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Senegal's environmental issues are varied. According to the CIA world factbook pressing problems exist with: diminishing wildlife populations which are threatened by poaching, deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion, desertification, and overfishing.[1]
Climate change in Senegal will have wide reaching impacts on many aspects of life in Senegal. Climate change will cause an increase in average temperatures over west Africa by between 1.5 and 4 °C (3 °F and 7 °F) by mid-century, relative to 1986–2005.[2] Projections of rainfall indicate an overall decrease in rainfall and an increase in intense mega-storm events over the Sahel.[3][4] The sea level is expected to rise faster in West Africa than the global average.[5][6] Although Senegal is currently not a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, it is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change.[7][8]
Extreme drought is impacting agriculture, and causing food and job insecurity. More than 70% of the population is employed in the agricultural sector. Sea level rise and resulting coastal erosion is expected to cause damage to coastal infrastructure and displace a large percentage of the population living in coastal areas. Climate change also has the potential to increase land degradation that will likely increase desertification in eastern Senegal, leading to an expansion of the Sahara.[9]
Climate change adaptation policies and plans are important to help Senegal prepare and adapt. In 2006, Senegal submitted its National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.[10] The NAPA identifies water resources, agriculture, and coastal zones as the country's most vulnerable sectors.[11] In 2015, Senegal released its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC's) that indicated climate change would be treated as a national priority.[11]Like other parts of West Africa and the developing world, social forces and policies are leading to deforestation and ecosystem degradation, leading to effects like Desertification and social erosion. Charcoal production,[12] alongside pressure to expand agriculture in Senegal to meet the quadrupling of population has led to increased loss of forest.[13]
In 2006, Senegal still had 45.1% —or about 8,673,000 hectares—of forest with 18.4% — or roughly 1,598,000 hectares — classified as primary forest.[14] In 2007 Senegal was losing 350,000 hectares of forest per year through slash-and-burn for farming because of its rapidly growing population.[13] Variability of rainfall compounded with issues like climate change, lead About 13% of the land - holding about 22% of the population - are now considered degraded.[15] Senegal had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.11/10, ranking it 56th globally out of 172 countries.[16]
In 2016, the government warned that the Casamance forest cover would have vanished by 2018, if illegal logging continued.[17]
Mitigation
Since 1970s Senegal has lost 25% of its mangrove forests.[18] Recent efforts have been led by the organization Oceanium to replant the mangroves.[18]
The national Forest Service designed in the early 2000s was designed to democratize and decentralize forest management.[19] However, subsequent analysis by academics found that inequalities favor commercial interests and exploitation by economic forces.[20]
West African communities face pressure from both overfishing by local fleets as well as Asian and European fleets harvesting from fisheries in West Africa as other fisheries become overfished or collapse.[21] For example fleets in 2017 Saint-Louis, Senegal have seen a large decline in harvest, causing ripple effects on nutrition and food supply in the country, where 75% of animal protein comes from fish.[21] White grouper fisheries in Senegal's waters have collapsed.[22]
- Institute, World Resources. "Senegal". Global Forest Watch. Archived from the original on 2018-03-15. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
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