Ade Adepitan visits Queensland, Australia, where drought has had a devastating effect on the landscape and local communities.
ADE: Hi, I鈥檓 Ade and I鈥檓 in Queensland, Australia. This part of the country has been going through a drought for a long time and it鈥檚 having a devastating effect on the landscape.
NEWS: Severe drought resulted in the past three months being the driest on record. That left the largest ever area of Australia, nearly 60%, at risk of fire.
ADE: I was visiting when around a third of this huge country was in drought.
NEWS: 2019 was Australia鈥檚 hottest and driest year on record and is likely to stretch water resources even further.
ADE: This place should be surrounded by acres of lush, green grassland. It鈥檚 a sheep farm and belongs to Geoff Elliot.
GEOFF: Hello.
ADE: How are you, mate?
GEOFF: I鈥檓 not too bad. Little bit of rain wouldn鈥檛 go astray.
ADE: Good to meet you, mate.
GEOFF: Likewise.
ADE: I hear you鈥檝e got loads of sheep, can we have a look at them?
GEOFF: I鈥檓 just about to, on my way now to feed them. So why don鈥檛 we jump on board and鈥
ADE: Let鈥檚 do this.
Geoff would normally have up to 8,000 sheep, but with hardly any rain, he could only afford to keep 1,000.
GEOFF: We should be driving through grass where that timber ahead of us, you wouldn鈥檛 see it. That鈥檚 all buried in, all disappears under grass.
ADE: I can鈥檛 even imagine this under grass, it just looks like a rocky desert.
GEOFF: That鈥檚 right.
ADE: And they鈥檝e got nothing to eat? I mean the ground looks absolutely barren.
GEOFF: No, so what they鈥檙e eating is what I鈥檝e got on the back of the ute.
ADE: As there was no grass, Geoff was spending 拢400 a week on corn.
ADE: Here they come, the sheep!
GEOFF: Yeah, they know what鈥檚 going on.
ADE: Tucker time!
GEOFF: So if you notice the dam there, that鈥檚 their water supply.
ADE: That there?
GEOFF: That there.
ADE: That鈥檚 just like a little puddle.
GEOFF: That鈥檚 their water supply.
ADE: How can they survive on that?
GEOFF: Well they can鈥檛. This hasn鈥檛 just happened this year or last year, it鈥檚 been going on for鈥 since about five years. But at the moment, this has gone beyond a drought, this is鈥 this is a disaster. This is the worst that man has experienced in this country.
ADE: Even for someone like Geoff, who鈥檚 toughed it out here for decades, farming this land is becoming too much.
Let鈥檚 get out. Let鈥檚 get amongst the sheep.
GEOFF: There鈥檚 definitely something happening in the climate. I mean, we can鈥檛鈥 that can鈥檛 be denied. We don鈥檛 get the rainfall. We don鈥檛 get the spring rain that we used to get a number of years ago. It鈥檚鈥 it鈥檚 very, very obvious that there鈥檚 change happening.
ADE: What鈥檚 it doing to your land?
GEOFF: Well, it鈥檚 slowly destroying it.
ADE: I mean this looks pretty tough.
GEOFF: Yep, it is tough. Yep, sorry about that.
ADE: No, that鈥檚 OK. That鈥檚 okay mate. That鈥檚 okay. Just take your time.
GEOFF: We want rain. It鈥檚 as simple as that.
ADE: Come on in guys! Grub鈥檚 up!
GEOFF: We will survive here. But I have neighbours that won鈥檛. I鈥
ADE: I鈥檓 sorry, mate.
GEOFF: It鈥檚 serious. I fear for their 鈥 for their health and their safety. I think that this is a natural disaster, people are dying because of this, silently, unfortunately.
ADE: Australia is a rich, prosperous country. But it seemed to be struggling to cope with how hard it was being hit by climate change.
Video summary
Ade Adepitan visits Queensland, where drought has had a devastating effect on the landscape.
Australia is a rich, prosperous country but it has suffered from drought for several years. In 2019, Australia鈥檚 hottest and driest year on record, nearly 60% of the country was at risk of fire. Ade meets sheep farmer Geoff Elliot, who would normally have up to 8,000 sheep, but with hardly any rain, he could only afford to keep 1,000.
This clip is from the 大象传媒 Two series Climate change: Ade on the frontline.
Teacher Notes
Before watching the film
You may wish to use this film clip to deepen understanding of the impacts of climate change on people and their environment, in which case it would be helpful to have done some work already in this area and for students to know about the factors that cause drought and bushfires.
Alternatively, this film might be used to stimulate enquiry questions about drought and bushfires and find out more about where they happen, why they happen and how they impact on people鈥檚 lives.
During the film
You may wish to stop at relevant points during this short film to pose questions and check understanding or wait until the end. Useful questions might include:
- What do we mean by 鈥榙rought鈥?
- What are the factors involved?
- What are the long-term impacts of drought?
You may want students to take on an empathic approach by understanding the situation better from the farmer鈥檚 point of view. For example, the farmer being interviewed says:
鈥淭his has gone beyond a drought. This is a disaster鈥
- What do you think he means?
- How serious is this problem and what is the worst that might happen?
- How is the farmer feeling when he talks about this disaster?
You might discuss the seriousness of this issue with the devastating figures such as 鈥60% of the entire country being at risk of fire鈥 and considering the recent records of extreme weather. The farmer calls this drought a 鈥榮ilent killer鈥. What do you think he means?Are students surprised that this devastating drought happened / is happening in a rich country?
Following on from the film
Establish locational context. Use maps to locate the state of Queensland, Australia and identify areas historically most affected by drought. You might annotate maps with relevant data from meteorological and news reports to help 鈥榯ell the story鈥 about drought and its impacts.
Establish what a drought is and how climate hazards like this are influenced by human -induced climate change. Identify other factors that may be involved 鈥 for example, older students may be making links between droughts and El Ni帽o events.
KS3 students might watch the film again but this time look out for and collect numerical statistics given in the film and, working in pairs, perhaps use this to create an infographic alongside a map that explains some of the key features and impacts of this drought. Further research could be used to develop this.
You could ask students to identify the impacts of this climatic hazard in terms of economic, environmental, and social aspects and examine how they are linked. When enquiring about economic aspects, students could consider not just the financial decline for farmers but for other people looped into the supply chain. What are the impacts on other workers and on job security? How does this influence the price and availability of food for consumers?
In considering environmental impacts, students could consider the health of the soil and loss of biodiversity. When considering social impacts, students could explain how climatic hazards such as this can harm people鈥檚 well-being in hidden ways as well as ways that can be measured: mental health and physical health can both be affected by the trauma of drought. This enquiry could be developed into a case study about the impact of climate change in a higher income country.
You could ask students what advice they might offer, following their research, as to how mitigation and adaptation might feature in a response to this hazard?
This short film is suitable for teaching KS3 and KS4 students. It can be used alongside the other Ade Adepitan films about climate change or watched on its own. All the films build on students鈥 understanding of climate change issues and enable them to make global connections.
This film supports the KS3 geography curriculum by investigating our changing climate and how human and physical processes interact to influence and change landscapes and environments.
At KS4, the film supports understanding about the impacts of rapid climate change on environments and people鈥檚 lives. The film develops understanding about the economic, social and environmental consequences of climatic hazards (AQA) for example and changes caused to the natural environment. It also raises questions about land use and water scarcity.
This clip could be used to support the delivery of geography to KS3 and KS4 students. Specifically, this topic appears in OCR, Edexcel, AQA, WJEC KS4/GCSE in England and Wales, CCEA GCSE in Northern Ireland and SQA National 4/5 in Scotland.
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Ade Adepitan travels to the Solomon Islands to see the dramatic effect rising sea levels are having on local communities.
Kelp reforestation in Tasmania. video
Ade Adepitan travels to Tasmania to find out about the work being done to protect the carbon-capturing underwater kelp forests.
Renewable energy in Tasmania. video
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Reducing food waste in Sydney, Australia. video
Ade Adepitan visits Sydney to learn about an organisation that redistributes food that would otherwise be wasted.
