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Africa
Environmental Issues: Desertification and Poaching
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A warm Continent• The Sahara is the largest desert in the
world
• Only about 20% of Africa is desert
• Travel in the Sahara is risky because of extreme conditions
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A grassy continent
• Tropical grasslands cover most of the continent, One example of this grassland is the Serengeti plain in northern Tanzania
• The abundance of grass makes the plains a great place for grazing animals.
• Huge heads of wildebeests, gazelles, and zebras roam there
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Poaching• Poaching is the illegal hunting of animals
for Profit• In 1970 there were about 2.5 million
African Elephants• Poaching and habitat encroachment
reduced that number to an estimated 350,000
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• The main reason for the sharp decline is that elephants have ivory, which is very valuable in parts of the world
• Black Rhinos are also in danger for their horns with a current black market value of about $2,500 dollars
• Numbers of black Rhinos in Africa have dropped from 65,000 in 1982 to less than 2500
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Desertification (Pg. 424 in book)
• Desertification is a process which turns productive land into non- productive desert
• Desertification reduces the ability of the land to support life.• Desertification can be a natural occurrence caused by high
winds shifting the desert sands• Usually, it is a man-made occurrence
•Reasons for desertification
1. Overpopulation (water use)2. Too much irrigation (water use) 3. Replacing native plants with plants that use more water
4. Over-grazing (animals)
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Problems caused by desertification
• Shrinking of seas• Aral Sea in Russia/Kazakhstan has shrunk due to poor management of water