Desertification In Cameroon, Kenya and GGW Flashcards
In Cameroon, which agency is in charge of combating desertification and droughts?
Environmental Rural Development Foundation
Globally, how many people does land desertification affect?
3.2M, with 70% of the world’s land transformed by human activity.
What is desertification?
A type of land degradation in which a relatively dry land region becomes increasingly arid, typically losing its bodies of water as well as its vegetation and wildlife.
What are droughts?
A consequence of changing global weather patterns triggered by ecological events. They are accompanied by reduced cloud cover, and thus the land is exposed to increased solar radiation, resulting in increased transpiration and evaporation rates.
How many hectares of Cameroonian soil are degraded and how much of that is in the Sahel?
12 million, 2/3 of which is in the Sahel.
What is the Mount Bamboutos Initiative?
It aims to restore 35,000 hectares of degraded landscape through the planting of 15 million indigenous tree species to secure the livelihoods of 30,000 people for 15 years.
What is the Mandara Mountain Initiative?
A mountain on the slopes of Lake Chad - will plant 5 million trees.
In North Cameroon, how fast is the desert advancing?
By 12% every year, which gets 3x less rainfall than the rest of the country.
In the Minawao refugee camp, how many seedlings have been planted?
Over 360,000.
At a grassroots level, how many stoves have been distributed in order to reduce the cutting of fuel wood?
120,000.
How much of the River Benue, a feeder river into Lake Chad, has been regenerated?
120km
What is the issue with all the schemes against desertification?
They are only mitigating the damage, not wholly preventing it.
In the Bambuotos, how much has the water table dropped by in the last 20 years?
50%.
In Kenya, what are some of the policies they have put in place for farmers?
Subsidies on farm inputs (fertilisers)
Purchase of maize from farmers at above market price.
Providing subsidies so maize millers can bring down the price for consumers.
Agricultural replanting schemes.
In Kenya, what are the economic policies they have put in place to try counteract the effects of desertification?
Diversification into beekeeping.
Developing opportunities for small, female-run business enterprises.
Providing a fund for the purchase of livestock from drought-stricken areas.
Contributions to the cost of infrastructure & social amenities.
