Environmental situational overview - 8 January 2014
CAR Situational Overview:
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There is massive scale displacement caused by conflict that has recently escalated exponentially: There are now 935,000 IDPs in Central African Republic (compared to 80,000 one year ago) of whom 512,000 are in Bangui - a 40% increase between 24-31 December 20131 .
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The key drivers of the crisis are conflict and displacement, causing persistent high food insecurity and impact on livelihoods
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The largest need, reflected in the most recent OCHA Situation Report 6 of 7/1/14, is around food security and livelihoods and these have strong links to environment.
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There was a lack of good quality data even before the recent escalation of the crisis, but there are many elements of environmental concern that strongly interconnect with both issues of food security and water and sanitation. There is need for more detailed analysis.
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The most significant environmental problems in CAR are desertification, water pollution, and the destruction of the nation's wildlife due to poaching and mismanagement. The encroachment of the desert on the CAR's agricultural and forestlands is due to deforestation and soil erosion. All of these threaten to be exacerbated by the recent crisis.