Access to Clean Water - "Only about one-sixth of Africans have access to a clean water supply for drinking, cooking and hygiene. Given its scarcity, water is often stored in people's homes, where it can become contaminated and attract mosquitoes. These mosquitos are common carriers of other diseases, including malaria. The lack of clean water also makes it difficult to irrigate (water) crops safely. This threatens both African's food supply and African efforts to export crops to other countries."
"Deforestation is the loss of forest cover that results from so many trees being removed that trees cannot grow back. In a tropical rainforest, plants hold most of the environmental nutrients. When too many trees are cleared, nutrients in the soil wash away with rain. The poor soils that remain cannot support tree growth. Once tropical rainforest is lost, it may be lost forever."
"Desertification, the change from arable land (where plants can grow) to desert, is a major problem in the Sahel, a region just south of the Sahara. Here, livestock herders have grown in numbers. Too many livestock now graze the fragile grasslands, and people have also chopped down trees for firewood. These actions combined with drought, have caused parts of the Sahel to dry out and become desert. This leaves less land for farming and grazing and increases the risk of famine (very little food)."
Drought - "Climate change may contribute to the increasing drought that Africans in the Sahel and other regions are experiencing. Between 2010-2012, for example almost 260,000 people in Somalia died from drought." "For many, drought makes it much harder to make a living. This difficulty causes other problems as well, as groups often clash over control of territory. Livestock herders migrate from dry areas to agricultural regions, where farmers aren't happy when their animals eat the plants. In some regions, including Somalia and the Darfur region of Sudan, tensions among herders, farmers, and governments have led to long and bloody conflicts, which have driven millions of refugees from their homes."
Political Challenges - "Many African countries became more democratic in the 1990s. But there are very few full democracies in Africa. These are where civil rights are respected and checks and balances on political power are in place...." "In many other African nations, rulers continue to try to block opposition (rivals) and hold onto power. You have learned about the Arab Spring movement in North Africa, but it failed to bring stable democracy to the region..."
Economic Challenges - "Africa is the poorest of the world's major regions. Many countries lack the equipment and roads to produce valuable goods and get them to markets. Many Africans do not receive a proper education or decent health care. As a result, they are not as productive at work as they could be. Political conflicts have also hurt African economies."
Unit 6 Lesson 7 - Challenges Facing Africa Lesson Notes / Textbook chapter summary (Right-click and open in new tab, otherwise you will leave your testing tab/window!)
What are two challenges facing Africa today AND how are they negatively affecting Africans? You may use the text from the online textbook and the lesson notes above, as well as the sentence starters below to help you! I'm expecting 8th grade, not high school or college level writing. Just try your best! Use the text above and sentence starters below to help you write at least two sentences telling me about two challenges facing Africa today. Pick two, tell me about them and how they're negatively affecting Africans.
- One challenge facing Africa is...... this is negatively affecting Africans by...
- Another challenge facing Africa is.....this is negatively affecting Africans by....
- One challenge facing Africa is access to clean water. Only about one-sixth of Africans have access to a clean water supply for drinking, cooking, and hygiene. This lack of clean water leads to the spread of diseases like malaria and makes it difficult to irrigate crops safely, threatening both food supply and export efforts.
- Another challenge facing Africa is deforestation. Deforestation results in the loss of forest cover, causing nutrients in the soil to wash away with rain. This leads to poor soil quality that cannot support tree growth. As a result, tropical rainforests are lost forever, impacting the environment and food supply for Africans.