S. White, contribution of Working
Group II to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge
University Press.
Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID), 1991. Estimating potential evapotranspiration using the Penman
Procedure. Publication No. 17. DID Malaysia.
Hafizan Juahir, Sharifuddin M. Zain, Mohd Ekhwan Toriman & Mazlin Mokhtar, 2004: Application of Artificial
Neural Network models for predicting water quality index. Journal Kejuruteraan Awam. 63 (2), 23‐34.
Hafizan Juahir, Sharifuddin M. Zain, Mazlin B. Mokhtar, Mohd Ekhwan Toriman, Zaihan Jalaludin & Ijan
Khushaida M. Jan. 2008. The Use of Chemometrics Analysis as a Cost‐Effective Tool in Sustainable Utilisation of
Water Resources in the Langat River Catchment, Malaysia. American‐Eurasian J. Agric. & Environ. Sci. 4 (2):
258‐265.
Kitamura, Y., 1990. Management of irrigation systems for rice double cropping culture in the tropical monsoon
area. Technical Bulletin of the Tropical Agriculture Research Center, No. 27, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan.
MADA 1977. Feasibility report on tertiary irrigation facilities for intensive agricultural development in the
MUDA irrigation Scheme. Alor Setar Malaysia.
Malaysian Water Association 2006. Malaysian water industry guide 2006. Malaysian Water Association, Kuala
Lumpur.
Mohd Nor Mohd Desa & P.R. Rakhecha. 2007. Extremes of the extreme observed 24‐hours rainfalls in a tropical
region‐Peninsular Malaysia as a case. Proceeding. 2nd international conference on managing rivers in the 21st
century. 6‐8 June 2007. Riverside Kunching.
Mohd Ekhwan Toriman & Baharuddin Abdullah, 2003: Engineered time scale of channel dynamics along the
Langat River: Implication for river restoration. Proceeding East‐Asia Regional Seminar on River Restoration.
Department of Drainage and Irrigation, Malaysia Publisher. 138‐142.
Mohd Ekhwan Toriman, A. Jalil Hassan, Muhamad Barzani Gasim, Mazlin Mokhtar & Raihan Taha, 2008.
Integration of GIS‐Hydrologic modeling approach in flood management study in Malaysia. Proceeding
International Conference on Geographical Information System (ICGIS). 2‐5 July 2008. Fatih University. Istanbul,
Turki. 567‐574.
Mohd Ekhwan Toriman, Mazlin Mokhtar, Muhamad Barzani Gasim, Sharifah Mastura Syed Abdullah, Osman
Jaafar and Nor Azlina Abd Aziz. 2009. Water resources study and modeling at North Kedah: A case of Kubangs
Pasu and Padang Terap water supply schemes. Research Journal of Environmental Sciences. Forthcoming
2009.
Thornthwaite C.W. 1948. An approach toward a rational classification of climate. Geogr Rev 38:55–94
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ICIWG‐38
LAND USE CHANGE AND CLIMATE CHANGE OF THE CAMERON HIGHLANDS, PAHANG,
MALAYSIA
Muhd. Barzani Gasim1, Mohd. Ekhwan Toriman2, Sahibin Abd. Rahim1, Pan Ia Lun1 and Farid Midin1
1
School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences (PPSSSA), Faculty of Science and Technology,
2
School of Social, Development & Environmental Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM),43600, Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan. dr.zani@ukm.my
ABSTRACT
Abstract‐ The study area is located at the southern part of Cameron Highlands or located exactly at longitude
from 101˚20' to 101˚35' E and latitude from 4˚19' to 4˚31΄ N. Objective of this study is to determine land use
change categories based on 1984, 1995 and 2002 land use maps, the percentage of land use changes and their
impact to climate change. There are at least six categories of land uses and their distribution, during period of
18 years of observation; forests (reduced by 7615ha), tea farms (reduced by 657ha), water bodies (reduced by
61ha), urbanization (increased by 125ha), agricultural area (increased by 2488ha), and neglected areas
(increased by 5719ha). Four climatic parameters such as rainfall, evaporation, temperature and relative
humidity were determined and analyzed. Total of 18 hydrological sampling stations were selected along Sg.
Bertam. Results showed that catchment behavior of Sg. Bertam has influenced by climate pattern. Velocity and
discharge of Sg. Bertam during first sampling (dry season) range from 0.33 m/s and 0.079 m³/s to 0.90m/s and
2.619 m³/s, and from 0.38 m/s and 0.096 m³/s to1.44 m/s and 2.709 m³/s during the second sampling (rainy
season). Flow data of Sg. Bertam and Sg. Lemoi increase synchronizely by increase of rainfall pattern from 1970
to 2005 and from 1985 to 1995. Logging, urbanization, agriculture and new roads construction near to the river
were identified as sedimentation resources due to potential soil erosion in the study area. In the future
strategic plan, the Local Government should be prevented any land use change in the Cameron Highlands area.
KEYWORDS –Sg. Bertam Catchment, climate, discharge, land use change
INTRODUCTION
Cameron Highlands is situated on the Main Range of the Peninsular Malaysia. It is made up of four main
townships followed by smaller settlements at different elevations. The first town from the south is Ringlet,
followed by Tanah Rata, Brinchang, Kea Farm, Tringkap, Kuala Terla and Kampung Raja. Fast development of
Cameron Highlands in area of agriculture, urbanization and road building have caused some impacts to natural
environment especially due to illegal land‐clearing in Bertam Catchment [Mohamad Suhaili et al. 2001).
According to Melati Mohd. Arif (2009), Cameron highlands has classified as environmental sensitive area which
enriched with variety of flora and fauna and its role as main water catchment for Sg. Jelai and Sg. Pahang. The
area of Cameron Highlands is divided into six water catchments, such as Telom, Bertam, Lemoi, Wi, Terla, and
Mensun Water Catchment. A watershed based on Jessica et al. (2005) is characterized by its nature or dynamic
systems by a constant state of change. In addition to natural watershed changes, the response of a watershed
can drastically change due to land use changes which were associated with human activities (Richard 2003).
According to Choy and Hamzah (2001), extensive deforestation and indiscriminate earth bulldozing in the
Cameron Highlands for agricultural and development has resulted in widespread of soil erosion over the land
surface. It leads to sedimentation of streams and reservoirs. The dissected of land morphology in the highlands
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area occurred on the slopes up to 50 degree, and has usually characterized by intense rainfall (2500‐3000
mm/year). The other impact is destruction of infrastructure which is due to landslides, loss of wildlife habitat,
damage to public health, and this bearing to increase of water treatment costs (Pimantel et al. 1995). The
objective of this study are: 1) To determine land use change for Cameron Highlands area; 2) To correlate the
impact of land use change and climate change.
STUDY AREA
The Cameron Highlands is situated in the Main Range of the Peninsular Malaysia. The average elevation of the
catchment area is approximately 1829m above sea level. The area of Cameron Highlands is covered by 71,218
hectare of forests (Mohd. Zaki Ibrahim 2004). Cameron Highlands lies at 4°19’ to 4°37’ N and 101°21’ to
101°30’ E at the mountainous region in Pahang state, Malaysia. Cameron Highlands is bordered by Lipis district
on the south‐east, Kelantan on the north and Perak on the west. The daily temperatures no higher than 25 °C
and rarely falls below 12°C year‐round; the average annual rainfall (2660mm) with the highest rainfall on the
May and October yearly. Gunung Brinchang is highest point of Cameron Highlands with altitude of 2031m
(6664 feet) above sea level (James 1968). Sg. Bertam is one of the main river at Cameron Highlands and the
other is Sg. Lemoi and Sg. Telom. These rivers have important function as water supply for domestic,
agricultural irrigation, as well as for electricity generation. Sg. Bertam is flowing across to Brinchang, Tanah
Rata, Ringlet and flowing to the downstream heading to Sg. Pahang. Sg. Bertam is the most important river
flowing into the TNB Ringlet Reservoir of the Sultan Abu Bakar Dam which was commissioned in 1965 (Teoh
2005). Recently, Sg. Bertam is contaminated and heavily silted, especially after passing through settlement
areas.
MATERIALS & METHODS
Global positioning System (GPS) was used to determine the actual coordinate of the sampling stations.
Eighteen sampling stations were determined in this study. Nine sampling stations were located before Ringlet
reservoir and nine stations after the reservoir. Distance between each sampling station was about one
kilometer. The field sampling was carried out on the August 2008 (sunny day) and October 2008 (rainy day).
Field sampling was to determine the specific discharge of each station and this involved measuring the depth
and width of the river using measuring tape and stuff gauge while the current meter (model FP 101) was used
to measure the velocity. The 1960 to 2005 climate data (rainfall, evaporation, temperature and relative
humidity), and 1968 to 2001 temerature data for Subang, Kota Bharu, Ipoh and Cameron Highlands were
provided from the Malaysian Meteorology Department. The 1970 to 2005 and 1985 to 1995 flow data were
provided from the National Power Board (TNB). The 1984, 1995 and 2002 land use maps were provided from
the Malaysian Department of Agriculture. Secondary data such as the land use maps, flow and climate data
have been used to analyze and find out the relationship and the impacts of land use changes to local climate
and river discharge.
RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS
Land Use
The southern part of Cameron Highlands consist of two districts; Ringlet and Ulu Telom districts. Most of the
land uses have experienced changes with the intention to improve the living standard of the population in the
districts and to strengthen its position in agricultural market with the promotion of agro‐tourism and eco‐
tourism in Cameron Highlands. Statistical data of land use showed that, lands used for category of
development have increased since year 1984 from 180.91ha to 264.18ha in the 1995 and increased to
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306.24ha in the 2002 (Table 1). Most of the lands have been turned to urban and farm developments. The
areas involved in urbanization and farm are located at Ringlet and certain area of southern part of the Tanah
Rata district. Urbanization has been increased from 1984; 142.43ha in the 1984, increase to 201.25ha (1995)
and increase to 210.51 ha in the 2002. Farming increased from 24.45ha (1995) to 37.25ha in the 2002. The
regions involved for farms are Bharat Tea and Boh Tea Plantations which were attracted the most tourists from
local and foreign countries.
Lands use for agricultural consist of horticulture, orchard, shifting cultivation, mixed cultivation, coffee
cultivation and trial cultivation. Agricultural land increased from 437.91ha in the 1984 to 2925.67ha (2002).
Temperate vegetables (cabbage, tomato, and leafy vegetables), as well as tea, floriculture, and fruits increase
drastically because of high demand from Cameron Highlands for domestic buyers, or for export to Singapore
and Taiwan. Upgraded of road facilities has improved local agricultural product because for the fast delivery
from to other states through Simpang Pulai ‐Kampung Raja‐Lojing‐Gua Musang.
Since 1984, the neglected areas have increased from 954.09ha to 3489.50ha (1995) and 6,672.12 ha in the
2002. Tea plantations have decreased from 2111.10ha (1984) to 1772.06ha (1995) and decreased to 1454.37ha
(2002). Most of the tea plantations have been converted to horticultural due to high demand of the local
horticultural product.
The areas of water bodies have decreased since 1984 (237.22ha) to 216.02ha (1995) and further decreased to
176.64ha in the 2002. Finally, forest areas have decreased drastically since 1984 (30989.03ha), decreased to
27766.11ha in the 1995 and further decreased to 23374.10 ha in the 2002. The urge to promote the agro‐
tourism and eco‐tourism in Cameron Highlands has brought the impacts to the natural ecosystem. High
demand of the horticultural products such as vegetable, tea, flower and etc have caused to more and more
forest area to be cleared to become cultivating area.
Since mountainous region of Cameron Highlands is classified as environmental sensitive area, any disturb to its
natural environment would lead to negative impact. Disturbance of environment such as land‐ clearing and
deforestation are identified as the main factors that caused erosion and sedimentation to the open water body
nearby. Indeed, with increasing demand for high quality vegetables, new land areas (inevitably with steeper
slopes than presently under cultivation) are being opened in all the above regions, despite occasional
government restrictions.
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Table 1: Land use change between 1984, 1995 and 2002 for Cameron Highlands area
Activity Land use category Year
1984 1995 2002
Development Urbanization 142.43 201.25 210.51
Farm 00.00 24.45 37.25
Electrical Way 0.00 0.00 20.00
Road 38.48 38.48 38.48
Sub Total (ha) 180.91 264.18 306.24
Agricultural Horticulture 352.29 1,043.25 2,600.00
Orchard 33.39 99.07 37.55
Shifting Cultivation 0.00 207.64 212.23
Mix Cultivation 0.00 0.00 27.83
Coffee 0.00 0.00 10.96
Trial Cultivation 52.23 52.41 37.10
Sub Total (ha) 437.91 1,402.37 2,925.67
Grass‐land 27.26 0.00 19.04
Bush 0.00 0.00 4,087.12
Scrub 833.20 3,384.62 2,152.08
Neglected Areas
Bush(Tea Plantation) 93.63 104.88 402.79
Cleared‐land 0.00 0.00 11.73
Sub Total (ha) 954.09 3,489.50 6,672.76
Lake/Dam 70.96 70.06 134.26
Water Bodies River 166.26 145.96 42.38
SubTotal (ha) 237.22 216.02 176.64
Forest (ha) 30,989.03 27,766.11 23,374.10
Tea Plantation (ha) 2,111.10 1,772.06 1,454.37
Total (ha) 34,910 34,910 34,910
WEATHER AND CLIMATE
Land use changes for Cameron Highlands district has caused to the slightly increased of precipitation and
temperature but evaporation and relative humidity were slightly decreased. Based on 1984 to 2008 of rainfall
data show that the trend of rainfall has slightly increased during land use changes period ftom 1984 to 2002
(Fig. 1). The 2008 was identified as the highest annual rainfall (3822.8mm) while the 1986 was the lowest
(1969.3mm). The 1984 total rainfall was 2688.1mm and it was increased gradually to 3822.8mm in the 2008,
average of 25 years rainfall was 2557.0mm.
Figure 1: The 1984 to 2008 of annual rainfall
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The 1984 to 2008 of evaporation data show that the trend of evoparation was slightly decreased (Figure 2). The
2005 evaporation has the highest average reading with 2.5mm and the 1999 and 2003 have the lowest
average (1.6mm). The average of 25 years of evaporation was 2.0mm.
Figure 2: The 1984‐2008 of annual evaporation
The 1984 to 2008 temperature data show that average of temperature was 17.9˚C, the highest was 18.5˚C
(1998) and 2008 was the lowest (17.6˚C). According to Teoh (2005), temperature rate of Cameron Highlands
was ranged from 15˚C to 22˚C and the variation is depends on its altitude. The 25 years of temperature trend
(1984 to 2008) show it was slightly increased (Fig. 3).
Figure. 3: The 1984‐2008 of annual temperature
The 1984‐2008 of relative humidity data show that the 1999 and 2003 have the highest relative humidity
(92.1%) while the 2008 has the lowest (87.7%). Trend of the 25 years of relative humidity (1984‐2008) has
slightly decreased (Fig. 4). Average of relative humidity from 1984 to 2008 was 90.2%.
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Figure 4: The 1984 to 2008 of annual relative humidity
REGIONAL TEMPERATURE
Mean daily temperature (1968 to 2001) from four different meteorological stations (Subang, Kota Baru, Ipoh
and Cameron Highlands) were analyzed and concluded. Temperature data was classified based on location and
altitude of the area. Result of mean daily temperature from three meteorological stations at lowland areas
(Subang, Kota Baru and Ipoh) was almost the same, but different for Cameron Highlands (Fig.1). An analysis
based on 33 years of daily temperature show that daily temperatures were fluctuated between 26.3OC to 28.5
OC for lowland area and from 17.8OC to 19.8OC for highland area. Meaning that duration of 33 years
observation temperature increase from 2.0 to 2.2OC (until 2001).
Mean temp. (degree celcius)
Year
Figure 5: Mean daily temperature from 1968 to 2001 from Ipoh, Kota
Bharu, Subang (top) and Cameron Highlands Meteorological Stations
Source: Malaysian Meteorological Department
STATISTIC ANALYSIS
Pearson correlation statistic test showed that, there was a significant relationship between some climatological
factors, such as rainfall, temperature, evaporation and relative humidity (Table 2).
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Table 2. Pearson Correlation between Climate Factors
Relative
Rainfall Evaporation Temperature Humidity
Pearson
Correlation 1 -0.477 0.274 .853(**)
Sig. (2-tailed) . 0.117 0.389 0
Rainfall N 12 12 12 12
Pearson
Correlation -0.477 1 0.488 -.794(**)
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.117 . 0.107 0.002
Evaporation N 12 12 12 12
Pearson
Correlation 0.274 0.488 1 -0.024
Sig. (2-tailed) 0.389 0.107 . 0.94
Temperature N 12 12 12 12
Pearson
Correlation .853(**) -.794(**) -0.024 1
Relative Sig. (2-tailed) 0 0.002 0.94 .
Humidity N 12 12 12 12
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2‐tailed).
There was strong positive relationship between rainfall and relative humidity factor with r=0.850, p=0.000 (Fig.
6). A strong negative relationship between evaporation and relative humidity with r=‐0.794, p=0.002 (Fig. 7).
The Peason correlation showed that, there were weak positive relationship between rainfall and temperature
with r=0.274, p=0.117 and between evaporation and temperature with r=0.488, p=0.107. Beside that, there
were weak negative relationship between rainfall and evaporation with r=‐0.477, p=0.117 and between
temperature and relative humidity with r=‐.0.024, p=0.940. The Pearson correlation test have showed about
some of the climatological factors have experienced weak positive or negative relationship and these may
caused by the combination of others factors in atmosphere that may caused not only by a single factor.
Figure 6: The strong positive relationship between rainfall and relative humidity with R square 0.727
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Figure 7: The strong negative relationship between evaporation and relative humidity with R square 0.630
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FLOW AND RESERVOIR
River flow of Sungai Bertam was measured on 10 August 2008 as dry season and second sampling on 12
October 2008 as rainy season. Discharge of the river mainly influenced by the velocity, depth and the area of
cross‐section. Velocities of the Sg. Bertam were higher during rainy season, (range from 0.3876 to 1.440 m/s)
compared to dry season (0.3393 to 0.9048 m/s). Discharge of the Sg. Bertam during dry season, was ranged
from 0.079 m³/s to 2.619 m³/s, and from 0.096 m³/s to 2.709 m³/s during rainy season. The discharge at the
station 9 was the highest (9.118 m³/s) while station 10 was the lowest (0.079 m³/s) (Fig. 8). The river channel
has been impounded between St. 9 to St.10 as Ringlet Reservoir, water intake for the Sultan Abu Bakar Dam,
and it has give an impacts to the downstream area. The impoundment of river as reservoir definitely would
changes the natural behavior of downstream (Jessica et al. 2005 and William 2006).
Figure 8: Distribution of discharge from St.1 to St. 18 of the Sg. Bertam
Due to river siltation and small discharge after St.10, the river was become yellowish. Based on Phillip et al.
(2008), under principle of water balance the reservoir inflow must be exceeded the outflow in order to get
enough water for resevoir. If sedimentation increase it would cause the water retaining capacity of reservoir
decrease and it would pose a danger to the downstream area. According to Teoh (2005), any sudden flow of
water through the rivers and tributaries during heavy rain would pose a danger to residents, as the valves of
the Sultan Abu Bakar dam would have to be opened to let the water out and this would cause a disaster to
over 3,000 residents living in the Bertam Valley.
Based on 1970 to 2005 flow data, show that discharge of Bertam River at Robinson Waterfall was range from
0.68 to 2.26 m3/s, the flow fluctuated every 10 years and most probably was influenced by the season. The
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flow was highest from 1969 to 1972; 1980 to 1982; 1993 to 1996 and since 2003 the flow increases up to now
(Fig. 9). The Sg. Lemoi River is located at Kuala Lemoi, the southern part of Cameron Highlands. The trend of
discharge from 1985 to 1995 was ranged from 3.9 to 7.2m3/s with the average of 5.12 m3/s (Fig. 10). The
increased of trend of mean discharge is caused by increases of run‐off directly from precipitation which less
ability of infiltration due to land clearing and deforestation activities. The decrease of forest areas which act as
“water sponge” would affect the water storage and reduce the water discharge from their catchment.
Figure 9: The 1970‐2005 mean discharge of Sg. Bertam at Robinson Waterfall
Figure 10: The 1985‐1995 mean discharge of Sg. Lemoi at Kuala Lemoi
CONCLUSION
Based on the study show that in the southern part of Cameron Highlands (Ringlet and Southern part of Ulu
Telom) is experienced extensively land use change. Land use changed has caused a big portion of forest land
has been turned into other categories for stimulate economic development and improve standard of living of
local settlement. Based on climatic and flow data, temperature, rainfall and flow rate were increasing resulted
decreasing of forest area, intensively agriculture and urban activities and has an impact to decreases of the
lake/reservoir.
The building of dam or weir that has caused impacts to downstream river where the impoundment of water
has further lower the discharge at the downstream. Continuous of land clearing and deforestation would lead
to reducing of infiltration and increasing of runoff, siltation and sedimentation along the rivers will shallower
the reservoir/lake. This impact occurred is caused by the uncontrolled land clearing and lack of mitigation
planning and implementation before land clearing was carried out.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank to the UKM grants (UKM‐GUP‐ASPL‐07‐05‐141) and (UKM‐OUP‐PI‐35‐176/2008).
REFERENCES
Choy, F.K. and Hamzah, F.B. 2001. Cameron Highlands Hydroelectric Scheme: Land use Change‐Impacts and
Issues. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Hydropower: p. 215‐221.
James D. 1968. The Cultural Ecology of A Chinese Village: Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. Chicago: The
Department Of Geography, University Of Chicago.
Jessica, L.W., Michael, C.S., and Jonathan, D.P. 2005. Quantifying downstream impacts of impoundment on
flow regime and channel platform lower Trinity River, Texas. Geomorphology 69: p.1–13.
Melati Mohd Ariff. 2009. Regional Environmental Awareness Cameron Highlands: Robust Farming Threatening
Malaysia's Biggest Hill Station. Retrieved August 10 ,2009 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.reach.org.my/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=717&Itemid=68.
Mohamad Suhaili Yusri Che Ngah, Mazdi Marzuki and Abdul Jalil Ishak. 2001. Pembangunan tanah tinggi
Cameron: Impak Alam Sekitar dan Pengurusannya. In. Jamaluddin Md, Jahi & Mohd Jailani Mohd Nor (Eds.).
Proceedings of National Seminar on Environmental Management: Current Development & Future Planning,
Bangi: Pusat Pengajian Siswazah, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. p. 361‐369.
Mohd Zaki Ibrahim. 2004. Ke Arah Pembentukan Pengurusan Bersepadu Pembangunan Tanah Tinggi Cameron
Highlands Melalui Pemakaian Akta Perancangan Bandar Dan Desa 1976. Bangi: University Kebangsaan
Malaysia.
Philip, B.B., Wayne, C.H., and Baxter, E.V. 2008. Hydrology and Floodplain Analysis. Fourth Edition. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.
Pimentel, D., Harvey, C., Resosudarmo, P., Sinclair, K., Kurz, D., McNair, M., Crist, S., Shpritz, L., Fitton, L.,
Saffouri, R. and Blair, R., 1995. Environmental and economic costs of soil erosion and conservation benefits.
Science 267:p. 1117‐1123.
Richard, H. M. 2003. Modeling Hydrologic Changes: Statistical Methods. Boca Raton: Lewis Publisher.
Teoh, T. H. 2005. Regional Environmental Awareness Cameron Highlands: Massive silting forces TNB to switch
off power stations. Retrieved March 14 ,2009 from the World Wide
Web:http://www.reach.org.my/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=226&Itemid=54.
William, L.G. 2006. Downstream hydrology and geomorphic effects of large dams on American rivers.
Geomorphology 79: p. 336–360.
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ICIWG‐39
ENVIRONMENTAL FUNCTIONS AND ITS CHALLENGES IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES
Sh. Dr. Muhammad Ridwaan Gallant
Head of Environmental Desk of Muslim Judicial Council (SA)
Executive Member of South African Faith Communities
Environmental Institute (SAFCEI), Imaam Mandalay Musjid, South Africa
ABSTRACT
The aim of sustainable development is to meet the needs of the present generations without destroying the
needs of the future generations.
Over the last few years many programmes have been proposed through the United Nations and many
conference resolutions by various organizations have been passed to combat the deterioration of the
environment. On the threshold of the 21st century only a few countries adhere to these programmes and
resolutions.
What is the position of Muslim countries? Islam, based on the Qur'ān and the Sunnah of Prophet Muh ammad
(SAW) gave guidance to humanity how to sustain the environment 1400 years ago.
This paper discusses the possibility of how humanity could implement sustainable development in terms of the
environment based on Islamic principles so that future generations will be able benefit from planet earth using
the situation in Muslim countries as examples.
INTRODUCTION:
This paper explores the functions of the environment and its challenges to Muslim countries. Protecting the
environment comes under focus at the beginning of the 21st century due to the human activities that causes
the imbalance in nature. If the environment continues to deteriorate then life on earth will become non‐
existent.
THE ISLAMIC APPROACH TO NATURE:
Man has been endowed with a free will, an intellect and a conscience. Islam provides man with spiritual and
moral values which distinguishes him from animals. Though humans are the best of Allah’s creation : Verily,
We created man in the best of form. (Qur'ān 95:4), they must learn that they share this universe with many
other living species and therefore must appreciate and respect their existence.
The natural environment which includes the heavens with its spaciousness, the multiple amount of galaxies
and rotating planets, the earth with its wide expanse of mountains, seas, plants, trees, deserts, fruits, animals
and metals has been created by Allah to be observed so that man can learn the greatness of Allah by reflecting
on nature. Verily,in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day,
there are surely signs for men of understanding (Qur'ān 3:190).
THE ENVIRONMENT
Islam is concerned with the environment because a clean and healthy environment ensures healthy citizens.
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The environment on the planet earth plays an important role in the formation of lives of its inhabitants.
According to Karodia (2005:17) the environment can be divided into two: Firstly, the physical environment
which comprises all of the natural surroundings: The entire biosphere, along with the constituent parts of the
sea, oceans, lakes, rivers (hydrosphere: aquatic/marine ecosystem), mountains, land, valleys (terrestrial:
lithosphere), air, gases (the atmosphere) in addition to all its powers and energies. Biotic communities (plant
and animal life) form niches and habitats within the vast realm of an intricate relationship between all living
(biotic) and non‐living things (abiotic elements). Physics, chemistry, geology, botany, zoology and hydrology
are some of the sciences which fall within the ambits of the scope of study of the natural environment.
Secondly, the social environment is created by the interaction of people, groups and nations. Economic,
political, professional, cultural and psychological relations are the components of the social environment.
History, geography, sociology, psychology, economics, politics and philosophy relate to a study of the social
environment.
The Qur'ān declares : And to Allāh belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth. And Allāh Ever
Encompasses all things (4:126). Here we are informed that everything that exists between the heavens and the
earth belongs to Allāh (T.A.).
Allāh (T.A.) has created everything in a perfect, balanced order. The creation has no deficiency, no disunion, no
inconsistency, no flaws and no defect. This is reflected in the Holy Qur'ān: “…you can see no fault in the
creation of the Most Gracious.” (Qur'ān 67:3). In another verse :”The sun and the moon run on their fixed
courses (exactly) calculated with measured out stages for each (for reckoning)” (Qur'ān: 55:5). In these verses
we are told that the sun and the moon move in their orbit in perfect harmony and their timing is precise. This is
further illustrated in the verse: “It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor does the night outstrip the
day. They all float, each in an orbit.” (Qur'ān : 36:40). The sun is dominant in the day and the moon is
dominant at night. There is no interval between the night and the day, they have been subjugated and both of
them are constantly following each other. Each object floats in its orbit without diversion.
The environment can be seen as the place where the signs (e.g. heavens, rivers, plants, and birds) of Allāh (T.A.)
exist : "Verily in the heavens and the earth, are signs for those who believe. And in the creation of yourselves
and the fact that animals are scattered (throughout the earth), are signs for those of assured Faith. And the
alteration of night and day, and the fact that Allāh sends down sustenance from the sky, and revives
therewith the earth after its death, and in the change of the winds,‐are signs for those that are wise."
(Qur'ān, 45:3‐5). Destruction of the environment is tantamount to destroying these signs. If any species
becomes extinct, it is considered a loss of a sign that reflects the greatness of Allāh. The above mentioned
verses closely describe the creation of man as a wonderful sign of Allāh. Man has been given all the necessary
physical features and mental qualities to live a successful life on earth. Man shares the earth with animals and
insects and in their creation and behavior are wonderful signs of Allāh. The Qur'ān also mentions the rotation
of the earth on its own axis causing night and day, the sustenance that we get from the sky including rain, snow
and hail which gives life to a dead earth and from which plants can grow. The water from the sky infiltrates the
ground providing nutrition for the plants and feeding the water streams above and below the ground. The
different types of wind that blow over the earth e.g. monsoon, off shore, on‐shore, land breezes, sea breezes
all have different functions on the earth. If man continues to destroy the environment, or “the signs of Allah”
future generations will not be able to benefit from them.
With regards to causing harm the Prophet (SAW ) declared: “There should be no harming nor reciprocating
harm.” (Mālik:1994:Vol2:300 no.1461). This hadeeth indicates clearly that man should not be involved in
harming. Harming others or other forms of life unnecessarily will in the end have serious repercussion. Man is
thus constrained from harming the environment i.e. plant and animal life without justification.
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Wastefulness is an impediment to sustainability. Islam is against wastefulness and the Qur'ān condemns
wastefulness in no uncertain terms: “…and eat and drink : but waste not by excess, certainly He (Allah) does
not love the wasters” (Qur'ān 7:31) and “…But waste not by excess: for He (Allah) does not love the wasters.”
(Qur'ān 6:141).
THE SHARI’AH’S PRESCRIPTION OF THE PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN COMPARISON HOW THE
ENVIRONMENT IS TREATED IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES IN THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY
Agriculture, Forests and Biodiversity in Shariah text:
Plants are the basic source of the food chain for man and animals as shown in the Holy Qur'ān: “Then let man
look at his food, (and how We provide it): For that We pour forth water in abundance, And We split the
earth in fragments, and produce therein corn, and grapes and nutritious plants, and olives and dates, and
enclosed gardens, dense with lofty trees, and fruits and fodder‐ for use and convenience to you and your
cattle” (Qur'ān 80:24‐32). “It is He Who sends down rain from the sky. From it you drink, and out of it (grows)
the vegetation on which you feed your cattle. With it He produces for you corn, olives, date palms, grapes
and every kind of fruit : Verily in this is a Sign for those who give thought” (Qur'ān 16:10‐11). These verses
indicate the value of plants for the nutrition of man and animals. The plants mentioned have all different
nutritional value. The rain is drinkable for both man and beast. The water is pure, not salty and undrinkable. It
also is nutritious for plants. After the plants have been fed with water which drains into the soil one finds corn
or grains which serve as staple food. Olives are used as food as well as to extract oil. Dates are an important
type of food and its juices can be used for vinegar. Fruit are also eaten by man for their nutritional value and it
is an important part of the diet of livestock animals.
The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) encouraged the planting of trees and the cultivation of agriculture which are
considered as good acts. This is illustrated in the following traditions: "There is none amongst the Muslims
who plants a tree or sows seeds, and then a bird, or a person or an animal eats from it, but is regarded as a
charitable gift for him." (Bukhārī:1986: Vol.3 : 295 no. 2320). “No Muslim plants a tree then whatever is eaten
from it is charity for him, and whatever is stolen from it is charity for him, and whatever the beasts eat from
it is charity for him, and whatever the birds eat from it is charity for him, and whatever is lost from it is
charity for him” (Muslim : 1993:Vol.3A:31 no. 1552). This refers especially to fruit bearing trees and crops.
Al‐Qardāwi (1960:129) says that the latter hadīth is an indication that the reward for the person who plants a
tree or a crop continues as long as the produce of this tree or crop is eaten or used, even though he may have
sold it to someone else.
The Prophet (SAW) knew the value of planting and cultivation. Planting of trees results in more nutritious food
for man and beast, it serves as a shade from the burning sun especially in hot areas, it supplements the oxygen
in the atmosphere. In certain areas it prevents soil erosion and prevents mudslides. It is also home to several
insects and animals.
The Prophet (S.A.W.) also encouraged the cultivation of land. "Whoever has land should cultivate it himself or
give it to his (Muslim) brother gratis; but if the brother refuses then he should keep it uncultivated."
(Bukhārī:1986: Vol.3:309 no.2341). He discouraged the practice of leaving land uncultivated.
Islam is against the cutting or destruction of plants and trees unnecessarily as is evident in the following hadith:
"He who cuts a lote‐tree [without justification], Allah will send him to Hellfire." (Abū Dāwūd ‐Abī Tayyib:
1990: Vol. 7: book no 14: 102: no. 5228).
The lote‐tree grows in the desert and is very much needed in an area which has scarce vegetation. Dr. Al‐
Qaradāwi understands this hadīth in terms of protecting the natural resources and preserving the balance that
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exists between the creatures in the environment ( Al‐Qaradāwi pp. 143‐144 cited in Abū‐Sway : 1998:
http://admin.muslimsonline.com /bicnews/Articles/ environment.htm. Date Accessed: March 2005).
Destruction of plants on a big scale can lead to an imbalance in the ecosystem. In certain areas it can affect the
rainfall; it can also lead to erosion of soil due flooding and wind.
Deforestation and destruction of agriculture in Muslim countries
Deforestation is caused due to the impact of clearing of forests for shifting agriculture, overexploitation for fuel
wood and timber collection, and overgrazing. In the some Muslim countries, deforestation is worsened by the
cutting of firewood for domestic use. Overgrazing and mismanagement of rangelands have led to the loss of
natural plant cover.
Muslim countries who borders the equator are the most highly forest areas in the world. At the same time they
are the highest suppliers of wood. Unfortunately this goes along with deforestation legally as well as illegally. In
many impoverished areas many of the forest are diminished on big scale for the use of firewood for heating
and cooking purposes. Deforestation in the tropical and other areas has a big influence on the present climate
change in the twenty first century. The destruction of biodiversity is caused by shrinking forests as well as
exploitation of marine and wetland ecosystems.
Logging and development projects in Malaysia which include construction of dams and roads, often involve
forced resettlement. Inevitably, such resettlement schemes entail the destruction of a community’s social
fabric and economic security and force it into deplorable living conditions. (Sahabat Alam Malaysia. Malaysian
Environment Alert 2001. Penang, 2001. cited in Sangaralingam et. al. :2007: 2).
In 1982, satellite aerial photos taken by Indonesia government showed that the forest coverage in Indonesia
has decreased to 92,4 millions hectares (this area covered the after cutting forest of Private Concessionaires
(HPH) and the Timber Estate which were developed by clearing the natural forest). From those 92.4 millions
hectares of forest area the 20.6 millions hectares of permanent forest were left open. From the data above,
deforestation rate estimated from 1982 to 1993, have reached 2.4 millions hectares per year. This rate were
considered higher, compared to the rate estimated by Forestry Department and FAO in 1990; which was
expected to be 900,000 to 1.3 millions hectares per year. The deforestation rate in Indonesia was also higher
than the average rate of tropical forest in the world which was only 987,000 per year.3 Primary forest coverage
left nowadays are only 53 millions hectares or 37% of total forest area before (WALHI, 1998).(Underlying
Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation. Summary of Indonesian Case Study:Prepared by Indonesian
Working Group on Underlying Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation
http://www.wrm.org.uy/deforestation/Asia/Indonesia.html Date Accessed: January 2009)
In Muslim countries land degradation and desertification are threatening rich flora and fauna. Deforestation
mainly in terms of logging in Muslim countries that are in the equatorial and tropical forest regions kills many
of the biodiversity in those regions.
At the beginning of the twentieth century Lebanon was almost completely covered by forests. In the last
twenty years the area had been reduced to 15%.(http://www.geocities. com/CapitolHill
/Parliament/2587/env.html. Date Accessed : August 2007).The destruction of the forests in Afghanistan to
create agricultural land, logging and forest fires are all causes of the reduction in forest coverage. (The News:
1997 cited in Saba:2007).Overgrazing and mismanagement of rangelands have led to the loss of natural plant
cover. Deforestation is affecting the highlands of Yemen, Oman, and Jordan. (UNEP:1997
http://www.unep.org/geo/ geo1/ch/ch2_13.htm Date Accessed: August 2007).
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The importance of water:
All living species are dependent on water. Water is a life‐sustaining and purifying resource. According to the
Quran the origin of every living thing is in water : "…We made from water every living thing…" (Qur'ān 21:30).
Another interpretation is that living objects are constituted primarily of water.
Allah sends the water as sustenance to his creation. Subsequently man and beast will benefit from the
vegetation as stated in the Holy Quran: "It is He Who sends down water from the sky; and with it We
produce vegetation of all kinds… " (Qur'ān 6:99).
It is a matter of fact that life on earth will not be possible without the presence of water. Man only realizes the
value of water when there is a shortage. The Quran describes how water resuscitates the earth. "And Allah
sends down water from the skies, and gives therewith life to the earth after its death…" (Qur'ān, 16:65)…
And you see the earth barren and lifeless, but when We pour down water upon it, it is stirred (to life) and it
swells, and it puts forth every kind of beautiful growth in pairs (Qur'ān, 22:5)…and He (Allah) sends down
water from the sky and with it gives life to earth after it is dead…”( Qur'ān, 30:24) “...And We send down
pure water from the sky,‐ That with it, We may give life to a dead land, and slake the thirst of things We
have created,‐ cattle and men in great numbers." (Qur'ān, 25: 48 – 49). Without the rain the earth is lifeless.
When the rain comes the earth becomes alive. Plants start to grow, flowers begin to bloom, man and animals
can quench their thirst and benefit from the plants. A whole life cycle starts to bloom.
Man does not appreciate the preciousness and the benefits of water. If the water would have been salty, sour,
bitter it would have been unfit for drinking purposes as well as for the growing of plants. The Dead Sea in the
Middle East is a good example where no plant or animal life is possible due its high salt content. "See you the
water which you drink? Do you bring it down (in rain) from the cloud or do We? Were it Our Will, We could
make it saltish. Then why do you not give thanks?" (Qur'ān, 56:68,69,70).
Every living species on the earth must have a right to water. The supply and preservation of fresh water was
always regarded as of fundamental importance since the time of the Prophet (SAW). This can be deduced from
the following hadith: “All Muslims are partners in three things: water, herbage and fire and to sell it is
prohibited.” (Ibn Maja :1990 : Vol. 2: 820; no. 2472; Abū Dāwūd ‐Abī Tayyib: 1990: Vol. 5: book no 9: 268: no.
3473).The rulers must make provisions for people to have access to water.
The Prophet (SAW) gave suggestions on how water should be and used for irrigation. He advised that water
flowing from the Mahzur stream should be blocked till it should reached the ankles and then it be allowed to
flow from the upper to the lower levels (Abū Dāwūd ‐Abī Tayyib:1990: Vol. 5: book no 10: 49: no. 3634).
In Islam it is not permissible to withhold excess water where there are others who have need of it. The Prophet
(SAW) declared: “Excess water should not be withheld so that the growth of herbage may be hindered”
(Muslim:1993 :Vol3A: 38 no. 1566). If water is withheld then it will hinder the growth of herbage which is
important for the fodder of animals. Excess water should also not be withheld from usage by animals (An‐
Nawawi:1995:193‐194).
Extravagance in using water is forbidden; this applies to private use as well as public, and whether the water is
scarce or abundant. The Prophet (SAW) emphasized the proper use of water without wasting it.
When the Prophet (SAW) saw Sa’d performing wudu he said : “What is this? You are wasting water.” Sa’d
replied: Can there be wastefulness while performing ablution? The Prophet (SAW) replied: “Yes even if you
perform it in a flowing river.” (Ibn Mājah : 1990 : Vol. 1: 147:no.425).
In addition to encouraging water conservation, the Prophet SAW) himself set the example; for instance it is
narrated by Anas: The Prophet (SAW) used to take a bath with one Sa’a (one Sa’a equals for mudds equals
2.4 litre) of water and used to take ablution with one Mudd (2/3 litre) of water.( Bukhari:1986: Vol.1:135
no.201). The Muslim scholars understood from this the importance of water conservation and they have
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
discussed it in their writings. (Abu Bakr al‐Jaza'iri, Minhaj Al‐Muslim Dar Al‐Shuruq: 1991, p. 267 cited in Abū‐
Sway : 1998: http://admin. muslimsonline.com /bicnews/Articles/ environment.htm. Date Accessed: March
2005).
Wastage of water causes deficiency in nature and it affects the ecological balance. It violates the rights of
forthcoming generations to live in a healthy environment. All living beings are affected by water wastage.
Imam Al‐Ghazzali said that if one were to have a shower one should not keep pouring water continuously, but
should restrict oneself to the amount needed Al‐Ghazzali, The Revival of Islamic Sciences, vol. 1, p. 139 cited in
Abu‐Sway : 1998: http://admin. muslimsonline.com /bicnews/Articles/ environment.htm. Date Accessed:
March 2005).
Contamination of Freshwater
Water is the basic resource for the survival of life on this earth. Water is a scarce, finite and invaluable
commodity. The increasing pressure on all the water resources in the world in terms of quality and quantity,
combined with the increasing demand for water, will lead to serious water shortages in the near future. The
two most widespread problems water pollution resources are industrial discharges, household waste, sewage
or agricultural chemicals. These days water scarcity is also induced by mounting population density and
growing economic activity which are in need of water usage.
Contamination of surface water in Muslim countries is caused by industrial discharges, household waste,
agricultural chemicals, untreated sewage and agricultural effluents. Many of these factors causes that surface
water is contaminated with bacteria. Water‐borne diseases due to contaminated water cause many illnesses in
many Muslim areas. Over irrigation dry rivers causes poverty to populations along the rivers. In Egypt the rapid
growth of the population overstrains the Nile and natural resources. (http://www.indexmundi com/egypt
/environment _current_ issues. html Date Accessed August 2007) The Nahr Ibrahim and the Nahr Litani are
considered to be two of the most polluted rivers in Lebanon. The Karaoun Lake which is fed by the Nahr Litani ,
was put off limits for fishermen, due to the high concentrations of heavy metal and pesticide residues found in
fish. Studies also show that all rivers in Lebanon suffer to varying degrees the effects of solid waste and
effluents. (http://www.geocities. com/CapitolHill /Parliament/2587/env.html. Date Accessed : August 2007).
Water pollution is becoming a problem in Yemen. Shallow aquifers, especially in urban areas, are becoming
polluted. Coastal aquifers are subject to saline intrusion. Water resources are contaminated by industrial and
residential waste, seepage of wastewater, and low pressure, back siphonage and cross connections. Wells,
especially those drawing water from shallow aquifers, are contaminated with viruses and bacteria. Ground
water used in public water supplies is not filtered.(site resources. worldbank. org/INTYEMEN /Overview/
20150250/YE‐Environment.pdf. Date Accessed: September 2007).
When municipal water becomes dirty and contaminated it exposes children to dangerous and health‐sapping
waterborne diseases. Oil production and refining are major industries in Syria. It generates about 45 percent of
the country’s export revenue. Wastes generated during the refining process have polluted the Euphrates,
Oronte, and Barrada river basins. Raw sewage flowing from urban centers is also degrading Syria’s supply of
fresh water. (http://www.unccd.int/actionprogrammes/asia/regional/tpn3/website/syria. Date Accessed:
December 2008)
Diarrhoea, a common consequence of drinking unsafe water, is already the second biggest killer of Iraq's young
children and contributes significantly to malnutrition rates. Most water is currently brought into the country
aboard tankers (http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/iraq_39172.html Date Accessed: December 2008)
Groundwater contamination is also due to several factors including surface water pollution, untreated
wastewater discharge through bores, and leachate from un‐silted landfills (Sarraf M Owaygen M; Croitoru L;
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Sangaralingam et. al. :2007: 4). In Pakistan airborne particulate matter exceeds safe levels in all major cities and
causes 22,700 deaths per year. Indoor air pollution causes the deaths of more than 30,000 children per year.
(http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default. asp? page =2007%5C09% 5C05%5Cstory_5‐9‐2007_pg5_13. Date
Accessed: August 2007).Urban air pollution in Algeria is caused by the transport sector in the large cities like
Algiers, Oran and Constantine; by burning municipal waste in Oued Smar Alger and Oran, and by heavy
industries in Annaba, Skikda, and Gazaouet (http://lnweb18.worldbank. org/mna/ mena.nsf/METAP. Date
Accessed: August 2007). Air pollution is a big environmental issue facing Iran. This problem is especially
threatening in its capital city, Tehran. The major cause of air pollution here is exhaust fumes from 2.4 million
motor vehicles. (Sarraf M, Owaygen M; Croitoru L; Ruta G;: 2005 earthmind. net /marine/docs/wb‐2005‐iran‐
cost‐environmental‐degradation.pdf Date Accessed: August 2007).
Prohibition of polluting the earth, oceans and coasts :
Islam is against polluting the environment. Human beings are not allowed to consume and pollute nature as
they wish, carelessly (Ozdemer: 2003:29).
The Prophet (SAW) warned people when he said: “Be on your guard against three things which provoke
cursing: easing in the watering places, and on the thoroughfares, and in the shade (of the tree)”.( Abū Dāwūd
‐Abī Tayyib: 1990: Vol. 1: book no 1: 31: no. 26).
This hadeeth prohibits humans from defecating at places frequented by others and also teaches them that
human waste has its specific place. If it is dropped at unguarded areas it can cause a health hazard and can lead
to many illnesses.
Pollution of earth, oceans, and coasts in Muslim countries
Coastal regions are the most fragile and endangered ecosystems in the world. They are affected by stress
through deliberate and accidental oil spills, by sewage and industrial wastewater discharges, and by
commercial shipping. Other contributors are household waste, sewage and agricultural chemicals.
The coastal waters in the Atlantic and Mediterranean Seas are polluted from the wastewater discharge of
major cities (Rabat, Sale, Mohammedia, Safi, Tanger, Al Hoceima and Tetouan). Polluted beaches along these
coastal zones affect public health, marine ecosystems and fish catches
(http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/mna/mena.nsf/Attachments
/COED+Morocco+Profile/$File/COED+Morocco+profile+June+19.A4.doc. Date Accessed: September 2007).
In South East Asia human activities continued to pose a threat to the fragile ecosystems of the marine
environment. The main contaminants in the coastal waters in 2001 were Escherichia coli bacteria, total
suspended solids, and oil and grease. All these contaminants as well as mercury exceeded the Interim Marine
Water Quality Standards (Department of Statistics. Compendium of Environmental Statistics 2003. Malaysia,
2003 cited in Sangaralingam et. al. :2007: 4).
Marine ecosystems, such as the coral reefs around the Red Sea, have suffered irreversible damage. This is due
to untreated industrial and municipal discharge, and port activities which have contributed to this coastal
pollution (Sarraf Maria :April 2004. No.9 www.worldbank. org/environmentstrategy Date Accessed: August
2007)
The Lebanese coastal sea water areas suffer from heavy bacteriological and chemical contamination. A
research on fish in 1997 has shown that 30 % of all the fish caught along the Lebanese coast had plastic in their
stomachs. Divers complain about the presence of plastic under the sea. Traces of mercury and pesticides have
been found in measurable concentrations in fish offshore. Major sources of pollution are effluent from
tanneries, fertilizer production, soap and paint factories as well as food processing facilities. Disposed oil and
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
waste disposal is dumped into the sea water from ships and tankers. Sediment from soil erosion or stirred up
during coastal construction has destroyed or deteriorated many of the fish breeding grounds
(http://www.geocities. com/CapitolHill /Parliament/2587/env.html. Date Accessed : August 2007).
In Bangladesh seas have too often been used as free waste dumping areas. Repositories and refuse from firms,
farms and houses have often been dumped in salt waters. This waste disposal has led to serious pollution. For
e.g. Bay of Bengal has been used as a convenient dumping ground for industrial and toxic wastes.
(Pathania:2003: http://www. saag.org/papers8/paper799.html Date Accessed: August 2007)
In the Persian Gulf, surrounded by Muslim countries, the marine environments have come under increasing
pressure. This is due to the degradation of the ecosystem. Oil pollution in the region is very pronounced. In
addition to the danger of oil spills from ship and pipeline accidents, chronic pollution occurs from disposal at
sea of oil‐contaminated ballast water and dirty bilge, sludge, and slop oil. Some 1.2 million barrels of oil are
spilled into the Persian Gulf annually. It has been estimated that in 1986 alone, nearly 3 billion tons of wastes
mostly ballast waters were discharged into the Persian Gulf (UNEP:1997 http://www.unep.org /geo/ geo1/
ch/ch2_13.htm Date Accessed: August 2007).
The Red Sea and the Kuwait/Oman areas probably receive more oil pollution than anywhere else in the world.
The Mediterranean Sea which engulfs Muslim oil producing countries, accounts for 17 per cent of global
marine oil pollution, even though it constitutes only 0.7 per cent of the global water surface (UNEP:1997
http://www.unep.org /geo/ geo1/ ch/ch2_13.htm Date Accessed: August 2007).
With regards to pollution on the Saudi Arabian coast, Ibrahim Al‐Fahmi, a member of the National Plan for Sea
Pollution, argued that many seaside projects negatively affect the environment due to the solid and liquid
waste that is dumped there. He added that the old planning of the Saudi seaside was inappropriate and did not
take the environment into consideration (Wardam : Marine Environment, Saudi Arabia
http://www.arabenvironment. net/archive/2007/4/205271.html Date Accessed September 2007)
On the Yemeni coast critical habitats such as mangroves are being threatened by the disposal of raw sewage
and untreated industrial waste. Extensive wood cutting also destroys mangrove vegetation Oil spills occur
frequently in the Gulf of Aden ‐ ten spills were recorded in 1985 (site resources. worldbank
.org/INTYEMEN/Overview /20150250/YE‐Environment.pdf. Date Accessed: September 2007).
The Iranian coast in the Persian Gulf is a victim of oil pollution and environmental degradation. About 1.2
million barrels of oil are spilled into the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman annually. Oil pollution may be found
anywhere in the marine environment and results from operational discharges due to shipping, river run‐off,
natural seeps, atmospheric inputs, coastal refineries, the petrochemical industry, offshore operations and
tanker accidents. Such inputs are a great threat to the marine environment. Other major polluters are the
ballast water of oil tankers, off‐shore oil exploration facilities, heavy metal pollution which is caused by import
and export activities and thermal pollution from the return water in cooling systems of large industrial facilities
such as power plants (Sarraf M, Owaygen M; Croitoru L; Ruta G;: 2005 earthmind.net /marine/docs/wb ‐2005‐
iran‐cost‐environmental‐degradation.pdf Date Accessed: August 2007).
A huge amount of world marine pollution occurs in Muslim countries as this section has proven that fact.
Muslim countries are in most cases themselves responsible for many of the coastal degradation that takes in
their areas. Since the discovery of oil in the Middle East which affects many Muslim countries, a high activity of
oil industries sprang up in this region. Export of oil to the rest of the world from these areas by means of
shipping was started. This resulted that the coastal areas began to be affected by the dumping of oil and
grease, port activities in terms of disposed oil and waste disposal dumped into the sea from ships and tankers
as well as oil‐contaminated ballast water, oil spill offs, oil tanker accidents and coastal petrol refineries and
petro‐chemical industries which dump their waste into the sea.
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Other discharge into the sea includes industrial and agricultural by‐products, raw sewage and wastewater
discharge as well as contaminated river run off.
All the discharges into the sea affect the marine eco system. The fauna and the flora in the sea is affected by
another problem and that is the over –exploitation of the fish industry in which fish catching has increased
dramatically in the last few years especially since gill nets were introduced.
CONCLUSION
This paper has identified the various ways the environment is being destroyed in many Muslim countries at the
beginning of the 21st century due to the corruption at hands of man. Fourteen hundred years ago man has
been given a guideline as to how to protect the environment through the medium of the Qur'ān, the Sunnah
and the Ahadith of the Prophet Muh ammad (SAW). The implementation of these teachings can let the
Muslims in the mentioned countries live up to the challenges of the 21st century.
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ICIWG‐40
The Relations Between Golconda And Iran ‐ Impact Of Iranians On Architecture During
GOLKONDA IRAN RELATIONS ‐ IMPACT OF IRANIANS ON ARCHITECTURE DURING THE QUTB
The Qutb Shahi Period
SHAHI PERIOD
Dr. Ayub Ali Syed
Professor of History, Master of Tourism & Management, Kakatiya University, Warangal A.P India
ABSTRACT
Qutb Shahis of Golconda ruled the eastern part of Decan in India for nearly two centuries, i.e from 1518 1687
A.D. During this period the relations between Golconda and Iran was good and Cordial because the sultans of
Golconda were shias and had added the names of Iranian rulers in Khutba. Because of this affiliations large
number Iranians Afaquies (New commers) came to Golconda the Capital the Qutb Shai kingdom to serve the
state and Societ in different capacities as soldiers Adventurers, Ulemas, Saints, Architect, Engineers. Their
contribution can be witnessed richly in all most all the field of Administration, Religion, Literature, Art &
Architecture etc.
As it is not possible here to discusses and find out the immense contribution made by the Iranians in all the
fields hence an attempt is made in this paper to focus on the different monuments constructs bath religious
and secular from 1518 to 1687 AD end of the rule which reflect both Indo‐Iranian features of Art and
Architecture in them.
Further an attempt is also made here to find out the details of Iranian Nations engineers, Architecture
calligraphers who were involved in enriching these structures as famous monuments such Charminar,
Golconda fort, Jam – I – Masjid and others.
In additions to this an attempt is made to bring into light on the present existing conditions of these
monuments and to suggest not only to protect them from ruin but also promote them as Tourist and Heritage
centers of both Indian and Iran as a means to strengthen cultural relations between the two nations.
The Iranians were known, since the distant past as the nation of builders and painters. They had their distinct
style both in architecture and art. The waves of Iranian in Deccan brought a large number of architects,
builders, designers and painters. Their participation in construction of the buildings has a marked impact and
reached its zenith during the Qutb Shahi period.
THE QUTB SHAHI ARCHITECTURE:
The Qutb Shahi buildings can roughly be divided in to two categories, religious and non religious. The religious
buildings include Mosques, Dargahs, Ashur Khanas and tombs while the non‐religious buildings are Palaces,
Bazaars, forts, minarets and buildings for public use like hospitals.
There are no particular structural patterns fixed for any religious or non‐religious buildings except perhaps for
mosques. The religious buildings built during the Qutb Shahi period more so the mosques are well preserved,
therefore a close study of them will help us to understand the structural pattern of all the other types of
buildings built during the period.
THE RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS
A) MOSQUES : The three essential requirements of the mosque the Mehrab or central nich, the Mimber or
the pulpit and a water tank or pond are universal and no mosque can be built without them. But they do differ
in their size, design and decoration. All the Qutb Shahi Mosque too had them all.
However the Qutb Shahi mosque differ in a number of aspects from the mosques built elsewhere. A striking
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change was in elevation aspect with the introduction of minarets particularly in the later mosques. The corner
finials or Chatri like tops at the front conrners were developed into tall minarets of substantial volume circular
or polygonal in sections. These minarets had balconies at regular intervals to provide light and fresh air. They
were beautifully decorated to enhance the splendor of the building and to reduce the burden of watching a tall
structure. The roof of the mosque in general was flat. In some of the mosques the ceiling is partly flat.
Masjid‐i‐Safa:
Tarikh‐e‐Muhammad Qutb Shah mentions that Sultan Quli built thousands of mosques1. But without any
doubt it is a simple exaggeration. What still exists is just one mosque built during his period. The mosque was
built by Sultan Quli in 924/1518 and It is situated near Bala Hissar in Golconda fort.
This mosque has a single dome in the centre and another small dome covering the gateway. The prayer
chamber of the mosque is divided into four lateral aisles, which opens out into the court yard of the five
beautiful well proportional arches. Sherwani believes that these five arches were built perhaps in the name of
the five pillars of Shi'aism Muhammad. Ali, Fatima, Hassan and Hussain2. The practice which began by Sultan
Quli continued all through the period.
The Mahrab in this mosque which is about nine feet four inches in hieght is beautiful decorated. Over the door
of the mosque there is an important inscription in Nastaliq. It is two feet ten inches long and three feet wide.
This inscription states that the mosque was built during the period of Mahmud Shah Ibne Muhammad Shah
Behmani by Sultan Quli known as Qutb‐ul‐Mulk in 924 A.H.
The inscription provides an evidence that Sultan Quli has not declared his independence, at least during the life
time of Mahmud Shah Behmani. Sultan Quli was murdered in this mosque by Meer Muhammad after twenty
five years of its completion.
Even during Ibrahim's period, it was not much yet we have three mosques built during his period Masjid‐i‐Bala
Hissar, Masjid‐i‐Mustafa Khan and Masjid‐i‐Mulla Khiali. The first two are small and built according to the
traditionl style, but the third one built by the famous Dakhni poet Mulla Khiyali, ninety years before the
construction of the Naya Qila in 1977/1570 is a fine edifice.
Masjid‐i‐Mulla Khiali: The super structure of the mosque stands over a plinth ten feet high. The mosque is
enteed through a gateway, which leads to a flight of stairs towards the southern side. There is an adjoining
platform in front of the mosque with arched openings. The mosque has a prayer hall and a courtyard. The
prayer hall 9.7 x 4.5 mts has a continuous vaulted roof. The roof is provide with a parapet of intersecting
arches with intervening minarets. There is a second parapet over the raised portion of the vaulted roof having
similar arches. The gradual blossoming of the two minarets is noticeable clearly. The prayer hall is provided
with three arched openings, beautiful stucco medallions are found on the upper surface of the arches. The
wall surface in the interior is divided into false arches with niches in the middle3. The Mahrab which is two feet
five inches high and one feet sixty six inches wide has a black basalt frame. The cusped alcove above the
Mahrab has the names of the Panjetan in fine Tughra style. The Mahrab is divided into six equal
compartments each topped by a panel containing inscriptions, which are the verses from the holy Quran. All
these inscriptions have been executed by the calligrapher Muhammad, whose name is inscribe top side down
1
Tarikh‐e‐Muhammad Qutb Shah MSS.No 219, Salarjung Museum Librory Page No: 67
2
H.K.Sherwani. History of Qutb Shahi Dynasty , Delhi, p. 47
3
Shastry, V.V.K, Mosques of the Qutb Shahi period, Proceedings of Salarjang Museum Seminar, Hyderabad, 1985, p. 5
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in the corner panel within the mosque1.
Another mosque built by Ibrahim Qutb shah on the top of the hillock Moulali. This mosque has three arched
ways to a small Dalan meant for Majalis and prayers. The inside of the mosque has beautiful Kashi Kari work
done by the Iranian artists. A Dalan is attached to the mosque to provide enough space to devotees. The
mosque and the Ashur Khana is decorated with a Qaleen over the floor and a number of fine Tughras over the
walls. The roof of the mosque is flat having simple parapet wall with fake arches cut into it.
Jami‐Masjid Charminar: There were four mosque built during the period of Muhammad Quli, one by the order
of the Sultan and three by his nobles Mir Momin and Amin‐ul‐Mulk. Mir Momin got built two mosques and
Amin‐ul‐Mulk one known as masjid –i‐meerpet, masjid a shukrula guda and masjid a shaifabad
The mosque built by Muhammad Quli is known as Jami Masjid Charminar. The mosque which was built close
to Charminar on its southern side was built in 1006/1597, that is soon after the completion of Baad Shahi
Ashur Khana. The date of its completion is given in the chronogram.
The mosques seven arched openings. The main arch is bigger than the others. The prayer chamber consists of
two Dalans measuring 721/2 x 321/2 feet supported by six rectangular massive columns. The a space of three
feet over the real arches. A clear gap is shown between the outer false arches and the inner real ones. The
whole composition is extremely beautiful. The octagonal columns on either sides of the mosque carry lotus
capitals over which a gallery with intersected arches is rested. Above the gallery is a cylindrical shaft of the
minar with four coloumns at the corners. The shaft supports a beautiful miniature building with three false
arches on each side crowned by a done and finials2.
Girdharilal Ahqar in Tari‐i‐Zaffarah mentions that a Madrasa and Hamans were attached to the mosque, but
they do not exist now. The excellence of the building is due to its inscriptions by master calligraphists. There
are two inscriptions now in the mosque, the first one in Nastaliq style is over the door of the main entrance;
the name of the calligraphist given below the Persian verses is Baba Khan.
The second inscription is over the Mahrab, which has two smaller ones on both sides. These are written in
thulth style, the name of the calligrapher is not mentioned over the inscriptions3. Beside the Macca Masjid, two
more Masjids were built during Muhammad Qutb Shah's period, Masjit‐i‐Hyat Nagar and Masjid‐i‐Khirtabad.
All the three Masjids are magnificent and have some important architectural features. But Macca Masjid
assumed the top position among them.
Macca Masjid: Mohammad Qutb shah’s period saw the contraction of three mosques viz Macca Masjid, Masjid
Hayadnagar, Masjid a Khairatabad. The most prominent and the Magnificent among all the mosques of the
qutb shahis period was macca masjid. It is the biggest mosque the construction of which was began by
Muhammad Qutb Shah in 1027/1617. It is situated a few hundred yards from the Charminar towards its south
west. It is recorded that Muhammad Qutb Shah himself laid down the foundation of it after declaring in public
that he had not missed Namaz‐i‐Thujud since the twelfth year of his age4. Mir Fiazullah and Rangaiah Darogha
were appointed as supervisors. A sum of eight lakh Huns was sanctioned for the purpose from the royal
treasury5.
1
Report of The Archeological Deportment, 1937, P7
2
Shastri, VVK. Mosques of the Qutb Shahi period, proceedings of Salarjung Museum Seminar, Hyderabad 1985 P.6.7
3
Sadaq Naqui, Muslim Religious Institutions and their role under the Qutbshahi, Hyderabad Page No 119
4
Abdul Qasim, Hadqat‐ul‐Alam, Hyderabad, p.284
5
Bilgrami, Ali Asgar, Masir‐i‐Deccan, Hyderabad, p.21‐23.
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The building is comparatively less ornate than others. The prayer hall is 225 x 180 feet reaching a height of 75
feet. The hall is divided into three Dalans constructed of ashlar masonry. It has five arched openings flanked
by two octagonal projecting colums and surmounted by an arched gallery, crowned by a dome. The colums are
made out of a single piece of granite.
Tavernier has mentioned them writing that hundreds of labourers were engaged for five long years to cut them
from the mines and carry them to the site situated one thousand four hundred miles away1.
The outer boundary is rectangular having a platform 360 sq.ft under the roof. There are three rows of 15
arches each at the end of every row in the northern and southern corners, hundred feet high domes have been
built. The main gate of the mosque was built after the fall of Golconda kingdom. In one corner of the
courtyard, there is a large cistern having two stone slabs eight feet long.
The large number mosques were built during the reign of Abdullah Qutb shah. Out of nine mosque built during
this period, the impressive ones are masjid a kalan, Masjid‐i‐Hayat baksh Begum, Masjid‐i‐Qutb Alam, Toli
Masjid and Masjid‐i‐Kulsuam Begum out of these Mosques two mosques are important viz Masjid‐i‐Hayat
bhakshi begum and Toli Masjid.
Masjid –I ‐Hyat Nagar: Hyat Nagar which is 16 kilometers from Hyderabad towards its eastern side was built by
Hayat Baksh Begum, the daughter of Muhammad Quli, wife of Muhammad Qutb Shah and mother of Abdullah
Qutb shah. Hyatnagar was completed in 1035/1625‐26 as a complex having Palaces, houses, mosque,
Madrasa, Carvan Sari and huge well to supply the water. But the Palaces, houses and a large part of sari is
completely damaged. What remains now are two large mounds, one entombing the Palace proper and other
the Tal‐Makan a residence which was perhaps occupied in summer as a refuge from the heat. The mosque
proper is composed of five double arches of massive masonry and is flanked by two lofty minarets, the
extensive court yard is 450 x 400 feet and is surrounded on all sides by several double rooms on a terrace
measuring about 150 feet each way. This was a caravon sari, now it is in dilapidated condition
Toli Masjid: The mosque is situated on the road leading to Golconda from Puranapul. According to
chronogram over the Mahrab, the mosque was built by Musa Khan in 1082/1691. Khowja Gulam Hussain in
Gulzar Asfafia writes that musa Khan was appointed as superintendent of the construction of Mucca masjid by
Abdullah Qutb shah. He was assigned a Damri in a rupee as his share, he collected that amount and built this
mosque2.
B) TOMB AND DARGAHS:
Among the other religious buildings preserved are the tombs of the sufi saints or the sultans. It is difficult to
assign them any particular archtectural pattern as they differ with each other not only in size but also in their
pattern. The only resemblance is, that they all were built over a raised platform and every one of them
essentially has a dome and a grave chamber with a fake grave in the middle. They are identical to the mosques
in other features such as parapet walls, cornices etc.
Dargah‐i‐Hussain Shah Vali: Hussain Shah Vali, who belonged to the family of Khaja Bande Nawaz of Gulberga
was born at Bidar and came to Golconda via. Gulberga during the regin of Ibrahim Qutb Shah3. Ibrahim
1
Tavernier, Travels of Tavernier in India, Vol. No. 1, p. 145.
2
Gulam Hussain Khan, Gulzar‐i‐Asifiyah, Hyderabad, p. 20
3
Abdul Jabber, Malkapuri, Tarikh‐I‐Awolia‐I‐Deccan, P. 270.
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received him with great respect and appointed him Siphasalar of ten thousand soldiers and placed the
department of public works under his charge, in addition to this his daughter Khiratunnisa Begum in marriage
to Hussain Shah Vali to enhance his position and prestige1.
It was under the supervision of Hussain Shah Vali that a tank was built towards the southern side of Hyderabad.
It was to be named Ibrahim Sagar but the commitment of Hussain Shah Vali was so much with it that the
people started calling it Hussain Sagar. The tank which has a bund about a mile long now divides greater
Hyderabad in to two separate parts HYderabad and SEcunderabad.
Hussain Sahah Vali inspite of his official position and family prestige lived a life of the sufi saint. Therefore after
his death a dargah was built over his grave.
The Dargah is situated in a village named after him at a distance of about five miles from Golconda fort
towards the western side. The magnificent building has a double arched entrance having two small rooms on
either sides. The small varandah like galleries built in the style of Baradari are stretching outwards. Right
opposite the entrance arch, there minarets connected with a low wall serving as a screen. The whole structure
is built over twelve pillars cut out of a single rock. The small Dalan of the Naqar Khana has three arched
openings. The middle arche has a gallery with slanting roof. Projecting outward. Right opposite the Naqar
Khana there is a pond with black basalt lining on its four sides. The main entrance to the dargah leads to a
small countryard covered with stone. On its northern side there is a Dalan used for serving Nazar, while on its
southern side there is a grave yard.
The dargah has a large single dome with a Kulus over it. The grave chamber is approached through a wooden
door facing the entrance arches. Inside the grave chamber, there is a wooden Baradari beautifully built over
twelve pillars. Hussain Shah Vali's grave is built beneath this Baradari. The grave is thickly covered with the
layers of Sandal.
The dargah is decorated with the usual articles the Shutur Murg ke Ande, Pankhe and Agarbati stands. The urs,
is celebrated every year on fourteen Jamadiulawal is attended by a large number of people irrespective of
religion, caste or sect. The cultivators from the surrounding area form a large majority.
Qutb shahi Tombs: The tombs of the Qutb Shahi Sultans were built a kilometer north of Banjara gate of the
Golconda fort.
These imposing marvels of architectural excellance stand as solemn reminder of the grandeur and glory of
Golconda and the great kings buried here. The tombs form a large close grup standing on a raised plateau.
There are twelve tombs inside the quadrangle which includes, the Sultan, members of royal family and
prominent nobles. Abdullah Qutb Shah's tomb is the only one outside the quardrangle. Among these tombs
Muhammad Quli's tomb is most prominent and largest.
Dargah‐i‐Hazrat Mir Mahmud: It was during the period of Abdullah that as many as thirteen sufis came to
Golconda from different places in India and abroad. Mir Mahmud belonged to the house of Imam Raza, the
eight Imam of the Shi'as.
He was born in Najaf, city in Lawn in the family of ulema. After completing his education under his father's he
came to Golconda via Bijapur during the reign of Abdullah Qutb Shah. Mir Mahmud selected a hillock near a
tank which is now called Mir Alam Tank. He settled down there and served the people at large. He started the
construction of his tomb and the buildings around during his life time. MIr Mahmud died in 1100/1688 and
1
Khaja Gulam Hussain, Gulzar‐I‐Asafia, Hyderabad 1890, P.333.
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was buried in the tomb built by him.
The Dargah of Shah Raju: Syed Shah Yusuf Muhammad Al Hussain was popularly known as Shah Raju. He was
born in 1002/1593 at Bijapur. He came to Hyderabad along with his father during the reign of Abdullah Qutb
Shah, settled down at Fateh Darwaza and built his Khanqah. Abul Hasan was his disciple and living in his
Khanqah for fourteen years. It was during his stay in Khanqah that Shah Raju often told him that he would
become the son‐in‐law of the Sultan and succeed him after his death. The fore caste came true and Abul
Hassan occupied the throne. This increased his devotion to Shah Raju. Shah Raju beside a sufi was a great
scholar. He wrote books both in Persian and Dakhni. He died in 1092/1681.
C) ASHUR KHANA:
The Ashur Khanas, can be considered among the religious buildings have nothing common among their
buildings. They were built in different patterns according to the need and the means of the builder. Therefore
the tombs and the Ashur Khanas needs to be described taking each one separetely. The Ashur Khana is still
considred to be a sacred place by the people irrespective of religion
Koh‐i‐Moula Ali: According to Gulam Hussain, the Ashur Khana was built by Yaqur, the Palace superintendent
of Ibrahim. It was he, who during his sickness saw Hazrat Ali sitting over the hilock, on Thursday night resting
his right hand over the rock. When he awoke from his dream he rushed to the spot with his followers and
found the impression of Hazrat Ali's, hand over the stone. He ordered the stone cutter to cut the rock with the
impression in it. He then informed Ibrahim, Qutb Shah who visited the Ashur Khana and built a mosque
there1.
The only Ashur Khana built during Ibrahim's period is Koh‐i‐Moula Ali, near a small village Malkajgiri, about ten
miles from the Hyderabad city. The Ashur Khana which preserves the impression of Hazrat Ali's hand is built
over a hilock two thousand seventeen feet high in 1986/1578.
Ashur Khana at the bottom of the hilock from where the stairs start is a small square building. It is known as
Ashurkhana‐i‐Chahal Charag. According to the inscription over it, the Ashur Khana was built by Hyder Ali in
1224/1809 during the Asif Jahi period.
It has four Rivaqs on four sides of the building. In each Rivaq there are ten Taqs, nine in a row and one over
them, making a total of forty. In the these Taws were lit forty lamps to illuminate the Ashur Khana. The name
Chahal Chirag is given to it due to this. A small dome covers the roof. An impressive feature of the Ashur
Khana is, that a black basalt slab is fixed right in front of the elevated floor, over which the Ayat‐i‐Sajda is
inscribed. According to the command of the holy Quran any Muslim, who reads it requires to perform a Sajda.
This is an intelligent piece of work A Muslim devotee is required to perform Sajda to Allah at the very beginning
of his pilgrimage to the Ashurkhana‐i‐Moula Ali. On the extreme right of the slab there is an inscription. The
first line of which declares the purpose as follows (built to perform Sajda at Koh‐i‐Ali). The stairs now in use
were built by the Seventh NIzam of the Asif Jahi dynasty. The original way to climb was through an arch
towards the eastern side. The stairs then were cut in the rock.
The only source of water until recently, was a well over the hillock called Neem Bowli. There is an Ashur Khana
beside, it built by Syed Imam Khan, the superintendent of the buildings at a cost of Rs. 14000. The approach to
the Ashur Khana passes through two Naqar Khanas, one built by Raja Roaramba and other Raja Chandulal, the
nobles of the sixth Nizam.
1
Khaja Gulam Hussain, Gulzar‐I‐Asafia, Hyderabad, 1890, P.333
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Baad Shahi Ashu Khan: Muhammad Quli and his Peshwa Mir Momin patronized the 'Azadari with complete
devotion and enthusiasm. Therefore a large number of 'Ashur Khanas both in the city and villages were built.
The Ashur Khanas built in the city during Muhammad Quli's period are Baad Shahi Ashur Khana, Hussaini Alam,
Sartoaq, Barg‐i‐Abul Fazal Abbas, Kadm‐i‐Rasoo. Out of these the Baad Shahi Ashur Khana assumed
importance considering its building.
The construction of the Ashur Khana began soon after the completion of Charminar in 1001/1592. It was
completed in 1005/1596 at a cost of 60,000 Huns1.
The Ashur Khana is one of the finest building of the Qutb Shahi period. It is forty yards long, thirty yards broad
and twelve yards high. The central hall in which the 'Alams are installed is eighteen feet long and seventeen
feet broad2. This hall is the main portion of the Ashur Khana which was built by Muhammad Quli. The flat roof
of the hall is supported by four pillars cutout of a single rock. There are five niches in the central wall, three in
the Western wall and two in thenorthern and southern walls. The whole hall is covered with excellent
enameled tiles having floral designs.
The work was done by Iranian artists during the period of Abdullah Qutb Shah. On the northern side attached
to the roof, there is a small concealed room which was used for prayers by the sultans during the first ten days
of the mnth of Muhrrum. Fourteen 'Alam used to be installed in this hall during the Qutb Shahi period. There
is another hall attached to this hall which was built by Nizam Ali Khan Asif Jah II, to provide more space the
Majalis. The flat roof of this hall rests over eight wooden pillars cut of a single tree. The hall four niches two
on either sides of the hall having the Qutb Shahi emblem, the Alam, done in stucco, the wooden pillar have
morchal attached to them. A neat beautiful wooden lace over a plank of wood connects the two pillars at the
top. The halls are separated by low wooden partitions over which there are neatly written glass frames with
Nizam Ali Khan's name over them.
These are the recent additions and do not belong to either periods. The halls are connected with countryard
by a small platform along the full breath of the Ashur Khana. Towards the northern side of it is the Naqar
Khana, beside which is yet another hall, which was used to feed the Azadars. Beside this hall there is a small
mosque. Simple in pattern and built to fulfill the need. The mosque have five arched openings traditional
during the Qutb Shahi period.
The most important feature of the Ashur Khana are its seventeen inscriptions which are well preserved. Most
of them have verses of the holy Quran, Shia's Darud, names of Panjeetan. But a few like one over the central
nich, has a verse of Quran, underneath which is written Gulam‐I‐Ali Muhammad Quli and the year one
thousand A.H. Likewise there is another inscription which is over the enamel tile and reads Abul Muzzafar
Sultan Abdullah Qutub Shah. These inscriptions not only helps us to trace the history of the Ashur Khana but
also are fine pieces of Calligraphy.
This 'Ashur Khana was the centre of 'Azadari during the Qutb Shahi period. The Qutb Shahi Sultans from
Muhammad Quli onwards used to visit the 'Ashur Khana every day during the first ten days of the months of
Muhrrum. MIrza Nizamuddin Ahmed in his work Hadiqat‐us‐salateen has described the 'Azadari inside this
'Ashur Khana in detail3.
NON RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS:
A) Golconda fort: It is said that the Golconda fort was built during the Kakatiya period4. over a hilock and
1
Bilgrami, Ali Asgar, Masir‐i‐Deccan, Hyderabad, 1924, p.12
2
Mirza Syed Humayan, Asar‐i‐Samadeed‐i‐Dakhn, p.26
3
Mirza Nizamuddin Ahmed, Hadiqat‐us‐Salatin, Mss. No, 368, Salarjang Museum Library, Hyderabad, p. 48‐49.
4
Mirza Nizamuddin Ahmed, Hadiqat‐us‐Salatin, Mss. No, 368, Salarjang Museum Library, Hyderabad, p. 48‐49.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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existed when Sultan Quli took over as the Tarfdar. But it was he who strengthen the structure by
circumvolution and large strong vallation gates. Sultan Quli afterwards asked his nobles to build their palaces
there. He himself got built a number of small houses between the Bala Hissar and Fathe Darwaza and the
Bazar was built amidst them and roads were laid down.
B) BUILDINGS FOR PUBLIC USE:
Puranapul: The only bridge built over the Musi river was built by Ibrahim Qutb Shah and it was completed in
986/1578. The Puranapul is the replica of Manan bridge, one of the old bridge built in Isfahan.
The tradition relates its construction with Bhagmati. But it is not correct as Bhagmati herself never existed1.
The bridge was built to fulfill the need the of the people due the expansion of the capital beyond the walled
city of Golconda. The bridge is two hundred yards long, twelve feet wide and fourteen yadrs high. It is built
over twenty two arches.
City of Hyderabad: The plan to construct the city was ready in 999/1590‐1 over the plain area lying south of
the Musi river, once Muhammad Quli decided to built the city he collected master craftsmen, architects,
masons, stone cutters and designers to built a city which would be the replica of paradise2.
The first outline plan of the city was drawn by Muhammad Quli's Peshwa Mir Momin. who took keen interest
in the building of the city when the work started3.
The city of Hyderabad was built over the model of Isfahan in Iran. The Charminar as the centre and the area
enclosed between the four arches having a Piazza in the centre is the replica of Maidan‐i‐Naqsh Jahan of
Safawid Isfahan. Mir Momin that is why used to call Hyderabad as Isfahan Nau. The Hydeabad city when built
it was well planned. About eighty yards north of Charminar was the great square known then as Julu Khana
and now called Charkaman. During the Qutb Shahi period these Kamans were collectively known as Julu
Khana‐i‐Shahi, each Kaman is fifty feet high and at a distance of a bout one hundred ten yeards from the
central pizza. It was through the western Kaman which is known as Kaman‐i‐Saher‐i‐Batil, that there was entry
to the royal palaces extending right up to the Musi river. Unfortunately no trace of any palace exist now. It
was in Julukhana that fourteen thousand shops were built with schools, mosques, caravansaries and baths.
Charminar: There is a dispute regarding the structural pattern of Charminar which was built to mark the centre
of the city of Hyderabad. Bilgrami in Mather‐i‐Dakhan believes that the building was built according to the
pattern of a Taziah and mosque4.
Sherwani disagrees and is of the opinion that it has no resemblance with Taziah. He adds that it was a common
feature in India and surrounding countries to built such a building at the centre of the city5.
Rizvi has an entirely different view. He writes that Mir Mumin had in mind the design of the holy city of
Mashad in Iran where Imam 'Raza's tomb is likewise placed in the nexus but he seems to have convinced of the
novel idea of replacing the tomb with the Charminar which is both a religious building and a high water mark
in Indian architecture6.
Rizvi's openion appeals as the city of Hyderabad was built in accordance with Isfahan in Iran and Mir Momin,
1
H.K. Sherwani, History of Qutb shahi dynasty, Delhi, p. 339
2
Ibid, p. 339
3
Sdiq‐Naqvi, Muslim Religious Institutions and their role under the Qutb Shahis, Hyderabad, p. 119
4
Bilgrami, Ali Asgar, Masir‐a‐Daccan, Hyderabad, p. 7
5
H.K. Sherwani, History of Qutb Shahi Dynasty, Delhi, p. 303‐4
6
Rizvi, A.A.A social Intellectual History of the Isha Ashari Shis in India, Vol. 1, Delhi, p.305
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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the Peshwa an Iranian Afaqui Alim
The Charminar was built with lime and stone and decorated with stucco work. There are four arches on four
sides of it each measuring theiry six feet broad and sixty feet above the plinth level. The four minars are eighty
feet high from the roof and one hundred and sixty feet from the plinth level. The upper most storery of each
minar is reached by one hundred and forty sixt steps.
Darul Shifa: The only building built to treat the sick, which still exists is the unani hospital Darul Shifa. It was
built by Muhammad Quli in 1004/15951.
The building is a square of 175 x175 feet. It has a massive gate built in the shape of an arch. The northern
portion with its high arched way on either sides of it has platforms, halls and rooms. These were used for
examining the patients and also as dispensary and class rooms. The other three sides have a double storey
building with a large hall supported by arches dividing the hall into squares of 15 x 15 feet with a continuous
corridor of six feet, running on the inner side throughout the length of the building. The three wings have
twelve rooms.
The hospital was meant to serve the people. The medicines and food to the patients was given free.
During Abdullah Qutb Shah's period Agha Mohsin Khurssani brought a piece of the Tooq which was put around
the neck of Hazrat Zain‐ul‐Abideen, the fourth Imam of the Shi'a muslims. Abdullah received the holy piece
with respect and ordered, that it should be preserved in an 'Alam. The Alam was housed in the western
portion of the building. The present building in which the 'Alam remains all through the year was built by Mir
Osman Ali Khan the seventh Asif Jahi Nizam. All the leading Hakeems of the Qutb Shahi period worked in this
hospital.
The Palaces:
There were a number of places built during Muhammad Quli's period. Lal Mahal, Chandan Mahal and Sajan
Mahal were all built to glorify the city. It was built after the marriage of Sultan's only daughter Hyat Bakshi
Begum in 1019/1610. The Palace had seven stories. Each storey was named after Allah, Muhammad, Ali
Hasan, Hussain, Jafar Sadiq and Musi Kazim. Out of these the storey named after Hazrat Ali's name as Hyder
Mahal was mot beautiful. It's pillars and roof is said to have been studded with Golden nails and decorated
with precious stones.
Sultan Quli had built three more Palaces at Nabat Ghat, Kohitur and over the bank of Musi river, Nadi Mahal.
The Palaces were decorated with articles imported mostly from Iran like carpets, chandeliers etc2 . These were
available in Hyderabad and Masulipatnam.
Mirak Moin Sabzadari, who was the Hajib of Asaf Shahi kingdom in Hyderabad has praised Khudadad Mahal in
Persian couplets in English translation of which reads as follows.
Unfortunately no trace of any of these Palaces have remained in Hyderabad. The whole area which was
occupied by the Palaces during the Qutb Shahi period is now taken over by shops, markets and residential
houses.
Gosha Mahal: The Palace towards the south of the Charminar called Gosha Mahal was meant to be a walled
Palace for the ladies of the royal family. It was built over the bank of a large cistern which was filled with water
brought from the Hussain Sagar tank through clay pipes. The construction of the Palace started during
1
H.K. Sherwani, op.cit.,p. 312
2
Sadgru Prasad, Hyderabad Farukonda Buniad, Hyderabad, p. 148
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Abdullah's reign but was completed during Abul Hasan's period in 1098 A.H.
Unfortunately nothing has remained of this Palace except a portion of it which was used as guest house. It is
toward the north of the Palace. The guest house which is commonly known as Gosha Mahal Baradari is a
beautiful double storey building. It houses the local freemason's lodge, therefore the entry to it is restricted.
Thus it is evident from the above account that the Iranian who came to Golconda as Administrators, Soldiers,
Architects, Builders, Designers, Ulema, Poets, Writers, Calligraphers etc. All of them exhibited their merits in
their respective fields and added to the glory of Golconda.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
ICIWG‐41
MIRROR SHOWS A MYRIAD FACES AND TIME TANTALIZES:
SLUMS, MARGINALIZATION, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND RESILIENCE
Professor T. Vasantha Kumaran and York‐Madras Project Team
Department of Geography, University of Madras, Chennai 600 005 India
Email: thangavelukumaran@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This paper is about slum life, lived experiences, tsunami and post‐tsunami, and how two slum communities,
marginalized with myriad faces and tantalizing times, have emerged more resilient than ever through self‐
organizing and social movements helping them along the path of social developments. It is indeed a retelling of
the two separate, good and different stories, about the two slums – Anjukudisai and Pallavan Nagar – Kargil
Vetri Nagar ‐ Tsunami Nagar ‐ which have seen different and tantalizing events. The focus is in fact on the
positive side of the negatively impacted communities where rebuilding resilience has not been easy, for
various reasons, but has indeed been accomplished by their own strengths to withstand, bear, and flourish
from, the brunt. In both, the social changes have been brought about by (a) initiatives from international
research collaboration (between Madras (India) and York (Canada) universities) (b) but primarily from their own
self organizing abilities and (c) social activism of good, different and effective variety. This paper does not so
much describe the methodology of the study but mostly the processes that have occurred in the two slums,
changing and transforming lives, providing different, even horrendous, lived experiences for the people of the
two slums. In short, the paper sketches the mirror that shows a myriad faces (or facets) and the times that
tantalized the communities.
The context is thus slum life, lived experiences and building resilience in the face of adversity through
assistance from various sources: international NGOs (XNORA International, Karunalaya, Soroptimist
International and others), universities (York‐Madras team), colleges (several city colleges and institutes), local
government, city government and private health organizations over the five years.
Anjukudisai is an inner urban slum, at a hazardous site on the bank of the much polluted Cooum river. It is
objectionable and demonstrates the impact of long term neglect of environment and health issues. The slum’s
256 households and nearly 1400 people live in concrete cells and thatched huts. The slum lacks proper
drainage, latrines and sewage and soild waste collection. The York‐Madras team along with their collaborators
initiated settlement‐wide processes of collaboration and partnerships around environmental and health issues.
The team work has demonstrated the potential here for creating capacity to self‐organize for community
development. Before the arrival of the team, there was no history of integrated capacity building for self
governance and now progress has been made through the formation of the self‐help groups and linkages with
external agencies.
Pallvan‐Kargil Vetri‐Tsunami Nagar (the name suggests that the slum community that existed in Pallavan
Nagar prior to December 26, 2004 was moved to Kargil Vetri Nagar in the aftermath of the Indian ocean
tsunami and then to Tsunami Nagar after fire and flood hazards that hit the people hard) was a community of
325 households or about 1800 people who lived on the shore of the Bay of Bengal in north Chennai near the
fishing harbour and within the Coastal Regulation Zone. This was an objectionable slum as well and soon after
the tsunami, the Public Works Department of the Tamil Nadu Government moved in and fenced the area off,
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
moving people to Kargil Vetri Nagar for temporary settlement in March 2005. But soon after, there was a fire
which gutted the temporary shelters and then, when monsoon began, a flood. The people were again moved
to Tsunami Nagar, to temporary shelters. There were already people from other slums, similarly affected.
Pallavan Nagar, in 2004, lacked even the most basic services and manifested problems relating to housing,
health, employment, waste disposal, sanitation, safety and education. These were not addressed by the
internal and external agencies nor t, he residents themselves. The international team of action‐researchers
took the first initiative supported by the voluntary organizations and student communities. There were
indications that the initiative was leading to community organization to address environment and health issues
(participatory action research as praxis was to the fore for almost a year). And then the tsunami struck.
Amazingly only 12 people were killed. Communal spaces were devastated. What happened thereafter is a story
that reflects human suffering of the order that does not exist anywhere in the world, except in the semi‐
permanent housing of the Kargil Vetri Nagar and then Tsunami Nagar. The community, along with other
communities, braved the insecurity of tenure, overcrowding, insanitation, unsafe water, stench of solid wastes,
mosquito menace and inhuman living conditions. Violence was not uncommon and substance abuse and
prostitution rampant. There was no light at the end of the tunnel of suffering, violence and aggression. The
community braved it all, until it is safely housed today in permanent but equally unsafe shelters.
All through the horrifying experience, the two communities showed a strength to advance forward, towards
sustainable and adaptive management of the bizarre situation, with help and assistance from the project team,
NGOs and CBOs and the student communities. This is an extraordinary story of an ordinary people, retold by a
participant observer (who was rarely so much involved as the others but lived the experience like no other).
The study spans a period of almost five years, in three distinct phases, (from the York/Madras collaborative
research on A partcipatory adaptive ecosystem approach to Community Development and Governance to slum
settlements in Chennai 2003‐04) and however firms up the events of a follow‐up study (on Initiating community
based self organizing for environment and health in two Chennai slums 2004‐06) and now to the second follow‐
up of the same study (on An adaptive ecosystem approach to managing urban environments for human health
2007‐09) with outcome mapping as the principal methodology towards gauging perceived social‐ecological
changes since 2004, identifying persistent problems and to plan the future course of action for the people of
the two slums.
INTRODUCTION
This paper is about slum life, lived experiences, tsunami and post‐tsunami, and how two slum communities,
marginalized with myriad faces and tantalizing times, have emerged more resilient than ever through self‐
organizing and social movements helping them along the path of social developments. It is indeed a retelling of
the two separate, good and different stories, about the two slums – Anjukudisai and Pallavan Nagar – Kargil
Vetri Nagar ‐ Tsunami Nagar ‐ which have seen different and tantalizing events. The focus is in fact on the
positive side of the negatively impacted communities where rebuilding resilience has not been easy, for
various reasons, but has indeed been accomplished by their own strengths to withstand, bear, and flourish
from, the brunt. In both, the social changes have been brought about by (a) initiatives from international
research collaboration (between Madras (India) and York (Canada) universities) (b) but primarily from their own
self organizing abilities and (c) social activism of good, different and effective variety. This paper does not so
much describe the methodology of the study but mostly the processes that have occurred in the two slums,
changing and transforming lives, providing different, even horrendous, lived experiences for the people of the
two slums. In short, the paper sketches the mirror that shows a myriad faces (or facets) and the times that
tantalized the communities.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
The context is thus slum life, lived experiences and building resilience in the face of adversity through
assistance from various sources: international NGOs (EXNORA International, Karunalaya, Soroptimist
International and others), universities (York‐Madras team), colleges (several city colleges and institutes), local
government, city government and public and private health organizations over the five years.
All through the horrifying experience, the two communities showed strength to advance forward, towards
sustainable and adaptive management of the bizarre situation, with help and assistance from the project team,
NGOs and CBOs and the student communities. This is an extraordinary story of an ordinary people, retold by a
participant observer (who was rarely so much involved as the others but lived the experience like no other).
The study spans a period of five years, in three distinct phases, (from the York/Madras collaborative research
on A participatory, adaptive ecosystem approach to Community Development and Governance to slum
settlements in Chennai 2002‐04) and however firms up the events of a follow‐up study (on Initiating community
based self organizing for environment and health in two Chennai slums 2004‐06) and now to the second follow‐
up of the same study (on An adaptive ecosystem approach to managing urban environments for human health
2007‐09) with outcome mapping as the principal methodology towards gauging perceived social‐ecological
changes since 2004, identifying persistent problems and to plan the future course of action for the people of
the two slums.
This paper also provides insights into the emerging local action processes which enabled a broader range of
players to participate in determining how the slum community self‐organized to show the slum people’s
capabilities in working together for their own betterment and governance of little that does matter for the
community. Drawing on the case study, the paper provides further insights into the problems and possibilities
that the slum communities face in their attempts to make the city an inclusive city that supports the
development of more integrative and inclusive forms of planning within contemporary Indian urban milieu.
And I write this from my own lived experiences and from work that I have done with slum communities of
Chennai, which are generally categorized as the poor and the marginalized. The discussion here is the essence
of understanding the slum communities provided me in my observations of what is happening in and around
them, flesh and blood, so to speak, for the last five years (2002‐07). In these years, I have heard more about
them from some very important people who constantly and consciously lived and worked among them than
that I have myself actually observed and strongly felt about them in my own inner spaces. And I have also
consciously sought and received information about the slum people, from those who have rendered essential
services necessary among them, but those services that were not available to them from the city government
nor accessible to them or affordable by the people of our concern. The profile I give here is not only true of
Chennai slums, but those that are elsewhere in most developing countries as well. This might even be true of
the slums of the cities in the developed countries, too.
THE CONTEXTS: SLUMS, TSUNAMI AND POST‐TSUNAMI
Anjukudisai is an inner urban slum, at a hazardous site on the bank of the much polluted Cooum river. It is
objectionable and demonstrates the impact of long‐term neglect of environment and health issues. The slum’s
256 households and nearly 1,400 people live in concrete cells and thatched huts. The slum lacks proper
drainage, latrines and sewage and soild waste collection. The York‐Madras team along with their collaborators
initiated settlement‐wide processes of collaboration and partnerships around environmental and health issues.
The teamwork has demonstrated the potential here for creating capacity to self‐organize for community
development. Before the arrival of the team, there was no history of integrated capacity building for self‐
governance and now progress has been made through the formation of the self‐help groups and linkages with
external agencies.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
Pallvan‐Kargil Vetri‐Tsunami Nagar (the name suggests that the slum community that existed in Pallavan
Nagar prior to December 26, 2004 was moved to Kargil Vetri Nagar in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean
tsunami and then to Tsunami Nagar (after fire and flood hazards that hit the people hard) was a community of
325 households or about 1,800 people who lived on the shore of the Bay of Bengal in North Chennai, near the
fishing harbour and within the Coastal Regulation Zone. This was an objectionable slum as well and, soon after
the tsunami, the Public Works Department of the Tamil Nadu Government moved in and fenced the area off,
moving people to Kargil Vetri Nagar for temporary settlement in March 2005. But soon after, there was a fire
which gutted the temporary shelters and then, when monsoon began, a flood. The people were again moved
to Tsunami Nagar, to temporary shelters. There were already people from other slums, similarly affected.
Tsunami was disastrous for the slum communities: whereas Anjukudisai was flooded and reported no deaths
but only loss of huts, Pallavan Nagar was entirely washed off with twelve people dead and all possessions lost
to the sea. For both, December 26, 2004 was a harrowing experience because the people have lost their
relatives, older people, women and children. Women became widows, men became widowers and children
became orphans for they had lost their both the parents or either parent. In some instances, according to
eyewitness, the waves picked people up and smashed them down, killing them instantly (Kumaran and Negi,
2006).
While people involved in tsunami rebuilding work were reluctant to criticize the government for its rebuilding
efforts, many were deeply disappointed that the political leaders and the NGOs had wasted precious
opportunity for rebuilding strong, well‐looked after communities, even as monies were available on hand for
doing so. It was vital for “civil society” to organize itself separately from local government (the District
administration) because they could represent victims and their families in their dealings with authorities.
In the city, according to official information, there were 13 communities affected and traumatized by the
December 2004 tsunami. The city authorities effected relocation and reintegration of communities into
temporary shelters. Within months of Tsunami, two tragedies occurred in quick succession: first, a fire accident
wiped out the temporary shelters and floods followed the fire with the incessant rains and floods in 2005. In
response, communities were relocated five times in all and three rounds of relief supplies were provided in all
in 2005: but the relocation and relief were tantalizing enough for many families for the provider government
authorities and NGOs made them feel hopeful and excited of the prospects and then disappointed them.
In the immediate months, education of the children was extensively hampered because the people were
thrown together into a fenced enclosure so to speak and there was no way to get the children to school. And
when help came, through an NGO transporting children to their schools, there were enormous delays in getting
everyone to his or her school for every school was in a different direction and at a different distance. And in the
temporary shelters, infrastructures such as sanitation and hygiene, water supply and drainage and
transportation were all poor. The displaced were deprived of their traditional livelihoods: increased hardships
for men and increased burden for women, due to distance to work sites. Men became restless and grew
intolerant of women and there was increase in violence against women and even child abuse owing to
domestic disputes owing to domestic disputes. Community integration suffered, promoting livelihood
opportunities floundered and people, with time tantalizing, became flurried.
Water, because the place was low‐lying, stagnated on the streets; vector and water‐borne infections were on
the rise. Children stayed away from school, causing a drop in enrolment and an increase in drop out rates as
well. Parents pushed their children hard to go for manual labour and bring food for the families and fetch
alcohol for the fathers. And mirrors really showed myriad faces and time – post‐tsunami – tantalized people for
long, even today.
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
The pain of trauma (Tsunami) cannot be shared through the medium of language. But it is through this very
intangible discourse of language that the voices get heard or unheard. And it (language) is the sole authority
that determines which voices have access to be heard and which not at all (Bulankulame, 2005:39). It is in
silence and secrecy that testimonies are produced. May be it is women’s voices, their wailing voices, that are
often heard and not their experiences of losing their men and little children in tsunami. And their pain is not
heard. Of course, silence marks particular kind of knowing and that silence is gendered (Ross, 2001). Silence is
also a legitimate discourse on pain. Men, women and children who bear pain prefer silence and, why on earth,
secrecy, too? It is there the possibility of violence of silence and secrecy today latching onto memories of
another time and another place.
MARGINALISATION OF SLUMS AND SLUM PEOPLE
Put yourself in a situation where the place you live in is, administratively, ‘objectionable’, according to the
dictates of the local government. It is objectionable that the city government, the Corporation, would deny you
access to basic services such as cleaning the streets of garbage and street lighting. It (the city government)
would keep threatening you, your family, and also your community, saying it would sooner destroy your hut
and raze the place down so that you will be without a home or residence. It would keep telling you that it
would devastate you and your people and your place anytime and keep you guessing as to when it would
relocate you, somewhere, and indeed nowhere, because you can’t have peaceful life there, can’t make your
living there, because you would have lost almost your very livelihoods, because it would be far away from the
place and milieu you are familiar with and people you are comfortable to live and work with because of the
social networks you would have developed.
In short, in your own place you are already an objectionable person, yourself, and you have any number of
things happening around you, making it impossible for you to forget the fact ‘you have indeed no place to go
except here and that this place is not somehow yours, and the local government or some officials of that
government machinery would be constantly nagging you and the community you live in to ‘get set and move
on’ for this is not your permanent home.’
And besides, you are poor and marginalized too. You have a family, with many children but no regular and
proper job. But you make money all right, in good measure, but lose it on vices too: gambling, alcohol and
what have you. And you live for today, for you don’t know what tomorrow has in store for you and you are not
even sure where you will be tomorrow – here or someplace else which is not your own and not your choice.
But yet, you have always lived in here since your birth, and some of your people have lived in as long as 60 or
70 years. In the years of your living here, the place has become bigger (too many people for your own liking,
both within your home and out of it), more congested and crowded (at the washrooms, at the water tap, at the
ration shops and almost everywhere), accommodating people who came from your own rural and urban roots
– the places you still go to because you have friends and relatives there.
But some of you have lost your roots – you know you have people there, but you don’t have contacts with
them, lost them and they have lost you, as well). Your roots have already become a ‘thing of the past’ of which
you remember so little and your memory is failing so much that you have just a ‘blur’ of an idea about your
roots. Your problem is you have stopped going there so long ago that you don’t feel you belong there anymore.
Your roots are here now, but you can’t hold it as your very own. It is your place and here is your milieu but
you’re definitely not the holder. Someone from the government keeps telling you that you don’t belong here
and you must someday vacate. But you don’t really know when and ‘to where’ from here, sooner or later (Box
1).
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
And the “margins”, the slums, are a dilemma of differences, in their cultural, social and spatial manifestations
and offer a challenge to current ways of thinking. But the ‘marginality’ is not so much identified as a site of
deprivation but much more as a site of radical possibility, a space of resistance and of course ‘giving voice’. I do
see my people on the edge, occupying the realistic margins and I firmly anchor them in their sense of place
(place essentialism) and engage them as communities flourishing ‘in place’, for only in place can they
encounter the possibility of past and future, of nearness and distance, of temporality and spatiality: only in
their complex unity of place, community engagement and culture become possible. It is here learning from the
“margins” becomes salutary (see Breman, 2007 for a contrasting account of life on the margins in Indian
villages).
Marginalized people – the poor and the oppressed – are those on the ‘edge of the world’, so to speak. They are
indeed our “margins” or edges of learning. And the ‘Margins’ are sometimes the elemental values of life:
that is, it is from them we fully understand our space and freedom, sun and clean air, the cold majesty of the
mountains and the loneliness of the plains, the gaiety of folk dance, and the easy friendliness of the people.
These are the “margins” around the (sometimes) fretful business of earning a living. These are what Thoreau
meant when he said, "I love a broad margin to my life". Who wouldn’t love such spaces and freedoms, such
friendliness and yearning for a living in the best of the worlds while being alive and kicking in the worst of the
worlds? I feel for them and feel their feelings for them.
DISADVANTAGE, POLARIZATION AND SEETHING ANGER
We live in a time of considerable change, which has placed new demands on local governments and raised a
number of questions about the ability of these institutions along with other levels of government to address
and resolve the problems that arise within contemporary communities. Traditional local governments are
being questioned about the ability of their existing expert‐driven and fragmented planning processes to resolve
the problems. This has triggered the emergence of local government planning processes aimed at supporting
more integrative and inclusive forms of planning that engage public, community and private sector players.
Disadvantage, I believe, is greatly concentrated in city slums and it has become a widespread characteristic of
most modern cities as well, across the world (see Prior, 2007b). In the face of this emerging disadvantage, I
have sought to understand the multidimensional nature of the problems facing the slum people in these
disadvantaged urban localities. My concern for the disadvantaged has been growing not only for understanding
the factors that cause these disadvantaged areas, but also the extent to which policies and initiatives could
help to combat the problem. I am particularly concerned with the seething anger amidst the people and their
well‐known dislike for personnel of the local city government, like the City Corporation. There was a time that
the Corporation Commissioner sought our help to introduce his employees to the slum community in
Anjukudisai because he feared that his workers would not be entertained by the community nor would they
tolerate their presence in the slum, for not rendering services for long because they had stayed away
neglecting services they should have provided to the community.
Without doubt, cities have undergone significant social, economic and demographic changes over the past few
decades. I understand that the socio‐economic advantages and disadvantages the city people experience today
are associated with the processes of globalisation, economic and technological restructuring across cities. They
are not evenly distributed, either. The social and spatial polarization of the Indian cities, as well as the growth
of areas of significant disadvantages, has occurred at the level of neighbourhood as a result of the restructuring
processes. Slums are characterised by high levels of disadvantage. Chennai city manifests such areas of
disadvantage throughout the city, with more than 2,000 notified slums and several hundred ‘objectionable’
slums. When compared to other Indian cities, the disadvantages in Chennai are perhaps less intense but more
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
vigorous, but the fact is that socio‐economic differences are highly localized, and even street‐by‐street in some
inner city and suburban neighbourhoods.
URBAN RENEWAL AND FOSTERING NICE PEOPLE
The one prominent characteristic of the Indian cities without exception is dilapidation. I have travelled the
length and the breadth of the country and have not found a single city or town or even village without
dilapidation. I have always wondered whether our urban areas could ever be renewed in the right sense of
renewal. The new National Urban Renewal Programme is probably a group of policy responses, developed to
address localized disadvantages. Renewal as a concept has taken on currency almost everywhere in the world,
including India (Randolph, 2004; Katz, 2004). ‘The ‘renewal program’ policy response continuum over the years
has seen a shift from wholesale or substantial asset disposal including demolition and redevelopment
predominately within areas of high public housing concentrations; asset or physical improvement strategies;
government approaches involving ‘place management’ with a focus on integrated service delivery by agencies,
community; social and economic development strategies aimed at building community cohesion, social capital,
employment and skills opportunities, and early intervention strategies’ (see Prior, 2007b). In Australia, for
example, renewal has turned out to be both ‘urban’ and ‘community’ renewal, the former referring to activities
such as the physical upgrading of properties and neighbourhoods and the latter denoting social and economic
community development activities (Prior, 2007b; Randolph, 2004).
A traditional approach of planners has been that physical upgrading promotes ‘a nice living environment that
fosters nice people,’ based on a belief in environmental determinism. Physical renewal has thus emerged as a
planning activity in the decades since the 1950s through the mass renewal of public housing based on
modernist inspired, formalist physical solutions to urban decay. Recent renewal has embraced new urbanism,
an orientation resembling much of the earlier planning approach aiming at using spatial relations to create a
close‐knit social community that allows diverse elements to interact: a variety of building types, mixed uses,
intermingling of housing for different income groups, and a strong privileging of the “public realm”.
I have doubts as to how the urban renewal programme may resolve the problems of urban disadvantages,
unless the people participate in them on a large scale, throughout the country, and with investments on
renewal of their own housing and other structures. It is possible that the renewal programmes may address
some of the symptoms of disadvantage, but certainly will not address the underlying causes, such as socio‐
economic marginalization of the people in the disadvantaged areas such as slums and lower and upper middle‐
income localities. The programmes may improve the place but only at a cost to the community. True initiatives
aimed at improving social and employment aspects of disadvantaged localities will become prominent within
the renewal programme. This will certainly usher in concepts such as social capital, social exclusion and
inclusion, as indeed these terms are already popular in respect of globalization and business process
outsourcing experiences in various cities, including Chennai.
However disadvantaged, an individual in a slum needs access to economic capital to provide sustenance and
self‐esteem. He or she also needs cultural, or informational, capital for appropriating valued cultural products.
Cultural capital is also related to having ‘roots’: the feeling of belonging to ‘the place you call home’. Social
capital consists of totality of resources an individual or group has access to by virtue of being networked in the
urban spaces through membership in a group or community. Of course, all different forms of capital are
integrated with each other. And the concept of capital in disadvantaged communities has attracted much
interest in India.
Awareness of capital has already led to some interesting policy developments aimed at increasing community
self‐help and capacity building through social networking. Self Help Groups of men and women in rural and
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
14 – 16 April 2010
University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
urban areas of India are a testimony for building economic, cultural and social capitals. Rural and urban
development policy makers have now adopted the term ‘exclusion’ to mean the multidimensional nature of
the problems facing the people of disadvantaged areas. According to Power and Wilson (2000: 1):
Social exclusion is about the inability of our society to keep all groups and individuals within reach of what we
expect as a society.
Social exclusion also encompasses economic and cultural exclusion. The concept is in effect related to poverty,
but makes sense only in the broader perspective of citizenship and integration into the social context.
Economic exclusion traditionally means such things as poverty, underclass and lack of economic resources
secured through employment while cultural exclusion is indeed a marginalization from shared symbols such as
ritual and discourse. The final aspect of exclusion is political exclusion, which relates to the lack of stake in
power or decision‐making. Exclusion is indeed a framework for policy action, for it focuses on the
interconnectedness of the problems of unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poverty, poor housing,
cultural fragmentation, limited access to participatory mechanisms and bad health.
There are new demands on local governments and there are also a number of questions about the ability of
the local institutions and other levels of government to address and resolve the problems within contemporary
urban, and slum and disadvantaged communities (Prior, 2007a). Looking at the way planning and development
has gone on in this country, there are critiques, who question the way the governments, that is, rural and
urban local governments, plan their communities. It is because the established planning processes are not
something we could be proud of, from the way they produce outcomes ‘on the ground’ (see Prior, 2007b).
Master planning for Chennai has not so far resulted in any improvements ‘on the ground’, say, in traffic
conditions in the city or in the solid wastes management or in green building concepts (Swahilya, 2007: 1).
It isn’t story time. It is indeed a serious time period in which the pro‐poor policies are emerging. And ‘there is a
ceaseless spatial negotiation which is considerate or cruel, conciliating or dominating, unthinking or calculated’,
to borrow the words of John Berger. Inside the homes of the poor, there is the kindly exchange,
accommodation, even psychological and physical sharing. But, outside of their homes, the space of choices is
limited. And in slums of Chennai, every choice is starker. The choices for women and girls are even more
starker than those for men and boys: men and boys are relatively better off (after all, a slum is a patriarchal
society) and absolutely worse off (because of the vices they are part of and given to, and the violence they
inflict on women and girls and, sometimes, on other men and boys too).
The little I know of the people of the slums lays bare the hypocrisy of men and larger society: women and girls,
and older people, face the darker side of life. They survive through silence, their mental strength supporting
them throughout. In adversity, they do nurse their aspirations – women aspire for a better life for their children
and children dream of a better for their mothers and grandparents – and survive the longing of their childhood
friends, upholding warmth in behaviours towards men and, despite everything, women do care for their
husbands, sons, fathers: their priority is their lives, not their own pleasures (see Gopalakrishnan, 2007: 5).
SENSE OF PLACE
‘Sense of place’ is a trendy phrase. In my profession, that is, geography teaching, place matters. The sense of
place therefore leaps readily to mind, becoming a thought substitute. Phrases sometimes become popular; for
they touch on things we need to wrestle with. The phrase "sense of place" has caught on because we live in an
age when authentic regional cultures that link people and places in a robust web of art and memory have
been neglected. We also live in a time that we feel we are losing contact with nature, with each other, and
maybe with reality itself. We can’t feel we really exist if we can’t find a real place. Isn’t that very true of the
dilemma of life in the slums for the lovely people living in flesh and blood there?
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4th International Congress of the Islamic World Geographers (ICIWG2010)
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
‘Sense of place’ is a hungering for a reality that satisfies. I suppose older folks, and their generations, had a
good sense of place, though they would not have thought about it as we do today, right now, not having
experienced the sense of placelessness, that is a curse of modernity. For me, and the people I am talking
about, sense of place matters, very profoundly, because their sense of placelessness is real. For they are there;
and of course they are not there. Amid the laments about their current troubles, however, it is helpful to
remember that Chennai has remade its cultures repeatedly.
I have no idea why people are who they are: greedy, divided, jealous and inactive. I don’t just understand
how they could be this impervious to what is good and not realize that in their own lives there is some good
purpose. But who am I to say what they should do and shouldn’t do? They have their own lives: they could hold
their lives intact just as well as I do. I do believe that they will realize sooner or later and they will turn a new
leaf. I think that we should do something about this poverty, hygiene, sanitation and health and of course our
children’s education.
‐ An Anjukudisai woman in her philosophical best.
Today, my sense of place is changing dramatically. Take someone else from Chennai. She spends an hour in
cyberspace, interacting with minds from all parts of the earth, chatting away. Where is she? But where is she,
exactly? Well, she is still in Chennai – but she is in a Chennai awakening to possibilities that didn’t exist a
decade ago. What about my slums – are these people in the midst of any awakening? The slum people are
awake to realities, possibilities and changes. But the changes they are looking for are both happening and are
not happening. As possibilities change, so too must their culture. And their culture is changing. The question is
simply: who will direct that change and for what purposes?
Humans by nature are culture‐creators and many of the psychic afflictions we feel are caused by delegating too
much of the creative work. We hanker to participate in creating the culture we inhabit (see Massey, 1994); and
have we created the culture of slums, deliberately?
A fully functioning community provides the experience of beauty for its people, say, in Chennai. But what kind
of experience, and what kind of beauty, do I experience in the Chennai slums? And what indeed are the
experiences of men, women and children of the slums? I am sure that they are all happy sometime at least in
their lives, with full of smiles when there are deep, open wounds in their hearts. It is often a situation that they
can’t openly speak of their aches or laugh out loud for the tendency is to hide troubles from others. That’s in
their culture too.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
To become active participants in culture, we need to do creative work, learning through discussions and
critiques to self‐organize, self‐monitor and self‐evaluate. I derive my creativity from life. Mainstream views of
creativity are set in certain norms. If you write, act, make films, sing and do a hundred different things which
others feel difficult to do, you are creative. But I think life is creative. Life in the slums is creative too. You need
creativity to jump onto a running bus, to hang onto a local train in Chennai, to cook sambar (curry for outsiders)
well. All protest is creative, too (K.P. Sasi, a documentary maker from Chennai, as told to Sengupta, 2007). To
make an impact, you have to protest in a creative manner.
So, what do we do, as a people and a community; and what do we see in such venues? We need an education
that prepares us to create a culture that provides the goods we most want. We want such a culture in place for
the slums. We need to ensure that catch words "community" and "cooperation" are more than just buzzwords.
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We need the community itself to be the subject of serious study through an education, centred in local
institutions that serve community purposes.
If you are to shape your own destiny, you indeed need an “engagement“ that would take you beyond all those
pre‐formulated experiences, shaped for you by others. You need to observe and take notes, making the first
drafts of culture. You need direct encounters with nature, with historic sites, and with people who do and have
done real work. You need to encourage “community engagement”, an engagement that takes your sense of
place seriously. And it is true that you have not yet found the best way to live in Chennai. But your culture is
still young and the future beckons, as vast and deep as you ‐ we ‐ dare to see.
And different people see different things and act at different levels. There are hundreds of ways that people
can help. I believe that people respond to stimulus. For example, a discussion is a process. You need several
processes like that. Community engagement is a way to consistently creating the space for such discussions.
Community infuses resistance to inequities – unfairness, injustice, discrimination, inequalities, biases,
disproportions and imbalances, yes, every negativity with creativity and does justice to the people (Harvey,
1973; 1992).
In the Indian storytelling tradition,
the secret of storytelling amongst the poor is the conviction that stories are told so that they may be listened to
elsewhere, where somebody, or perhaps a legion of people, know better than the storyteller or the story’s
protagonists, what life means (Berger, 2008: 5).
This story of the Chennai slums has the same intent. This story refers life to an alternative and the final judges
are the readers. May be, they are located in the future or in the past that is still attentive. The people of the
slum I am talking about know that the cruelties of life are its injustices and it is better to come to terms with
them or try and overcome them. The latter is the ‘best’ of the two.
Let me summarise what happened in the last few years in the Chennai slums I am writing about. Believe me
when I say that it wasn’t easy to get to them and to get accepted, in the first place. Everyone was suspicious,
and when you went with a white man, they thought that you were making money at their expense and out of
them and that the white man pays for bringing him to them and talking to them about their life and misery. For
them, you’re a seller of miseries, poverty and squalor. There was therefore an expectation in all of them when
speaking to you. They openly asked for part of that money you made from the white man. But before I go any
further, I should tell you something about the social movements that happened in the slums. If you are looking
for social movements of the type you are aware of, then you may be disappointed. But there are social
movements and they go on (and so read on).
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE SLUMS
Social movements are a group action. They are often large informal groupings of individuals and / or
organizations focused on specific social issues. Self‐help groups operational in the slums are social movements
in themselves, as well. Social movements, according to Charles Tilly (2004: 3), are a series of contentious
performances, displays and campaigns by which ordinary people make collective claims on target authorities.
They are the major vehicles for ordinary people’s participation, in public politics. The slums have a redressal
mechanism built in: for example, what slum people as an action group do is ‘to sit across roads’ to make a
demand on the Chennai Corporation until the Corporation supply water or redress any problem. The sit in
‘road roko’ or road blockade is what ‘sit across roads’ means.
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The elites of the government, officials and other groups think of the slum people as collective challenge to
their authority, because they work with a common purpose of getting something out of these impertinent
(officious, rude, arrogant) people and solidarity in sustained interactions with elites, opponents and authorities
(see Tarrow, 1994). They are political and apolitical at the same time but create a feeling among the elites and
authorities that they are a strong social movement. Their target is often the Corporation (for non‐provision of
health and sanitary services, for example), slum clearance board (for not bothering to improve the
environments of the slums) and metro‐water (for supplying inadequate quantities and low quality water or not
supplying any of it). But the fact of the matter is that, more often than not, the initiative is internal and there is
little external stimulus for any ‘bravado’ (foolhardy behaviour, in any case, for that’s generally the perception
of the public who know little about the slum people). The potential for the emergence of new type of social
movement is latent. The work of the project team has indeed been a dedicated social movement for changing
norms of the slum youth (involved in anti‐social activities, gang wars, gambling) – they turned out to be socially
conscious taking dramatically to sports – cricket and they love the game and are working in construction at the
airport – and advocating a set of ecological laws. The team has also been a deeply involved social movement
dedicated to changing value systems, helped by the numerous college girls and boys in their ‘live lab’ activities
(more of it later). International NGOs, individual NGO activists and just plain women have also been an
innovative movement trying to usher in particular norms and values (for example, a college youth
considerately assisting the slum youth to train in alternative livelihoods and secure jobs).
These social movements, in a sense, have been group‐focused, advocating changes in the socio‐economic
system and promoting participation in individual‐focused events and activities. All of them, colours and shades,
began as a reaction to squalor and anti‐change, with local scope because they have been based on local, slum
objectives. And they have the potential to die. They have a life cycle: they are created, they grow, they achieve
successes or failures and, eventually, they disappear or cease to exist.
ARRIVING AT THE TRUTH OF THE MAJORITY
Powers of Social Movements and Engagement: For a change and impact, let me use narrative mode. I believe
that, despite troubles, the slums work dynamically and actively, as narrative machines. The way it works is
instructive whereas the absence of the narrative capacity works a kind of violence (Latham, 1999: 165).
When you first went, no men really came to ask you for what you were there for. Only women came, with a
questioning look on their faces and the wrinkles on their foreheads making curious patterns, and children came
but were hiding behind women’s colourful clothes and wore shy smiles on their faces. When asked you said
your piece and told them you were there to talk to them about their health and how the polluted waters of the
Cooum caused problems for them and their children. But they seemed not interested and pestered you with
questions. More women and too many questions, you stayed for a while and left.
You went again and this time with your project team, quite a few of them and some women and still some
white people, two men and a woman. They were even more curious. But they listened to you this time and
some were even helpful with some answers. No man was in sight, except a few older people, minding their
own business. You asked several questions and got good answers. You told them that you wanted to see their
men and you were told that they would not meet with you. You insisted you wanted to see men and so they
took you to some men and they showed no interest except in some general way. It was getting close to 5.0 pm
and men were going away for drinks. Some got back while you were still there. You made a mental note of
never going there after 6.0 pm.
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As a woman, you want to be loved, you want to be accepted, you want to be a part of things, you want to be
touched that way, you know, the whole untouchability question. On the other hand, as a woman, you also need
your space; you want to delimit. One reason why I talk so much about caste is that it is a major problem for
women because in human relationships it puts up a system of hierarchy, of everyday violence, the same things
that are built into relationships with women. For a man, the woman is the Dalit in the house.
‐ Dalit poet Meena Kandasamy (in interview with Subash Jeyan, 2008)
You kept that promise for yourself and men were thankful for it. But they would not easily come to talk to you.
They left women and children to talk to you. There was always a pattern to your visits and people you spoke to,
in every one of your visits. It dawned on the team that the only better way to self‐organize slum people was to
approach women and youth and children, for they could be motivated, stimulated and made to listen to reason
– a reason that is entirely ours.
You went then a few days later, looking for youth and adolescents. You found some huddled together, smoking
and playing cards. Some distance away, a few were playing marbles and they were betting. They were gambling
for money and foul‐mouthing abusive language all the time while playing. You believed that Tamil is a rough
language and ruffians’. One of the team – a youth himself – talking to them found that they had love for sports
– cricket and caroms – and English. After several meetings, and cajoling, they showed real yearnings to leave
vices alone and return to normal life. It took a real lot of cajoling and advice from their mothers, sisters and
friends too to wean them away from the vices. You had to work within the available and accessible space for
compassion, and the resulting youth behaviour was indeed affable and affordable.
You did have moments of anxiety, not knowing which way they would turn: the hostile or the friendly, or the
in‐between, abusive but friendly. Women and children were a different matter. They became friendly, finding
your ideas and compassion for their well‐being good to listen to. They did listen to you, only after a long while,
tossed in the meantime by the words afloat about what you could do and how you might destroy their social
fabric. You were cautious, too, about getting too close and initiate everything yourself. You realized early on
that you had limited space for manoeuvre and even more of a limited space for compassion. You wanted the
manoeuvre and compassion to flow out of the people you were working with. But you found more and more
‘outsiders’ – NGO activists (EXNORA International was part of the team, primary stakeholders with you),
strategic partners, college students, social workers, personnel of the Corporate Hospitals, even individuals with
avid interest in social work, churches getting involved in your work and contributing their time and energy for
the people of the slums.
With collective effort, cooperation and sincerity, you were able to get the slum people to learn how to self‐
organize themselves and to think positively amidst the negativity (lack of enthusiasm, unconstructiveness,
unhelpfulness, pessimism and disapprovals) of spaces, places and people. Working with them, with a
commitment, involvement, compassion and genuineness, you found yourself in the midst of an emerging
alternative: you have reinvented local action to endure pain and to end the pain of your own people. The lesson
learned is that urban governance is better left to the local people. If they could do this – and travel thus far –
you must let them go the remaining miles. And, wealth is only a veneer. There should be compassion in your
mind to share your fellow humans’ sorrows and sufferings. The people you work for have shown enough grit
and tenacity to weave their own world with it.
In the years of social movements and community engagement, about five years, you were able to show that
the organizational efforts were distinctive in commitment to the direct involvement of slum people in
development processes. Various activities held in the slums identified few youths and women to voice their
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challenges, agonies, commitments and successes. CBO formation, awareness programmes, health camps,
youth sports, children’s club and skill training ‐ all have introduced opportunities for community’s self‐
organizing. In fact, the activities supported by the community were impressive throughout the five years. It was
however a slow process that some of them were only sustained beyond the introductory stages. The
emergence of active leaders amongst the youth and women were commendable.
Local actions became acceptable to the community with the summer camp for children in May 2006. You took
them out and some of their moms. You showed them what outside world looks like. You showed them a thing
or two in table manners, in public etiquette, in toilet behaviour. You took them to the planetarium and showed
them how the stars looked like from inside of the giant, moving dome. The children were wonderstruck. You
gave them eight hours of your time and showed just a thing or two. They were impressed. They were given a
glimpse of what the outside life looked like. You walked with them across the road to the Children’s Park and
showed them lovely animals in the Park. You took ugly children out and brought back lovely ones – all thirty of
them.
People hurt you because you are a woman…And it is only when you personally get hurt that you start looking
at what is happening to others. But, you will have to accept who you are and only if you are working from your
background, you’ll make sense…Your personal history is something which never goes away from you and if you
are honest, you have to talk about it. It is important to be honest.
– A woman who suffered at the hands of the privileged.
Children became friendly and realized the value of cleanliness. Not only were they clean since then, but they
also created awareness about the need for cleanliness in their homes and amidst men and women, and boys
and girls. The people were now prepared to involve themselves in community development and income
generation activities. The youth organized floodlight cricket tournaments, successfully, becoming runner‐up in
one of the sincerely fought competitions with the local cricket clubs of Chennai. Women on the other had
training in embroidery and were able to generate an impressive impact on the lifestyle of women of the slum.
The community acquired an increased belief and confidence in its capacity to influence future with growing
trust in each other. Cricket tournament and embroidery training were the two best examples with which youth
and women could share their experiences on sustainable self‐management. Children were not left behind,
either. You carried them along with you, all through. You showed them that you cared and they caught on with
why they should care for others as well. You helped begin a tuition centre, and the money for it came from
abroad. The NGO organised teachers and paid their salaries. Children began to learn the ways of the world.
Mothers saw a faint light in the tunnel for their children. They walked with the children to the tuition centre
and some stayed on at the door until the classes were ended. They brought the children home, listening to
their constant chat. In their bosoms, they bore a light for their future.
Several moons and months passed. The community had clearly shown an interruption of illumination. You
were able to show that each life had its own propensity for illumination and no two were the same.
Illumination arrived by way of tenderness and eagerness for self and community development. For you,
involved as you were in the thick of the activities, this illumination became a consolation of being recognized
and needed and embraced for being what one suddenly was. Other moments were illuminated by intuition,
despite everything, that the individuals of the community – youth and women and children and even some
men – served for something.
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Some drunken men did make trouble for you, because you had a street play showing alcoholism as bad. They
came drunk and shouted at women and children and even at you. But you brought more of the same and
brought music to the streets and movies to the hearts. Street‐smart kids became book‐smart kids. Men, who
never acknowledged your presence, began looking straight into your eyes. You saw for the first time that they
had gleaming eyes. Things were beginning to grow easy on your conscience and theirs as well. Some had broad
smiles, when you came into the narrow streets, and shook hands with you. Children joined in.
Health and Sanitation: In the last year, health and awareness really worked very well. The community warmly
accepted the incorporation of the action theatre and other activities that provided non‐traditional teaching.
You worked so well that several things happened at once. A washroom became possible by the munificent
grant from an individual. Although in the beginning there were problems of ‘who would use the washroom’
and ‘who would maintain it’, the problem was solved by women. Also there were demands for 2 more
washrooms and the women were looking for private funds for building them. All women of the slums got
together one fine morning, after breakfast, and decided on the locations for them. They had also decided
about cleaning and building a roof over the bathroom on the road. The local Councillor, a lady of the slum, for
her part, got the Corporation people to clean the bathroom and the toilets for women and children.
Women were trained to repair the hand pumps if they failed. Women took turns to hold the responsibility of
safeguarding the handle from being burgled. Women took the handle away to their homes for safe keeping
once the community collected the water for the day. They took turn in repairing the hand pumps when
required. Women took to cleaning the streets and maintaining order of a sort for the whole community. You,
for your part, took upon yourself to take the youth group as well as active community participants from the
slum to another slum where cleanliness had made a difference to the lives of the people. This way the people
could visually appreciate that there was a possibility of change for the better. You showed them that there
were few areas in Chennai, which could be called ‘clean slums’, and those places could be models for the
people here.
The community changed drastically in their behaviour. You helped them grow with ideas for cleaning. You saw
that the garbage used to be thrown in the Cooum was dumped in the bins given out and you also taught them
how to separate them and not throw by the river to have better hygiene and so the slum was now cleaner. But
there was always more to do and you were always at hand for giving people help and advice. It was your effort
(July 2007) that brought on the consensus that the community had taken the responsibility to the bathrooms
and the toilets and men and women promised to take turn to clean it. A crucial decision was also taken by
them to contribute rupees ten to a family of users for the upkeep of the bathrooms and toilets.
In the last four years, there were at least as many health camps, organized by the charitable and service
organizations of the city. Every time, doctors and nurses and assistants came in good numbers to deliver
diagnostic and prescriptive / curative services. They brought free medicines as well for distribution. Women,
men and children were given health check‐ups and given medicines for cure. Follow‐ups were held. Most
people received benefits. In one of the camps, for children, it became clear that 5 children had heart problems
and they needed immediate medical care, which was expensive. An 8‐year old boy was diagnosed with a hole
in the heart and a 2‐year old girl was diagnosed heart problems from the age of 9 months.
The NGOs (the EXNORA and the Soroptimist International) helped organize a health visit by the Corporate
Apollo Hospitals (10 doctors, 8 nurses and assistants and 5 helpers) with serviceable tools for screening and
testing. You were at the desk, distributing tokens to the children (some 323 of them). All the children were
given ID cards by the Apollo staff; and the teacher (of the tuition centre) and some youths of the slum
controlled the queue. The staff of the Soroptomist International introduced the children to the doctors. After
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diagnosis, the children were issued with medicines. Again, the children with the heart problems were
diagnosed thoroughly and were advised surgery. The EXNORA staff arranged for them to meet the specialist
doctor at the Apollo. Finally heart surgeries were performed on the children and the slum youth gave blood.
Everybody turned over a new leaf. A good turn brings only good turns. And the Apollo Hospitals adopted the
slum, and the children, for continuously resolving health issues. The doctors performed two heart surgeries on
children of the slum, all for free.
An Italian researcher set up a mosquito surveillance system for research on vector‐borne diseases, identifying
mosquito breeding patterns such that eventually it could play a stellar role in determining the right kind of
vaccination and immunization that could be recommended. Alcoholic Anonymous organized a discussion on
alcoholism with the community and the people ended up discussing about the numerous accidents that
occurred due to drinking. In another roundtable, discussion turned to early marriages of girls of 14‐17 years,
with the families concerned about the burden of having a girl child at home. The discussion went from
marriage to garbage disposal and the women told the NGOs present that they needed dustbins at common
points. A movie actor’s fan club in the slum came forward to do something about the provision. Health and
medical care were most in their minds and also children’s health. The Corporation entomologist offered picture
cards, posters and pamphlets on vector menace and getting them driven from the slum.
Education: The tuition centre was not the most suitable for a learning environment, rather due to long
standing issues with other possible locations such as the church and the park. The Soroptimist International
paid the teachers of the tuition centre. On the inauguration day of the tuition classes, 43 children enrolled. In a
week’s time, 24 children were attending the tuition classes regularly. Many children, who were then sitting at
homes, working for wages, or babysitting for their mothers, housekeeping, loading fish onto carts, began going
to school. When difficulty arose with the tuition centre, a woman offered her house for tuitions but it was too
small and could accommodate only 15‐20 children. The information board in the slum became training site for
the children at tuitions classes.
One fine day, someone got the bright idea that the children could plant trees. Twenty‐three trees were planted
(September 2007). There was a time when women quarrelled they showed their anger on the three trees that
were there, instead on each other. They spat at them and cursed them. All that was over and with the trees
children planted the quarrels stopped too. Children in their private dialogues began talking about a garden. The
people began to attend to their little home gardens, and children reseeded them, keeping their books on hand.
The slum became a leaning community, children documenting and reviving relevant home practices, men and
women creating sustainable livelihoods and everyone, in a spirit of collaboration, strengthening local
governance and civil society.
The slum is generating (January 2008) a broad empirical foundation, one of use to governments and other
institutions in assessing policy and learning lessons from social education. Children are a durable link between
the community, researchers and government and they are enacting their own sustainability goals. And there is
this secular NGO that works in a slum adjacent to ours, setting up a crèche and tuition centre that the children
of the slum could use and benefit from. The tuition centre has 140 children, including some from the slum and
runs a school for children who do not go to school during the day and the tuitions in the evenings. I wouldn’t
know why you chose to keep this information from me but I do know that this NGO has enough on its hands to
so much bother about the children of the slum. But you have your own tuition centre, although you have
problems with it. You will overcome the difficulties in the short run because you can’t run a thing with
problems all the time.
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Community Development: You made sure that the best thing to happen to the people was to meet once in a
while and discuss the problems to arrive at solutions. You made sure people came to the meeting as well. Of
course, there were women who helped, immensely, by going round and calling people just before the meeting.
Some would not come to the meeting at all and would give excuses but this woman would go looking for them
and bring them to the table. You put up then an information board, in a prominent place for people to write
important information for others to see and abide. You helped them do it. It was actually at an inconvenient
location and the youth were not passing through that location. So, you had it moved to an accessible location
so that most youth and the community members would use it. And they did: everybody did, in time.
There was a time the two segments of the slum (the east and the west) would not walk into each other’s living
areas. There was an unseen line of division. The east would not cross to the west and the west to the east. That
has now changed with children and youth walking to each other and often singing and playing together. One
day, not long ago, you walked over to the invisible line and called out to a child to sing. He sang for you and for
all men. Women came along and children too. They all began to sing, together and then each in turn. Someone
in the gathering crowd began to laugh, to himself first, and then to others. It caught on. And many laughs later,
you went away only to return to the song you sang that day.
Then on another day, the YWCA people came, in the evening. They gathered 30 children around them and
asked the children to come forward and sing songs of their choice. Children did come forward and sang songs.
Older people joined in and these people made everyone happy. There was a puppet show, with moppets, on
child education and labour. There was a street play on issues of alcoholism. At the end of it all, they discussed
about training for women and young girls, for self‐reliance and economic independence. The volunteers from a
city college promised to chip in with the YWCA to help the community. There was of course a little disturbance:
some men who had been drinking walked past the street carnival and protested that the community was being
told negatively about alcohol.
There was a man who heard the song and came to help. He set up a small community centre with funds from a
Christian organization so that you could all go to this new centre. You could use it as a crèche and double it as a
tuition centre. The elders of the slum could go to as well to mingle and pray during the day. There are indeed
good Samaritans in all of us. You see, there is street lamp just outside the new community centre. It is the end
of the lane where Karpagam lives. She is a good soul, dreams for her community and works to translate that
dream of hers for others. The slum’s got 9 lamps, an impending issue brought to a close. The motive was an
upcoming election, somebody from the slum running for office again.
The good news was six youths were employed on a permanent basis (February 2007) for construction work at
the airport (they are expanding and building a new airport). The community was happy about the employment.
There are college boys and girls, volunteers in the mission possible. They work on ‘Live Labs’ – learning to
initiate and visualize liaison action to benefit society is what they call it. They have organized rallies, seminars
and street plays to sensitise the slum people on social causes. They have come up with a 10‐day plan of action
for the slum: Live lab action plan, with areas of intervention such as child marriage, school dropout,
alcoholism, gambling, prostitution and lack of cleanliness through street plays, sports, essay competition for
the kids, drawing competition and also one‐to‐one intervention. The outsiders are keeping the momentum
going and their initiatives are sustainable as the shift of responsibility to the people keeps succeeding.
RESILIENCE OF THE CITY SLUMS AND PEOPLE
Where vulnerability exists in myriad forms, resilience takes as many forms. Resilience is a component of
vulnerability (Gardner and Dekens, 2007:319) and qualities of a community that reduce vulnerability are
indicative of resilience. Resilient socio‐ecological systems are those that enable livelihood sustainability in the
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face of adversity (change) through self‐organization (Berkes et al., 2003). In Anjukudisai, people have shown
vibrant leadership (women and youth), shared goals and values (mostly women), established institutions
(women and youth) and organisations (Youth Association of Anjukudisai – YAAK, for example), positive socio‐
economic trends (recent employment of youth and women’s livelihood changes), constructive external
partnerships and linkages (with York‐Madras project team, NGOs, Apollo hospitals) and the availability and use
of resources and skills (again women and youth to a large extent and men to a certain extent), the
characteristics that enhance resilience.
Even more than Anjukudisai people, the Tsunami Nagar people have shown remarkable resilience in their post‐
tsunami recovery and rehabilitation. Their ordeal from Kargil Vetri Nagar to Tsunami Nagar is recounted in
Kumaran and Negi (2006). Let us see how it happened, but briefly. In Tsunami Nagar, in my own and the
borrowed words of John Berger (2008), the poor lived with the wind, with the dampness, flying dust, silence,
unbearable noise, sometimes both, with ants, with large animals, with smells coming from the earth, rat,
smoke, rain, vibrations from elsewhere, from the island of Java, rumours, nightfall, threats from the officials
and the government, and the gangs across the rail lines, and with each other, the project team, the NGOs, the
college students and the gods of small things.
A flood and a fire drove the government agencies to have them moved to Tsunami Nagar and to NGO built
temporary shelters.
Initially we all decided that we would stay put in Pallavan Nagar because we would not be happy anywhere
else. Besides it would be easier to carry on with our livelihoods from Pallavan Nagar because it was close to the
sea. But the government people would not let us live there and forced us to move out of the place. As we
moved, the Public Works Department moved in, for the land we were living in was theirs, bull‐dozed the place
and fenced the area. There was no other choice for us but to go to Kargil Vetri Nagar and into the temporary
shelters.
‐ a woman from Pallavan Nagar in January 2005
In Tsunami Nagar, very aptly named, the flow of time was terribly turbulent. Then came the rains and the
Tsunami Nagar was flooded because it was low‐lying and the temporary shelters proved inadequate on all
counts. Dirt from heavily used toilets flowed along the streets the people were wading through for work. To cut
the story short, there was widespread suffering and displeasure for longer than two years. Their protests and
requests yielded results and the temporary shelters were given new roofs. The shelters provided security and
safety from inclement weather.
A Pallavan Nagar‐Tsunami Nagar fisherman living in Tsunami Nagar had this to say (June 2006):
The house has to please everyone living in it. The house has to serve comfort. In the slum we were before, we
had houses of real comfort, even if those houses were not anything big, not anything as comfortable as the
houses you people live in. They were comfortable in their own ways. After all, it is we who could make the place
we live in comfortable. They were pleasing to all of us, our families and our women and children.
The temporary shelters but had no character.
They are at best temporary and we doubt they would ever stay in our memory once we leave here for some
place else and some other houses.
And there was a risk that temporary housing could undermine permanent housing solutions. An elderly woman
who participated in the appraisals had this to say:
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It is no more the community that existed in Pallavan Nagar. It is shattered, broken, torn asunder by the black
waves. Everyone has his or her grief that cannot be wiped completely away that individuals find it difficult to
connect, even after all these months, to the other grieving persons because their grief is perceived more deeply
than others’. Some people have become insulated in themselves that they would not open out to others easily.
The rupture is deep and irreversible. The grief is deep and not containable. The fear is omnipresent, in
everyone’s eyes and heart.
And did we not say sometime ago that the worst cruelties of life were its killing injustices? The worst thing that
happened here (in Tsunami Nagar) was that all promises were broken. The people’s acceptance of adversity
was neither passive nor resigned. It was an acceptance, which peered behind the adversity and discovered
something nameless: a parenthesis in the otherwise remorseless flow of history.
And while the entire city lived in the comfort of homes, the poor here were longing for the warmth and for the
plants to grow to give shades of comfort and happiness. They felt as if they were alone in the world and they
wanted to listen to music, to hold hands with other people. And they wished that their space of compassion
were not so much emptiness. The turbulence made lifetimes shorter. Duration was brief and nothing lasted.
This was as much a prayer as a lament.
And the relief and rehabilitation people played out dirty games. They told that all would get permanent homes
this moment and in the next scams were current and intrigue, ruse and trickery were played out, by the
officials and, in connivance with them, by their own people (NGOs). Women were living on top of one another;
and any action taken by them had repercussions on the others. They cried because men used them unawares
and caused immediate physical repercussions. Every child learned this. There was ceaseless negotiation, which
was cruel, calculated to cause physical accommodation with strangers. Inside of the walls, there were
nightmares. The word happiness had a totally different ring on the two sides of the walls: one side it denoted
horrifying death and on the other a chance to die twice. And dying got you nowhere.
And in the end, all but 35 families got their new, permanent shelters (December 2007) in VOC Nagar and
Thilagar Nagar. Here, the future was a unique gift of desire, and personal and physical loss. When they finished
moving, the slum people threw their arms around each other. They wanted to be happy right away: but they
were deprived of electricity and water for a month or more. There was greater rupture in here now than was
during tsunami. The questions were not yet asked because to do so required words and courage. Both failed
when needed most. Time was the only healer and the ruptured society found an anchor in the rehabilitation
locations and in the new spaces that eventually provided them with ‘permanent homes’.
And the VOC Nagar and Thilagar Nagar people are now engaged in making the homes their residences, a dream
come true with such hardship that I don’t feel I am adequate enough to describe. At the moment, I am
illuminated by an intuition that the poor serves for something. On this earth, there is no happiness without a
longing for justice. Happiness is not something pursued; it is something met, an encounter. While most
encounters have a sequel, the encounter with happiness has no sequel. Why wouldn’t somebody tell me that
happiness is what pierces grief? And resilience is the only way that grief can be broken to arrive at the truth of
the poor and the marginalized, the majority on this planet of ours, social movements or no social movements.
CONCLUSIONS
In sum, and in my understanding of the narrative, you have in keeping with the understanding of the
perceptions of the community about their most pressing needs, not to forget their own meaningful
contribution to their own development and governance through capacity building and using external resources
in the best way they could, moved towards sustainable and adaptive management of your community. From
what I gather, you have achieved a qualitative, quantitative and participatory process of community
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University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran
development, which has subjective meanings for you and your community: your men, women and children.
You have decentralized local development and poverty reduction efforts, reinvented local action planning for
good slum governance using participatory planning and management tools, beginning to provide impetus for
participatory management from your neighbourhood to the city and facilitating pro‐poor urban governance. Of
course, as Jawaharlal Nehru said, ‘you have miles to go’ before fully develop, enjoy and cherish the fruits of
community development. I know you wouldn’t sleep until you have a safer and secure future for you and your
people. You have a dream and you want it nourished with the work of your own people with support from the
outsiders who would always remain outsiders but catalyse and stimulate, motivate and achieve for you what
you want for yourself and your community.
You do know by now that good urban governance can be enhanced through consultation mechanisms, and a
wide range of complementary tools and instruments you could lay hands on from the people you are already in
contact and consultation with. Of course, the relation between local communities, NGOs and local leaders is
not always smooth. There are often overlaps in tasks. Conflicts and tensions are common and there is a
problem of representation of some groups. But social representation is vital for democratisation. The
representation issue is much more complex nowadays as you are more diversified and the social fabric is even
more complex and dense, which make it more difficult to focus. You realize that access to information is
important for governance, but you lack in opportunities for information. Your slum profiling (focusing on
environmental, safety and poverty) provides an occasion to bring actors together to validate your information.
Your people are sometimes afraid of participating with institutions that they do not know. There is need to sit
together, to encourage mutual knowledge and to build confidence. After all, the process of participation is for a
common vision, reinforcing your social fabric. However, participatory planning is not easy and takes a lot of
time. Manipulation of situations is sometimes an intrinsic and at others a bother. But you have to carry on;
carry on you must, yourself and the people with you to a bright future, sustainable for you and the children.
And outside the walls, as Berger (2008) says, collaboration is as natural as fighting: scams are current, and
intrigue, which depends upon taking a distance, is rare. The space choices beckon: stark realities have one
hundred and fifty different shades. The choice is close‐up, between you and the outsiders. And the sum of the
choices is the slums’ destiny.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
I am thankful to a number of people who have made this paper possible. I am greatly indebted to Canadian
researchers from York University, Martin Bunch, Beth Franklin and David Beth. I am equally indebted to
numerous students and interns, notably Asha and Jamil, the field team, Gunaselvam Radhakrishnan, Jayapaul,
EXNORA International people, and other NGOs, the students of Madras School of Social Work, Madras Christian
College and Vaishanava College and the very lovely people of Anjukudisai and VOC Nagar‐Thilagar Nagar. The
women, men, youth and children of the slums of Chennai deserve thanks and praise for their contribution to
this paper. But without the munificent grants of the funding agencies – NSHRC, CFLI, IDRC, SICI, CIDA and CARE
– the research would not have been possible. I thank all of them, profusely, for their continued support.
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LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS
Titles for Photographs
Photo 01: Tsunami‐hit arrive at Kargil Vetri Nagar
Photo 02: Temporary shelters of Kargil Vetri Nagar
Photo 03: Allotment of semi‐permanent shelter to a family in January 2005
Photo 04: Fire accident at Kargil Vetri Nagar
Photo 05: Temporary shelters at Tsunami Nagar
Photo 06: Children’s education center at Tsunami Nagar
Photo 07: Insanitary water point in Tsunami Nagar
Photo 08: Monsoon floods in Tsunami Nagar
Photo 09: Fishing boats given to Tsunami Nagar people
Photo 10: Families in Tsunami Nagar awaiting allotment of permanent shelters
Photo 11: Tsunami Nagar in October 2007, almost abandoned October 2007
Photo 12: High rise permanent shelters allotted to Tsunami‐hit at VOC Nagar
Photo 13: Proud owner of a permanent shelter unit at VOC Nagar
Photo 14: Layout of Thilagar Nagar permanent shelters
Photo 15: Has the living environment changed for the better or worse?
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