Environmental degradation in the sahel: a study from western sudan-ghubaysh area

This article focuses on environmental degradation in the African Sahel with a case study from western Sudan. The article aims at analyzing environmental degradation using environmental indicators, traditional ground based methods and secondary sources. Four hundred and twenty (420) headed households were randomly selected from twelve sample sites and questionnaire interviews were conducted to collect data on the environmental change indicators and causes. The descriptive statistical methods and Chi-square test were used in the data analysis. The results showed significant change in vegetation cover including disappearance of some vegetation species, wide spread of shrubs as well as dominance of Prosopis glandulosa around settlements' centers which explained 48.3% of the variation in the data set. A considerable segment of the respondents (17.4%) showed that Giraffa camelopard dlis, Asimus africanus and Struthio camel us disappeared from the area. The study pointed out that repetitive droughts, expansion of agricultural area from 9.8% to 41.4% of the land, charcoal making and increase in animals and human population have been the main causes of environmental change ( = 0.01).