Transcript The Environmental issues in Africa

Souadkia Manal
Introduction
Environmental issues in Africa are caused
by anthropogenic effects on the African natural
environment and have major impacts on humans
and nearly all forms of endemic life.
 Issues include desertification, problems with
access to safe water supply, population explosion
and fauna depletion. These issues are ultimately
linked to over-population in Africa, as well as on a
global scale. Nearly all of Africa's environmental
problems are geographically variable and human
induced, though not necessarily by Africans

Biodiversity in Africa
Africa has rich and varied biological resources
forming the continent’s natural wealth on
which its social and economic systems are
based.
 These
resources are also of global
importance, for the world’s climate and for
the development of agriculture, industrial
activities,
pharmaceutical
production,
construction and tourism, to name but a few
of the most important areas.

Biodiversity in Africa
The African mainland harbours
Africa is home to some
between 40,000 and 60,000
one quarter of the
plant species and about 100,000
world’s 4,700 mammal
species, including 79known species of insects,
and other arachnids.
species of antelope. spiders
It
also has more than Eight of the world’s 34
hotspots are in
2,000 species of birds biodiversity
–
Africa.
one fifth of the world’s
total – and at least
2,000 species of fish,(Source: Africa Atlas of our
Changing Environment, UNEP
alongside
950
2008)
amphibian species.
Biodiversity in Africa

The Atlas Mountains in Northern Africa shelter rich pine
and oak forests, and also a number of endemic and rare
species such as the wild olive and the Saharan myrtle. The
Tibesti Mountains in the southern Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
hold some Mediterranean, and also some tropical relicts.
These mountains also provide prime habitat for migratory
birds and a key refuge for threatened wildlife.
Environmental issues in Africa

Africa faces many challenges and
suffers from some serious
environmental problems, including
climate change, deforestation, water
pollution, coal mining, nuclear waste,
overfishing and industrial agriculture
Environmental issues in Africa
Lack of access to safe water: Scale and impacts of
the problem
Globally,
1 billion
people
However, more
muchthan
of the
problem
canlack
be
access
to safe
water (Worldinvestment
Bank 2004)in
attributed
to inadequate
with
accounting
27% or over
300
waterAfrica
supply
systems, for
especially
in remote
million
people
access
to
areas, and
poorlacking
water reasonable
management.
In most
safe water and sanitation (UNEP 2003a).
countries, relatively little of the total
 Access to safe and adequate amount of
freshwater supply is being utilized (with
water significantly contributes to improved
Northern
Africaproduction
and South
Africa
health and food
and reduces
representing
notable exceptions).
the disproportionate
burden on Pro-poor
women
water
policies will
necessary,
and children.
Onlybe 64%
of thein addition
African
to
basin-level
management
population
has access
to improvedactivities
water
supply(UNEP 2003a).
(McGranahan
and Satterthwaite 2004).

Environmental issues in Africa
Lack of access to safe water: Scale and impacts of
the problem

The poorer areas are the least likely to have any way
to safely dispose of their household trash and
garbage. In Kampala, Uganda, for example, less than
20% of the population benefits from regular
collection of household wastes.
Environmental issues in Africa
Air pollution


Increased activity in key social and economic sectors
are contributing significantly to air pollution—which
has gradually grown into a major environmental
concern for African policy makers and gained pro.
Unsustainable patterns of consumption and
production of energy resources by industry,
transport and household sectors have, in
particular, been the leading sources of key indoor
and outdoor air pollutantsminence on the region’s
political agenda
Environmental issues in Africa
Deforestation



Up to a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions come
from tropical deforestation; more than emissions from
all the world’s planes, trains and cars put together.
In Africa, 40 million people depend on the Congo Basin
rainforest which is also home for 270 species of
mammals, including the endangered gorilla, the
chimpanzee and the bonobo, as well as 39 unique
species of animals that are only found here.
Most parts of Africa are already suffering from
increasing land-grabbing tendencies for the expansion
of large-scale plantations, industrial logging,
agribusiness, oil, mining and infrastructure operations.
Environmental issues in Africa
Overfishing


According to the United Nations, over 75% percent of
the world's fisheries are fully exploited, over
exploited or significantly depleted. Some species
have already been fished to commercial extinction;
many more are on the verge.
West African nations have some of the richest fishing
grounds in the world; yet their food security is under
threat. European and Asian fishing fleets have moved
into West African waters over the past 30 years after
depleting their own fish stocks. Sub-Saharan Africa is
now the only region on Earth where per capita fish
consumption is actually falling, partly because
foreign fishing fleets have removed so much fish.
Environmental issues in Africa
Industrial agriculture

Industrial farming presents one of the most urgent
threats to environmental sustainability and food
security facing the world today. It relies on inputs of
fossil-fuel intensive synthetic fertilisers, pesticides
and genetically engineered (GE) seeds. These
expensive inputs result in debt and economic
insecurity for farmers, especially smallholders. This
debt-driven agriculture is a big contributor to global
climate change, and it destroys biodiversity,
degrades soils, pollutes land, freshwater and
coastlines, creates health risks from field to fork, and
consolidates control over the food system amongst a
handful of corporate giants.
Environmental issues in Africa
Industrial agriculture


Those problems are aggravated by lack of financial
resources, poor governance, corruption, significant
illegal logging of natural resources and lack of local
participation in environmental decision making
processes.
Protecting the environment of Sub-Saharan Africa is
an issue that needs to be incorporated into an overall
strategy of sustainable economic development.
Environmental issues in Africa
BIBLIOGRAPHY
State of Biodiversityin Africa. 2010
international year of biodiversity. UNEP.
http://www.unep.org/delc/Portals/119/State
%20of%20biodiversity%20in%20Africa.pdf
 African Regional Implementation Review
for the 14th Session of the Commission on
Sustainable Development (CSD-14).
Report on Atmosphere and Air Pollution.
United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) .

Thank you for your
attention