Form 4 have recently been looking at desertification and, in particular, at the spread of the Sahel in Africa. The aerial photos above, showing lake Chad (which lies on the boundary of Nigeria,Cameroon and Chad) provide startling evidence of the spread of the desert in the region. The image on the left shows the lake in 1972 when it was about 25,000 square km in area and the image on the right shows the lake in 2002. The area of lake Chad today is only 500 square kilometers. Experts believe that it may dry up completely in just two decades.Global warming has certainly had a part to play in the shrinking of Lake Chad. The region is currently receiving much less rainfall than the long term average. However, there are also also human reasons. As populations grow, food production has to increase and many of the rivers which flow into Lake Chad have been dammed to provide irrigation , allowing marginal farming land to come into production.
Long term, the shrinking of lake Chad will also have severe consequences for the people of the region. If you click on the photos above, you will link to a BBC report which explains how the people who live around Lake Chad are being affected.
There is also a report which appeared in the spring of 2006 on the BBC website which you can read here.
