Sahel Desert Problem

In the 1990’s cereals and grain were popular in Africa, with over 60 percent of the land used for these crops (ita 2004). From the 1930’s to the 1990’s Africa saw a reduction of 13 percent in agriculture’s share (ita 2004). During the 1970’s and 1980’s, there was a period of drought that affected both the crops and native plant in the area (Boffa Dixon Garrity 2012), which may have contributed to the decline of agriculture’s share. Also, in 1992 the production of corn fell from 10 million to 3 million tons, due to the drought (ita 2004).

Seventeen years ago, when I was born, the world population was 6 billion. By the time I started kindergarten, the population increased 9% to 6.6 billion. When I passed my driver’s test, the population grew to 7.4 billion which is another 10.8% increase. So it is safe to say the statistic “The population expectancy is going to reach 9.7 Billion people by the year 2050” (“United Nations”), is more than just an over repeated prediction, it is a reality my generation will be faced with. “In one minute there are 250 children born, which correlates to one birth every eight seconds” (“Census Bureau”). Meaning the demand for agriculture is only increasing to keep up with this growing population. Producing more food requires higher yield, precision agriculture, and perhaps finding creative ways to grow more food in less space. One important way to ensure maximum agriculture production is with healthy soils that are full of life.

Important: 1352 the Sahara desert. Empenfatoca explored over many countries. Your body stops sweating because, your body does not have anymore fluids to let out.Salted foods can last for about a year. The greatest fear of a travel is a sand storm. When a sand storm comes it fills the air around you with sand. Causing your lungs and eyes to have sand in it. Africa's golden age in the south, the city of stone. Kings Solomon minds. Highlands of Ethiopia, and ancient christian emperor. East coast Kowal one of africa's biggest ports. African gold will be the greatest explosion of ideas. It will make some men rich and others reckless.

Location: Sub-Saharan Africa can be characterized by this two major geographic qualities. The first is its Absolute Location which is centered at approximately 5º N latitude 25º E longitude. Its Relative Location is east of the Pacific Ocean, west of the Indian Ocean, , west of the Indian Ocean, and south of the Sahara Desert.

Along with water availability, another important factor is the soil’s fertility. Because of too much farming on the same piece of land, the soil’s nutrients start deteriorating over the years, and in the end, the soil is literally “mined of life”. Bad application of fertilizers also adds to this. Right now, East Africa is heavily reliant on imported fertilizers, but because of transportation costs and no nearby suppliers, East Africa is paying about 2~6 times the amount of of the world’s

The Sahel, the land of Africa beneath the Sahara, is filled with large water systems and a range of elevated lands: plateaus, mountains, and valleys. In some ways, it made for an easier life. Having the large water regions near by allowed for advanced irrigation systems and immediate access to water for drinking, health care, and taking care of livestock. The landforms; however,

farmers need to create more tillable space, one option has been for them to decrease the

In 2008 the United Nations send an advisor Jan Egeland to the Sahel and he brought three major risks to the Sahel. Egeland noted that due to climate change communities that depend on natural resources like farming and herding will be stressed, there will be more migrations and refugees due to climactic disaster and there will be a possibility of conflicts over the little remaining natural resources (http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/UNEP_Sahel_EN.pdf). It is simple human nature to have an innate desire to live and pass on our genes. Therefore, once the populations living in the Sahel start seeing more intense droughts and famines, there will be an increase in conflict over natural resources. A prime example of the severity of these conflicts is the Darfur genocide. Darfur is located in the Northeastern African country of Sudan. During the 1080’s through 1990’s most of the Sahel went through intense droughts and severe weather patterns, which according to Colombia University researched Alessandra Giannini was not attributed to local Sahel activities like overgrazing or deforestation rather it was caused by “changes to the global climate.” However desertification, which is a major

The United Nations Environmental Program has been in Sierra Leone to address the environmental consequences of the recent eleven-year civil war. The main goals of the Environmental Program are outlined in Programme 21. The program aimed at the low level of fertile land currently available in Sierra Leone and how to remedy the situation

Western Sahara is located on the northwest coast of Africa bordered by Morocco, Mauritania, and Algeria. It is mostly part of the Sahara desert. Western Sahara is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world. Their climate is hot, dry desert, rain is rare, the cold offshore air currents produces fog and heavy dew. Due to the fact that The Western Sahara is mostly desert, we can not build a highway through here, but it could be built on the coast. Western Sahara’s territory is 85% under Moroccan control. Since the 1930s, most Sahrawis have been compelled to adopt to sedentary lifestyle and to live in urban settings as a result of fighting. Their most recent GDP is 2,500. This would impact the highway because they wouldn’t be able

The Arid climate has irregular seasons. Say for instance, the Sahara Desert is mainly always hot and dry. However, some areas change in temperature depending on the latitude, and surrounding climate. So the two main seasons, summer and winter.

As the world's largest non-polar desert, the Sahara is actually expanding. It is estimated that, by 2025, two-thirds of Africa's arable land will be covered in sand. The danger of these projections is the destruction of farmland in countries that already suffer from a lack of crops.

Many of these groups have made it their responsibility to the Earth to preserve it’s natural resources, and many of the organizations that we found focused on the preservation of soil. One of these in particular that we chose is the Recare Project. The link is to the website for additional information, as well as a description of what they do to preserve soil. Now, Recare works to prevent and remediate the degradation and overuse of soil in and all across Europe. Recare recognizes the fact that soil is an essential factor in the survival of humans as a race, and works to make sure that this resource is taken care of. They’re starting in Europe, but hopefully, after spreading the awareness that they are working to spread, they can soon expand their horizons to much more of the

Presently droughts occurring every two years and when it does rain only fractions of what the region is used to comes down because a rise in of this food prices, homelessness, diseases, social chaos is in full heat. One in every 3 people you see is dying from malnutrition.Feeding centers and medical supply demands are so high and the respond to get food and water there is not happening fast enough.If poor hygiene continues death will be the result.

Natural causes leading to dissertation have been ongoing for the last few thousand years. That is to say, since the start of the world. As Brady, Nyle C., and Ray R. Weil. state in their book Elements of the Nature and Properties of Soils “Water deficiency is a major characteristic of these (arid) soils.” Soils without consistent water and the ability to store water require excessive care. Other natural causes are wild animal overpopulation or underpopulation, bare land, forest fires and natural disasters. While these many causes may seem overwhelming to correct there is much hope for arid lands.