# Presentation: 694338

## AFRICA: Atlas of Our Changing Environment

**AFRICA: Atlas of Our Changing Environment**

## AFRICA: Atlas of Our Changing Environment

**AFRICA: Atlas of Our Changing Environment**

## AFRICA: Atlas of Our Changing Environment

**AFRICA: Atlas of Our Changing Environment**

## Africa’s Facts and Figures

- Africa holds approximately 30% of the earth’s minerals
- Africa is the Earth’s oldest, second largest (after Asia), and second most populous (after Asia) continent
- Africa has the world’s longest river (the Nile), biggest desert (the Sahara), oldest desert (the Namib) and shortest  coastline

**Africa’s Facts and Figures**

## Africa’s Geography

**Africa’s Geography**

## Africa’s Geography: Land

**Africa’s Geography: Land**

- 31% of Africa’s pasture lands and 19% of its forests and woodlands are classified as degraded
- Arid lands cover approximately 60% of Africa
- 10% of farm soils are prime agricultural land and more than 25% of the land has moderate to low potential for sustainable agriculture
- Forests account for over 20% of Africa’s 30 million km2 of land area

## Africa’s Geography: Water Resources

**Africa’s Geography: Water Resources**

- It is estimated that over 300 million people in Africa face water scarcity
- Per capita water consumption in Africa is 31m3 per year
- About 75% of the African population relies on groundwater as its major source of drinking water
- Renewable water resources for the whole of Africa amount to about
- 	3 930 km3

## Africa’s Geography: Climate Zones

**Africa’s Geography: Climate Zones**

- Africa is the world’s second driest continent (after Australia)
- Africa is the world’s hottest continent
- Africa emits only 4% of total global CO**2** emissions

## Africa’s Geography: The Plants and Animals

**Africa’s Geography: The Plants and Animals**

- Africa is home to world’s largest bird – the ostrich (*Struthio camelus**) *and largest living land mammal – the African elephant
- 98% of Madagascar's land mammals, 92% of its reptiles, 68% of its plants and 41% of its breeding bird species exist nowhere else on Earth
- Africa’s Congo Basin constitutes the second-largest area of dense tropical rain forest in the world (after the Amazonian forests of South America)

## Africa’s Geography: People

**Africa’s Geography: People**

- In 2007 Africa was home to more than 965 million people
- More than 60% of Africa’s population was still living in rural areas in 2005

- Africa now has the fastest urban growth rate in the world
- 2.7% of Africa’s population lives within 100 km of the coast
- 56.6% of African labour force is engaged in agriculture

## Africa’s Changing Environment

**Africa’s Changing Environment**

-  Natural Change and Population
- Africa’s population grew 2.32% annually between 2000 and 2005—nearly double the global rate of 1.24%

-  Air and Atmosphere
- Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change - towards the end of the 21st century, climate change will have caused sea-level rises that will affect Africa’s highly populated low-lying coastal areas

-  Land Cover and Land Use
- Africa is losing more than four million hectares of forest every year—twice the world’s average deforestation rate

-  Water
- By 2050 it is expected that areas experiencing water shortages in sub-Saharan Africa will have increased by 29%

-  Biodiversity
- Africa contains 3 044 protected areas including 198 Marine Protected Areas, 50 Biosphere Reserves, 80 Wetlands of International Importance, and eight of the world’s 34 international biodiversity hotspots

## Africa’s Changing Population

**Africa’s population grew 2.32% annually between 2000 and 2005—nearly double the global rate of 1.24% per year**

**Africa’s Changing Population**

## Africa’s “Shrinking” Land Base

**Africa’s “Shrinking” Land Base**

- Increased population increases pressures on the land and its resources. In a hypothetical
- situation whereby land is shared equally among its population, each individual’s share of land would decrease with the increase in population as time passes, putting more pressure on resources.

## Africa’s Changing Environment

**Africa’s Changing Environment**

- Deforestation
- Africa loses an average of 40 000 km2, or 0.6%, of its forests annually

- Desertification
- Lands prone to desertification occupy about  5% of Africa’s
- land mass and are home to 22 million people

## Africa’s Changing Environment

**Africa’s Changing Environment**

- Renewable Water
- Africa’s freshwater supplies represent less than 9% of global renewable water resources

- Water Stress
- It is estimated that over 300 million people in Africa face water scarcity conditions

**Notes:**
By 2025 18 African countries are expected to experience water stress 

## 8 Biological Hot Spots of Africa

**8 Biological Hot Spots of Africa**

## A Few African Species Extinct in the Wild

**A Few African Species Extinct in the Wild**

## Earth Observations

**Earth Observations**

**Africa at Night**
-   Light distribution correlates with population density
-   Africa with about 12% of the world’s population consumed a mere one-tenth of the electricity used in North America which had 5.1% of global population (as of 2004)

## Earth Observations

**Earth Observations**

**Africa—Lightning Centre of the World**
- Africa has more lightning flashes per square kilometre than anywhere else on Earth

**Africa – World’s Hottest Region**
- This image shows the highest land surface temperatures recorded worldwide between 2003 and 2005 (in pink)

## Soil Moisture Monitoring using Radar

**Soil Moisture Monitoring using Radar**

**August  2005**

**August  2006**

- The maps show marked differences in soil moisture between August 2005 and August 2006, as a result of above average rainfall in 2006

## Thank You!

**Thank You!**

***For more information and free download go to: ***_[http://www.na.unep.net/AfricaAtlas/](http://www.na.unep.net/AfricaAtlas/)__ _
*** ***
***To purchase go to: ***
- _[http://www.earthprint.com/](http://www.earthprint.com/)_