The Sahel Is Not Sustainable

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Life in the Sahel Is a Constant Battle to Survive; Use of This Region Can Never Be Sustainable. The Sahel is the name given to the semi-desert region in Africa to the south of the Sahara Desert. The Sahel stretches right across the African continent, and includes parts of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Sudan. Life there due to the conditions is a constant battle to survive. Sustainability is the development of the quality of life that does not affect any lasting damage to the environment. Due to population increase, it then applies large amounts of pressure on the land to be more productive. However this then leads to over-cultivation and over-irrigation. As an effect of lack of farming land, over cultivation is a large problem. It can reduce soil fertility and damage the overall structure of the soil. The lack of organic matter makes it crumbly and more likely to be washed or blown away, the soil is then unable to retain much or any moisture, resulting in lack or crops or grazing material. Ensuing a vicious cycle for the soil. Over-irrigation is an extreme issue as over-irrigated land can cause salinisation, creating impermeable and infertile salty crust in the surface. As this is a key feature of desertification it then means that the land for both these reasons is not able to be used and causing desertification to spread. These problems will continue to develop, not allowing the environment or soil to ever become sustainable. These problems are substantially higher as population increase is occurring at an extremely high rate. Currently the population is 260 million and is meant to double ever 20 years. This issue has been a larger struggle due to the harsh climate. There has been a decrease in rainfall of about 29-49% which would mean that they land is badly managed due to the lack of water. The average temperature of the region has increased meaning that
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