Desertification

Deserts are classified as regions which experience fewer than 10 inches of rainfall per year. A large section of the northern half of Africa is encompassed in what is known as the Sahara Desert. Currently, the size of the Sahara Desert has been found to be increasing at an alarming rate, 30 to 35 times the historical rate. This process of increasing the amount of productive land into arid infertile desert is known as desertification.

Desertification originally received media attention in the 1970’s when over a decade of severe drought brought a devastating famine to impoverish parts of the Sahara Desert. The drought reduced water available for irrigation, which led to fewer crops being produced as well as a massive die off of livestock in the region. Between the years of 1972 and 1984, over 100,000 people living in the southern-Sahara region, were estimated to have died of either dehydration or starvation. Thousands more were left dependent of international relief to avoid starvation. By 1977, the U.N. had officially recognized that desertification had become a serious global threat...