Africa's Environmental issues

Africa’s Environmental Issues

Water Pollution & Unequal Distribution, Deforestation, & Desertification

• Countries with large river systems

have enough water for farming and for people in villages, towns, and cities.

• Unfortunately, the majority of Africa

has trouble getting enough water for
people to survive.

• Most African countries don't have enough

water for drinking and washing.

​Limited Supply

• People who live in rural areas of Africa

typically don’t have running water or
plumbing in their homes.

• Women and children have to walk for several

miles to gather it from a water source.

• This has caused serious economic

problems for many African countries.

​Unequal Distribution

•

Many countries in Africa do not have
enough clean water, even the ones that
have large rivers.

•

Many countries suffer increasing pollution from factories and contamination from animals & human waste.

•

Industries also contribute to the problem
by dumping toxic mining chemicals and
industrial wastes into the waters.

​Pollution

Multiple Choice

Two major causes of water pollution in Africa include 1. human waste (sewage and garbage) and 2.

• industrial waste

• mining

• cremated remains emptied into rivers

• oil spills

• Because fetching water is so time-

consuming, women are unable to work
and children don’t have time to go to
school, cycle of poverty continues.

• Lack of education and employment

leads to a low GDP and slow economic
growth.

• Many Africans cannot escape the circle

of poverty.

​Effects - Poverty

• Droughts (long periods of very little

rainfall) have hurt many parts of
Africa.

• When the rains do not come, crops

wither away and livestock die.

• Droughts can

cause famine and people
die of starvation.

​Drought

Home

Open in new tab

Copy link

•

Clean water is needed for basic health
and sanitation.

•

Lack of clean water leads to diseases.

•

People who are not able to have access
to clean water are at risk for many
water-borne diseases that spread by
parasites living in standing water.

​Effects - Diseases

• As Africa’s population increases and

nations try to develop economically,
deforestation has become a growing
concern.

• Deforestation is the process of forests

being destroyed to make way for human
development.

• Deforestation is a major issue in many

African nations.

​Deforestation

• A main cause of deforestation in

Africa today is commercial logging.

• The timber is exported all over the

world and helps boost the economy of
many African countries.

• Unfortunately, the environment is

destroyed as a result.

​Logging

•

Many of the rainforests that once ran
from Guinea to Cameroon are already
gone.

•

Nigeria is losing its rainforests at the
fastest rate.

•

The United Nations estimates that Nigeria
has now lost about 55 percent of its
original forests to logging, clearing land for
farming, and cutting trees to use as fuel.

​Rainforest

• As the number of trees shrinks, so does the

amount of oxygen produced.
• Meanwhile, there is increased carbon

dioxide in the air.

• Less rainforests could also mean fewer

medicines available.
• About one-fourth of all medicines people

use come from rainforest plants.

• Deforestation also leads to extinction of

species of both plants and animals.

​Effects

• Crops grow best in topsoil, a nutrient-rich

layer of dirt.

• When trees are cut down, there is nothing to

hold the topsoil in place.

• The wind and rain carry away the important

nutrients, and the land eventually loses the
nutrients necessary for growing crops.

• The sun bakes the exposed soil into hard

clay, which leads to desertification.

​Effects

Multiple Choice

What is the biggest threat to African rain forests today?

• overpopulation

• war and conflict

• pollution from factories

• logging trees for fuel

•

The Sahel is one part of Africa that is
experiencing severe problems with
desertification, the process of the desert
expanding into areas that had formerly been
farmland, particularly in the Sahel region.

•

As the land is overused, the soil becomes
poor and powdery.

•

The winds coming from the Sahara gradually
blow the dry topsoil away, leaving a barren
and rocky land that loses its ability to hold
water.

​Desertification

• A majority of the desertification is the result

of the actions of people rather than climate.

• Desertification in Africa is caused by:

• Poor farming practices.
• People cutting down the trees that help

hold the soil in place.

• Animals being allowed to graze too heavily in

an area and stripping all of the vegetation
from the soil. (overgrazing)

• Draining the surface & underground water

for industrial & home use.

​Growing Desert

•

The survival needs of the people living there
are clear, but they are destroying major parts
of their environment in the process.

•

Africans who have lived for generations by
farming and raising grazing animals are finding
they have less and less farmland available to them.

•

The people who live in these areas often face
starvation and poverty.

•

Many in the Sahel have moved into urban areas hoping to find work, but most find only more poverty.

​Effects

Multiple Choice

What has caused the Sahel to shrink?

• over-grazing and poor farming practices

• water pollution

• heavy rain and flooding

• government programs that have led to the expansion of urban areas

Match

Match the following

• desertification

• deforestation

• factories and human waste

• commercial logging

• GDP

the process of the desert expanding

the process of forests being destroyed

main causes of water pollution in Africa

main cause of deforestation in Africa

Gross Domestic Product

• the process of the desert expanding

• the process of forests being destroyed

• main causes of water pollution in Africa

• main cause of deforestation in Africa

• Gross Domestic Product