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Les changements climatiques redessinent la carte de l'Afrique
Related to country: Senegal

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The climatic changes redraw the chart of Africa
Automatically translated into English thanks to WorldLingo
The environmental change in Africa, of the disappearance of the glaciers in the Rwenzori Mounts, in Uganda, at the loss of single “the fynbos” vegetation of the Cape, was presented on June 10 at the African Ministerial Conference of Environment (CMAE).

The Atlas, produced by the Program of the Nations of the United Nations for Environment (PNUE), stresses the way in which the choices of development, the demographic growth, the climatic change and, in certain cases, the conflicts allocate the natural resources of the area. The document of almost 400 pages was launched today by President Thabo Mbeki, of South Africa, country host of the CMAE.

In addition to the well-known changes, like the cast iron of the ices of the Kilimandjaro Mount, the draining of the lake Chad and the fall of the water levels of Lake Victoria, the Atlas presents, for the first time, of the images satellite of new environmental changes and less known challenges, including:
- the disappearance of the glaciers of the Rwenzori Mount, of Uganda, which decreased by 50 percent between 1987 and 2003.
- The widening of the corridors of deforestation which followed the expansion of the roads in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1975. New roads threaten to bring even more traffic to this forest rich in biodiversity and to intensify hunting for the meat of bush.
- The disappearance of most of the Malagasy thorny forest of the South of Madagascar between 1973 and 2003 because of the agriculture and the collection of the firewood.
- The north of the Cape, which saw much of its native vegetation “fynbos” replaced by agricultural activities and the proliferation of the suburbs since 1978. The plants “Fynbos” represent 80 percent of the plant varieties in the floristic area of the Cape, a zone with more than 6000 species of plants which are not nowhere elsewhere in the world and which are an economic asset for tourism.
- The loss of trees and shrubs in the fragile environment of the mountains Djebel Marra in the west of Sudan following the demographic growth due to an surge of refugees fleeing the dryness and the conflicts in Darfur North bordering.
- The spectacular expansion of Dakar, the capital sénégalaise during the last half-century, of a small urban centre of the peninsula of Cap Verde to a metropolitan area with 2,5 million people divided on all the peninsula.

The Atlas, established in co-operation with researchers and organizations in Africa and elsewhere, evaluates thirty-six years of environmental change, in particular: “Growth of the cities instead of a green campaign; reduction in the zones protected with the farms exceeding their territory; road networks crossing the forests; the pollutants which derive beyond the borders from the close countries; the erosion of the deltas; refugee camps disseminated through the continent causing more pressure on the environment, and the reduction in the glaciers of mountain ".

The satellite images also stress positive signs of management which protects from the environmental pollution, affirm the authors.
- The action on the overgrazing in the National park of Sidi Toui in the south of Tunisia produced a spectacular rebound in the natural ecosystem. The park saw the reintroduction of Oryx Scimitar horne (Oryx dammah), which is currently in process of extinction.
- A new plan of management of the Itezhi-tezhi stopping in Zambia helped to restore the seasonal natural floods of the Kafue plains, as the satellite image of the year 2007 shows it.
- The expansion of the wetlands resulting from a project of restitution in and around the national park Diawling helps to control the floods and improves the living conditions in Mauritania.
- New policies considerably reduced the exploitation of the forests of the Kenya Mount, which is a crucial field for the water of collecting and hydro-electricity.
- Initiatives of farmers centered on the plantation and the protection of the trees led to the revitalization of the grounds in the province of Tahoua, in Niger. A recent study revealed that there are now 10 to 20 times more trees in three provinces of the South of Niger than in the years 1970.
- The revision of the concessions of the forests in Liberia helped to protect the forest from the national park of Sapo against the exploitation of wood as well as illegal mining and the poaching.

Achim Steiner, Under-secretary general of the United Nations and Directeur executive of the PNUE, said: “Like showed it the Atlas, there are many places through Africa where people took measurement-where there are more trees than thirty years ago, where the wetlands return, and where the degradation of the grounds was countered. These are the examples that we must follow to ensure the survival of the African people and their natural resources economically important (...) But the Atlas often stresses also the vulnerability of the population in the area at the forces apart from their control, including the contracting of the glaciers in Uganda and Tanzania and the impacts on the supply water related to the climatic change. This underlines the urgent need for the international community to provide a new agreement on the climate from here the meeting of Convention on the climatic change to Copenhagen in 2009-un agreement which not only provides great reductions of the emissions, but also accelerates the flow of funds for the adaptation and protects the economies against the climate, “it added.
Principal conclusions and major challenges
Between 1990 and 2004, of many African countries saw the small ones but promising environmental improvements, mainly in the field of water and the cleansing, according to Atlas's. Some countries widened their zones protected-currently with more than 3000 through the continent.

However, the loss of the forests is a great concern in 35 countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Nigeria and Rwanda, inter alia. This one is followed closely by the loss of the biodiversity - which occurs in 34 countries like Angola, Ethiopia, Gabon and Mali.

The degradation of the grounds is also a great concern for 32 African countries of which Cameroun, Érythrée and Ghana. Among other problems are the turning into a desert - in Burkina Faso, in Chad, in Kenya and Niger inter alia - as well as the water shortages, the increase in pollution until the fast urbanization.

Africa loses more than four million hectares of forest each year - twice the average world rate of deforestation, according to Atlas's. Moreover, certain areas of the continent lose more than 50 tons metric of ground per hectare per annum.

The Atlas also shows that erosion and the damage physical and chemical degraded approximately 65 percent of the arable lands through the continent. Moreover, agriculture on denshering, of par with the strong occurrence of the lightning in Africa, cause many wild fires.

More than 300 million people on the continent already make vis-a-vis the scarcity water and the zones which have water shortages in sub-Saharan Africa will probably increase of almost a third from here 2050.

The climatic change accelerates many of these problems and is likely to increase the already major transformations which proceed in all the continent.

Although Africa produces only four percent of the world total of the carbon dioxide emissions, its inhabitants suffer from the consequences of the world climatic change in a disproportionate way. The capacity of Africa to be adapted to the climatic change is relatively low, and one projects that the adaptation will cost 5-10 percent of the GDP.

Lastly, the transborder questions are a key element of the environment of Africa, international catchment areas with transborder pollution.

The migrations of refugees are also at the origin of new pressures on the environment, with great shifts in population due to the conflicts but also more and more with the water and food shortages. Co-operative approaches implying several countries bordering are essential for the conservation and the improvement of the shared ecosystems so that they remain productive in the 21st century.

While benefitting from the last space techniques of observation of the Earth, including the 36 years of expertise on the satellite program American Landsat, the Atlas is used to show the potential of the data of imagery per satellite to study dynamic ecosystems and natural resources. This can provide the data necessary to support the political decisions aiming at improving the natural stock management of Africa.

Source: Notre-planete.info

June 13, 2008 | 12:34 PM Comments  1 comments

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mfeussom J. Marc FEUSSOM
June 14, 2008 | 6:43 PM
Calcule ton empriente CO2
Salut

J'aimerais que tu nous dises tes actions de tout les jours pour une planete plus saine
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