The Sahara, the world’s largest sandy desert, covers 3.5 million square miles (9 million km2)—equivalent to the area of the United States—spread over eleven countries. Mauritania, which lies on its western border, is three-quarters desert and is thus particularly vulnerable to the phenomenon of desertification. Excessive grazing, harvesting of firewood, and agricultural expansion are gradually destroying soil-retaining vegetation on the perimeters of the great dune ranges. This facilitates the advance of sand, which today endangers cities, including the capital, Nouakchott. In 1960 the town lay on a grassy plain, several days walk from the Sahara, but it now has the desert on its doorstep. In arid and semiarid zones (which make up two-thirds of the continent of Africa), fragile arable lands deteriorate rapidly if farming and other exploitation become too intensive. In the past half-century, 65 percent of arable lands in Africa have suffered degradation, resulting in a

Shop Online

	Postcard - Standard size postcard		View Now
	Mounted Print - Mounted Print		View Now
	Greetings Card - Standard size greetings card		View Now
	Print - Poster		View Now