Abstract
This Sahel environment stretches all the way from Senegal to Somalia cutting across over ten African countries bordering the “ Sahara desert” in the north and the “Sudan savannah” in the south, with an annual rainfall of less than 50cm per annum, with good agricultural output (production) as well as large grazing fields for pastoral activities is a home for so many indigenous communities like the Mbororo (Cameroon and Chad), Tuareg (Niger) and the Kanuris (Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon) who depend on pastoral activities, fishing, irrigation farming and mineral extraction as their main activities of livelihoods. Desertification is a primary issue faced by these Sahelian communities; the indigenous communities are continuously losing their grazing fields and farmlands, Indigenous communities in the Sahelian region are currently trying their best in control of the desert encroachment through tree-planting campaigns, small or local forestation projects and other programmes using traditional knowledge on their own, but yet the desert keeps expanding invading grazing fields, farms and even villages and towns. Loss of biodiversity, hunger, poverty and social insecurity are becoming the order of the day. It was also reported that the villages of Kaska, Buhari gana and Bukarti in the Sahel part of the North Eastern Nigeria were completely wiped out or buried under the desert between the years 1987-2005. Some scientist have recently conducted research works, concluded and reported that the desert keeps expanding at present at the rate of 0.8 km per Annum.
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Multiple Legacies: Heritage, Traditions, Local Ecologies, Knowledge, Values, Protection
KEYWORDS
Climate, Desert. Poverty, Food, Africa
