Monday, December 12, 2011

What dwindling camel herds mean for the world

Our insatiable appetite for camels is taking its toll. The population of the humpy beast in the Middle East is rapidly declining, threatening herds around the world.

The problem: According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the stock of meat-producing camels in Saudi Arabia, slaughtered yearly for the hajj pilgrimage, has decreased 39 per cent, from 426,000 in 1997 to 260,000 today.

The story is the same in Pakistan, where numbers are dropping because of camel racing, a popular pastime. It’s believed the camel population dropped 20 per cent between 1994 and 2004 in Asia.

Consider the camel in Somalia, where it is a source of food (both meat and milk), trade and transportation. Millions of them — an estimated 50 per cent of the country’s total population — have died from the famine; yet another reason for their declining numbers.

Meanwhile, Australia has for years been culling its camels — a cruel consequence of globalization. They were introduced to the arid outback in the 18th century by British settlers but without any natural predators or diseases, they have become an invasive species. Today, there are an estimated 1.2 million feral camels living Down Under and the population is expected to reach 2 million next year.

In fact, Australia’s parliamentary secretary proposed a plan this summer that would see accredited marksmen shoot the camels for carbon credits. Apparently, the animals emit an infernal amount of methane and have been identified a contributor of climate change.

Australia has also become a supplier of camels, selling them Saudi Arabia for meat.

The impact: For some, disappearing camels are a desert version of the canary in the coal mine. As one Somali herder said to the BBC: “When they start to die, then what chance have sheep, goats and cattle?” He might have added humans. To date, some 80,000 Somalis have died from hunger and thirst because of the famine.

The hope: Some parts of Somalia continue to enjoy high camel stocks. After a livestock ban was lifted, Somali herders supplied some $250 million worth of animals to Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage last month.

Provided Somalis can work around burdensome rules imposed by the Al Qaeda-linked Shabab militia, an organization that controls large parts of the country, Saudi Arabia plans to double its imports of livestock from the country by 2013.

Somalia could also invest more money into its burgeoning camel dairy industry. Currently, the country has a competitive advantage — it’s the world’s largest distributor, supplying 850,000 tons of camel milk a year — and a bigger market could be developed. (Camel’s milk is reportedly saltier than that of a cow and much richer in vitamin C and B, iron, and unsaturated fatty acids.)

Source: The Star

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