What is Sahel desertification?

Desertification is a problem that those living in the Sahel Region have faced for many years. Desertification is when areas of viable land for farming dry up and are absorbed or transformed into a more desert-like climate.

What are the main causes of desertification in the Sahel?

But since the late 1960s, the Sahel has endured an extensive and severe drought. Desertification occurs when land surfaces are transformed by human activities, including overgrazing, deforestation, surface land mining, and poor irrigation techniques, during a natural time of drought.

What is the effect of desertification in the Sahel region?

Without the roots of trees and other vegetation, the dust is blown away by the wind. As a result of these issues, water has become scarce for people, animals, and plants of the region. Without water and productive land, farmers and herders are unable to sustain their traditional livelihoods.

What is desertification PDF?

factors, including climatic variations and human activities, is called desertification. (Anonymous, 1992). It is a slow process of land degradation that exacerbates the quality of. land, leading to decline in its productivity and thus impacting the livelihood of the people. depending on it.

Why is the Sahel so important to Mali?

The Sahel is endowed with great potential for renewable energy and sits atop some of the largest aquifers on the continent. Potentially one of the richest regions in the world with abundant human, cultural and natural resources.

What does the Unccd do?

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), adopted in 1994, is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management.

Who is to blame for desertification in the Sahel?

The Sahel is a narrow belt of land which lies immediately to the south of the Sahara Desert and which extends across most of Africa. The main causes of desertification include: Population growth – the population in some desert areas is increasing.

What are the 3 main causes of desertification?

Overgrazing is the major cause of desertification worldwide. Other factors that cause desertification include urbanization, climate change, overuse of groundwater, deforestation, natural disasters, and tillage practices in agriculture that make soils more vulnerable to wind.

What are 3 causes of desertification?

The main causes of desertification include:

• Population growth – the population in some desert areas is increasing.
• Removal of wood – in developing countries, people use wood for cooking.
• Overgrazing – an increasing population results in larger desert areas being farmed.

What are the 6 effects of desertification?

CONSEQUENCES OF DESERTIFICATION Loss of biodiversity by worsening the living conditions of many species. Food insecurity due to crop failure or reduced yields. The loss of vegetation cover and therefore of food for livestock and humans. Increased risk of zoonotic diseases, such as COVID-19.

What are some examples of desertification?

Three Desertification Examples

• Example Number 1: Sahel Region, Northern Africa. The Sahel region is a strip of land that stretches from one side of northern Africa to the other.
• Example Number 2: Ningxia Hui, China.
• Example Number 3: Murray-Darling Basin, Australia.

Why is the Sahel called Sahel?

The term “Sahel” is borrowed from the Arabic name for the region, الساحل al-sāḥil. Sāḥil literally means “coast, shore”, which has been explained as a figurative reference to the southern edge of the vast Sahara.

How are they fixing the desertification problem in Sahel?

Population increase. Population is doubling every 20 years.

How might desertification affect people’s lives in the Sahel?

The effect of desertification in the sahel are very bad because it makes the farmers produce less yield of food to the people in the community, the people and animals dies off because of the lack of food.

What is the remedy for desertification?

– Increase surface runoff and stream discharge. – Reduction of water infiltration and groundwater recharge. – Development of erosional gullies and sand dunes. – Change in the surface microclimate that enhances aridity. – Drying up of wells and springs. – Reduction in seed germination of native plants.

What is desertification and how can we solve it?

Stricter regulations regarding farming practices.