THE ENVIRONMENT OF AFRICA SS7G2: The student will discuss environmental issues across the continent of Africa.

The Nile River Many countries do not have enough clean water The Nile is used for water & transportation Overpopulation and poor sanitation have made life along the Nile difficult The Nile is contaminated with human and industrial waste

The Aswan High Dam The dam provides Egypt with year round irrigation instead of depending on the flooding of the Nile to bring water Because the Nile no longer floods, silt (rich topsoil carried by the floodwaters) is no longer deposited in the fields Farmers now use chemical fertilizers which have caused heavy concentration of salt in the fields

The Niger & Congo Rivers The Niger river provides relief to those living in the Sahel The Niger is important for transportation & agriculture The Congo river provides water for the irrigation of farmland Africa could soon be involved in “water wars” because of competition between countries that share a river system Countries that have started factories pollute the water with industrial waste; the government ignores industrial pollution because they want the factories to make a profit

The Sahel Poor farming practices and the destruction of trees have led to an expanding desert Deforestation (the destruction of trees and other vegetation) has occurred because animals have overgrazed and people cut down trees for fuel Droughts (times of very little rainfall) have caused poor soil and dry conditions which result in few crops Desertification (places where the desert expands into areas that had been farmland) causes an increase in starvation and poverty Desertification has been caused by overuse of the land by the people

The Rainforest The country in West Africa losing rainforest at the fastest rate is Nigeria Nigeria has lost about 55 percent of it’s forests due to: Logging Clearing land for farming Cutting trees for fuel

The Kalahari Desert The people around the Kalahari Desert face the same problems as those in the Sahel The most desertification in southern Africa is in the Kalahari Desert The Green Line is the place where the cultivated land ends and the desert begins