Transcript Evidence of Population Increase, Deforestation, and

Population Increase,
Deforestation, and Desertification
in Africa
Forests: a critical resource
• More than 1 billion people live in or
around forests and use forest
resources/timber for:
-
Food
Fuel
Medicine
Income
-
Clean Water
Building material
Spirituality
Recreation
• 70 million Indigenous Peoples living
in remote areas depend completely
on forest resources for their
livelihoods
FAO/ Faidutti/CFU000118
Why does the Africa suffer from desertification?
a typical example
Population
Increases
More demand for energy
More demand for cattle
Deforestation for fire wood
Grassland suffers over grazing
Roots no longer hold soil together
Roots get eaten as well as grass
Leaves no longer protect soil from
weather
Loose top soil blown away by wind
(Soil Erosion)
=
Less vegetation means less
protection from weather
Loose top soil blown away by
wind (Soil Erosion)
desertification
=
Need proof this is happening
in Africa?
Satellite imagery from the United
Nations Environmental Program
(UNEP)
Population Growth Around
Lake Victoria 1960 - 2015
• The population growth
around 100 km buffer zone
of the Lake Victoria
• Population growth around
Lake Victoria, East Africa, is
the highest in Africa
Tai National Park, Côte d’Ivoire –
site of world’s highest deforestation rate
These images show
deforestation rate in the
area, believed to be one of
the highest in the world
• 1988: Shows destruction
of small forest fragments
• 2002: The lighter green
strip bisecting the images
is the result of extensive
deforestation and intensive
cultivation
Deforestation in Itampolo,
Madagascar
These images show the
changes in narrow
coastal plain
• 1973: Shows heavily
forested area home to
unique and rare plant and
animal species
• 2001: Burning of forest to
clear land for dry rice
cultivation, has led to
disappearance of forest
area (seen as tan)
Deforestation Around Lake
Nakuru, Kenya
These images show the
land cover degradation in
the lake’s catchment
• 1973: The area that hosts
the world’s largest
concentration of flamingos
• 2000: Excision of forest in
the Eastern Mau Forest
Reserve (white lines) will
most likely lead to
disappearance of upper
catchment forest cover
Desertification in
Ravene, Senegal
Images show impact
of drought and overgrazing on the
woody vegetation
• 1965: Ancient valleys
cutting through gravelly
plateaus, with extensive
bushland vegetation
• 1999: desertification
spreads extensively
along the shallow valley
slopes
Desertification leaves the land barren and unable
to support agriculture
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