Environmental experts are warning of an impending humanitarian disaster in Africa, emerging from creeping desertification. If unchecked it will undo social and economic progress and millions of people will perish.
Desertification is defined by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as land degradation in arid, semi arid and humid areas arising from various factors such as climatic variations and human activities. These include over-cultivation, overgrazing, deforestation, poor irrigation practices and other factors leading to inappropriate land use. Because of those practices, the effects of desertification are already being felt across much of Africa...
In a paper titled ‘Desertification: the scourge of Africa’, Darkoh says at least 25 countries on the continent have faced serious food shortages in the past decade as a result of extended drought. “The reduced capacity for food production has brought a population of over 200 million people to the verge of calamity,” he says.
source: August 20th, 2009 · by Lilian Aluanga
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