When you think of deforestation, gully erosions, and desert encroachment, what picture comes to mind? Sparse, parched, and arid land or perhaps climate change? If yes, you have pictured these phenomena correctly. As a result of these phenomena, Africa’s rich biodiversity, and habitats are grossly affected. This article will look at how Africa is managing deforestation, gully erosions, and desert encroachment.
As of 2022, it is estimated that 60% of the African population lives in arid, semi-arid, dry sub-humid, and hyper-arid areas. Desert encroachment is having adverse effects on the African continent each year the Earth continues to warm. It impacts the everyday lives of Africans – from their crops, livestock, and housing – to African wildlife and biodiversity.
This makes it extremely difficult for people to work and make a living due to extremely dry land for growing crops. As a result, it is smaller farmers and households that have suffered the most. Degradation of land and the depletion of healthy soils and tree cover mean they can no longer grow crops and provide for themselves.
Africa’s economy today relies on agriculture, with many Africans making high profits from harvesting and exporting crops such as cowpea, millet, maize, cocoa and cotton. However, it is estimated that as much as 65% of productive land in Africa is degraded – with desertification being the main culprit affecting 45% of the continent and the remaining 55% being at high risk of further degradation.
Desert encroachment or desertification is becoming an increasingly important problem for much of Africa, so initiatives have been implemented to manage its spread.
One of the best solutions to manage desertification is land restoration, which addresses many of the principal factors of degradation and the loss of soil fertility.
With the Sahel region being the most vulnerable and heavily affected by desertification, an initiative known as The Green Wall was put in place for the Sahara and Sahel in 2007. Its ambitious aim is to grow an 8,000-kilometre natural wonder across the entire width of Africa in order to increase the amount of arable land bordering the Sahara Desert. The Great Green Wall’s goal for 2030 is to restore 247 million acres of destroyed land and create 10 million jobs in affected rural areas. The idea is that planting more trees will combat desertification, create jobs, increase food security and bring migrated populations back home to Africa.
The initiative is showing signs of significant progress. 18 million trees have been planted in Senegal since its launch, and the growth of this figure will hopefully prevent the Sahara from advancing on the land most affected by desertification and reduce soil erosion in the process. 37 million acres of degraded land in Ethiopia have also been restored due to this initiative.
The Green Wall is only one of many initiatives in place. The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative was launched in 2015 to restore 100 million hectares by 2030. The roadmap for development Agenda 2063 was also implemented to commit to several issues. These include ecosystem restoration, protecting, restoring and promoting the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably managing forests and combating desertification. Another initiative, the Pan-African Agenda on Ecosystem Restoration for building resilience, aims to restore 200 million hectares of forest in Africa.
Africa is one of the most diverse continents for land use. Grassland and forests together make up more than 50% of the whole continent, while desert, barren, and unproductive areas represent 32.4% of the total land area.
Forests play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy and prosperous environment. They act as watersheds, defend the land against soil erosion, regulate local weather conditions, and trap greenhouse gases.
Africa is the world’s third largest continent for global forest area, most of which is concentrated in central and southern countries characterised by a tropical climate like Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The DRC has the world’s second-largest rainforest, with nearly 152 million hectares of forests, the Congo Basin has been renamed the ‘lungs of the planet’.
While deforestation has decreased globally in recent years, the rate of loss of forest area in Africa has increased steadily since 1990, weakening the ability of the continent’s ecosystem to withstand climate change.
How can Africa manage deforestation and save the continent from the devastating impacts of this phenomenon?
Cutting down trees would reduce the forests’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide and generate rainfall, exposing territories to severe droughts and worsening the ongoing water crisis that has plagued Africa for decades. Rescuing Africa’s forests is crucial in order to maintain the country’s economic productivity and save it from the devastating consequences of global warming.
Africa contains more restorable lands than any other part of the ⁸world, with 393 million hectares of restoration opportunities for the Great Green Wall of Africa alone. This initiative aims to also address deforestation.
Africa is also managing deforestation by curbing the destruction of forests. This includes the regulation of the logging industry, the development of forest protection schemes, and a variety of policies addressing human activities that promote this practice.
Gully erosion is an environmental problem recognized as one of the worst land degradation processes worldwide. In Africa, gully erosion is one of the most severe forms of water erosion and has received a great deal of attention, due to its destructive nature.
Although gully erosion is a natural process shaping the earth’s landscape, in many countries, it has been observed that it is accelerated by unsustainable human activities, such as land use practices. For example, in South Africa, gully erosion is largely a product of heavy rains and highly erodible and dispersive soils. In Ethiopia, it has been reported that gullies are increasingly affecting agricultural lands and account for soil loss, rangelands, and cultivated fields.
However, the ability to assess gully erosion and its impacts remains very limited. As a result, it is often overlooked in policies and land and catchment management strategies.
Nevertheless, significant progress has been made over the past decades to manage gully erosions on the continent.
To effectively address the problem of gully erosion, the assessment and monitoring of gullies are important. In most cases, gullies can be prevented by good land management practices aimed at maintaining even infiltration rates and a good plant cover. Africa manages gullies through this means by maintaining remnant vegetation along drainage lines and eliminating grazing from these areas and by also increasing water usage by planting deep-rooted perennial pastures, trees, or an appropriate mixture of both thus maintaining healthy, vigorous levels of vegetation.
The wealth of Africa depends on her ability to conserve and manage her land resources. It is a well-known fact that the impacts of deforestation, gully erosion, and desert encroachment not only result in decreased food production but also in droughts, ecological imbalance, and consequent degradation of the quality of life, thus, declining resources and increasing levels of poverty.
HOW AFRICA IS MANAGING DEFORESTATION, GULLY EROSIONS, AND DESERT ENCROACHMENT
