Sep 07, 2012 yet an emergency such as this drought affecting more than 18 million people, including nearly 2 million children is difficult to ignore. Desertification in the sahel vanderbilt university. This video shows the sahel region south of the sahara is at risk of becoming desert. Drought in the sahel the sahel is one of the worlds most vulnerable drought hazard regions. Because of suffering in the sahel brought about by the drought and famine of 1968 to 1973, the agency for international development aid was authorized to participate in a longterm development program supported by several countries and international organizations in consultation and planning with the sahelian countries. The nature and context of the conflicts in the sahel region require more preventive diplomacy than has been used to. The african development bank afdb has emphasized the need for the crisis in mali to be resolved quickly. Case study the impact of drought in a developing country.
Adapting to drought in the sahel wiley online library. Satellite imagery of the effects of the severe droughts in. Africas sahel region faces many complex and interconnected challenges. Task 3 watch the anatomy of sahel drought video to complete your map and physical causes of drought section of your case study sheet. In general, drought is a temporal reduction of environmental moisture status relative to. University for his help in accessing the africa flood and drought monitoring data for the 100 survey villages. If humans are mostly responsible for the drought, further land degradation may lead to a catastrophic reduction in the ecosystems carrying capacity.
The drought in the late 20th century in the sahel represents one of most striking shifts in climate ipcc, 2007. Consequences of droughts glossary bibliography biographical sketch summary drought is one of the most damaging environmental phenomena. The sahel, or sahelian zone, lies south of the sahara desert in north africa. Simulations with the most recent generation of atmospheric models 10 have confirmed that the basic structure of the sahel drought can be simulated when the models use the observed ssts as a lower boundary condition. There was a major drought in the sahel in 1914 caused by annual rains far below average, leading to largescale famine. Elders in a village in burkina faso describe how the area has changed from a fertile area to a droughtprone neardesert. Implications for supporting drought crisis management and mitigation measures 47. Sahel drought and famine, 19681985 starting in 1968, a series of droughts hit the sahel region from west africa to ethiopia.
The reported incidence of desertification has been challenged but persistent and widespread drought is still widely accepted. It is shown that the 19701972 sahel drought is a result of a reversible climatic fluctuation and not an indication of climatic change. Drought, land degradation and desertification in africa. The sahel is located directly south of the sahara desert and stretches from the east to the west of africa.
Irrigationinitiativesupportprojectp154482sequenceno02. Drought characteristics and management in north africa and the near east 45 drought characteristics and management in north africa and the near east the report assesses the occurrence and impacts of drought, the current policies underlying drought management as well as the mitigation measures and responses adopted in the near. The sahel subregion, owing to its climatic, institutional, livelihood, economic, and. Across the sahel region, between 1961 and 2012 there was a 76% increase. Drought, displacement and conflict leave 20 million. This dry savanna environment is particularly prone to devastating drought years. The west africa sahel region is a semiarid area that runs. The sahel is particularly vulnerable to encroaching desert, this combined with drought and more perennial water scarcity is threatening livelihoods, the unfp estimates the the 2011 sahel drought left 11m people without enough to eat.
Ways to minimize the 4 types of drought water tech online. This paper is a critical synthesis of the causes,effects and challenges of the sahelian droughts. West african governments and the international community have been called upon to support peace efforts. Relationship between natural resources and food security a. The sahel region of west africa is well known as a region of environmental degradation. The famines are analysed in terms of food availability decline fad vis a vis entitlements, occupational status of the destitutes, and their entitlements. The permanent interstate committee for drought control in the sahel cilss is the regional body. Agriculture in the sahel region is characterized by traditional techniques and is strongly dependent on climatic conditions and rainfall.
Natural resources management strategies in the sahel rachel cooper university of birmingham. Prevention and management in the sahel and west africa held in niamey highlighted the following. Effect of the availability and natural resources management on the productivity and agricultural production poor rainfall, land degradation, insufficient use of mineral and organic fertilizers, the underequipment, land overexploitation, overgrazing, inadequate. Extreme lack of international financing for the agricultural sector funded at only 20 percent. Years of above average rainfall from the 1950s to the 1970s, were followed by drought in the sahel starting in the late 1960s.
Resilience in the sahelenhanced rise project impact evaluation volume 1 baseline survey resilience analysis february 2016. Unicef even brought in former disney child star selena gomez to draw attention to the emerging crisis. Pdf the african sahel experienced a prolonged dry episode in the latter. Historically it had been maintained that the droughtwhich resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and sparked bob geldoffs band aid and we are the.
Projected future aridity is presented based on recent studies and our analysis of model simulations. Drought characteristics africa and the near east and. Poor rains last year and a resulting drought has plunged a huge swatch of land in the sahel into crisis. The area experiences a dry season which can last up to eight or nine months. Originally it was believed that the drought in the sahel primarily was caused by humans overusing natural resources in the region through overgrazing, deforestation and poor land management. Resilience in the sahelenhanced rise project impact. Pdf the causes, effects and challenges of sahelian droughts. Between the 1950s and 1960s, there was plenty of rain across the sahel, but just before 1970, a new drought started. The root causes of the sahel drought global food politics. Jun 19, 2012 millions of people in the sahel region are facing severe food shortages because of drought. It has been understood since the 1980s folland, palmer, and parker that changes in ocean temperature played a significant role in producing. Humanitarian needs in the sahel are increasing rapidly as a result of the combined effect of conflicts, sudden changes in weather patterns, food shortages, and disease outbreaks.
At this pace, within the end of the the temperatures of the mediterranean sea will rise by 46 degrees, while precipitations could diminish by about 20%. The sahel region, a band that extends across africa just below the sahara desert, faces frequent drought and inadequate rain seasons. National early warning systems and international organizations are reporting that between and 15 million people are at risk of food insecurity in west africas sahel region due to a combination of drought, poor accessibility of food and displacement. The sahel region is a climate zone sandwiched between the sudanian savanna to the south and the sahara desert to the north, across west and central africa.
While the frequency of drought in the region is thought to have increased from the end of the 19th century, three long droughts have had. At the end of 2018, more than 4 million people from the region needed immediate food assistance to save them from facing acute hunger, with women and. Pdf land degradation and agriculture in the sahel of. Drought early warning systems risk management adaptation. Challenges for drought mitigation in africa ephyslab. The sahels experience of adapting to changes in rainfall on a scale at least comparable to that of climate change scenarios, between the 1960s and the 1990s, suggests that lessons can be learnt that may have a wider utility for policy in the future. The consequence is increased vulnerability to food insecurity and the danger of similar conditions being repeated during the next rainfall deficit. The drought has had a devastating impact on this ecologically vulnerable region and was a major impetus in the establishment. Transforming agriculture in the sahel integrated drought.
Desertification is a silent, invisible crisis that is destabilizing communities on a global scale. An urgent humanitarian crisis has gripped the sahel, where more than 18 million people are currently at risk of food insecurity and hunger. Droughtrelated conflicts, management and resolution in the west african sahel human security and climate change an international workshop holmen fjord hotel, asker, near oslo, 2123 june 2005. The sahel is a dry stretch of land south of the sahara that stretches across 12 countries. The resulting seasonal millet moisture deficits are mapped for millet drought in niger from 1967 to 1978. Building resilience to drought in the sahel by early risk.
Responses from local authorities and water authorities may involve managing the supply of, and demand for, water. The current population has a duty to help minimize the effect of droughts and to prevent them when possible. A drought in 2012 that affected more than 20 million people galvanized the international community to act. Droughtrelated conflicts, management and resolution in. The united nations office for west africa and the sahel unowas works to enhance the contributions of the united nations towards the achievement of peace and security in west africa and the sahel, promoting an integrated regional approach to addressing issues that impact stability in the region.
Usually the case study that is found on text books about droughts is the one of australia, bus trying to innovate and use more recent examples i did some research about this, most of the information i got it from the bbc website. Drought characteristics and management in north africa and the. The most susceptible groups were the nomadic pastoralists and the. Typically, several years of abnormally low rainfall alternate with several successive years of average or higherthanaverage rainfall. Sahel desertification about drought, desertification. Drought hazard can be defined as a condition of abnormally dry weather, resulting in a serious hydrological imbalance. Climate variability, drought, and drought management in tunisias agricultural sector vii 5 policy options 87 5. Natural resources management strategies in the sahel. The united nations integrated strategy for the sahel s20354, endorsed by the security council in june 20, is a promising new instrument for conflict prevention. Elders in a village in burkina faso describe how the area has changed from a fertile area to a drought prone neardesert. Although drought and famine were unavoidable components of life in this harsh region, the people were relatively prosperous and developed agricultural and livestock practices that allowed local populations to endure and recover from the extremes of nature office of technology. Leaders of 11 countries in the sahel conceived the vision in 2005, and the ggwi officially launched in 2007 under the auspices of the african union. Climate change impacts in future are very uncertain.
Since then studies have accumulated that strongly indicate that the cause of persistent drought in the sahel in the 1970s and 1980s lay in the oceans, not over land. Here are some of the major ones, and how the united nations is assisting the region in finding solutions. It is one of many famines to have hit the region in recent times. Pastoralism and security in west africa and the sahel. From 1951 to 2004, the sahel experienced some of the most consistent and severe droughts in africa. The results show that the four main causes of the sahelian droughts areas follows. In west africa, climate variations and droughts have always affected livelihoods but. Desertification integrated drought management programme. The consequences for people can include loss of standing crops, water shortages for livestock and human populations, and damage. The drought has had a devastating impact on this ecologically vulnerable region and was a major impetus in the establishment of the united nations convention. A case study of the drought of 196873, and the famines of the 1970s in the in the six west african countries of mauritania, senegal, mali, upper volta, niger, and chad. Their lives are at risk, say aid agencies, due to the combined effects. Drought and famine in the sahel oxford scholarship. English map on niger and 6 other countries about agriculture, climate change and environment, drought, other and more.
From crisis management to sustainable strategy february 20 executive summary during the first half of 2012, military officers deposed the malian president in bamako, tuareg rebels declared thei independent state of azawad of northern mali,s and islamist extremists subsequently imposed sharia law in the region. Task 4 watch the explaining the sahel drought problem video report to the right and take notes on the environmental, social and economic effects of the drought on the countries affected. By the middle of 2010, another drought in the western sahel was predicted by several organisations for 2011 and 2012. The permanent interstate committee for drought control in the sahel cilss, which.
The quantification of natural and anthropogenic causes is important. Between the late 1960s and the the early 1980s, approximately 100,000 people died due to food shortages and disease. A new study exploring the root causes of the twodecade drought that ravaged the african sahel from the 1970s to the 1990s arrives at an interesting conclusion. No matter the details of the mechanisms, theory, modeling, and observations, all indicate that the sahel drought was driven by processes that were global in scale. Pdf on jan 1, 2005, anthony nyong and others published droughtrelated conflicts, management and resolution in the west african sahel. More than 15 million people are being affected by a drought which has swept west africa. However, they must ask what exactly defines drought conditions, and what consumers and water treatment professionals and dealers can do to limit their consequences. Drought, defined solely as a function of rainfall, is believed to have commenced in the early 1970s and continued through to the present. Vulnerable people living in conflicthit areas in the sahel especially in mali, burkina faso, niger, and the lake chad basin are facing a food crisis for a third consecutive year in 2019. New normal the sahel subregion, owing to its climatic, institutional, livelihood, economic, and environmental context, is one of the most vulnerable regions of the world. Jun 12, 20 a new study exploring the root causes of the twodecade drought that ravaged the african sahel from the 1970s to the 1990s arrives at an interesting conclusion.
Understanding the sahel drought of the late 20th century and improving our future projections for the hydrological cycle in this region is a major challenge for climate dynamics and climate modeling. Case study drought in the sahel 2011 free download as powerpoint presentation. The great green wall initiative ggwi is a unified vision and response to these challenges. The sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the sahara desert in the north of africa and the sudanian savannas in the south, covering an area. These maps indicate that for traditional areas of millet cultivation, millet drought was a rare event during the 1970s, but was common and widespread in the more northerly, marginal lands. The impact of drought on subsaharan african economies. The sahel has long experienced a series of historic droughts, dating back to at least the 17th century.
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