Economic Commission for Africa State of the Environment in Africa ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA ECA/FSSDD/01/06 State of the Environment in Africa © 2001 Economic Commission for Africa Addis Ababa, Ethiopia For this and other publications, please visit the ECA web site at the following address: http://www.uneca.org or contact Publications Economic Commission for Africa P.O. Box 3001 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tel: (251-1) 44 37 70 Fax: (251-1) 51 03 65 E-mail:
[email protected] Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SECTION ONE: OVERVIEW 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Goals and Objectives 2 1.3 Organization of the Report 2 2. ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Physical Characteristics 3 2.2 Population 4 2.3 The Economy 6 2.4 The Environment Agenda 8 2.5 On-going Initiatives for Sustainable Development 11 SECTION TWO: STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT 3. ATMOSPHERE AND CLIMATE 3.1 Introduction 12 3.2 The Climate of Africa in the Twentieth Century 12 3.3 Climate Change 15 3.4 Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change 17 4. NATURAL DISASTERS 4.1 Introduction 19 4.2 Drought 19 4.3 Drought Preparedness and Mitigation 20 4.4 Storms and Flood Hazards 21 4.5 Forest and Wild Fires 23 4.6 Volcanic Disasters 24 5. LAND AND FOOD 5.1 Introduction 25 5.2 Resource and Uses 25 5.3 Land Degradation 26 5.4 The State of Food in Africa 29 5.5 Initiatives in Land Degradation and Food Security 32 6. BIODIVERSITY AND FORESTS 6.1 Introduction 34 6.2 Biodiversity Resources 34 6.3 Biodiversity and the concept of Protected Areas 37 6.4 The Values of Biodiversity and Forests 37 6.5 Threats to Biodiversity 38 6.6 Decline in Forests 42 iii 7.