The Algerian Green Dam refers to a project initiated in Algeria in the 1960s to plant millions of trees to stop desertification, specifically to prevent the northward advancement of the Sahara Desert. [1]
The project has progressed and evolved through the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and into the 2000s.
The green barrier is located in the pre-Saharan area in Algeria. It stretches between the Moroccan border in the West to the Tunisian border in the East, covering a total distance of approximately 1000 km.
The barrier's width ranges from approximately 20 km between isohyets of 300 mm in the North and 200 mm in the South of Algeria. The project's objective is to recover the extent of the already existing forest to stop the sand expansion. Two types of vegetation were planted: Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis), which grows easily in this region, and Alfa (Stipa tenacissima). [2] [3]
The risk of desertification threatens arid and semi-arid regions throughout the world. Population growth, urbanization, an increase in cultivated land areas, overgrazing, and deforestation adding to the effects of climate change exacerbate the issues. Alfa grass cover has decreased while the quality of the grasslands itself is becoming increasingly degraded. According to the UNCCD, recurring droughts and human activities, mainly overgrazing, are the two main driving factors of desertification (Le Houérou, 1996 [4] ).
To mitigate this risk, the Algerian authorities developed the Green Dam Project as a massive reforestation program aiming to safeguard and develop the pre-Saharan areas.
Of the 238 million hectares that make up the total land area of Algeria, 200 million are natural deserts, 20 million represent the steppe regions threatened by desertification, and 12 million are mountainous areas threatened by water erosion. 7 million hectares of the 20 steppe regions are highly susceptible to desertification and require a short-term intervention. Several natural factors, like a decrease in rainfall, high thermal amplitude, and dry winds, combined with anthropogenic factors like, cultivation, mechanization, over-grazing, and deforestation accelerate desertification.
With the rapid degradation of Alfa grass steppe, the need for action became more pressing [5]
The late President of Algeria, Houari Boumedien, set up the Green Dam Project. The objective was to establish a 'barrier' of forest spanning the country from east to west in order to halt desertification. The project was halted after his death, but subsequently, the project was relaunched in 1971. [6]
The process of deforestation and desertification has disputed origins.
As early as 1866, French settlers were complaining to the French Government about arson by indigenous Algerians opposed to French rule [7] This perspective was fed by a wider background drawing on both enlightenment thought as well as evidence of environmental degradation in the colonies and during the French Revolution, early conservationists sincerely believed that Mediterranean pastoralism posed a real and severe ecological threat. They blamed pastoralists for deforestation and its perceived environmental and social consequences.
At the turn of the nineteenth century, concern over deforestation was limited to a few disparate voices, and it was dealt with in a handful of laws that were rarely enforced. However, this environmental perspective soon joined forces with political, social, and cultural biases against pastoralism to create a forceful anti-pastoral lobby. [8]
Counter arguments suggest that blaming the indigenous inhabitants for the degradation and subsequent desertification of the landscape, in spite of a lack of evidence that this was the cause, was a Colonial trope to suggest that the original population were incapable of managing their own land and to justify the goals of the Colonia project. [9]
Human factors such as poor agricultural practices are still cited as primary causes of forest fires and deforestation [10] [11]
Similarly, the bombing of forests during the French colonial area has also been cited as a cause of deforestation.
As in previous wars, the guerrillas were almost exclusively based in the mountains of northern Algeria, where the forest and scrub cover were well-suited to guerrilla warfare.[ citation needed ] Colonel Gilles Martin describes War in Algeria: The French Experience "Vast, mountainous, woody, and lightly populated, Algeria offered terrain favourable to guerrilla warfare." In attempts to tackle the issue of forest cover being used by guerrillas French forces bombed and used napalm to reduce the cover available. [12]
Yet another cause, often cited more recently, is climate change. [13] [14]
"Although Algeria has experienced a gradual decline in rainfall since 1975, the frequency of floods has increased, which has led to increased costs and damages.
According to PreventionWeb, Algeria ranks 18 of 184 of the most exposed countries to drought. An estimated 3,763,800 (about 10%) of its population is exposed to droughts.
Algeria experienced a record heat wave in June 2003, with temperatures over 40°C for 20 consecutive days that resulted in an estimated 40 deaths. Such events are projected to increase in a warming climate." [15]
Contemporary research has demonstrated that the Sahara is not expanding, as is still frequently believed, but that it expands and contracts based almost entirely on rainfall. [16] [17]
Other studies have found that the causes are more complex and that the climate context of North Africa was very similar some 3000 years ago to that of today. [18] [19]
The main objective of the Green Dam is to combat desertification. After a few years of implementation, the program developed into a multi-sector project, including: [1]
The program of the Green Dam has been implemented in four distinct stages:
In 2021, a scientific study published its findings on the Algerian Green Dam, which highlighted several reasons for its deterioration. The study concluded that current planning to restore the Green Dam should diversify approaches to address these issues. [2]
The study, titled "Monitoring the Spatiotemporal Evolution of the Green Dam in Djelfa Province, Algeria," [20] examined changes in land degradation and desertification (LDD) and their impact on Moudjbara plantations from 1972 to 2019. Using freely available data such as Landsat imagery and geographic information systems, the study found that while the Green Dam project was effective for a few years, pine plantations underwent significant deterioration afterwards.
The degradation was attributed to forest clearing, livestock overgrazing, and the proliferation of the pine caterpillar processionary.
These factors have destroyed much of the reforestation. The study predicted that, should the degradation continue at the same rate, the green dam project will disappear during the next few decades, in the analyzed region.
For effective control of LDD in Algeria, the study concluded that, in order to move the project forward successfully:
Diana K. Davis in her article Desert 'wastes' of the Maghreb: desertification narratives in French colonial environmental history of North Africa argues that the Green Dam Project is based on the false premise created by "French colonial administrators, scientists and settlers which utilised a negative vision of Maghrebi pastoralists as deforesters and desertifiers of the former granary of Rome to justify and facilitate many of their actions."
By claiming that what the French "encountered when they arrived in Algeria was an environment ruined by centuries of burning and overgrazing by the local Algerians, a justification for curtailing local actions was created" and that "Founded on historical inaccuracies, and environmental misunderstandings and exaggerations, the environmental narrative was constructed early in the nineteenth century, primarily in Algeria, and included all of the Maghreb", effectively a misdiagnosis of the problem, has led to the wrong conclusions as to the cure.
"This colonial environmental narrative became entrenched in many official publications such as histories and botanical treatises, as well as agricultural and forestry manuals written during the colonial period" This "laid the foundation for much subsequent education, research, policy and practice".
She suggests that "Its (the colonial narrative) persistence defies convincing evidence that most of North been desertified by burning and overgrazing, for the region was probably forested during the last 3 000 years. Far from being questioned" - the colonial environmental narrative appears to be the dominant postcolonial environmental history. It is particularly strong in policies, and projects concerning desertification"
"The spectre of desertification in North Africa, couched in ideology and language concerning deforestation and desertification disturbingly similar to that used years ago, continues to drive inappropriate environmental projects today" One, among many others that remain to be examined, is the green dam. "This has had a very low rate of tree survival and is considered an ecological failure" [21]
Becoming aware of the threat to the green dam, the General Directorate of Forests (DGF) is currently planning to reforest more than 1.2 million ha in the region, under the latest rural renewal policy, by introducing new principles related to sustainable development, fighting desertification, and climate change adaptation. Having learnt lessons from former programs, the DGF has barred plantations with monospecific stands. [22]
A Government meeting chaired by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad adopted a draft executive decree on the creation of a coordination body in charge of reviving the Green Dam and fighting desertification and is conceived as a catalyst in the development, implementation and assessment. The draft decree, presented by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, provides for the creation of a permanent mechanism responsible for the preparation, implementation and ongoing monitoring of this operation.
In addition to combating desertification, the Algerian Government has presented this initiative as a fight against poverty, through the protection of natural resources, adaptation to climate change, integrated rural development and the promotion of the forestry economy for the benefit of sustainable domestic development as the basis of food security. [23]
Speaking at Echaab daily forum about environmental challenges on the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD- 17 June), the Minister of Environment and Renewable Energy, Fatima Zohra Zerouati, affirmed that the increasing danger of desertification required new scientific and technical mechanisms to revive the Green Dam and fight against desertification. [24]
The launch of the National Reforestation Plan in 2000 has given the forestry sector a new lease of life with a vision that incorporates the productive aspect of reforestation, the industrial aspect, and the recreational aspect. [25]
As of 2021, the government of Algeria was still planning a restoration effort that is to last several years and involve an investment of $128 million. [26]
Mostephaoui. T, Merdas. S, Sakaa. B, Hanafi. M. T, and Be-nazzouz. M. T. (2013): Cartographie des risques d'érosion hy-drique par l'application de l'Equation universelle de pertes ensol à l'aide d'un Système d'Information Géographique dans lebassin versant d'El Hamel (Boussaâda). Journal Algérien desRégions Arides, Numéro Spécial, 12: 131-147
Salemkour.N, Benchouk. K, Nouasria.D, Chefrour.A, Hamou.K,Amechkouh.A, and Belhamra. m. (2013): Effets de la miseen repos sur les caractéristiques floristiques et pastorales desparcours steppiquesde la région de Laghouat (Algérie). Jour-nal Algérien des Régions Arides, Numéro Spécial, 12: 103-114
Kherief Nacereddine.S, Nouasria.D, Salemkour.N, Benchouk. K,and Belhamra.M. (2013): La mise en repos: une technique degestion des parcours steppiques). Journal Algérien des Ré-gions Arides, Numéro Spécial, 12: 115-123
Direction Générale des Forêts (DGF). (2004): Rapport nationalde l'Algérie sur la mise en oeuvre de la Convention de LueContre la Désertification
Le Houérou, H. N. (1996): Climate change, drought and desertification. Journal of Arid Environments, 34: 133–185
Verón, S. R., Paruelo, J. M., & Oesterheld, M. (2006). Assessing desertification. Journal of Arid Environments, 66(4), 751–763. doi : 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2006.01.021
Bensaid, S. (2005). Bilan critique du barrage vert en Algérie.Sécheresse, 6: 247-255. URL http://www.dgf.gov.dz/index.php?rubrique=actualite§ion=dix (13 October 2014)
C. J. Tucker H. E. Dregne and W. W. Newcomb, 'Expansion and contraction of the Sahara desert from 1980 to 1990', Science 253 (1991), pp. 299-301
S. E. Nicholson, C. J. Tucker and M. B. Ba, 'Desertification, drought, and surface vegetation: an example from the west African sahel', Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 79 (1998), pp. 815-29.
J.-L. Ballais, 'Aeolian activity, desertification and the "green dam" in the Ziban Range, Algeria',
A.C. Millington and K. Pye, eds, Environmental change in drylands: biogeographical and geomorphological perspectives (New York, Wiley, 1994), pp. 177-98.
Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by a variety of factors, such as overexploitation of soil as a result of human activity and the effects of climate change. Geographic areas most affected include the Sahel region in Africa, the Gobi Desert and Mongolia in Asia as well as parts of South America. Drylands occupy approximately 40–41% of Earth's land area and are home to more than 2 billion people.
Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature reserves. It can also be caused by immobile, travel restricted populations of native or non-native wild animals.
Reforestation is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands (forestation) that have been depleted, usually through deforestation but also after clearcutting. Two important purposes of reforestation programs are for harvesting of wood or for climate change mitigation purposes.
Forestation is a vital ecological process where forests are established and grown through afforestation and reforestation efforts. Afforestation involves planting trees on previously non-forested lands, while reforestation focuses on replanting trees in areas that were once deforested. This process plays an important role in restoring degraded forests, enhancing ecosystems, promoting carbon sequestration, and biodiversity conservation.
Land degradation is a process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land. It is viewed as any change or disturbance to the land perceived to be deleterious or undesirable. Natural hazards are excluded as a cause; however human activities can indirectly affect phenomena such as floods and bush fires.
Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees (forestation) in an area where there was no recent tree cover. In comparison, reforestation means re-establishing forest that have either been cut down or lost due to natural causes, such as fire, storm, etc. There are three types of afforestation: natural regeneration, agroforestry and commercial plantations. There are several benefits from afforestation such as carbon sequestration, increasing rainfall, prevention of topsoil erosion, flood and landslide mitigation, barriers against high winds, shelter for wildlife, employment and alternative sources of wood products.
Environmental issues in Kenya include deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, water shortage and degraded water quality, flooding, poaching, and domestic and industrial pollution.
African environmental issues are caused by human impacts on the natural environment and affect humans and nearly all forms of life. Issues include deforestation, soil degradation, air pollution, water pollution, garbage pollution, climate change and water scarcity. These issues result in environmental conflict and are connected to broader social struggles for democracy and sovereignty.
The Great Green Wall, officially known as the Three-North Shelter Forest Program, also known as the Three-North Shelterbelt Program, is a series of human-planted windbreaking forest strips (shelterbelts) in China, designed to hold back the expansion of the Gobi Desert, and provide timber to the local population. The program started in 1978, and is planned to be completed around 2050, at which point it will be 4,500 kilometres (2,800 mi) long.
Farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) is a low-cost, sustainable land restoration technique used to combat poverty and hunger amongst poor subsistence farmers in developing countries by increasing food and timber production, and resilience to climate extremes. It involves the systematic regeneration and management of trees and shrubs from tree stumps, roots and seeds. FMNR was developed by the Australian agricultural economist Tony Rinaudo in the 1980s in West Africa. The background and development are described in Rinaudo's book The Forest Underground.
Deforestation in Nigeria refers to the extensive and rapid clearing of forests within the borders of Nigeria. This environmental issue has significant impacts on both local and global scales.
Deforestation is a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystems in Costa Rica. The country has a rich biodiversity with some 12,000 species of plants, 1,239 species of butterflies, 838 species of birds, 440 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 232 species of mammals, which have been under threat from the effects of deforestation. Agricultural development, cattle ranching, and logging have caused major deforestation as more land is cleared for these activities. Despite government efforts to mitigate deforestation, it continues to cause harm to the environment of Costa Rica by impacting flooding, soil erosion, desertification, and loss of biodiversity.
Desert greening is the process of afforestation or revegetation of deserts for ecological restoration (biodiversity), sustainable farming and forestry, but also for reclamation of natural water systems and other ecological systems that support life. The term "desert greening" is intended to apply to both cold and hot arid and semi-arid deserts. It does not apply to ice capped or permafrost regions. It pertains to roughly 32 million square kilometres of land. Deserts span all seven continents of the Earth and make up nearly a fifth of the Earth's landmass, areas that recently have been increasing in size. As some of the deserts expand and global temperatures increase, the different methods of desert greening may provide a potential solution. Planting suitable flora in deserts has a range of environmental benefits from carbon sequestration to providing habitat for native desert fauna to generating employment opportunities to creation of habitable areas for local communities. The prevention of land desertification is one of 17 sustainable development objectives outlined by the United Nations, desert greening is a process that aims to not only combat desertification but to foster an environment where plants can create a sustainable environment for all forms of life while preserving its integrity.
Deforestation is a primary contributor to climate change, and climate change affects forests. Land use changes, especially in the form of deforestation, are the second largest anthropogenic source of atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions, after fossil fuel combustion. Greenhouse gases are emitted during combustion of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon. Global models and national greenhouse gas inventories give similar results for deforestation emissions. As of 2019, deforestation is responsible for about 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation are accelerating. Growing forests are a carbon sink with additional potential to mitigate the effects of climate change. Some of the effects of climate change, such as more wildfires, insect outbreaks, invasive species, and storms are factors that increase deforestation.
There are many pressing environmental issues in Mongolia that are detrimental to both human and environmental wellness. These problems have arisen in part due to natural factors, but increasingly because of human actions. One of these issues is climate change, which will be responsible for an increase in desertification, natural disasters, and land degradation. Another is deforestation, which is expanding due to human recklessness, pests, disease, and fires. Mongolian lands are becoming more arid through desertification, a process that is being exacerbated due to irresponsible land use. Additionally, more and more species are disappearing and at risk for extinction. Moreover, especially in population centers, Mongolians deal with air and water pollution caused by industrialization.
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.
Climate change in Algeria has wide-reaching effects on the country. Algeria was not a significant contributor to climate change, but, like other countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, is expected to be among the most affected by climate change impacts. Because a large part of the country is in already hot and arid geographies, including part of the Sahara, already strong heat and water resource access challenges are expected to get worse. As early as 2014, scientists were attributing extreme heat waves to climate change in Algeria. Algeria was ranked 46th of countries in the 2020 Climate Change Performance Index.
Forest now covers less than a third of Turkey, but ten thousand years ago the land was mostly wooded. The country is reforesting, which is important for the wildlife of Turkey.
Natural disasters in Nigeria are mainly related to the climate of Nigeria, which has been reported to cause loss of lives and properties. A natural disaster might be caused by flooding, landslides, and insect infestation, among others. To be classified as a disaster, there is needs to be a profound environmental effect or human loss which must lead to financial loss. This occurrence has become an issue of concern, threatening large populations living in diverse environments in recent years.
Desertification in Africa is a form of land degradation that involves the conversion of productive land into desert or arid areas. This issue is a pressing environmental concern that poses a significant threat to the livelihoods of millions of people in Africa who depend on the land for subsistence. Geographical and environmental studies have recently coined the term desertification. Desertification is the process by which a piece of land becomes a desert, as the word desert implies. The loss or destruction of the biological potential of the land is referred to as desertification. It reduces or eliminates the potential for plant and animal production on the land and is a component of the widespread ecosystem degradation. Additionally, the term desertification is specifically used to describe the deterioration of the world's drylands, or its arid, semi-arid, and sub-humid climates. These regions may be far from the so-called natural or climatic deserts, but they still experience irregular water stress due to their low and variable rainfall. They are especially susceptible to damage from excessive human land use pressure. The causes of desertification are a combination of natural and human factors, with climate change exacerbating the problem. Despite this, there is a common misconception that desertification in Africa is solely the result of natural causes like climate change and soil erosion. In reality, human activities like deforestation, overgrazing, and unsustainable agricultural practices contribute significantly to the issue. Another misconception is that, desertification is irreversible, and that degraded land will forever remain barren wastelands. However, it is possible to restore degraded land through sustainable land management practices like reforestation and soil conservation. A 10.3 million km2 area, or 34.2% of the continent's surface, is at risk of desertification. If the deserts are taken into account, the affected and potentially affected area is roughly 16.5 million km2 or 54.6% of all of Africa. 5.7 percent of the continent's surface is made up of very severe regions, 16.2 percent by severe regions, and 12.3 percent by moderate to mild regions.
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(help)The Green Dam in Algeria as a Tool to combat desertification
Monitoring the Spatiotemporal Evolution of the Green Dam in Djelfa Province, Algeria