Practically every country of Africa is prone to desertification, but the Sahelian countries at the southern fringe of the Sahara are particularly vulnerable. Only about 19% of Niger is non-desert and of this 17% belongs to high and very high vulnerability classes.
Poverty-related agricultural practices are a major contributor to desertification. Continuous cultivation without adding supplements, overgrazing, lack of soil and water conservation structures, and indiscriminate bushfires aggravate the process of desertification.
While recurrent droughts are a common feature throughout most of the drylands in Africa, three distinct areas have been identified as most at risk: Mediterranean Africa, the Sudano-Sahelian region and the Kalahari-Namib region in southern Africa.
Climatic disturbances may be both a consequence and a cause of desertification. The destruction of the natural grass and woody vegetation cover in dry lands affects the topsoil temperature and air humidity, and thus influences the movements of atmospheric masses and rainfall.
Desertification, an extreme form of land degradation, is a global phenomenon that is influenced by and has an impact on climate change and biodiversity loss. Land degradation causes a decline in land productivity and is therefore likely to lead to increased levels of poverty.
Desertification is a type of land degradation in which a relatively dry land region becomes increasingly arid, typically losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife. Desertification is a significant global ecological and environmental problem.
Fire is a primary cause of desertification in the Sahel region of North Africa, where the degradation of drylands is especially pronounced. The degradation of drylands in Africa is forcing people who can no longer make a living off the land to move to urban areas.
What exactly is the problem? Professor Emmanuel Oladipo, who advises Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Environment on climate change issues, explained how desertification is being fuelled by poor land use, unsustainable grazing practices, deforestation, and the consumption pressures associated with a booming population.
In the drier parts of Africa, millions of hectares of grazing land and rangeland are also threatened with degradation- in the arid north, the semi-arid south, the Sudano-Sahelian countries and in the drier parts of Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria.
Desertification is a global issue, with serious implications worldwide for biodiversity, eco-safety, poverty eradication, socio-economic stability and sustainable development. Drylands are already fragile. As they become degraded, the impact on people, livestock and environment can be devastating.
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.
Lack of money, low education level, population pressure, lack of government support, unstable political situation and climatic change. Desertification is a global issue. All of us should work together to stop the spreading of deserts.
Low precipitation and prolonged dry seasons in drylands can lead to water scarcity, and limit agricultural productivity and output. Drylands biodiversity maintains soil fertility and moisture to ensure agricultural growth, and reduces the risk of drought and other environmental hazards.
