STEPHEN TLADI

GRADE: 11.1

Ms. Manciya

GEOGRAPHY

DROUGHTS AND DESERTIFICATION IN AFRICA AND SOUTH AFRICA

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE

INDEX

MAPPING

INTRODUCTION
BODY

 PARAGRAPH
 PARAGRAPH 2
 PARAGRAPH 3

CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Introduction
Drought: an extended period of time with low average or annual rainfall.
There are four different types of droughts meteorological, agricultural,
hydrological, and socio-economic.

Desertification: is the degrading of land usually in dry and arid areas due
to the climate and human activities such as overgrazing, turning fertile
land into a desert like area.

Africa is a largely arid area with semi-arid and complete deserts. It is the
continent most affected by droughts and desertification, with nearly 45%
of its land at risk of desertification. South Africa is a water scarce with
mostly arid or semi arid land. The areas mostly threatened by droughts
and desertification are the Northern Cape where rainfall is less than
200mm every year, the Western Cape Karoo and Little Karoo. Since South
Africa is the point as far south one can go in Africa they are affected
equally if not worse by these natural phenomena. Impacting food security
due to lack of access to clean water, causing illness and disease in people
and animals, causing large loses in livestock and the deaths of bread
winners due to food shortages, contamination and the economies decline
due to the blow dealt on the agricultural sector. Water related economic,
mental and social aspects are being emphasized across the continent
even in South Africa.

Caused by the drying up of rivers, lakes and other water bodies such as
Lake Chad and varies wetlands impacting our environment and us as
individuals numbering in the 100s of millions of people. In South Africa the
“Day Zero” campaign in Cape Town between 2016 and 2018 made us
aware of how our activities were damaging our lives. Activities like
overgrazing, wasting water and not caring, managing and looking after
our continent and country not just as Africans but as a collective. The
different causes and effects of droughts and desertification in
Africa and South Africa

Droughts and desertification are both natural phenomena caused by

natural processes and human activities. Many African countries including
South Africa are influenced by the El Nino Southern Oscillation, during
which areas will receive less rainfall than normal with warmer summer

temperatures.

Figure 1 (Geography revision booklet 2021)

Climate change has worsened its intensity, with average temperatures in

Africa having risen by 1.5-2 degrees Celsius since 1960. This increases the
rate of evaporation making prolonged periods without rainfall more severe
causing water-bodies to dry up like Lake Chad which has shrunk by 90%
since 1960, increasing the size of deserts such as the Sahara Desert which
is moving southward by 48km per year. Threatening fertile provinces such
as Limpopo and the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Human activities like
overgrazing, migration, and deforestation increase the severity of these
processes in countries like Congo, Somalia, and the Sahel areas and
provinces such as the Northern Cape, Western Cape and the eastern side
of South Arica. Spreading invasive alien plants, loss of water due to old
infrastructure and degrading of soil quality.

The effects are quite severe; droughts cause crop failure and livestock
deaths in many African countries and in South Africa’s eastern and north
western provinces. Between 2015 and 2018 South African maize
production fell by 30% and over 40000 cattle died, will water borne
diseases were killing grazing animal and contaminating all ready limited
water bodies used for water. Resulting in the loss of agricultural land, jobs,
biodiversity in the Cape Florist Region in South Africa and the Eastern Arc
Mountains in Tanzania threatening African countries GDP and South
Africa’s unique beauty.

Negative impact on the economy, environment, and

people
Environment: Wetlands that act as natural water filters dry up
during droughts, and are not cared for by people after use.
Habitats and the biological value of areas are threatened even
destroyed. Creating large dust storms and desert tornado in the
Karoo and Sahel areas. Erosion causes deep dongas in farmland.
Large low yield rates increases the risk of veld and wild fires the
2017 Cape fires in Knysna were worsened by dead, dry vegetation
and degrade soil with parched scrubs destroying homes,
livelihoods and lives of people and animals.

People: They even affect our daily lives. During droughts water
restrictions are enforced. Cape Town residents were only
limited to 50 litres per person daily in 2018. Rising African
conflicts over resources and varies politics are worsened by this
leading to mass migrations and immigrations spreading
sickness and diseases. Mental health becomes threatened due
to unemployment, conflict and great losses in a short period of
time and food insecurity in Ethiopia, Sudan and Congo.
Economy: Most of the
African economy is in the
agricultural and mining

which are related to

these processes.
Desertification degrades
agricultural land and makes mining harder. Since many farmers
spend more to restore the land that they have degraded due to
improper agricultural practices. It costs us nearly 16 billion in
losses every 2 years. Job losses, retrenchment and inflation
follow these disasters. Mostly poor and working-class families
are affected it leads to overcrowding in prosperous areas like
the Easter Cape in SA and countries like Namibia, Egypt and
Northern Africa. Decreasing tourism and international funding
Management strategies
The South African government has several ways to reduce the impact of
these processes. The National Water Act of 1998 manages how water is
distributed and the National Drought Management Plan assists responses
to droughts and the Great Green Wall Project is planting an 8000km belt
of trees in the Sahel region to curb desertification and boost oxygen and
water cycles. Areas in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo have been cutting
their water usage by 45% by reusing grey water, rainwater tanks and
fitting low flow shower tanks. Educating farmers is the key priority in
making sure we use water efficiently and save millions of years of topsoil
from degradation are the goals of varies NGOs. Global and African
strategies are constantly discussed and revised at international to
individual level such as the Grow a Garden initiative to make people more
self-sustainable.

Conclusion: Droughts and desertification are two major natural

phenomena which have exceeded bearable capacities due to human
activities, climate change and negligence. For use to see a better future
for our kid’s view of our planet it starts with us. Educating school learners
in early school life could prepare them for a better future. It’s all for Earth
or Earth for none

Bibliography

South African Weather Service, [Link] 2016/2018 El

Nino drought in South Africa. Pretoria: SAWS Technical
Report
Department of Water and Sanitation, 2022. National
Integrated water information system: Drought status
reports. Available at: [Link] [Accessed 30 April
2026]
Hoffman, M. T., & Ashwell, A. (2021). Nature divided:
Land degradation in South Africa. University of Cape
Town Press.
Africa and what ails it, [Link] impacting
people, economy and politics. Available at: [Link]
[Accessed 1 May 2026]
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification,
2022. Land degradation neutrality target setting
programme. Available at: [Link] [Accessed 29 April
2026]