Africa's Desert Problem: How to Stop the Sahara

this video is made possible by skillshare the first 1000 people to use the link in my description will get a free trial of skillshare premium the african continent is probably going to end up becoming the location of the most important demographic event of the 21st century today the population of africa already accounts for roughly 17 of the human population the second highest of any continent after asia which represents almost 60 percent of humanity however africa's population is growing significantly faster than anywhere else in the world is right now by the end of the century it's estimated that africa will by then be home to roughly 40 percent of the human population while asia will by then be home to only 43 percent the 21st century is going to be largely defined by the rise of africa but the continent faces several serious challenges to overcome in her rise to global prominence and one of the biggest of these problems is desertification everybody who's ever played civ 6 knows this but desertification is essentially defined as the degradation of land such that it is no longer productive for useful things such as agriculture land can only provide so much and if the demand is too great then it cannot satisfy the needs of the population especially in the 21st century the pressure is ever increasing on dryland ecosystems across the world for providing goods such as food fuel building materials and water that humans need to survive and economies need to thrive as the pressure to provide these resources for the world's rapidly expanding population increases coupled with the growing threats of global climate change drylands across the world are experiencing more soil erosion than ever and thus an inability for the land to retain water or ever regrow plants again so while yes the term does bring to mind the windswept sand dunes of the sahara it's important to remember that this term reaches far beyond just those living in and around the world's deserts if we take a look at the world at large we can see the drylands cover roughly 38 of earth's total land area and cover much of north and south africa western north america australia the middle east and central asia and all of these areas are home to roughly 2.7 billion people across the world today but the major concern isn't just that soil degradation is happening but the increasing pace at which it is happening what used to take 30 years to degrade is now happening in just a single year leading many to worry about what these expanding population groups will do in these regions over the next century possibly forcing them to migrate elsewhere it is now of such a concern that the united nations even has a special convention the convention to combat desertification or the unccd that regularly meets and is comprised of 122 countries each committing to land degradation targets now focusing back in on africa as we first discussed it is home to the world's third largest desert after both antarctica and the arctic which of course are both technically considered deserts as they receive far less than the 250 millimeters of annual precipitation to be considered one but what we are focusing on here is the sahara desert this colossal desert which comprises much of northern africa covers some 9.2 million square kilometers and spans roughly 3 000 miles from coast to coast right below this vast pile of sand is a region known as the sahel it is tucked in between the sahara in the north and the sudanian savannah to the south here some 135 million people live their lives but what is troubling is the increasing desertification in the region which is essentially pulling the sahara desert south in fact over the last 100 years alone the sahara desert has grown by 10 percent and much of that growth has been in this southward direction the fear is that if nothing is done the sahara will continue to expand and thus essentially wipe out this entire region and push even further into central africa and the worst thing is that this is expected to affect a ton of people while today the population of the sahel is a lot at 135 million it is expected that by 2050 the population could grow to as high as 340 million or more or roughly what the united states population is today and without any productive land to grow food on or to sustain a decent life a spiraling cycle of even worse poverty than the sahel currently experiences will quickly emerge and this is actually already sort of happening for instance over the past couple decades this issue has already fueled severe food and water shortages which in turn have caused recurring military conflicts over these declining resources and thus forced migration to better and more prosperous areas one of these resources the premier lake in the region lake chad has shrunk to incredibly low levels in recent years what has historically been an extremely important body of water for countries like chad cameroon nigeria and niger has seen its levels shrink to less than 10 percent of what they once were when the lake was at full capacity meaning that the 30 million or so people who rely upon this lake each and every year are under serious threat of losing their entire water supply in the face of this massive challenge however many community leaders scientists and politicians have begun looking at long-term solutions but finally in 2007 under the leadership of the african union countries across the region took a bold first step at solving this problem by unveiling their plans for what has become known as the african great green wall the plan is to essentially build a wall across the entire southern edge of the sahara desert all the way from senegal in the west to djibouti in the east all in the hopes of blocking the sahara's continued relentless march south and this isn't just any wall because it's a wall completely made out of trees which once complete will make it the world's largest natural wonder albeit sort of man-made it'll be a whole three times as large as the australian great barrier reef once constructed the wall will be 4 800 miles long and be roughly 10 miles wide through most of its path which is about the same distance as a wall from portugal all the way to mongolia would be the estimated cost of constructing such a titanic structure is believed to be around 8 billion it's a small price to pay because in the end it could transform the lives of millions of africans who see themselves on the very front lines of climate change and this isn't even the first time that this type of project has been undertaken similarly both china and india have undertaken or are considering a green wall of their own that would aid in blocking the expanding gobi desert and tar deserts respectively the project in the sahel is being spearheaded by the african union but it's also being helped out by many other organizations like the united nations as well as several other countries around the world with the hopes of completing the wall by 2030 and once completed not only could it stop the sahara from expanding but the amount of co2 that all of these new trees could absorb will also provide a great bonus benefit as well it would be equivalent to the entire state of california keeping all of its automobiles parked for three and a half years but this project alone is not enough to save this region or for that matter all of the regions across the world facing a similar crisis in addition to this we as a species have to begin taking better care of our environment too decades of overgrazing climate change induced droughts and poor farming practices are stripping not only the sudanian grasslands of their once fertile topsoil but hundreds of other regions like it across the world but what is also needed is to allow for regions to recharge their water tables and create the microclimates necessary to thrive so that vegetation can flourish for instance countries like mali burkina faso and niger are adopting a practice of fencing off large areas of land to allow it to recover from the effects of over-grazing likewise in agricultural areas farmers are being taught to plant around existing trees and vegetation rather than just plowing over them as far as the wall itself is concerned there is a long way to go with just over a decade left to meet the goal the project is currently only 15 complete with the most significant gains in senegal with over 11 million trees planted nigeria with 4.9 million and ethiopia with 15 million however there is so much more work left to do some of the delays have been due to funding but a lot of it is also just the sheer level of manpower required to plant so many trees but the stakes could not be any higher with what could be over 300 million people living in the sahel after the next three decades it is now more important than ever to save this land from falling beneath the sands for if not a mass migration could occur unlike the likes we have ever before seen this year 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Channel: RealLifeLore

Views: 1,218,535

Rating: 4.8817325 out of 5

Keywords: real life lore, real life lore maps, real life lore geography, real life maps, world map, world map is wrong, world map with countries, world map real size, map of the world, world geography, geography, geography (field of study), facts you didn’t know, great green wall, africa, sahara, stop the sahara desert, sahara desert

Id: Zjy_JH1aaqU

Length: 11min 28sec (688 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 09 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/SunRaIsAPosadist]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDgDWbQtlKI

this great green wall thing is mostly a pr stunt. in reality, these types of efforts are being made all over the sahel and elsewhere, particularly impressive in senegal and ethiopia

[u/vegasbm]

New farming techniques can make a difference, such as cover crops, and no-till. Deep-rooted plants like Radish can also loosen soil, to make them arable.

Also, we have powerful submersible pumps now that can bring water to the surface from deep aquifers.

Ground recharge technology also help water percolate back into the ground.

[u/septubyte]

Ecosia plants trees when you search! Fantastic work so far - they have a YouTube channel with updates and very clear financial records check it out!

I use it as my main browser https://info.ecosia.org/what