Africa

1. Africa Human-Environment Interaction

3. Words to Know • Congo River • Niger River • Sahara • Sahel • Nile River • Lake Tanganyika • Lake Victoria • Atlas Mountains • Kalahari • Irrigation • Soil Quality • AIDS/HIV • Malaria • Malnutrition/Famine

4. Graphic Organizer Environmental Disaster

5. A Satellite View

6. Africa’s Size 4 6 0 0 M I L E S 5000 MILES • Second largest continent  11,700,000 sq. mi. • 10% of the world’s population. • 2 ½ times the size of the U. S.

7. Key Physical Locations • Sahel • The area that separates the Sahara from tropical rain forests.

8. The Sahara Desert • The world’s largest HOT desert, covering most of North Africa.

9. Savanna • Rolling grassland and scattered trees and shrubs. The most famous savanna is the Serengeti, straddling the borders of Kenya and Tanzania • Tropical Rain Forest • The central African tropical rainforest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the 2nd largest in the world. Approx 90% of the African rainforest have been deforested due to logging, road building, and over grazing

10. African Rain Forest • Annual rainfall of up to 17 ft. • Rapid decomposition (very humid). • Covers 37 countries. • 15% of the land surface of Africa.

11. Congo River • The Congo River is the 2nd longest river in Africa, and the 5th in the world. • Covers 12% of thecontinent. • Extends over 9countries. • 2,720 miles long.

12. The Niger River Basin • The main river of Western Africa. Five African nations depend on it for their water. • Covers 7.5% of the continent. • 2,600 miles long.

13. Nile River • The world’s longest river (4150 miles).

14. Lake Tanganyika • Is the longest lake as well as the 2nd deepest lake in the world. • Lake Victoria • Is the headwaters for the Nile River and the largest lake in Africa. It is the 2nd largest freshwater lake in the world.

15. Atlas Mountains • Kalahari desert

16. Summarizing Activity • THINK-PAIR-SHARE • How are humans affected by the natural features of Africa?

17. Environmental Issues • Most of Africa’s environmental issues are a result of climate and poverty. • Soil is depleted by slash-and-burn agriculture. • Contributes to deforestation and desertification. • Water quality is a problem. • Other concerns: • Oil extraction • Toxic-waste disposal • Wildlife preservation

18. Desertification • When good soil turns into desert land due to erosion.

19. The area is suffering from desertification.

21. Causes of Deforestation-Soil Degradation-Desertification • Slash and burn agriculture--cutting down trees and vegetation to clear a field for planting. The field is only good for a few years before you have to do it again. The land you leave is useless because you have depleted it of nutrients

22. Desertification makes poverty worse since there are even more limited resources. Africa, with around sixty-six percent of its land either desert or dry lands, is particularly affected by desertification. The region is afflicted by frequent and severe droughts

24. Graphic Organizer Desertification Environmental Disaster

25. Interactive Notebook Questions Why is desertification taking place in Africa? What do you think can be done to stop or prevent desertification from taking place?

26. Impact of Water • Water is a very important resource in Africa. • Some places have an excessive amount of water while other regions have very little. • Population Distribution is typically centered around large amounts of available water. • Very few people choose to live in a desert.  WHY? • Unequal distribution of water and water pollution have impacted several areas. • Irrigation • Trade • Industry • Drinking water

27. Summarizing Activity • THINK-PAIR-SHARE • How does the availability of water impact population distribution in Africa? • Based on the graph, how has the availability of water changed in Africa since 1990?

28. Irrigation • Nile River has provided a water resource for many countries throughout Africa. • Fertile land surrounding the Nile are used for farming. • Irrigation is used to increase the amount of arable land for agriculture. • Drought and dams built along the river can impact the amount of water used for irrigation. • Negative impact of dams • Fertile silt is now trapped behind the dam – preventing fertilization down the river. • Loss of silt results in erosion of riverbanks and loss of vegetation and animal life.

29. Water Pollution • Pollution is caused by environmental concerns – not industry. • Snails, worms, insect larve and other parasites are the main cause of water pollution. • These organisms cause waterborne diseases which reduce life expectancy, lessen the quality of life and slow economic development. • The lack of safe drinking water impacts the development of the region. • Less than 50% of the population in sub-Sahara Africa has safe access to drinking water.

31. Water Quality • Only 47 percent of sub-Saharan Africans have access to safe drinking water. However, unlike other regions of the world (ASIA) , industry is not the primary cause of water pollution in Africa. Natural phenomena, such as snails, worms, insect larvae, and other parasites, are the main factors affecting Africa’s poor water quality.These organisms cause waterborne diseases which reduce life expectancy, lessen the quality of life, and stifle economic development.

32. River Blindness • Human disease caused by a filarial worm native to Africa but also found in parts of tropical America and transmitted by several blackflies. • The flies that transmit the disease breed on rivers and mostly affect riverine populations. • Blindness is caused by dead microfilariae — the larvae that can be produced for some 15 – 18 years by adult worms — inside the eye. River blindness is common in savannah areas of Africa and in Guatemala and Mexico.

34. Guinea Worm Disease • a parasitic worm infection that occurs mainly in Africa. It is also called dracunculiasis [dra-KUNK-you-LIE-uh-sis]. • People get infected when they drink standing water containing a tiny water flea that is infected with the even tinier larvae of the Guinea worm. • Inside the human body, the larvae mature, growing as long as 3 feet. After a year, the worm emerges through a painful blister in the skin, causing long-term suffering and sometimes crippling after-effects. • Infection can be avoided, even in areas where the disease is very common. Use only water that has been filtered or obtained from a safe source. Keep people with an open Guinea worm wound from entering ponds or wells used for drinking water.

36. Graphic Organizer Desertification No/Little Water Access Environmental Disaster

37. Interactive Notebook Question • 3-2-1 • What are 3 natural causes of water pollution? • List 2 water borne illnesses. • What percentage of Africans have safe access to drinking water?

38. Soil Quality • Animal grazing and subsistence farming have eroded Africa’s soil fertility. • Large scale export of raw materials has negatively impacted Africa’s soil fertility. • Rubber, Ivory, Palm oil, Timber and Copper • Infertile soil contributes to deforestation and desertification. • Can be corrected through composting, fertilizers, small scale irrigation, pest management and crop rotation.

39. Another major factor that results in deforestation is the excessive need of fuel. • Most Africans use wood and charcoal to heat their food, since there are no other cheap energy sources available for them. • When the lumberjacks destroy one forest they move to another one, then farmers move into the deforested land, and since the land doesn’t stay fertile for a long period of time, they need more deforested land soon after. • Key Facts about deforestation in Africa. • Almost 6.8 million square kilometers of Africa were originally forested. • Within the Congo Basin, between 1980 and 1995, an area about the size of Jamaica was cleared each year (1.1 million ha). • In Africa, for every 28 trees cut down, only one tree is replanted.

40. Desertification

41. Over-cultivation • Population growth has put pressure on the farmland to produce more food. • This extensive use of land exhausts the nutrients. • Overgrazing • Livestock graze on marginal land closer to the desert. • When the protective vegetation cover is eaten away the soil becomes vulnerable to erosion. • Deforestation • 80% of domestic energy comes from burning firewood. • Increased population means increased demand for wood. • Land is cleared of trees, again the soil becomes vulnerable to erosion. • Climate Change • Less rainfall means poorer grazing and lower crop production. • Underground water reserves have been used up.

42. Graphic Organizer Desertification No/Little Water Access Environmental Disaster Overgrazing Deforestation

43. Key Facts • On the southern corner of the Sahara, an area the size of California and Oregon has become desert over the past 50 years. • Areas of West Africa, it’s estimated that the desert is expanding by more than 3 miles per year. • 1/3 of Africa is facing desertification • Lands can no longer produce crops, provide food for livestock, or provide wood for fuel.

44. Overpopulation (In certain areas*)

45. Demographics that are typical of a developing nation • low per capita GDP • low life expectancy • High population growth rates • High infant mortality • large percentage of the population under the age of 15 • low literacy rates

46. Summarizing Activity • THINK-PAIR-SHARE • How does slash-and-burn agriculture increase deforestation? • How does deforestation lead to desertification? • How much of Africa is at risk for desertification?

47. Health Issues in Africa

48. Overview • AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome:Acquired means you can get infected with it; (bodily fluid contact) • Immune Deficiency means a weakness in the body's system that fights diseases. • Nowhere has the impact of HIV/AIDS been more severe than Sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS is the #1 killer in Africa. • According to UN AIDS, an estimated 3.2 million adults and children in Sub-Saharan Africa became infected with HIV during the year 2003.