Nature vs policy

Drought and famine in the northeast of Brazil, 1877-79

Bibliographic Data

ID22014785
AuthorsJames Augusto Pires Tibúrcio (0000-0002-1300-6888, Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume12
Issue3
Pages153-166
Publication date2021-12-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSustainability in Debate (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2177-7675 • E-ISSN: 2179-9067
PublisherEditora de Livros IABS (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.18472/sustdeb.v12n3.2021.40293
OpenAlexW4205566632
LanguageEN
References cited14

Droughts followed by famines were common in Brazil, mainly in Northeast Brazil, until the 1980s and were frequently devastating, destroying livelihoods. A succession of droughts resulted in harvest failure, triggering famines in some cases. Famine-like conditions prevailed mainly in the 1877-79 Grande Seca (Great Drought), in which many died of malnutrition-related causes. In subsequent droughts, famine-like conditions reoccurred, but the extent of starvation-induced deaths declined to almost zero. Do only available political theories and known natural and socio-political factors, such as climate, topography, and market viability, provide sufficient data to investigate the causes of the drought of 1877-1879? The author concludes that there is little or no research, accumulated knowledge and information on the possible factors that satisfactorily explain why the drought and famine episodes were so impactful in that period

Agriculture · Biology · Climate change · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Famine · Geography · Livelihood · Malnutrition · Political science · Politics · Socioeconomics · Starvation · Rural Development and Agriculture · Ecology