Awareness Flyer
Desertification in Africa, Population around the Nile
Desertification in Africa
Slash and Burn
A common way that Africa clears brush, is the slash and burn Technique. They mainly use this method of clearing brush is because the majority of their countries have very low technology levels, unlike the US. The only positive effect this has is that people might have a place to live, or farm their crop. But once you do slash and burn a lot it it can disrupt a certain species, therefor disrupting a whole food chain. This could cause people to have less food, and cause famine. A good example of this is the Sahel desert expanding
Overgrazing
Another problem that contributes to Desertification is Overgrazing. Often times African plantations are uninformed, and don't do whats best for the environment. This is because they are just trying to make a living, and they might not even know what Desertification is. Thats not what they think about when they find a spot for their cattle to graze. So when their cattle overgraze, especially near desert regions, it causes less vegetation and the desert it is next to is more likely to expand. When cattle over graze in the area they eat all the grass, and then they don't give it enough time to grow back, and sustain the area.
The Nile River
Effects on the nile river
Because of the large amount of people moving from western Africa to the nile river, many negative impacts have come upon the nile. Many communities and cultures have claimed a spot on the nile to call their home, and with the growing number there has been negative effects.
Pollution
As more and more people settle near the nile that means more waste and less places to put it. A very big contributor to the waste in the nile is Egypt. In the 20th century Egypt started consuming more protein from meat products. This increased the amount of nitrogen in the nile river from the dumping of human waste. The end result is the suffocation of fish and the contamination of groundwater.
Aswan High Dam
The Aswan High dam has helped the nile, but it has also caused many problems. Every year the Nile floods and the areas around it are provided with nutrient rich soil. But, once people started moving closer to the nile (as a result of the spreading Sahara) they needed to stop the flooding, so they built the Aswan High dam. Some results of the dam were less nutrient rich soil each year, the Mediterranean coast is eroding, and it has killed of species of fish due to lack of sediment. The nile still did flood a bit, but it was in southern Egypt and it displaced over 90,000 people.
In the Future......
If these practices are kept up then the Sahara will take over more and more of Africa, and the nile will become overpopulated, with people and disease. People will either have to adapt to live in desert regions, migrate to the nile, or just die off. If more people people populate the nile, then it is likely that a disease will spread through the drinking water, and there could very well be a plague. People won't have a choice but to drink contaminated water.
Leveled Questions
Level 1. What is overgrazing?
Level 2. How could desertification in North West Africa effect the Pollution in the Nile river?