1. Based on what you have learned about Africa’s physical features, what kind of environmental issues might affect the continent and its people?

2. Standards:
SS7G2a. Explain how water pollution and the unequal distribution of water impacts irrigation, trade, industry, and drinking water.
SS7G2b. Explain the relationship between poor soil and deforestation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
SS7G2c. Explain the impact of desertification on the environment of Africa from the Sahel to the rainforest.

3. Agenda: Environment Issues in Africa
EQ: Describe the primary environmental issues that face Africa today.
Warm up: Describe the role that you think conflict might play in Africa’s environmental issues. Provide detailed causes and effects.

4. Standards
SS7G2 The student will discuss environmental issues across the continent of Africa.
a. Explain how water pollution and the unequal distribution of water impacts irrigation, trade, industry, and drinking water.
b. Explain the relationship between poor soil and deforestation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
c. Explain the impact of desertification on the environment of Africa from the Sahel to the rainforest

5. Environmental Issues Climate video- Africa.asx
Africans face many different types of environmental issues
Lack of water
Poor soil quality
Expanding deserts
Much of Africa has trouble having enough water for people to live.
Parts of Africa
Arid deserts
Semi arid
Rolling grassland
Humid / sub-tropical
Climate video- Africa.asx

6. What does this map tell us about water in Africa?
What physical feature(s) is located in this area? How does it relate to the amount of water it receives?

7. Unequal Distribution of Water
Some parts of Africa have an adequate fresh water supply, while water is scarce in other areas such as the Sahara.
As the population grows, the demand for fresh water is increasingly greater than the available supply.
Women and children walk daily to collect water, but it is not enough

8. Unequal Distribution of Water
Walking for Water [3:20]

9. Unequal Distribution of Water
The inadequate supply of water in Africa makes irrigation necessary, but difficult.
Water supplies are needed in the cities because of population growth, which means less for irrigation.

10. Unequal Distribution of Water
Some rivers have large dams for water distribution and power production that increase trade and industry for surrounding areas.

11. Some of the Major Ports in Africa
Examine the two images below. How does access to water affect countries in Africa?
Some of the Major Ports in Africa

12. Unequal Distribution of Water
African countries with immediate access to water for shipping have an advantage. They can trade with countries around the world and use the profits to their benefit.

13. Making Connections…
How is the situation with water in Africa similar to the situation of water in the Middle East?

14. Why or how do we use water?
Drinking
Hygiene
Irrigation
Business/Industry

15. Explain how water pollution and the unequal distribution of water impacts irrigation, trade, industry, and drinking water.
Many countries in Africa do not have enough clean water even though they have large rivers.
The Nile River runs the length of Egypt and most Egyptians live along its banks. The river is used for water and transportation, however, overpopulation and poor sanitation regulations have made life along the Nile more difficult.

16. Explain the relationship between poor soil and deforestation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Sahel is an area of Africa south of the Sahara Desert.
It is an example of how poor farming practices and the destruction of trees and shrubs can lead to an expanding desert.
Centuries of farming and grazing along with less rainfall have gradually damaged land in the Sahel.
Millions of people struggle to farm in its poor soil.

17. What is irrigation?
Irrigation is the watering of land to make it ready for agriculture (growing crops and raising animals)

18. Water Pollution in Africa

19. Water Pollution in Africa
Pesticides, fertilizers, human waste, storm water runoff, mining, and manufacturing contribute to water pollution in Africa.

20. Water Pollution in Africa

21. Water Pollution in Africa
Water is often polluted with oil spills that affect trade by ruining the land for farming and the water for fishing

22. Oil Spills in Nigeria and on the Niger Delta

23. Water Pollution in Africa
Many coastal beaches are no longer safe for swimming due to waste from industry and ships

24. Less than 50% of the population in sub- Saharan African has access to safe drinking water from environmental pollution. This has caused a decrease in the country’s economic growth.
Some governments ignore industrial pollution of major rivers and waterways because they want their industries to make more profits.

25. Making Connections…
Compare and contrast water pollution in Southern & Eastern Asia with water pollution in Africa.

26. Clean Water Activities

27. Water Pollution in Africa
Unclean drinking water is a major problem in Africa. As the population grows, the amount of clean water is decreasing

29. Water Pollution in Africa
There are few places in rural Africa that have plumbing for water or sanitation to purify the drinking water.

30. Water Pollution in Africa
Watch one of the video clips below on water in Africa Water Changes Everything [3:23] Water: A Global Crisis [3:47 but stop around 3:20]

31. Deforestation
The clearing of trees

32. Deforestation

33. Effects of Deforestation
When the trees are cut down, nothing remains to hold the soil in place.
Wind and rain then erodes what is left of the soil washing away important nutrients.
Then the sun heats the exposed soil.
In effect, Deforestation leads to soil that is poor in nutrients and unable to support agriculture.

34. Causes of Deforestation
Road building
Agriculture
Logging
Mining
New settlements

35. Deforestation in Africa

36. Deforestation in Africa

37. Deforestation is the destruction of trees and other vegetation.
This continues to be a problem in the Sahel and elsewhere in Africa.
Animals have been allowed to graze too heavily in an area and strip all the vegetation from the soil.
People who need fuel, need timber for houses, want to sell timber for profit, or who hope to be able to clear new farmland cut down the trees that help hold the soil in place.

38. Droughts, or periods of little rainfall, have hurt the Sahel, too.
The people who live in these areas often face starvation and poverty. Many move into urban areas hoping to find work, but most only find more poverty.
In recent years, the UN and the World Food Bank have come to the aid of those living in parts of the Sahel. They have worked to find solutions to help the people survive and live a better life.

39. Explain the impact of desertification on the environment of Africa from the Sahel to the rainforest
The Sahel is one part of Africa that is experiencing severe problems with desertification, the process of the desert expanding into areas that had formerly been farmland.
As the land is overused, the soil becomes poor and powdery.
The winds coming from the Sahara gradually blow the dry topsoil away, leaving a barren and rocky land.
Periods of drought have made this situation worse.
As the desert expands, people are less able to grow food to feed themselves.
In the Sahel, however, a majority of the desertification is the result of the actions of people, deforestation, rather than climate.

40. Another place where rapid desertification is happening is East Africa.
In Ethiopia, people who have lived for generations by farming and raising grazing animals like sheep and goats are finding they have less and less land available to them.
The Kalahari Desert is a desert that covers part of the southern tip of Africa.
The people around this desert face the same problems.
Pressure from increasing populations, the need for fuels like firewood and brush, and the constant grazing of animals have worn away soil and introduced desertification.

47. The process by which a desert spreads
Desertification
The process by which a desert spreads

48. Causes of Desertification
Poor farming practices
Land clearing (deforestation)
Overgrazing of livestock
Depleting (removing) surface and underground water for industrial and home use

49. Desertification
Desertification, along with drought, has led to a constant spread of desert areas.
Population growth has made the problem worse. People and animals compete for an already limited water supply.
Threatens 1/3 of Africa

50. Desertification

51. Desertification in the Sahel [3:28]

52. Summarizer