The archipelago is subject to cyclical droughts; a devastating drought began in 1968 and was broken only briefly in 1975, 1978, 1984, and 1986.

But there is little profit in the crop, and cyclical droughts bring hardship.

This is in the context of the real prospect of climate change, cyclical drought and other degrading affects.

Even for a region that is accustomed to being noticed by the rest of the country only during its cyclical droughts, a region where food shortages have always been a part of life, the mood here today is particularly somber.

For centuries, isolation and cyclical drought have resulted in famine.

Like much of Australia, Ballarat experiences cyclical drought and heavy rainfall.

Libya's GDP grew in 2001 due to high oil prices, the end of a long cyclical drought, and increased foreign direct investment following the suspension of UN sanctions in 1999.

Indonesia, which has the largest farm area in Southeast Asia, anticipated the cyclical drought and took some preventative measures, Mr.

Cape Verde has long been a place to leave - a land plagued, as the Pope noted today, by cyclical droughts, infertile soil and a precarious dependency on imports and foreign aid.

Across the stretch of desert south of the Sahara, governments, trying to relieve the effects of cyclical drought, are insisting that nomads become integrated into sedentary life.