Northern Africa Environmental Desertification

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World Regional Issues Project: Northern Africa Environmental Desertification The environmental situation in North Africa is slowly deteriorating due to Desertification. Human activities such as; overpopulation, land degradation, and de-forestation all contribute to the environmental degradation of this vast continent. Overpopulation is a major stress on the environment in North Africa. Total population today stands at approximately 195 million people, with an expected growth rate annually of 3%; the projected population in fifty years will be a staggering 850 million. As the population increases so does the food supply shortages and demand for fuels to cook and provide heat. With little or no financial resources Africans in most of the tribal dominated regions resort to stripping their surroundings of any trees and vegetation for fire wood with little regard for the environmental consequences in order to survive. Land degradation from poor agricultural practices is a significant problem for Africa and desertification leaving many regions’ available land unproductive. Overgrazing by livestock has long been a long standing problem caused by Nomadic villagers. Due to the colonial introduction of borders by the European nations, many Nomadic tribes were trapped in their villages unable to continue to migrate, their herds repeatedly fed through the existing vegetation leaving stripped barren land. Other poor agricultural practices such as repeated plantings and the lack of adopting modern farming methods, has left land depleted of nutrients critical to farming and created soil erosion problems. Inappropriate irrigation methods and the overdrafting of aquifers are other human processes degrading the region’s agricultural land. The deforestation plays an important role in Africa’s and North Africa’s economic status and an even more important role in the
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