I own a legit website providing students with academic writing services. We were scammed by a student from London, UK.

He called himself "Ali Ahmed." He used this email address: somzrocks@yahoo. He ordered a 20-page paper on Geography (below is the entire paper, excluding the graphics). The credit card was apparently stolen because the card owner (whose name is different from the fraudulent student) didn't authorize him nor participated in the transaction (at least he ^claims^ so).

I hope this will be useful information for other essay website owners.

Mary

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The Impact of Desertification on the Sahel Region

In 1970, West Africa had about 90 million inhabitants of which 80% were essentially rural geared towards self-sufficiency, no true market dynamic could support a regional integration project. It is nevertheless within this not very favorable context for integration that the first regional economic community was created in the mid-1970s, which then became ECOWAS. Some 30 years later, this situation has changed considerably. West Africa is on the point of having 300 million inhabitants. Economic areas are connected to each other beyond borders. The urban demand is infinitely more important so that the regional population is reaching or will go beyond 50% of urbanites. Demographic and economic conditions for creating a regional market finally exist. In 1980 the UN announced that some 32 km2 of land was affected by desertification. Mainguet (1991) states that desertification is

"Desertification, revealed by drought, is caused by human activities in which the carrying capacity of land is exceeded; it proceeds by exacerbated natural or man-induced mechanisms, and is made manifest by intricate steps of vegetation and soil deterioration which result, in human terms, in an irreversible decrease or destruction of the biological potential of the land and its ability to support population."

Increasing interest in desertification came in the 70's when the area was ravaged by drought where approximately 1 million of the population died and 50% of domestic livestock perished. This drought appeared in part, according to satellite imagery to have been contributed to by overgrazing. According to Warren (1996) , the ultimate causes of desertification were as a result of population increases and the sedentarization of nomadic peoples, poor land management and intensive irrigation to maintain inappropriate crops. Deforestation was also held up as a contributor, the slash and burn culture exposed poor soils which were easily eroded producing gullied landscapes reducing fertility. With the interest in desertification over 30 years ago, came opposing opinions as to the reasons for it, and the role climate and man had to play. This was fuelled by the lack of scientific data, desertification risks and extent were exaggerated by the UNEP because maps drawn up to show the severity of the desertification were drawn up using the risk factors which was essentially a map of vegetation and climate. Without proper data it was difficult to assess whether desertification was due to climate or man made changes. This was to change when Lamprey using maps between the 50s and the 70s was able to quantify the encroaching desert and the fact that rainfall had declined by 50% during this period. Swedish academics Hellden, Olsen and Ahlcrona showed in their fieldwork and satellite imagery that the desert was not advancing nor was the vegetation cover reducing. However they did show that changes occurred in response to drought but that the land recovered fully after a year after the drought had ended .

It is no an irony that 2006 has been declared International Year of Deserts and Desertification by the United Nations General Assembly after its world summit in 2002 on Sustainable Development and the Environment Initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). According to their new website desertification is "about land degradation: the loss of the land's biological productivity, caused by human-induced factors and climate change."

There is a common misconception that desertification is a natural phenomenon which cannot be controlled by man, however, since the 1994 United Nations Convention to combat Desertification, the international spotlight of co-operation has helped to highlight the issues involved with this environmental phenomenon. The UN is throwing its weight behind this cause because it recognises that desertification is causing severe hardship to the population of dry lands and is preventing the eradication of poverty by exacerbating environmental degradation in areas particularly in the Sahel region. In particular, desertification represents a real threat to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals due for realisation in 2015 which plan to reduce hunger and poverty by half:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/aids, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

Whilst, the IYDD recognises that dry lands exist and are home to rich ecosystems in their own right and must therefore be protected also, it also recognises that preventing further spread of desertification will enable a greater ability to sustain the increasing populations of the Sahel and other dry land areas.

The UN has pledged its support to: "Raise awareness of desertification implications, by profiling desertification as a major threat to vulnerable ecosystems and to mankind, reinforced by the scenarios of climate change and loss of biological diversity, with due emphasis on the relationship with food insecurity, poverty, migration and conflicts in the context of the Millennium Development Goals;"

For the region of the Sahel which is one of the worst affected areas by desertification bordering the Sahara desert, the pledges to tackle the desertification may have arrived just in time to minimise its grip. A belt of semi-arid grassland that changes to tropical Savanna it stretches from Senegal in the West to Somalia in the East. It runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Horn of Africa and includes the countries of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia. The word Sahel is an Arabic word for "border" and comprises the zone between the true desert of the Sahara to the north and the wetter tropical area to the south.

Desertification is both an anthropogenic and natural process that leads to nutrient depletion and reduction of productivity of soils. Slash and burn practices are one of the main causes of desertification. Clearing the land of vegetation means that the soil becomes not only more mobile and at risk from wind and water erosion, but the resultant scrubland has a higher albedo ratio causing reflection of radiation back to space. The increased dust plume which occurs in turn creates a shadow and adds to the lack of incoming radiation. In consequence this causes more stable air less prone to precipitation exacerbating the desertification.

Practices carried out by farmers cause degradation to their soils a few months after harvest, by cutting the millet stalks and burning them leaving their fields exposed to strong winds until the next sowing season. These winds blow away the top soil, uproot seeds and seedlings and suffocate seedlings and plants where soil later accumulates. Once topsoil is eroded and evaporation increases, salinisation is increased causing salts to be drawn to the surface, making cultivation increasingly difficult. Against this background of reduced fertility, livestock trampling of soil by overgrazing and the practice of planting inappropriate crops that puts added pressure on an already fragile topsoil exacerbates the problem. Farmers find that they have to plant more and more intensely in order to get anywhere near the yields that they are used to as the soil degrades further year on year.

The Sahel region of West Africa is endowed with a highly diverse, yet fragile environment. It is a transition zone between the hyper-arid Sahara to the north and the more humid savannas and woodlands to the south. For many thousands of years, the Sahel has supported a scattered population of humans, living within the dynamic ecosystems that make up the Sahel. Humans learned to cope with the annual cycle of wet and dry, and survived many longer term cycles of wet periods and droughts. During the 20th century, the human factor in the environmental equation changed dramatically as population growth exploded. Humans have become a major driver of change in an already dynamic environment. Even today, the peoples of the Sahel are predominantly involved in agriculture,

CAUSES OF DESERTIFICATION

Desertification is primarily a man-induced process that leads to soil nutrient depletion and reduction of biological productivity. In the Sahel slashing and burning of natural forest and bushland in order to clear land for annual agriculture is the main cause of this destruction. Farmers continue to degrade their environment in the agricultural zone even after the decimation of perennials. A few months after harvest, farmers cut the millet stalks and burn them leaving their fields exposed to strong winds until the next sowing season. These winds blow away the top soil, uproot seeds and seedlings and suffocate seedlings and plants where soil later accumulates.

Savanna land grassland dotted with trees and is sometimes a transitional zone, occurring between forest or woodland regions and grassland regions.

[GRAPHICS]The causes of desertification whilst manifold include overgrazing of land by nomadic herding. A large majority of the population are involved in this type of agriculture and herd their livestock according to the rains that fall contributing to desertification of the Sahel an area already under extreme pressure. This overgrazing, coupled with over planting makes it almost impossible for an already fragile ecosystem to support the population. Deforestation and drought coupled with inevitable erosion has led to unsustainability. In a desperate effort to feed its population farmers have turned to planting crops that are unsustainable for example a minority of farmers are involved in limited peanut, millet, sorghum, rice farming. Often crops are subject to pests such as grasshoppers and Desert Locusts, aphids and blister beetles. Regular FAO CILSS crop Assessment missions monitor the state of crops monthly during the growing season. Rapid population build-ups and competition for food means that Desert Locusts tend to swarm or become gregarious after periods of drought, when vegetation flushes occur in major breeding areas like near the India/Pakistan border areas. Showler 1995a,b.

As can be seen from the pie chart below, Millet formed almost 50% of the cereal production in the Sahel region, with Sorghum at almost a third and maize and rice around 10% each. Given that millet has such a prominent place in agricultural production within this region, it follows, that Millet must be one of the most successful and viable crops.

[GRAPHICS]Courtesy of fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/004/x0003e/x0003e 00.htm

As can be seen from the table below, the cereal production for the Sahel region between 1987 to 1994 shows an increase year on year with a total prediction of 9600 thousand tonnes for 1995. 1994 was a record harvest year so this is evident from the tables and the total yields.

[GRAPHICS]Note: Record harvests are underlined.

1/ For 1993, the figure is based on estimates prepared by statistical services but not on a survey.
2/ Totals are rounded.

[GRAPHICS]Source: FAO/CILSS

Note: Record harvests are underlined.

1/ Not including off-season crops.

2/ For 1993, the figure is based on estimates prepared by statistical services but not on a survey.

3/ Totals have been rounded.

The 1996 aggregate cereal production of the nine CILSS countries has been estimated by FAO/CILSS Crop Assessment Missions 1.5 percent higher than the 1991-1995 average, 3 percent higher than in 1995 but 6 percent lower than the 1994 record output. This is understandable given the record harvests experienced during 1994. Despite such record harvests, food insecurity always looms large in the Sahel because of the threat of drought, erratic rains and soil degradation and erosion.

The Sahel rainfall is between 150-500 mm (6-20 in) per annum, which falls primarily in the monsoon season between June and September, however, even this is on the decline making life for its semi nomadic population difficult and precarious. This is a most problematic environmental zone because such little and erratic precipitation makes it hard to sustain viable agriculture. Much of the Sahel area is a predominately sparse Savanna vegetation of grasses and shrubs, and this coupled with the lack of precipitation adds pressure on an already arid and unstable environment. The most important limitations to land productivity in the Sahel are water and soil fertility. Soils in the Sahel are largely acidic resulting in aluminum toxicity to plants due to salinisation, and are very low in phosphate and nitrogen.

The population of the Sahel region tend to be semi nomadic, and often have permanent homes in the lower valleys for the winter moving their livestock seasonally to higher pasture land in the summer months as a way of dealing with the harsh climate because the land is less fertile and has such poor precipitation levels. This practice of transhumance is probably the most sustainable way of working the Sahel region. The difference between the dry north with higher levels of soil-nutrients and the wetter south is utilized so that the herds graze on high quality feed in the North during the wet season, and trek several hundred kilometers down to the south, to graze on more abundant, but less nutritious feed during the dry period.

Major drought in the Sahel in 1914, caused by below average rainfalls, caused a large-scale famine while the 1960's saw a large increase in rainfall in the region, making the Northern drier region more accessible.

Historically given the good rainfall in the 60's, people were encouraged to settle in the Sahel region and settle in areas that were primarily used for nomadic livestock rearing. As a result of this increased confidence and food security, there was a push, supported by governments, for migration northwards. Therefore, when a long drought-period from 1968-74 occurred, grazing quickly became unsustainable, and large-spread denuding of the land followed. Just like the drought in 1914, this led to a large-scale famine, but this time its effects were lessened by international intervention and massive outpouring of Aid. If domestic support to West African countries were to lessen, then these countries that relied on such support may face even greater food insecurity.

As a result of the 1968-74 famine, the International Fund for Agricultural Development was founded. As can be seen from these examples, complacency and governmental intervention have impacted on the natural Sahel conditions of unstable climate and rainfall. For example, if the 60's had not led to a level of complacency regarding the regions ability to support increased population, the impact of the later famine may not have been felt so keenly. In other words, perhaps the pressure of this increased population on the fragile Sahel region has contributed to the effects of desertification and ultimately the erosion of soils by slash and burn and the increased reflectivity of the denuded soil has caused less precipitation as a result.

In the 1970's in Somalia the multi-year drought contributed to the death of over 300,000 people and five million livestock turning the region into a disaster zone and revealing to the world the fragility of the Sahel. Somalia located on the east coast of Africa, north of the Equator between the Gulf of Aden in the north and Indian Ocean on the east with Ethiopia and Djibouti it is known as the Horn of Africa. It has one of the longest coastlines in Africa extending some 1,700 miles. The north of the country is hilly, and in many places the altitude ranges between 3,000 ft.-7,000 ft above sea level. The central and southern areas are flat, with an average altitude of less than 600 ft. The regions year-round hot climate, seasonal monsoon winds, and irregular rainfall with recurring droughts is typical of the Sahelian region.

Despite record harvests in 1994, the region was again subjected to harsh climatic fluctuation when in 1998 just as had been the case in 1991, the El Nio effect caused catastrophic droughts to occur in the Horn of Africa. As a result crops and livestock were lost and the area once again found itself on the edge with minimal food security. Since the 70's academic research has shown that the region has been getting progressively drier. Between 1970-1989 seems to be by far the longest and most severe dry spell of the past century. Almost 90% of the annual rainfall decrease over this time is the result of a decrease in the mean number of rainfall events during July and August. However, length of the rainy season and the mean event rainfall remained stable.

The countries in the area are large and durable countries, yet the vast desert of the Sahara and unstable climate of the Sahel make it difficult for them to support larger populations. The population is racked by diseases such as HIV/Aids, tuberculosis, sleeping sickness which exert their own natural controls on population increase.

In 21 years the population has almost doubled from 380 million to 638 million. 40% of the population between the ages of 15-49 have contracted HIV/aids. Desertification is directly related to starvation of people and animals, migration, loss of arable land, health and well-being of people at risk. It causes loss of jobs and ways of life. Disease has wreaked havoc with the Sahel region HIV/AIDS, TB, toxoplasmosis, cancer, pneumonia. Mother to child infection either through birth or breast milk has led to high rates of childhood HIV and it is often grandparents who are left to care for these children long after parents have died.

Precarious food security, especially in fragile ecological zones along with malfunctioning of certain food crisis information and forecasting systems has led to countries being ill prepared to cope with food insecurity and shortages. Cereal stocks are frequently insufficient and climatic difficulties and recurring desert locust outbreaks have contributed to hardships. Very few farmers actually have access to and distribution of agricultural inputs and innovations and this coupled with insufficient rains and lack of surface water has meant that crops are never reliable and often farmers have to use feed that they had saved for emergency periods to keep their livestock alive leaving them short for other crisis periods. This kind of mismanagement leads to unpredictability and major shifts in the price of cattle and cereals. Moreover, these already disadvantaged farmers have to compete with their agricultural products on local, national, regional and world markets at times when they are at their least stable.

Ethiopia has the largest population with 57.2 million and is the largest in population by far is no stranger to famine and drought and hit the headlines in the 80's when its plight was highlighted by the Feed the World campaign started by the music industry to address incredible famines which were killing millions. The second highest population is Sudan, with only 28.9 million people. The populations of the Somalia, Mali, and Niger are all nine and a half million, and Chad has the smallest at 6.5 million. Populations in this area are growing rapidly, with some of the highest rates of natural increase in the world. As well as high population, countries in the Sahel region tend to have greater migratory patterns than other areas within Africa.

Another problem for the Sahel region is that only about 2% of its population is over the age of 65 and also almost 50% of its population is under the age of 15. this creates a huge burden on the rest of the population to support and feed it. Less grassland coverage means herding cattle and livestock further for grazing and thus puts greater pressure on both the livestock and the sparse vegetation, leading to a catch 22 situation. Often even where there is vegetation there may not be a water source, and much time must be spent herding cattle around to find food and water making the livestock less healthy as a result. To redress the balance, farmers feel they must add to their livestock numbers in order to compensate themselves for poor yields from their livestock. Often the water that the livestock use is used by the people for drinking and this can increase incidences of disease.

All these factors lead to instability economically and politically and are characteristic of countries living at their optimum population and experiencing great pressures on the ecosystem. For example, Sudan is currently involved in a civil war, hardly surprising given the dearth of resources and the demand for them. Developed countries have been known to intervene in civil war in a bid to stabilise the area, however this can sometimes be counterproductive and exacerbate the situation. Undoubtedly though, the knock on effects of desertification in the Sahel Region have led to political and economic insecurities and this in turn has caused population migration to take place displacing families from their homes and turning them into refugees in countries that do not have the resources to support them. The Aid provided by the western world had artificially sustained these groups in refugee camps, quite often rendering these groups powerless to help themselves because they have removed themselves from their own lands in order to migrate to feeding stations.

As the Sahel region threatens to become slowly more arid, the chronic instability of the environment, and livestock populations rises means that the existing problems will need to be addressed before progress can be made in tackling political and economic problems. Many questions are asked about the desertification of the area, and many people have tried to answer, but essentially it still remains a mystery as to why the rainfall in the region is slowly decreasing. Lack of vegetation causes increased radiation and increased albedo and resultant dust clouds in turn help to absorb radiation. The effects of desertification ultimately have negative effects on the socio-political climate of the region. The cost of maintaining growing populations in land under threat from desertification costs billions every year in food aid and agricultural assistance. Over-cultivation of the land leads to further depletion of the soils.

It is estimated by the UN that around 60 million people will have to migrate from desertified areas in the Sahel regions of Africa to North Africa or Europe by 2020.

Religious differences between Christian Ethiopia and the predominantly Islamic Somalia have also created tensions between the two countries. Somalia rapidly disintegrated in a civil war which was not between cultures, but between Muslim clan and Muslim clan. It has a population of only 9.5 million. About 90% of the population in the country of Somalia is Islamic. Ethiopia is estimated to have a total population of 57.2 million. The Sahel becomes spatially narrow along Ethiopia, however it is a deep cultural chasm. During the 1980's Ethiopia became the "Balkans" of Africa and a drought hit. More than two million refugees were created in a struggle that set Muslim Eritreans against non-Muslim Ethiopians. The catastrophic drought caused a countless number of deaths and also helped collapse the regime in Addis Ababa. In 1991 the dictatorship finally collapsed. Then in 1993 the country became landlocked due to Eritrea's granted independence. At this point Ethiopia's future in the 21st century is questionable. Sudan has a total population of 28.9 million people of which 70% is Muslim. The country was granted independence in 1956 and war broke out soon after due to tensions between the Muslim North and non- Muslim South. The first war was from 1956 to 1972 and cost over half a million lives. After a brief period of peace the war renewed in 1983 and cost more lives than the first.

A multi agency approach such as that proposed by the UN in 1996 has certainly been instrumental in highlighting the man made risks of increasing desertification, however, the test will be whether it can halt it or improve the current situation further. It is forward thinking in its approach that it is the people who live and work in the Sahel region and who best understand it should be involved in the decisions made to protect it. It is geared towards empowering women, who often do much of the work io the land but who fail to have a voice. Dry lands are a valuable source of cereal crops and also account for 33% of all plant derived medications such as resins, waxes, oils, and other commercial products.

Ecosystems must be understood and managed within their limits, whilst still ensuring that the people who live in these regions have to avail of the modern world in accordance with the human rights convention. People are at present more vulnerable to drought and there need to be measures in place that will ensure that dry lands are maintained and sustainably developed. It makes sense economically and socially to encourage added value within a sustainable environment. Drought alone between 1999-2001 has cost Kenya 2.5 billion dollars. This has caused long-term knock on effects on for example the value of the stock market, manufacturing output, GDP. The shock to such Less Developed countries can be difficult to recover from.

Slash and burn of vegetation and use of wood burning for cooking can result in lessened evapotranspiration from vegetation and in turn less moisture in the air and possibly less rainfall as a result. Studies have shown that when trees are cut down evapotranspiration can be reduced by about 58%. Slash and burn practices to clear land can add to the greenhouse gases, but reforestation by the same token can also redress the balance by carbon sequestration. Whilst the influence of climate and man made effects on desertification is not clearly distinguishable, the need to continue a committed battle against fighting its effects certainly is.

Poor water management in the Sahel region has undoubtedly led to waste and inappropriate investment by the government. Moreover, it has caused hardship for the people of the region by leaving them short of water and having to haul it from faraway wells, not to mention health problems from poor quality or inaccessible sources. On an agricultural level poor water management has led to reduced efficiency in irrigation potential along with degradation of soil and vegetation.

It is only through government policy and education that sufficient positive changes can be made to ensure food security for a growing populous. To this end some NGOs and government organisations have mooted proposals to better manage water resources which include water pricing strategies or policies to increase the financial sustainability of water and generate capital to maintain extraction and delivery. The aim would be to use water to gain optimum value from crops and encourage farmers to choose the best crops to irrigate cost effectively. It would also hopefully guarantee all members access to a minimum amount of water for basic needs at a reduced or zero charge. It was also floated as a suggestion that cash crops could provide capital to re-invest into water infrastructure and development. The problems arise when users are forced to pay for an essential resource and they are unable to afford to. However, the objectives if achieved would guarantee protection of this resource for all.

Achieving these objectives will involve long-term integrated strategies that focus simultaneously, in affected areas, on improved productivity of land, and the rehabilitation, conservation and sustainable management of land and water resources, leading to improved living conditions, in particular at the community level.

In order to improve food security in the Sahelian region, governments, entrepreneurs and agencies need to work together to better manage resources and promote sustainable agriculture and sustainable use of key resources such as water. Planting more suitable crops for the region instead of relying on Maize and Sorghum will also improve the yields and lessen the soil degradation felt by the region. Pressures still exist for the population of LDCs in the Sahel due to debts and export controls and the effects of aid and its conditions. However, given co-operation and the work of the UN and OECD countries these problems will be overcome in time. Certainly, the developed world has invested heavily in achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Some academics argue that the Sahel agriculturalists could greater develop its agricultural potential simply by increasing their use of improved technologies.

However, others believe that farmers are constrained by lack of available finance. Adoption of new technology is also motivated by opportunities to increase of income.

There is strong evidence that in the short-run, low-cost, improved seed and seed treatments can increase incomes to a much greater extent than more expensive fertility enhancing technologies. The problem is that improved seeds cannot be sustained without expensive fertilising. Identification of technologies for soil and seed enhancement requires more agronomic research but also financial analyses to evaluate profitability and ways of reducing cost of input to assist farmers with the decision of whether it is cost effective to invest. To help fulfil the UN goal of reducing poverty in Sahel the focus needs to shift from self sufficient food production to production to increase family income. Waiting until the perfect balance is achieved in all elements may well prove to be too late for the Sahel region. Therefore, perhaps it is time to use existing technologies and use education programs and the knowledge of local farmers to find the best solution for themselves and the area in which they live NGO guidance. This may ultimately help to reduce dependence on aid and slash and burn technologies.

Deforestation and desertification have knock on effects in the rest of the world and the Sahara, therefore there is an increased motivation for the rest of the world to intervene. Since there is known to be a direct correlation between rainfall in the Sahel and intense hurricane activity in the Atlantic, it means that the rest of the world cannot afford to ignore the problem. Deforestation has wide reaching implications for the land, people, and wildlife of the Sahel region.

Research has shown that there is still potential to develop untapped irrigation in the Sahel the difficulty comes in the finance required to do this and in helping those in most need to access it. Education will play a huge part in managing resources, for example something as simple as how to cook using less wood using a stove.

Tree planting initiatives will also have an impact on securing sand and ensuring the fertility of soil and NGOs have provided practical aid in this way to help farmers help themselves. Even simple wind traps to trap sand will help to prevent the march of desertification, but education programs to help farmers access these innovations are still required. Education programs to help farmers educate themselves about crop rotation, and the planting of drought resistant plants like jojoba will all mean that land is protected. Moreover, the use of contour farming to prevent gully erosion and the building of windbreaks will lessen the effects of wind erosion.

Farmers need to understand that practices such as keeping fewer grazing animals will be more cost effective in the long term. Governments can help encourage good practice by giving incentives for using better farming methods, such as the use of drip irrigation to conserve water and the protection of the harvested crops with better storage facilities. All these measures are vital in preventing desertification from increasing, however, even if the reasons for desertification have been natural phenomena previously, it must be recognised that they are being accelerated by the practices carried out in areas such as the Sahel region which are at serious risk of further deforestation if action is not taken. On an optimistic note, improvements have been seen in areas of the Sahel where appropriate action has been taken.

REFERENCES

Mainguet, M., 1991: Desertification, Natural Background and Human Mismanagement. Springer-Verlag, 306

Warren, A., 1996: Desertification. The Physical Geography of Africa, W. M. Adams, A. S. Goudie, and A. R. Orme, Eds., Oxford University Press, 342-355

Lamprey, H., 1975: Report on the Desert Encroachment Reconnaissance in Northern Sudan, Khartoum. National Council for Research/Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, 16 pp.

Olsson, L., 1985: An integrated study of desertification. Lunds Universitets Geografiska Institution Avhandlingar, XCVIII

Showler. A.T., The Desert Locust in Africa and Western Asia: Complexities of War, Politics, Perilous Terrain, and Development, Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center USDA-ARS

FAO Corporate document Repository, Sahel Weather And Crop Situation, Global Information and Early Warning System on food and agriculture, Report No 1.

Rainfall climatology of the HAPEX-Sahel region during the years 1950-1990.

Le Barbe, L; Lebel, T Journal of Hydrology (Amsterdam) [J. HYDROL. (AMST.)]. Vol. 188-189, no. 1-4, pp. 43-73.

Borlaug, N. and C. Dowswell, 1995. Mobilising Science and Technology to Get Agriculture Moving in Africa, Development Policy Review, 13:1