5.5 - Environmental Issues of Sub-Saharan Africa

Desertification

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Desertification is defined as the persistent degradation of dry ecosystems by climatic change and human activities. Simply put, desertification is the process by which fertile lands become deserts, typically because of drought, deforestation or inappropriate agriculture. Desertification affects up to 30 percent of land worldwide, and 1.5 billion people around the world depend on land at risk from desertification for their main source of food or income. Seventy-four percent of these people already live in poverty.

In sub-Saharan Africa, desertification may force up to 50 million people to flee their homes by 2030. Since 1923, the Sahara Desert has expanded by 10 percent, especially affecting people living in the Sahel region. Dry land covers 65 percent of the African continent, and 70 to 80 percent of people in Ethiopia and Kenya are threatened by desertification. 

What factors contribute to desertification?

• Population growth - the population in some desert regions of Africa is increasing. In places where there are developments in mining and tourism, people are attracted by jobs. An increased population is putting greater pressure on the environment for resources such as wood and water.
• Removal of wood - in many African nations, people use wood for cooking. As the population in desert areas increases, there is a greater need for fuel wood. When the land is cleared of trees, the roots of the trees no longer hold the soil together so it is more vulnerable to soil erosion.
• Overgrazing - an increasing population results in larger desert areas being farmed. Sheep, cattle and goats are overgrazing the vegetation. This leaves the soil exposed to erosion.
• Soil erosion - this is made worse by overgrazing and the removal of wood. Population growth is the primary cause for soil erosion.
• Climate change - the global climate is getting warmer. In Africa, conditions are not only getting warmer but drier too. On average there is less rain now in desert regions than there was 50 years ago.

A number of initiatives are under way to try to prevent desertification. They include: addressing overgrazing, changing irrigation practices that damage soil, protecting existing vegetation cover, finding alternative ways for local populations to make a living besides grazing and dry land farming.

Deforestation

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Africa’s Congo Basin is home to the second-largest rainforest on the planet. But according to a new study, this may soon not be the case. It finds that at current rates of deforestation, all primary forest will be gone by the end of the century.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) in the U.S. who analyzed satellite data collected between 2000 and 2014. Their results were published today in Science Advances. It reveals that the Congo Basin lost around 165,000 square kilometers of forest during their study period.

In other words, one of the world’s largest rainforests lost an area of forest bigger than Bangladesh in the span of 15 years. But why? Is it due to industrial pressure like in South America and Southeast Asia where the majority of deforestation has been done for soy, palm oil, and other commodity crops? Or commercial logging, which is razing forests Papua New Guinea?

Not so much, according to this study. It reveals that the dominant force behind rising Congo deforestation, driving more than 80 percent of the region’s total forest loss, is actually small-scale clearing for subsistence agriculture. The researchers conclude that most of it is done by hand with simple axes.

The preponderance of small-scale deforestation of the Congo rainforest is due largely to poverty stemming from political instability and conflict in the region. The Congo Basin rainforest is shared by six countries: Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of the Congo (RoC) and Gabon. Of these, the DRC holds the largest share of Congo forest – 60 percent – and is home to more people than the other five combined. The DRC, along with CAR, has a human development index in the bottom 10 percent, meaning that lifespans, education levels and per capita GDP there are among the lowest in the world. With few livelihood options, most people survive by carving farmland out of the forest. These plots are farmed until the soil runs dry of nutrients, whereupon a new plot is cleared and planted.

In addition, wood remains the cheapest fuel available and Africans use wood or charcoal to supply nearly all their domestic energy needs. Even in Nigeria, a major oil producer, most people use fuel -wood because they can not afford oil products.  Six sub-Saharan countries have already been severely deforested (Burundi, Togo, Nigeria, Benin, Uganda, and Ghana. These countries now have less than 16% of the forests they did in 1990. 

Major efforts are underway to relieve pressure on the region's remaining forests. Farming of economically useful trees in conjunction with the usual subsistence groups  has been one approach. The farmed trees can provide income through the sale of wood.  In the Greenbelt Movement or the "Green Wall"  in Kenya, women plant trees to use as fuelwood and to reduce soil erosion.  Bamboo is increasingly being used because of its fast growth and ability to grow in deforested lands . It is a good source of charcoal that burns longer and produces less smoke than wood.  

Biodiversity - Critically Endangered Species

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Sub-Saharan Africa may be most well known for its wildlife, No other region of the world has so many and such diverse mega-fauna. But Sub-Saharan Africa's wildlife faces multiple threats from both human and natural forces, all of which will become more severe as the climate changes. 

Major national parks and wildlife reserves across Africa lost up to 60% of their lions, giraffes, buffalo and other large wild animals between 1970 and 2005, raising the fear that wildlife on the continent will soon be confined to isolated pockets dependent on international money for protection. Researchers at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the University of Cambridge studied animal population changes at 78 protected areas across Africa and found the steepest falls in west Africa, where up to 85% of wildlife had been lost in the last 35 years, and in east Africa, where nearly half of all wildlife has disappeared. The research, which was collected from parks including popular tourist safari destinations such as the Masai Mara in Kenya and the Serengeti in Tanzania found increases only in southern Africa.

Extinction is a natural process but historically it occurs at a rate of 1 to 5 species per year. Scientists estimate that Earth is losing species at a rate of dozens per day. Some estimates are that we could lose 30 -50% of all animal species on Earth by the middle of this century. 99% of currently threatened species are at risk from human activities  - habitat loss, the introduction of invasive species and climate change. 

By 2050, Africa is expected to lose 50% of its birds and mammals. The threat to African species runs the gamut from plants to birds, fish, amphibians and mammals. Some critically endangered species include: the riverine rabbit, Grevy's zebra, Ethiopian Wolf, the black and white rhinos.

Other iconic African wildlife is threatened: African Elephant (415,000 in the wild, threat: poaching), African Penguins (72,000 in the wild, threat - fishing nets), African lions (22,000 in the wild, threat: poisonings, hunting, loss of habitat), cheetah (6,700 in the wild - loss of habitat), black rhinos (5,000 in the wild, threat: poaching), African Wild Dog (6,600 in the wild, threat: disease and hunting), pygmy hippo (1,500 in the wild, threat: deforestation and hunting), mountain gorilla (880 in the wild, threat: deforestation and hunting), Masai giraffe (35,000 in the wild, threat: poaching and habitat loss).

 

Climate Change

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Climate Change poses extreme risks for Sub-Saharan Africa due to poverty, recurrent drought, and agriculture reliant on rainfall. Most vulnerable are the arid and semi arid regions - the Sahel, the horn of Africa, and the coastal lowlands of west Africa. 

Agriculture and Drought

Since agriculture is rain fed, it is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change which affect precipitation. Most African's practice subsistence agriculture (farming that provides food for only the farmer's family). Most of these farms are 2 to 10 acres. Most subsistence farmers are female, though men assist in preparing the land for planting. They use traditional techniques; mixed agriculture with a diverse array of crops and a few animals as livestock. To maintain soil quality, many practice shifting agriculture, burning the native vegetation and using the plot of land for a year or two before they move on. Because they grow very diverse crops, some plants will survive the challenges of climate change. There are areas, where no amount of adaptability will be enough and crop yields are expected to drop by 50% as temperatures rise and precipitation becomes increasingly erratic.

Droughts in Sub-Saharan Africa have been a recurrent part of climate affecting millions of Africans. Almost 60% of Sub-Saharan Africa is vulnerable to drought and 30% is extremely vulnerable.  Climate change has the potential to make this much worse. There have been extreme and devastating droughts in modern history.  Some of the most severe include:

• Somalia/East Africa 2011 - Famine and drought affecting 9.5 million people. Fighting in the area disrupted aid and made it difficult for people to flee. 260,000 died
• Ethiopian Famine 1983-1985 - 1.2 million died, 400,000 refugees left the country, 2.5 million people were displaced, 200000 children were orphaned. Occurred during the Ethiopian Civil war.
• Sahel - at least one severe drought has been confirmed each century since 1700. Famine followed severe drought in the 1910's, the 1940's, the 1960's, the 1970's and the 1980's.From the late 1960s to early 1980s famine killed 100,000 people, left 750,000 dependent on food aid, and affected most of the Sahel's 50 million people
• Somalia 2017- 6 million people (50% of the country's total population) faced food shortages. This was the 7th poor harvest in a row with little to no rainfall. Instability and conflict made it worse.

Climate change has not just brought more frequent and intensive drought to the region. There have also been more intense extremes of weather, with prolonged and unusual precipitation leading to flooding as well. As has been true elsewhere around the world, tropical storms have become more severe. Intense Tropical Cyclone Idai 2019 was one of the worst tropical cyclones on record to affect Africa and the Southern Hemisphere. The long-lived storm caused catastrophic damage, and a humanitarian crisis in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, leaving more than 1,300 people dead and many more missing. Idai is the deadliest tropical cyclone recorded in the South-West Indian Ocean basin.