The CAADP Pillar I Framework

Table 4: Some Ecological Consequences of Land Degradation in Sub-Saharan AfricaConsequenceLoss of ProductiveLand ResourcesLoss of ForestResourcesLoss of WaterResources (Quantityand Quality)Loss of BiodiversityResourcesEcological ConsequencesNature and Severity Between 4 and 7 percent of Africa‘s land area is already so severely degradedthat it is believed to be largely non-reclaimable (data from GLASOD andTERRASTAT). This is the highest proportion of any region in the world. 3.7 million hectares (0.7 percent of the total land area) lost to deforestation peryear. Between 1980 and 1995, Africa lost some 66 million hectares of forest, with 65percent going in the 1990s due to rising demand for farm land, timber andother forest products. Some 86 percent of African soils are under soil moisture stress (Eswaran etal., 1997 found in Swift and Shepherd, 2007). Degradation of the region‘s watersheds and river basins has led to river flowsfluctuating more than before, with flooding more frequent and extensive in therainy season, while water shortages are experienced for longer periods in thedry season. Increased downstream sedimentation due to higher river sediment loads. Increased surface runoff has decreased groundwater recharge – water tableshave dropped, many former perennial rivers, streams and springs have beenreduced to an intermittent flow and many wells and boreholes have dried up. Lake Chad has shrunk in size due to degradation of its catchment area,combined with over extraction of water from its tributaries for irrigation, etc. Some 126 African animal species have become extinct 36 and a further 2,018are threatened. Some 125 plant species are recorded as extinct and close to 2,000 more arethreatened, of which some 250 are critically endangered (APEI 2003, IUCN2006). Loss of such species means a loss of part of the world‘s global heritage aswell as the loss of potential economic opportunities both now and in the future.Social consequences There is a strong causal link between the incidence of land degradation andthe incidence of rural poverty, with the poorest rural communities in Africa generally located in themost ecologically fragile and degraded areas. As the land becomes more degraded, it produces less,thus reducing the ability of poor households to meet their basic welfare needs. Poverty and landdegradation feed off each other leading to an ever growing downward spiral. This in turn increasesthe demands on state and local government welfare services for food aid and other forms of povertyrelief.The economic losses from land degradation at the district and national levels likewise constrain thedevelopment of services in rural areas and the availability of off-farm employment, further enhancingthe reliance of resource poor rural households on the exploitation of their local land resources.36 Or extinct in the wild as some species may still survive in zoos.59