African Environmental Issues - Minnesota State University ...
[Pages:14]African Environmental Issues
Environment in Africa: continuity & change.
? Important to consider geological age of Africa & its tropical location.
? Both affect environmental processes.
African soils are very old & largely leached of their nutrients.
Tropical climates mean high average annual temperatures.
ures/kling/rainforest/rainforest.html
Environment in Africa: continuity & change
? Africa is ancestral home to our species. ? Over centuries humans have adapted their
lives & activities to environment. ? Humans evolved to conform to their
environments & for greater part of their existence on earth have been constantly molded by their environments. ? Colonialism in Africa changed localized nature of regional economies & introduced new pressure from outside.
Main Environmental Issues:
? Deforestation ? Desertification ? Soil erosion & degradation ? Development & the environment ? can the
two be reconciled?
Deforestation
? Typically occurs when trees are cut down to provide firewood & timber as well as to free up space for crop cultivation.
? In case of Africa, rapid urbanization, drought, civil wars, oil & mineral extraction, & bush fires have also contributed.
? Major reason for deforestation in Africa is poverty & economic underdevelopment.
? 90% of African population uses fuelwood for cooking.
? With rapid increase in population growth & higher rates of urbanization the need for fuelwood as source of energy will continue to grow.
Deforestation
? The major cause of deforestation in Africa is clearing forest for crop production.
Problem is related to increased population growth
Use of slash & burn/shifting cultivation but with greatly reduced fallow periods.
? Logging for timber has also contributed and timber exports have been promoted by the structural adjustment programs of the IMF and World Bank.
Trucks loaded with logs in western Ivory Coast.
Clearing forests for crop production
Traditional cultivation techniques usually extensive e.g., chitemene in Zambia.
People live in dispersed hamlets with low pop. density ................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.
Related download
- middle east and north africa iom
- environmental history of africa eolss
- desertification in the sahel vanderbilt university
- leaflet no 10 indigenous peoples and the environment
- th e impact of climate change in africa eth z
- hill yerkes a new strategy for us engagement in north
- the african educational evolution from traditional
- middle east and north africa regional summaries unhcr
- impacts of climate change on farming systems and
- production systems in pre colonial africa
Related searches
- environmental issues wikipedia
- environmental issues articles 2019 pollution
- list of environmental issues today
- current environmental issues 2019
- environmental issues articles
- environmental issues current events
- global environmental issues 2019
- environmental issues in america 2019
- current environmental issues articles 2019
- environmental issues today 2019
- current environmental issues articles
- current event environmental issues articles