Author: Babagana Abubakar
Permanent Address: Alhaji Bukar Kuya House, Opposite Aburos Mosque,
Fezzan Ward, Fezzan, Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria.
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: +2348062220179, +2348178226418
Skype: babagana.abubakar
Sahara Desert Treasures,
Geography and Associated
Wonders: Yesterday, Today and
Tomorrow
Introduction
1
A desert is a barren land scarce of bio diversity and unconducive for most living organisms. With this
definition a desert can be a sandy, rocky, arid, icy and even snowy land with scares biodiversity. The
name Sahara comes from the plural Arabic language word for desert. The Sahara Desert is located in
Africa and it is the World’s largest sandy desert, in general it is the World’s third largest desert after the
Antarctica and the Arctic. At over 9,400,000 square kilometers (3,600,000 sq mi), covering most part of
North Africa and West Africa as well some parts of the East and Central African regions, made it to be
almost as large as China or the United States of America.
Geographically this desert stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to
the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean crossing over Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger,
Sudan, Tunisia as well as parts of Nigeria, Senegal and Burkina. To the south, it is delimited by the Sahel, a belt
of semi-arid tropical savanna that composes the northern region of central and western Sub-Saharan
Africa Faso extending over 9 million square kilometres (3,500,000 sq mi) and it covers about 1⁄4 of the African
continent. If all areas with a mean annual precipitation of less than 250 mm were included, the Sahara would be over
11 million square kilometres (4,200,000 sq mi) in area. The Sahara is characterized by thousands of sand dunes
with some of them reaching as high as 180 meters (590 ft) in height. Some areas of this desert is also
characterized by rocky Hamada, a type of desert landscape that has very little sand and is made up of
primarily barren, hard, rocky plateaus.
Physical facts about the Sahara desert
Highest point Emi Koussi: 11,204 ft (3,415 m) - coordinates 19°47′36″N 18°33′6″E
Lowest point Qattara Depression: −436 ft (−133 m) - coordinates 30°0′0″N 27°5′0″E
Length: 4,800 km (2,983 mi), E/W
Width: 1,800 km (1,118 mi), N/S
Area: 9,400,000 km2 (3,629,360 sq mi).
Fig. 1: A political map of Africa showing the African countries:
Fig. 2: A satellite imagery showing the Sahara desert:
2
The Sahara Desert was not always the same as it is now. Millions of years ago, rivers crisscrossed the
area, and it was a fertile region of lakes and water. Modern techniques such as satellite imaging
identified long-since vanished rivers from about 2 million years ago, and modern mapping and
measuring methods show that the desert varies in size from year to year according to the amount of
rainfall in the region.
The average rainfall in this desert region is as low as 10 cm per annum or none at all for many years in
some area. Temperatures here can reach as high as 55°C or even more in the hot season between the
months of March and May, while in the cold season it can be as low as 10°C or even below 0°C in some
spots (high altitudes) during the cold season generally referred to as hammattan in the region between
the months of December to February.
Fig.3: A photo showing the Emi Koussi which is 11,204 feet or 3,415 meters Chad: Fig. 4: Showing Sand Dunes in the Sahara desert:
The Sahara is divided into Western Sahara, the central Hoggar (Ahaggar) Mountains, the Tibesti
Mountains, the Air Mountains, an area of Desert Mountains and high plateaus, Ténéré desert and the
Libyan Desert, which is the most arid region.
Chart 1: Showing the proportion of the Sahara desert
environment in Africa
Size of the Sahara desert
environment.
Size of theNon-Sahara
desert environment.
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Natural resources
The Sahara desert has enormous wealth of natural resources hidden beneath. Principal among these
riches are huge amounts of Uranium, oil and natural gas, particularly in territory belonging to Niger,
Algeria, Chad, Nigeria and Libya. Large reserves of iron ore are found in Algeria and Mauritania while
phosphates and limestone are in Morocco. Other resources in this region includes Gibson in North
eastern Nigeria, Gold and Lead in South-Western Niger, Mali and North-Western Nigeria as well as
varieties of different types of potassium salts, fish and other resources not mentioned or yet to be
discovered.
Surprisingly despite the dryness of this desert new satellite imageries disclosed that the region is holding
one of the great freshwater water reserves in the World.
Powers, Education and Economy in the Sahara Desert:
Historically the Sahara Desert region was once one of the most powerful and economically viable
region in the World, because the Kanem-Bornu empire that existed in this region under the
leadership of Mai Idris Alauma (1564–1596) was a very powerful, wealthy and viable kingdom
that it even traded on so many types of products with the North African and the Mediterranean
nations and kingdoms such as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Turkey, Italy , Spain ,Egypt, Hejaz (Saudi
Arabia) and many others on products like natron (sodium carbonate), cotton, ivory, ostrich
feathers, perfume, wax, hides, salt, horses, silks, glass, muskets and copper .
Fig. 5: Showing a local Fan made from Ostrich feathers:
Fig. 6: Showing a Sahara desert Ostrich in the desert wild:
The great Songhai empire that existed in Mali in the 15th Century was also another example of
another World’s powerful and economically viable kingdom in the region during it’s time it in the
mid-15th to the late 16th century traded on kola nuts obtained from the forest zones, horses,
linen, woolen cloth, cowries, luxury goods with the North African nations, middle east and
Europe.
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Fig.7: A map showing the boundaries (in red color) of the Kanem Bornu Empire in the 15th Century:
Although today the Sahara desert region stands as one of the regions with the highest level of
illiteracy in the World, but yet surprisingly even the University education system started here,
because both the first and second World’s oldest universities were founded here. The first in the
World is the University of Karueein in the city of Fez in Morocco which was founded in the year
859 AD while the Al-Azhar University located in the city of Cairo, Egypt was founded in the year
972 AD.
Additionally this region also produced one of the World’s greats of all time scholars and explorers
as well as founding fathers of modern historiography, sociology, geography and economics such
as Ibn Khaldūn(May 27, 1332 AD– March 19, 1406 AD) from Tunisia and Ibn Battuta (‫)ب طوطة اب ن‬
(February 25, 1304 – 1368 or 1369) from Morocco among others.
Treasures in the Sahara Desert:
Based on the above given history of the two very powerful existed kingdoms mentioned
above coupled with other more diverse not discussed here of existence of World powerful
and very rich in Golds and Silver kingdoms that reign at different times in this desert
region starting as far back as the 12 000 BC to the mid-16th Century AD, many scientist
and treasure hunters still believed that the treasures of these existed kingdoms are still
buried under this desert.
Apart from the discoveries of physical archeological objects/items such as the pyramids
of Egypt and that of the Sudan as well as caves and archaeological paintings there is still
no any major discovery of the ancient golds and silvers buried in this desert at present.
The cave paintings found at Tassili n'Ajjer, north of Tamanrasset, Algeria, and at other locations
depict vibrant and vivid scenes of everyday life in the central North Africa between about 8000
BCE and 4000 BCE, in the Mesolithic (Middle Stone) age. They were executed by a hunting
people in the Capsian period of the Neolithic age (3000 -1900 BC) who lived in a savanna region
teeming with giant buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus, animals that no longer exist
in the now-desert area. The pictures provide the most complete record of a prehistoric African
culture.
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One of the wadis containing 10,000 year old paintings at Tadrart Acacus was spray-painted over
this year by a disgruntled Libyan tour guide.
Fig. 8: Showing the Neolithic cave paintings found in Tassili n'Ajjer
Fig.9: This Elephant, in Tadrart Acacus region of Libya date from 12,000 BC to 100AD
Treasure hunters are still coming to this desert from Diaspora and beyond trying their luck in
tracing this treasures in Sahara desert since the beginning of the colonial era in Africa dating back
to the mid-19th century.
There are many treasure maps around some were created using available history from the
inhabitants of this region, others were inherited by generations and some others were discovered in
the wild within the desert at various locations and at various time. One of the most famous of these
maps is the treasure-map that was discovered in 1946 referred to as the world famous Dead Sea Scrolls
which were discovered by a local shepherd buried in a cave in the middle of the desert.
Fig. 10: One of the treasure maps of the Sahara desert used by archaeologists/scientists and others:
Social and Economic activities
This environment is one of the places in the World with the lowest population distribution with an
average of 1 person to 15 kilometers in some locations and it is one of the poorest regions in the world
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with a per capita income of less than a $ 1.00 USD per family per day. However the inhabitants of this
desert basically live on trading, pastoral activities, rare hunting and some irrigational farming along the
edges of the desert or within some of its Oases ,however yet due to the presence of some lakes existing
within this desert territory such as the lake Chad located within the borders of Niger, Chad, Cameroon
and Nigeria and the presence of some rivers within it such as the river Niger bisecting the desert by
passing through Mali and Niger republics as well as the river Nile crossing through the desert from its
origins in central Africa to the Mediterranean made some of its inhabitants to be living on fishing
activities too.
There is rapid decline in the volume of the Lake Chad water due to climate change and human activities
such as damming along the Feeder Rivers of the lake. For example the damming along the course of
River Shari which supplies over 90 % of the volume of the water coming in to the Lake in the republic of
Cameroon in the quest for generating hydroelectric power supply and part of adaptation measures in
adapting to the ongoing climate change through improving and developing the irrigational farming
activities along the shores/banks of the feeder river and its tributaries.
This has lead the Lake to drastically reduced to just 10 % of its original size of 25 000 km square within
just three decades as reported by (B. Abubakar, 2008). Hence the situation is also leading to massive loss
of biodiversity in both the Sahel and the Sahara as well as increases in the rate of deforestation due to
lack of alternative employment opportunities for the people depending on this Lake for their economic
activities. At present over 30% of the Sahara and the Sahelian indigenous communities are depending on
this Lake for their social and economic activities, so the more the Lake dries, the more the level of
poverty and unemployment increases which directly triggers massive increases in deforestation in the
region which in return brings about the accelerating rate of desert encroachments and desertification in
the semi-arid environments bordering the region.
Figure 11: Satellite imagery showing the map of the drying Lake Chad at its various stages since 1963.
Chart 2: showing the position of the Lake in relation to population growth and the increasing fishing activities between 1960’s to 1990’s:
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100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Lake water Volume
Fishing activities
Lake water
Lake water
Lake water
Lake water
volume,
volume,
volume,
volume
fishing
fishing
fishing
,fishing
activities and activities and activities and activities and
population
population
population
population
depending on depending on depending on depending on
the Lake in the the Lake in the the Lake in the the Lake in the
1960s.
1970s.
1980s.
1990s.
Fig. 12: Showing a satellite photo of the Lake Chad:
Population
Fig. 13: Showing fishing activities in the Lake Chad:
Sources of Energy
99.9 % of the inhabitants of this environment rely on firewood (fuel wood) and animal droppings as a
source for energy supply while one of the major characteristics of this environment is generally the
scarcity of plants that provides this energy.
Population
The Sahara desert region has a total population of approximately 480 Million people living within 20
countries of this African desert with a population growth rate of 6.7 % annually.
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Surprises, amazing facts and treasures in the Sahara desert:
1. Connections between the Sahara Desert and the Amazon Forest of South America:
It is hard to believe, but it’s yet true that the great Amazon rain forest of South America which is
separated by the Atlantic Ocean standing between Africa and the South America is nourished by soil
nutrients of the Sahara desert. The tiny particles of dust coming from the heart or middle of the
Sahara desert from a spot called the “Bodélé Depression” located in the republic of Chad in Africa
got picked by the wind and through the global wind system travels and get deposited in the amazon
through rain water/rainfall. The World has wind systems that originates in one part of the World
carrying surrounding dust particles with them from the place of origins graduating in to a strong
wind referred to as the Jet streams travelling thousands of miles across very high altitudes in Space
and depositing these particles it is carrying with it while descending in another part of the World
through direct, rain, snow falls and others. In this regard the wind originates in the open lands of
Chad around the Sahara environment of the Bodélé Depression and surroundings graduating in to
wind to jet streams travelling thousands of kilometers across the Atlantic oceans in very high
altitudes and finally descends and deposits these desert particles (nutrients particles) it is carrying on
the trees of the Amazon rain forests. This scenario explains why the leaves of the Amazon rain forest
are holding more nutrients on them than normal trees growing elsewhere in another part of the
World. Additionally scientific analysis also confirmed that these nutrients on these leaves in the
Amazon forest are nutrients from the Sahara desert and from the Bodele Depression and
surrounding environments of Chad. As a result of this process about 40 million tons of dusts are
transported annually from the Sahara to the Amazon basin. So the Saharan dust has been the main
mineral source that fertilizes the Amazon basin resulting in generating a dependence of the health
and productivity of the rainforest on dust supply from this desert.
The Bodélé depression is located in northeast of Lake Chad Placed in a narrow path between two
mountain chains that direct and accelerate the surface winds over the depression, the Bodélé emits
dust on 40% of the winter days, averaging more than 0.7 million tons of dust per day.
Fig. 14: A map showing the Amazon Forest in S/America:
Fig 15: Satellite imagery Showing dust particle:
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Graph 1: A graph explaining the scenario:
The study shows that the dust emitted from the Bodélé amounted to more than 60 Tg (60 million
metric tons) in the year spanning Oct 2003 to Oct 2004.
Fig. 16: A satellite photo showing the Bodélé Depression with some
dust particles near the Lake Chad:
2.
Snow in the heart of Sahara desert:
On February 18, 1979, snow fell in several places in southern Algeria, including a half-hour
snowstorm that stopped traffic in Ghardaïa, and was reported as being "for the first time in living
memory”. However the snow was gone within hours. Several Saharan mountain ranges, also
receives snow more regularly.
Although relative humidity is low in the arid environment, the absolute humidity is high enough
for moisture to condense when driven up a mountain range. In winter, temperatures drop low
enough on the Tahat summit to cause snow on average every three years; the Tibesti Mountains
receive snow on peaks over 2,500 meters (8,200 ft) once every seven years on average.
On January 18, 2012, snow fell in several places in western Algeria. Strong winds blew the snow
across roads and buildings in Béchar Province.
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3. The Tree of Ténéré:
The existence of “ L'Arbre du Ténéré, known in English as the Tree of Ténéré”, which was a
solitary acacia, of either Acacia raddiana or Acacia tortilis in central Niger, is another mystery
or surprise in the heart of the Sahara desert. This is the world’s most isolated tree. This tree
happens to be the only tree that stands for over 400 kilometres (250 miles) in any direction
from any neighboring tree in the world.
It was a landmark on caravan routes through the Ténéré region of the Sahara in northeast
Niger, so well-known that it and the Arbre Perdu or 'Lost Tree' to the north are the only trees
to be shown on a map at a scale of 1:4,000,000.
Commander of the Allied Military Mission, Michel Lesourd, of the Service central des affaires
sahariennes [Central service of Saharan affairs], saw the tree on May 21, 1939:
“One must see the Tree to believe its existence. What is its secret? How can it still be living in spite of the multitudes of
camels which trample at its sides? How at each azalaidoes not a lost camel eat its leaves and thorns? Why don't the
numerous Touareg leading the salt caravans cut its branches to make fires to brew their tea? The only answer is that
the tree is taboo and considered as such by the caravaniers”.
Fig.17: Showing the Tree of Ténéré:
4. Evidence of maritime activities in this dry desert:
In May 1987 in the Village of Dafuna located in North Eastern Nigeria a Canoe was discovered by
a herdsman while digging a well in quest of water in an environment that historically has no any
connection with a river, lake or other types of water bodies.
The lab test result of this Canoe redefined the pre-history of the African water transport, because
the Canoe was discovered to be 8000 years old and ranking it as the world’s third oldest known
dugout. Older than it are only the dugouts from Pesse, Netherlands, and Noyen-sur-Seine,
France.
With this development the Sahara is now believed to be a fertile land long ago blessed with
maritime activities. This development gives more courage to mankind and room for possibilities
in making this dry desert flourish once again if experts, scientists and other stakeholders push
towards improving livelihood in this desert.
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Fig.18: A photo showing the Canoe of Dafuna in Yobe state Nigeria during its excavation:
5. Pyramids:
All pyramids in Africa were believed to have been build thousands of years back .These pyramids
were considered to be part of human civilization and yet accepted and included among the eight
wonders of the world, but amazingly all of them are located in the Sahara desert region.
This region contains 98 % of the World’s pyramids.
Many people whenever they think of Pyramids they always think of Egypt, but what many people
from outside of Africa didn’t know is that there are more pyramids in Sudan which is another
Sahara desert country in Africa than in Egypt although the important ones in history are still the
Egyptian pyramids.
6. Natural Sculptures:
The existence and prevalence of so many types of wind in the desert resulted in forming thousands
of shaped man made like natural sculptures scattered randomly across the desert.
FIG. 19: Rocky Mountains naturally sculpted by the wind:
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7. Other amazing facts about the Sahara desert:
There are continues discovery and rediscovery of so many types of archaeological treasures in
the region ,so far so many types of coins, artifacts and fossils were found including that of
dinosaurs such as Afrovenator, Jobaria and Ouranosaurus in this desert.
The world’s oldest human skeleton named Lucy was found here.
Prehistoric rock paintings depicting cattle, giraffes, elephants and lions that roamed a once-lush
Sahara were also found in this desert.
Rodents, snakes and scorpions thrive in this desert environment. The desert is home to the
deaths talker scorpion, which can be nearly 4 inches (10 cm) in length. Its dangerous venom
contains large amounts of agitoxin and scyllatoxin.
The Addax nasomaculatus, also known as the screw horn antelope, is the Sahara's largest
indigenous mammal. It travels in small herds throughout the Western Sahara, Mauritania and
Chad. Instead of drinking water, it sucks moisture from the desert grasses and bushes. Its
oversized hooves make the addax adept at moving through the Sahara's loose sand.
Jackals and several types of hyenas are among the carnivores that roam the Sahara. Weighing
less than 3 pounds (1.4 kg), the Mall Fennec Fox is another carnivore that makes its home in
tunnels in the sand dunes during the day and comes out at night to prey on the rodents.
Finally there are indications based on some artifacts found around the towns of Gamboru-Ngala
in North –eastern part of Nigeria that once lived humans who were much bigger than the normal
humans of today. These artifacts found include pots and ruined hamlets or house like structures
and it was believed to have been made by the ancient extinct tribes called the “SOWU” or the
giant people.
The problem
Desserts are generally known to be hostile environments that disfavor the existence of lives
especially the sandy deserts like the Sahara desert which is associated with lack of water.
However the existence of the little scattered water sources helping in the sustenance of some
few human activities especially around the Oasis and at the margins of the Sahara desert
bordering the Sahel Savannah region located in the South of the desert are fast diminishing due
to over dependence on these water sources by the inhabitants of this desert environment and
those population living at its margins (The Sahel Savannah region).
Presently many of the Oases in the Sahara desert are drying up due to diminishing ground water
levels as a result of climate change and over dependents on them while the Sahara desert is fast
accelerating and expanding as well as invading the fertile neighboring lands of the Sahel
Savannah with a record breaking acceleration level of 0.8 km per annum.
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Fig. 20: A photo of a Sahara desert Oases:
Furthermore the desert population and the population of those of the neighboring semi desert
environment like the Sahel Savannah region are fast growing as a result there is also increases
on energy demands for domestic and commercial activities amongst the populace and since the
fuel wood is the only and major source for energy supply the rate of deforestation at the desert
margins is wild accelerating in such a way that the rate of deforestation in this environment is
now 3.5 kilometers on the average every year and the fuel wood supply associated businesses is
presently growing very fast, as at 2012 it has provided 68 % of the total available jobs in this
region and is still growing.
Considering the accelerating rate of deforestation along the shelterbelts of this desert , if the
status quo remains same for a longer period the entire shelter belt protective zone made up of
the little scattered acacias shrubs will disappear by the year 2022 and this will open door to a
new record breaking accelerating records of desert encroachments to approximately 4-7 km
per year depending on the climate change, the dynamic anthropogenic activities and the
introductions of newer actions against deforestations and desert encroachments by the relevant
authorities in the region.
Another school of thought although the climate change on its own can determine the rate of
desertification and desert encroachments, but because of the fact that most of the plants
growing within and around this desert are mostly drought resistance plants and yet the climate
change itself brings about an increases in the rate of the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) in
the air which favors plants growth is indicating that the impacts of anthropogenic activities like
that of deforestation for fuel wood within or around the desert, bush burning, clearing of trees
and shrubs by grains farmers, overgrazing by nomadic cattle herders, fast growing population
leading to establishing new settlements and lack of effective attention by relevant stakeholders s
in fighting the desertification are more dangerous in this regard than the climate change itself in
the region.
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Fig. 21: A photo showing a semi desert area in the Sahel region of Africa:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Fig. 22: Showing a Photo showing part of the Sahel Savannah
Suggestions and recommendations:
The office of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) should be
mainstreaming the indigenous peoples of the Sahara desert region such as the Kanuri, Touareg,
Arabs and others in its decision making.
The African governments, the African Union, the UNCCD, The international Atomic Energy Agency
and other relevant stakeholders should use their good offices in providing alternative sources of
energy for the inhabitants of this Desert environment in order to reduce the accelerating rate of
deforestation in the region.
Stronger policies against deforestations in the Sahara desert region and the semi desert areas of the
Sahel should be enacted by relevant governments and authorities.
The African governments and relevant stakeholders on poverty eradications such as the United
Nation’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), The World Bank and other should help with their
resources and create more alternate job opportunities in this region.
Governments, the OPEC Fund for international development and multinational oil companies like
Mobil, Shell, Chevron and others should invest and explore the petroleum resources in this desert in
other to alleviate poverty in the region.
6. The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) should mainstream the inhabitants of this desert
region in its desert related programs especially the ongoing green barrier wall projects in the Sahel
and around the Sahara desert.
7. Since the Sahara desert region is dominated by the indigenous communities the Indigenous peoples
should be recognized as a ‘major group’ for the UNCCD Conference of Parties.
8. Sahara Desert University should be established in the heart of the region by governments, United
Nations, any organization or even Private individuals, because this will help human understand the
opportunities buried in this desert better and also help promote issues of sustainable developments
on it.
9. Relevant International conferences, workshops, seminars and other related events should increase
the participation of the Sahara desert people coming for participation in their Programs.
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10. The United Nations should use its very powerful office through its partnerships with governments
and multinationals, connections, resources and unlimited skills to create Road networks, Water
channels and if possible even Rail lines crisscrossing this desert region by connecting all or some
important major towns and cities whose populations are up to of 10,000 people in the region.
11. Constructions of dams along all the feeder rivers of the Lake Chad should be stopped. Just like
Nigeria, all the other Sahara desert countries bordering the Lake Chad should establish Lake Chad
Development Authorities in their respective countries in order to promote irrigation and pastoral
activities in their environments.
12. Considering the great successes recorded by great kingdoms and scholars in this region in the past in
accordance to history the institute of Sahara desert research should be established in order to study
the secrets behind the successes of the past to enable us tackle the present and future challenges
hindering the development of this region. Additionally a museum of Sahara Natural History should
also be established in order to preserve the diminishing histories of the region.
13. The indigenous peoples of the Sahara desert region should be considered in establishing
cooperation with UNFCCC, UNESCO, UNEP and CBD on traditional knowledge of biodiversity and
sustainable development of desert and arid environments and they should be considered in all
related decision-making processes relating to sustainable developments in their environment.
14. The office of the UNCCD which is presently located in a non-desert environment in Bonn Germany
and which is a location very far away from any of the World’s real deserts should be relocated to any
of the desert region countries in the World especially those countries of the Sahara Desert for
effective research, monitoring and finding solutions to desert encroachments and desertification.
15. As a result of colonial legacies lies on Africa were created by the colonial societies that colonized
Africa during the colonial period in order to protect their colonies and territories in Africa from any
other potential colonial invaders, by portraying the image of Africa internationally as a land of
mosquitoes, sicknesses, dangers, primitive civilization, death and a very dry continent in terms of
natural resources. Surprising the modern World still view Africa with this perception as a result this
situation is still scaring some people coming to develop Africa or the Sahara region away, so the
African governments, the African Union, relevant international organizations and the United Nations
relevant agencies should use their capacities in reflecting the true version of history and stories on
this very resourceful and danger free continent of Africa to the outside world in order to attract
potential investors coming to develop Africa and the Sahara desert region in particular.
16. The Sahara Ecosystem is still presently threatened by man and climate change so the international
bodies such as the UNFCCC, CBD and UNEP should use their technical knowhow and resources to
multiply their efforts in the region in this regard.
17. The United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) should speed up and multiply its
efforts in identifying and protecting world heritage sites and objects or elements of vital important in
this part of the World, because if such protections were to be existing effectively in the first place
probably the unique Tree of Ténéré wouldn’t have been hit by a truck.
18. Considering the benefits that richer South American Amazon nations like Brazil ,Guyana, Colombia
and French Guiana among others are enjoying directly from the Amazon forest which is indirectly
supported and sustained by the poor Sahara desert region environment in Africa, I call on the
CBD,UNEP and the African Union to create a room for this South American nations to be contributing
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in the sustainable development issues of the Sahara desert region or otherwise the Bodélé
depression issue can one day lead to environmental and political misunderstanding between
countries located in different continents.
Conclusion
This research cited at the causes of present position and conditions of the people of the Sahara desert
and the Sahara desert itself as well as the some of the anthropogenic related activities in the region
influencing the accelerating rate of desertification in the sub-Saharan- African semi desert and desert
free countries.
However some suggestions and recommendations were proffered and listed above which if followed or
adopted and implemented would lead to successes in fighting the desert, desertification and desert
encroachments in Africa as well as protecting the existing ecosystem and biodiversity in the region in
addition to improving the lively hood of the Sahara desert dwellers /desert people or otherwise the rate
of deforestation , desertification and the destructions of existing ecosystems and biodiversity as well as
decline in human population due to death and migrations in this environment and the neighboring semi
desert areas of the Sahel will ever remain on the increase.
Thanks for listening.
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