Rural Progress : drought and desertification in Africa

Abstract

The present state of drought that has caused famine and hunger in about half of the African countries from 1982. has aroused world attention to the social and economic crisis in Africa to a greater extent than the Sahelian drought of 1968-1973 did to the process of desertification and the need for a United Nations Conference on Desertification (UNCOD), which adopted a Plan of Action to Combat Desertification in 1977. A decade ago, only 15 Sudano-SaheJian countries were affected by drought and desertification. Today the double scourge resulting from drought and environmental degradation has spread to about two-thirds of the countries of Africa enveloping the subhumid northern parts of coastal West African countries and the drier parts of eastern and southern African countries.