Dunes Threaten To Swallow African Cities

Throughout Mauritania, a desolate, dune-enveloped country twice the size of France, men and women wage a daily battle against the sand.
A country where the dunes are said to be shifting at an estimated 4 to 6 miles per year, according to government data.

With less rain falling now than in years past, the dunes have become dry and unstable.
Global climate change bears part of the blame, as does the uprooting of the scraggly trees that once dotted the landscape to use as camel feed, firewood or for insulation, leaving nothing to bind the sand.

When the winds whip the land, the dunes advance like fingers, overtaking walls, forcing their way into courtyards and creeping under doors.
Whole houses are swallowed, Entire cities have been abandoned.

"It's a vicious cycle, brought on by the changes in our climate and worsened by the actions of mankind," said Moustapha Ould Mohamed, who heads the National Research Center on Desertification in Nouakchott, the Mauritanian capital.


SOURCE:
news.Yahoo.com

This is a very sad thing to happen, especially considering that Africa
has so many problems as it is.

Although global warming is only a minor part of this problem in
particular, the problem itself is the fault of humankind.

Hopefully this can be reversed, stopped or at least slowed to a
controllable pace.


Comments, Opinions?

This really is a shame, but I fear its only the beginning. Global warming estimates predicat that deserts will grow dramatically. This means bad things for people who live near or around deserts.

This also reminds of the rise in sea level. Millions of people in low lying areas are threatened. Take Indonesia for example. A 1 meter rise in sea level could displace millions in that nation. When you get this many people moving around you get conflict.

As far as I know, all deserts are expanding and there are no records of an ancient desert that has turned into something different, it's always the other way, fertile lands turning to deserts.

North Africa is not the only area affected, Southern Europe is also endangered by the expansion of the Sahara desert, and in the South of Portugal some areas are already becoming less green than they were some years ago.

And it's not only the lack of rain, one Portuguese scientist made a study about it and he stated that the bigger problem is that it may even rain the same amount of water but it rains in less time, the rain is stronger and the rain-drops are bigger, destroying more of the soil than smaller drops.