Environmental Crisis

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west to Ethiopia and Somalia in the east. These nations are
among the world's poorest.

The area is one of social and biophysical crisis because of the way the
population are forced to live; they are destroying the productivity of the land.
The alarming rate of population growth and ever increasing pressure on the land
have initiated an expansion of desert-like conditions into the Sahel - a process
called desertification.

Traditionally, the people of the drier, northern Sahel followed a nomadic
lifestyle, constantly moving their herds of cattle, sheep and goats over large
areas in the search for suitable grazing land. These movements prevented
overgrazing and lessened the likelihood of land degradation. With increasing
human numbers, the increased intensity of land use, and the harvesting of trees
and scrub for fuel wood threaten to overwhelm the region's fragile environment
and result in permanent ecological damage and declining standard of living.

During the 20th century 3.9 ...

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unprecedented.

By the year 2000, the Chinese population is officially projected to top the 1.3
billion mark. About two-thirds of this 900 million increase was added within the
last 50 years, as mortality was reduced amid high fertility rates.

The Chinese government has been moved by this "demographic affluence" to curb
fertility. China's strategic demographic initiatives (SDI) were contrived out of
this need. The government installed numerous measures for curbing fertility,
embracing delayed marriage, sterilisation, all known contraceptive methods, and
abortion. Exhortations, campaigns, financial and material incentives, and
numerous other sanctions were used to implement the policies. ...

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