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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Christophe Van Der Perre

A green island turns red: Madagascans struggle through long drought

Reuters

With precious few trees left to slow the wind in this once fertile corner of southern Madagascar, red sand is blowing everywhere: on to fields, villages and roads, and into the eyes of children waiting for food aid parcels.

Four years of drought, the worst in decades, along with deforestation caused by people burning or cutting down trees to make charcoal or to open up land for farming, have transformed the area into a dust bowl.

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