Essay, Research Paper: Fuel Wood Availability In Africa

Fuel wood Availability in Africa

Throughout Africa there is various regional variations of fuel wood availability. In the chart shown for this essay, it breaks up Africa into 4 different areas of fuel wood amounts. Mostly on the northern area of Africa there is few natural fuel wood resources. And also near the southern areas of Africa there is Fuel wood scarcity because of other little deserts.
In the northern region of Africa there is the Sahara desert. This is why there are very few natural fuel wood resources located there. It is mostly arid land with few oases. Also in the northern region by the Mediterranean Ocean there is satisfactory resources since it is located near the ocean, which means there is enough water to support tree growth. Right below the Sahara desert there is a big area of fuel wood scarcity. This area is a dry region. There is very little rainfall, which results in the scarcity of wood for fuel. Some parts of Africa, which has very, little fuel wood is led up because of too much deforestation. Many people already used up all these fuel wood resources through out these years and now there is not enough for people to use.
The gathering of a lot of fuel wood had contributed greatly to deforestation, desertification and other soil erosions. One area that has been decertified is the Sahara desert. Over many years of deforestation and taking of fuel wood, this once a rain forest has become an arid land for heat. When people gather the wood or cut down the tress this leads to soil erosion. The roots from the trees help soil stay in place when there are floods and heavy rain falls. Also trees can help decrease wind speed and not cause sandstorms. In many cases through out Africa, which has low fuel, wood resources there are a lot of sandstorms. The greatly reduce these problems, people should start planting more trees to take the place of all the trees that have been cut down. Trees help us in many ways. With more trees air qualities can be much better. Also by using other resources for fuel can be a good idea to lessen the amount of trees used and cut down.
For developing countries, they should develop another use for fuel other than fuel wood. Also natural gas can be used instead of trees for fuel. Trees help us greatly. For example for heating solar energy can be used. This may cost some amounts of money but it will save trees and lessen the bad soil erosion of that country.
In conclusion Africa needs to find better ways to find fuel resources. If more wood is cut down there will be none left in the future. Africa will become a big piece of arid land. More trees should be planted to not have a bad end result.


Word Count: 485