Drought- The Sahel region CS- WATER CYCLE

Question 1

Human causes of drought

Answer 1

• over abstraction
• ## over grazing

Question 2

Physical causes of drought

Answer 2

• climate change

Question 3

Climate

Answer 3

There is high pressure because it is at the boundary of the Hadley and Ferrell cells, leading to low precipitation.
* It is located 30º N of the equator, where droughts can last for several years.
* Rainfall has been decreasing constantly since the 1960s, and temperatures have reached 49.6ºc in August 2010.

Question 4

Economy

Answer 4

In 2012, food prices in the Sahel rose 60-85%, meaning that food was harder to afford on top of the difficulty to grow crops.
* The impacts of this are amplified by the GNI per capita of countries such as Nigeria, which is at $360. This has dropped dramatically since the 1983-85 drought, when it was $500.

Question 5

Poor management

Answer 5

• Installing pumps in the Sahel had little success because they needed maintenance, and required water available to be pumped up to work.
• During the May 2012 drought, 18 million people were at risk of hunger. During the 1983-85 drought, there were 400,000 deaths in Ethiopia due to these risks.

Question 6

Agriculture

Answer 6

Desertification within the Sahel (expansion of desert) restricts the growth of many crops. This is made worse by how 60% of Ethiopia’s GNI is gained from agricultural trade.
* GM crops can help with the impacts of drought and desertification, but they are too expensive for many farmers, and the lack of seeds means that crops have to be repurchased each year.

Question 7

Aid

Answer 7

• In 1984, Band Aid raised £30m of the Sahalian Famine, but this led to 750,000 people on the Sahel to be reliant on aid.
• Charaties/NGOs run bottom up approaches to reduce the impact of drought, such as the Magic Stones project. This is when people circle their land with stones to prevent water from escaping, but the maintenance is often left to women with other responsibilities

Question 8

Causes

Answer 8

Overgrazing
Deforestation
Over cultivation
Climate change

Question 9

Responses

Answer 9

Improve soil and water conservation
Plant tress for interception, holds soil

Question 10

Extra

Answer 10

Economy -food prices rise
Agriculture- desertification within the shale restrict the growth
Too expensive to grow

Changing rainfall patterns
Vegation is stressed and dies
Bare soil eroded
Intense rain

Desertification means one productive land changes to desert line landscape