What environmental change is happening in the Sahel? The Sahel is highly exposed to
climate change
, yet impacts vary across different regions. The Sahel will gradually become hotter, with some areas experiencing increased, but erratic rainfall. Extreme weather events, including droughts and floods, are expected to intensify in this context.
What environmental issue is affecting the Sahel?
The Sahel is particularly vulnerable to
rainfall variability, land degradation, and desertification
due to its high dependence on rain-fed agriculture and livestock, according to a study by the UN Environment Program. Climate change is introducing even more unpredictability in water and food availability.
How has the Sahel changed?
The environmental crisis
Things have gotten worse in recent decades, experts say.
Between 1970 and 1993, the region recorded 20 years of severe drought
. The frequency and severity of droughts and floods has increased over this period. FAO reports that over 80% of the region’s land is degraded.
What is happening in the Sahel region?
The Sahel has the world’s fastest growing population, and there is a great need to increase food production – but in fact the opposite is taking place.
Food production is on the decline
. Violence often forces farmers to flee conflict areas and closed roads and markets further reinforce food shortages.
What problems are happening in the Sahel region of Africa?
Armed conflict, economic insecurity, and the adverse effects of climate change are some of the biggest challenges affecting the region. Indiscriminate attacks against civilians and public infrastructure -including schools and health facilities- have threatened the lives of millions of people and their livelihoods.
Why is the Sahel desert under threat?
Years of land clearing and poor farming practices
has resulted in widespread desertification in the region. Extensive soil erosion has degraded the land to the point of unproductivity.
What has caused the Sahel to shrink?
Severe drought combined with poor soil conservation practices
can have devasting effects within the Sahel region of North Africa. A severe drought combined with poor soil conservation practices can lead to extreme topsoil erosion, with devastating effects on the land.
What is the impact of climate change in the Sahel?
The Sahel is highly exposed to climate change, yet impacts vary across different regions.
The Sahel will gradually become hotter, with some areas experiencing increased, but erratic rainfall
. Extreme weather events, including droughts and floods, are expected to intensify in this context.
Is the Sahel growing or shrinking?
About 50 million people in the Sahel depend on livestock rearing for survival. But
the land available to pastoralists is shrinking
. This is aggravated by surging population growth that is pushing farmers northward to cultivate more crops.
What is a common concern in the Sahel?
What is a common concern in the Sahel?
dust storms
.
How is natural climate change linked to desertification in the Sahel?
Since the Sahelian ecosystem largely depends on rainfall,
global warming – if it reduces rainfall – may lead to desertification and resource scarcity in the long run
.
Is the Sahel getting greener?
Despite intense human land use,
the Sahel has been re-greening in recent decades
as precipitation has recovered from the dry period of the 1970s and 1980s. Whether vegetation expands further into the Sahel and Sahara depends in part on the complex interplay among vegetation, climate, and environmental changes.
Is the Sahara desert turning green?
Why is Sahel at risk of drought and desertification?
Originally it was believed that the drought in the Sahel primarily was caused by
humans over-using natural resources in the region through overgrazing, deforestation and poor land management
. In the late 1990s, climate model studies suggested that large scale climate changes were also triggers for the drought.
Is Sahara Desert growing or shrinking?
First of all,
the Sahara is not expanding into the rest of Africa
. Drought in the Sahel in the 1970s and 1980s made it look like the desert was expanding, because the reduction of rainfall at the desert margin (the Sahel) caused a reduction in vegetation.
How is the Sahara desert changing?
However, scientists have observed that tropical latitudes are moving polewards at a speed of 30 miles per decade, and thus,
the deserts within are expanding
. Indeed, analysis of rainfall data shows that the now-dry Sahara has been growing, covering 10% more land since records began around 1920. Why is this happening?
Are deserts getting greener?
The Sahara Desert, which was thought to be in a pattern of inexorable growth as recently as a generation ago, is now greening
. The same process that occurred all those millennia ago is happening again. It’s counterintuitive, but it’s real—and the effects are profound.
When was the Sahara last green?
Scientists have discovered that roughly every 20,000 years, the Earth shifts its axis, meaning that over the last 240,000 years, the Sahara has gone through multiple periods of wet and dry climates. The last ‘green’ period ended
around 5,000 years ago
and led to the growing desertification of the region.
Is the Sahara getting hotter?
Here,
winters are getting warmer but summers are about the same
. In Africa, it’s the opposite — winters are holding steady but summers are getting warmer. So the stresses in Africa are already more severe.”
What climate creates the Sahel?
The Sahel has a
hot, semi-arid
climate characterized by very high temperatures year-round; a long, intense dry season from October–May; and a brief, irregular rainy season linked to the West African monsoon.
Which human activities cause desertification in the Sahel?
Human activities that contribute to desertification include the
expansion and intensive use of agricultural lands, poor irrigation practices, deforestation, and overgrazing
.
How is climate change affecting the Sahel?
The Sahel is highly exposed to climate change, yet impacts vary across different regions.
The Sahel will gradually become hotter, with some areas experiencing increased, but erratic rainfall
. Extreme weather events, including droughts and floods, are expected to intensify in this context.
What is a common concern in the Sahel?
What is a common concern in the Sahel?
dust storms
.
How has desertification affected the Sahel?
Without the roots of trees and other vegetation, the dust is blown away by the wind. As a result of these issues,
water has become scarce for people, animals, and plants of the region
. Without water and productive land, farmers and herders are unable to sustain their traditional livelihoods.
Why is Sahel at risk of drought and desertification?
Originally it was believed that the drought in the Sahel primarily was caused by
humans over-using natural resources in the region through overgrazing, deforestation and poor land management
. In the late 1990s, climate model studies suggested that large scale climate changes were also triggers for the drought.
