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Desertification in Africa
By Louise Wornall
January 7, 2000
Everywhere in the world, countries are faced with uncontrollable problems that will greatly effect their futures. In the continenof
Africa, many countries are faced with the problem of spreading deserts, called desertification. This problem has many causes but
few solutions and could soon lead to a greater area of dry and arid land than fertile farmlands and rangelands.
The continent of Africa contains one-fifth of the world's surface and has some of the world's largest physical features, including
deserts. The Sahara, which is located in the northern part of Africa, is the largest desert in the world. It also happens to be one of
many deserts that are getting larger every year because of desertification.
Desertification can be defined as increasing desert-like conditions in arid and semi-arid lands. This problem (which is also
known as desertization, sandification, and desiccation) has so many causes that it is said to be irreversible.
Climate, humans, and livestock are the main causes of the spreading deserts in Africa. Climate, however, is the main reason that
this problem is so hard to control. Prolonged drought can leave land dried out and infertile which makes it just about impossible
for any type of vegetation to survive. Because humans play no part in this, it is obviously the hardest for us to control.
The climate's roll in desertification also leads to the problem of livestock. When droughts leave the land dry with no trees or
grasses, those who raise animals must find other places for their livestock to graze. And now that it's harder for grasses to grow
back, it is easier for overgrazing to occur. Thus, the combination of Africa's low rainfall and involvement with grazing helps lead
land dry and destroyed by overcultivation.
Humans are a cause of desertification for many reasons. Development and overpopulation are two. Cities need to grow to
support their population, and to do so, trees will be cut down and replaced with construction sites. A growing population also
requires a growing economy, therefor rangelands will be replaced with croplands, and the destruction of fertile land will continue.
Meanwhile, as the population continues to grow and grow, there will be more and more need for reasons to overcultivate and
overgraze in order to feed mouths.
Yet the deserts continue to spread in all areas of the world (The Sahara is said to move at the rate of 1km/yr, and has for the past
300 years). And as the encroaching sands destroy forests and take farmlands and rangelands down with them, the economy is
equally damaged. Take, for example, food productivity. This can be retarded by desertification, when farms are taken over by
desert land. Much of these farms grow food needed to feed Africa's rapidly growing population, and some of these foods are to be
used as an export. But what can be done to help?
Solutions for desertification have been thought of, but a lot of the ideas have turned out to be outrageous and even a little
unrealistic. As for the Sahara, one man came up with the idea to construct a forest belt that is 15 miles wide and 1370 miles long
at the edge of the desert in hopes that it will not continue any farther south. This plan obviously was not carried out! More realistic
measures, however, are being taken. The best that can be done by humans alone is to spread global awareness of the problem.
If people can learn from the mistakes of others, maybe desertification can be prevented from occurring anywhere else in the
world. Governments (mainly ones of countries that have fallen victim to the spreading deserts), along with UN-organizations, and
many Sub-regional organizations, have taken part in this worldwide alert through the media. This will do little to solve the problem,
however it is the best solution so far. If the problem is to be completely solved, it cannot be done so by man (or at least not in this
day and age). Therefor, nature must do its part to supply these regions with a normal amount of rainfall in order for them to return
back to normal. Until then, those faced with the problem are advised to try to regulate their amounts of grazing, population,
development, etc. and do their best to keep land in good condition.
Desertification is going to be a future challenge for Africa and many, many other countries in the world. 110 countries (that include
over 1000 people located exactly in these regions), in fact, are dealing with spreading deserts to this very day. Hopefully, with more
help and ideas from areas like the government and the UN, a solution will be found and deserification will end.
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