Download Desertification CS9 Mali and Niger are located in the Sahel region

Desertification CS9
Mali and Niger are located in the Sahel region which is in the southern edge of the Sahara desert; by
2005 it was estimated that 3.3 million (800,000 of which were children) were at risk of severe food
shortage because of desertification. In 2004 the subsistence farmers who grow food to feed their
families were hit by a double problem: a drought and a plague of locusts that destroyed their crops.
UNICEF, already working in Niger on a long term aid program, was struggling to cope with the scale
of the problem and asked for extra help to be able to give emergency aid.
Rainfall in the Sahel is extremely variable from year to year: it is lowest in the northern parts of the
region whilst 600mm rainfall in the southern regions is quite usual as it is sufficient to grow some
crops.
The Sahel is experiencing climate change: since early 1970s the rainfall in this region is reduced in
comparison with the early years of the 20 century; as a result the area is becoming more arid, there
is less vegetation and consequently the soil is blown away by the wind or washed away by the few
but heavy downpours.
There are several complex causes that can explain why the Sahel is becoming drier: population
growth; need for food, deforestation for fuel and land, intensive farming, slash-and-burn,
overgrazing, all destroy vegetation with the consequence of causing less evaporation and higher soil
temperatures, leading to less precipitations and land erosion. Over the years the climate has
continued to change and is less reliable for growing crops.
There are a few NGOs (Unicef, MSF, WaterAid) involved in managing desertification in the Sahel:
they have introduced low technology water harvesting and soil conservation. Amongst the strategies
one has been particularly successful in crop growing: the construction of bunds (low stone lines also
known as ‘magic stones’); people in villages are trained to build these stone lines along the contours
of gentle slopes. To reinforce the bunds sometimes they plant grass strips along the lines. The stones
and grass encourage the water to infiltrate in the soil, reduce the amount of run off and prevent soil
erosion. This technique was first experimented in Burkina Faso and then, having been very
successful, has been introduced to Mali and Niger. Other techniques are: planting wind breakers to
protect the soil from being blown away; they also keep the moisture in the soil. Control of land use
by crop rotation to keep the soil healthy; afforestation: trees help to keep the moisture, anchor the
soil and slow down wind erosion – this management is very expensive and time consuming,
nevertheless African government have started to plant the “great green wall” south of the Sahara
desert from Senegal to Djibouti . On a small scale the construction of vegetation fences around crops
also helps to anchor the soil and keep the moisture to grow crops.(These are examples of long term
development aid).
This is a generic answer for CS9, Desertification, perhaps high light in different colour the sections
you could use for questions focussing on the following:
Causes of desertification (get some climate figs, remember it’s on edge of Savannah climate zone)
Consequences (and for whom, ie different groups of people)
Solutions (by whom and the impacts for whom)
Successes and futures