Where is desertification in africa

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Travel The last artists crafting a Thai royal treasure. Subscriber Exclusive Content. Why are people so dang obsessed with Mars? Skip to main content. Get the free mobile apps Get the latest news from us on our apps. Welcome to the United Nations. Toggle navigation Language:. Africa Renewal. Web Feature. Exclusive interview with Luc Gnacadja, head of UN desertification convention.

Most Read Today. Climate Change. Human Rights. Economic Development. More from Africa Renewal. Extreme levels of chemical and physical conditions, such as very high or very low pH Lal, Resilience of soil—ability to recover from mismanagement Brinkman, Information incorporated in soil classification terms Eswaran, Land resource conditions Land quality is the ability of the land to perform its functions in a sustainable manner.

Assessment of sustainable development potentials Soil properties, including soil climate, provide some preliminary information to address land quality. Land resource stresses and land quality Using information from the soil and climate resources of Africa, an assessment was made initially of the land resource stresses in the country. Vulnerability to desertification The results of the empirical assessment of vulnerability to desertification are presented in Table 3 and a map showing the distribution of these classes in Africa is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Desertification vulnerability of Africa Table 1. Low 4,, Area 62 25 2 0. Guinea Area 1 0. Risk of human-induced desertification Accelerated land degradation takes place with increasing population density and particularly under low-input systems.

Figure 2. Risk of human-induced desertification Table 6. The present study shows: Under low-input systems, the potential productivity of the soils cannot be realized and further that stability of production will be difficult to achieve. A systematic decline in productivity is the result of degradation processes. Desertification is rampant in much of the continent and will permanently destroy the agricultural production potential. Correcting the degradation effects will be more expensive and the low resilience characteristics of many of the soils suggests that high levels of productivity cannot be expected even after mitigation technologies are used.

Under current systems, most of the countries will be unsustainable and if desertification is not controlled, their ability to attain sustainability will be significantly reduced. References Aubreville, A. Dregne, H. Desertification of arid lands. Economic Geography, 53, World Atlas of Desertification. London: Edward Arnold. Extreme Aridic. Typic Aridic. Weak Aridic. Dry Xeric. Typic Xeric. Udic Xeric. Aridic Tropustic. Typic Tropustic. Udic Tropustic. Xeric Tempustic. Wet Tempustic.

Typic Tempustic. Typic Tropudic. Dry Tropudic. Typic Tempudic. Dry Tempudic. Few constraints. Low organic matter. High soil temperatures. Seasonal excess water.

Minor root restrictions. Short duration low temperatures. Low structural stability. High anion exchange capacity. Impeded drainage. Seasonal moisture stress. High aluminium. Calcareous, gypseous. Nutrient leaching. Low nutrient holding capacity.

High P and N retention. Acid sulphate. Low moisture and nutrient status. Low water holding capacity. High organic matter. Shallow soils. Steep lands. Extended low temperatures. Extended moisture stress. Land area. Water bodies. Total area. Very high. Burkina Faso. Congo, Rep. Congo, Dem. 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. This trend can be observed in many other arid regions throughout the world. And as the populations of cities in or near drylands continue to rise, pressures on limited water resources increase as well.