Page 18 - Microsoft Word - geo class task.docx

Why it needs protection:

• Status: vulnerable
• The Sahara is a vast area of largely undisturbed habitat, principally sand and rock, but with
small areas of permanent vegetation.
• The extreme aridity of this area is a relatively recent feature
• The flora of the central Sahara Desert is very poor- estimated to include only 500 species.
This is extremely low considering the huge extent of the area.

• Considering the hyper-arid conditions, the fauna of the central Sahara is richer than is
generally believed.
• Home to critically endangered animals e.g. addax and gazelles
• The most degradation is found where there is water. Here, habitats may be heavily altered
by human activities. Previously existing tree cover has often been removed for fuel and
fodder by nomadic pastoralists and traders.
• Is not well protected. Yet, this may be due to the low population and impracticality of
defining borders over this vast area. Fewer than 2 million inhabitants reside throughout the
entire Sahara Desert.

• There is also an intense pressure on any remaining populations of large mammals adapted
to desert conditions. The populations of all such species have been greatly reduced by
hunting for food, and also through hunting for sport and recreation.

• The stereotypical view of deserts is that they unimportant for biodiversity and this can be
seen in the breakdown of scientific ecology papers published between 2000 and 2011:
v 67% focused on forest biomes, 9% focused on deserts
v lack of concern reflected through money placed towards conservation projects:
between 1992 and 2008, only 1% of the funding provided by the Darwin Initiative went
towards desert conservation; with the forest at 23%

Management:

• Issue: land degradation in semi-arid areas, the lack of ‘personal’ importance of the desert to
people and desertification due to human activities

• Management strategies to prevent or reverse land degradation include:
v restore natural vegetation cover
v improve small-scale irrigation projects
v plant drought resistant shrubs and grasses to help bind the soil and prevent further
soil erosion
v plant more trees
v control grazing
v build more dams, eg in Kenya
v crop rotation by farmers to allow soil to recover