Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

environmental issues Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...

are varied. According to the CIA world factbook pressing problems exist with: diminishing wildlife populations which are threatened by

poaching Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...

, soil erosion, desertification, and overfishing.

Climate change

Deforestation and land degradation

Like other parts of West Africa and the developing world, social forces and policies are leading to

and ecosystem degradation, leading to effects like Desertification and social erosion. Charcoal production, alongside pressure to expand

agriculture in Senegal Agriculture is one of the dominant parts of Senegal's economy, despite the fact that Senegal lies within the drought-prone Sahel region. As only about 5% of the land is irrigated, Senegal continues to rely on rain-fed agriculture. Agriculture o ...

to meet the quadrupling of population has led to increased loss of forest. In 2006, Senegal still had 45.1% —or about 8,673,000 hectares—of forest with 18.4% — or roughly 1,598,000 hectares — classified as

primary forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...

. In 2007 Senegal was losing 350,000 hectares of forest per year through slash-and-burn for farming because of its rapidly growing population. Variability of rainfall compounded with issues like climate change, lead About 13% of the land - holding about 22% of the population - are now considered degraded. Senegal had a 2018

Forest Landscape Integrity Index The Forest Landscape Integrity Index (FLII) is an annual global index of forest condition measured by degree of anthropogenic modification. Created by a team of 48 scientists, the FLII, in its measurement of 300m pixels of forest across the globe ...

mean score of 7.11/10, ranking it 56th globally out of 172 countries. In 2016, the government warned that the

Casamance , settlement_type = Geographical region , image_skyline = Senegal Casamance.png , image_caption = Casamance in Senegal , image_flag = Flag of Casamance.svg , image_shield = , motto ...

forest cover Forest cover is the amount of forest that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/square miles). Around a third of the world's surface is covered with forest, with closed-canop ...

would have vanished by 2018, if

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corruption, corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, o ...

continued.

Mitigation

Since 1970s Senegal has lost 25% of its mangrove forests. Recent efforts have been led by the organization

Oceanium The Oceanium is a public aquarium that opened in 2001 in Diergaarde Blijdorp, a zoo in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The Oceanium lies in the expansion area of the zoo, which includes a new entrance and parking area, and was the biggest project to date ...

to replant the mangroves. The national Forest Service designed in the early 2000s was designed to democratize and decentralize forest management. However, subsequent analysis by academics found that inequalities favor commercial interests and exploitation by economic forces.

Overfishing

West African communities face pressure from both overfishing by local fleets as well as Asian and European fleets harvesting from fisheries in West Africa as other fisheries become overfished or collapse. For example fleets in 2017 Saint-Louis, Senegal have seen a large decline in harvest, causing ripple effects on nutrition and food supply in the country, where 75% of animal protein comes from fish.

External links

References