Elimination of life threatens Horn of Africa
Somalia like most African countries is suffering from environmental degradation and desertification, the country suffers from both natural and manmade environmental issues. High levels of deforestation and overgrazing cause desertification and soil erosion. Productive land is destroyed by irrigation. The country has a growing population, people who depend on Agriculture as a way of making a living alongside raising livestock. There is very low rainfall and evaporation is extremely high, terrible droughts followed by flash floods also contribute to the environmental degradation threateningthe population living in the land in the future. Trees in Somalia are cut for timber and are burnt to manufacture …show more content…
The Somaliland is a region that lies in the northwest of Somalia, on the southern coast of the Gulf Aden. The region is struggling to survive because of harsh environment conditions caused by the environmental degradation and desertification that has been plaguing the entire horn of Africa. The main causes of the desertification in this area is the production of charcoal, clearing of land for agriculture, overgrazing herds on already shrinking green lands, the mismanagement of land, and the cutting of trees for the production of timber for selling and construction. These very damaging activities are also compounded by the prolonged drought that has been ravaging the region. The drought produces a loss of biodiversity and often increases erosion of dried soils. Many practices that have continued for years threaten the future of the region. Poverty and desertification have become interrelated in the area, Rudolph Kent in 2001 said “you cannot address the issue of poverty without talking about desertification”. The desertification has led to poverty in the area because it has become difficult to produce crops because of the deteriorated land caused by the land degradation. Land near rivers in the Somaliland continues to be cleared for decades now in attempts to change the course of the river flow so that even more land can be made available for agriculture, thus leading to the eroding of soil …show more content…
As much as the charcoal business is good for the people in the Somaliland to survive and it is also the main source of energy as electricity is still rare and very expensive. This energy is generated from Acacia trees that mostly grow in plateau zones and the natural regeneration of these trees is very slow. As the demand for the trees exceeds regeneration, deforestation has become the most visible threat as the country of Somalia as a whole is running out of trees. The self declared state of Somaliland that once prided itself on being the heart of savannah is now a desert area as the trees have becomes an issue because of the charcoal business and industry that is very harmful to the environment, the burning of trees and forests does extreme damage to the climate and high demand of trees required to produce the charcoal has increased the degradation in the forest areas too. The deforestation has been the reason for extreme famine in the region and has also been a major contributing factor to the dangerous drought that is very close to destroying the region over the past years. In 2012 Somaliland region was one of several regions in Somalia that was declared a famine zone and the deforestation was
Somalia like most African countries is suffering from environmental degradation and desertification, the country suffers from both natural and manmade environmental issues. High levels of deforestation and overgrazing cause desertification and soil erosion. Productive land is destroyed by irrigation. The country has a growing population, people who depend on Agriculture as a way of making a living alongside raising livestock. There is very low rainfall and evaporation is extremely high, terrible droughts followed by flash floods also contribute to the environmental degradation threateningthe population living in the land in the future. Trees in Somalia are cut for timber and are burnt to manufacture …show more content…
The Somaliland is a region that lies in the northwest of Somalia, on the southern coast of the Gulf Aden. The region is struggling to survive because of harsh environment conditions caused by the environmental degradation and desertification that has been plaguing the entire horn of Africa. The main causes of the desertification in this area is the production of charcoal, clearing of land for agriculture, overgrazing herds on already shrinking green lands, the mismanagement of land, and the cutting of trees for the production of timber for selling and construction. These very damaging activities are also compounded by the prolonged drought that has been ravaging the region. The drought produces a loss of biodiversity and often increases erosion of dried soils. Many practices that have continued for years threaten the future of the region. Poverty and desertification have become interrelated in the area, Rudolph Kent in 2001 said “you cannot address the issue of poverty without talking about desertification”. The desertification has led to poverty in the area because it has become difficult to produce crops because of the deteriorated land caused by the land degradation. Land near rivers in the Somaliland continues to be cleared for decades now in attempts to change the course of the river flow so that even more land can be made available for agriculture, thus leading to the eroding of soil …show more content…
As much as the charcoal business is good for the people in the Somaliland to survive and it is also the main source of energy as electricity is still rare and very expensive. This energy is generated from Acacia trees that mostly grow in plateau zones and the natural regeneration of these trees is very slow. As the demand for the trees exceeds regeneration, deforestation has become the most visible threat as the country of Somalia as a whole is running out of trees. The self declared state of Somaliland that once prided itself on being the heart of savannah is now a desert area as the trees have becomes an issue because of the charcoal business and industry that is very harmful to the environment, the burning of trees and forests does extreme damage to the climate and high demand of trees required to produce the charcoal has increased the degradation in the forest areas too. The deforestation has been the reason for extreme famine in the region and has also been a major contributing factor to the dangerous drought that is very close to destroying the region over the past years. In 2012 Somaliland region was one of several regions in Somalia that was declared a famine zone and the deforestation was