Satellite's-Eye View of an Africa Despoiled [Slide Show]
Share
REDUCED RESERVE: But recent years of coups and a civil war have driven the desperate struggle to survive that has eliminated the forest reserve entirely as seen in this 2003 image. UNEP
RESERVE FATE: The Beki Forest Reserve thrives in Ivory Coast—an island of green in 1986. UNEP
PROTECTED PARKS: That protection has allowed the reserves on the eastern border of Burkina Faso to avoid the human encroachment found elsewhere, as seen here in 2005. UNEP
PRESERVING PARKS: The border region between Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger, W-shaped courtesy of the meandering Niger River, has been protected since 1954. UNEP
Advertisement
DIAMOND MINE: By 2006, the mine sprawls over the landscape, a pattern repeated at a host of such mineral mines across the continent: from the coltan mined in the Congo, used in computers and cell phones, to Zambian copper for electrical wire. UNEP
DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH: The Catoca diamond mine in Angola had barely scratched the surface in 1990. UNEP
CAMEROON PLANTATIONS: Logging and commercial forestry, such as palm and rubber plantations, have helped give this area of Cameroon one of the highest deforestation rates in central Africa, as visible here in 2001. UNEP
CAMEROON RAINFOREST: The Campo-Ma'an rainforest in southern Cameroon covers 1.9 million acres (770,000 hectares) and was relatively untouched in 1973. UNEP
Advertisement
SWAMP CHAD: The lake, which is the main water source for the 20 million residents on its shores in Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, had shrunk by 2006 to less than 580 square miles (1,500 square kilometers). Less well-known lakes, such Mali's Lake Faguibine, are also disappearing. UNEP
LAKE CHAD: In 1972 Lake Chad boasted a thriving fishery and covered more than 10,000 square miles (26,000 square kilometers) with its shallow waters. UNEP
ROCKS OF KILIMANJARO: By 2006, the glacier had shrunk to a fraction of its former size and scientists fear it may disappear entirely by 2020, completely exposing the rocky peak. Lesser known glaciers, such as those on the Rwenzori peaks of Uganda, may share the same fate. UNEP
SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO: In 1976 the iconic glacier of East Africa—though still reduced from its size at the beginning of the 20th century—still covered the entire peak. UNEP
![Satellite's-Eye View of an Africa Despoiled [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/17D8962A-9CCF-48CF-91B050029C7D01C9.jpg?w=590&h=393)