Sahel drought
Topic: Climate Change: Causes, Evidence and the Global Response · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 11 "World Climate and Climate Change"
Meaning
The Sahel is the dry belt of land just south of the Sahara desert in Africa. A severe drought struck it from 1967 to 1977 and returned in the 1980s. It brought famine and mass deaths. Scientists link it to changes in Atlantic sea-surface temperatures and to land degradation, the loss of soil and plant cover through overuse. It shows how natural climate swings and human misuse of land together create disasters.
Example
The suffering in the Sahel, which stretches across countries such as Mali, Niger and Chad, drew world attention to dryland degradation. It led to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in 1994.
Don't confuse with
- Dust Bowl: a 1930s drought on the Great Plains of the USA, made worse by ploughing up grassland. It led to the US Soil Conservation Service (1935).
- Desertification: the long-term degradation of dry land. A drought is a shortage of rain over a period of time.