Many of Africa's environmental problems date centuries back.  Today, the region remains undeveloped and some of its natural environment remains intact.

Map of the African Continent.  Image Credit: ClickArt Image Pak

As far back as the early centuries AD, the elephant, rhinoceros, and zebra went extinct in northern Africa.  In the lower Nile, the hippopotamus became extinct.

Now, hundreds of years later, extinction continues to plague Africa. Poachers now hunt endangered species because selling such goods as elephant ivory is highly profitable.  Though 4.5 million elephants lived in Africa in 1970, the population had dwindled to only 600,000 by 1990.  Forest elephants are being hunted in increasing numbers now, and their population in Western Africa has been reduced to under 3,000.

When European powers established colonies in Africa, they sought to exploit the continent's natural resources.  In Eastern Africa, the British sought to extract the raw materials present and grow other goods useful to the empire.

One major problem for Africa in the 20^th century has been desertification, the loss of arable soil to expanding deserts.  From 1925 to 1975, the Sahara desert grew 250,000 square miles.  This has severely limited food production, and led to mass starvation.

Forests have also been heavily destroyed.  By the 1980s, as many as nine million acres of African forests were being cleared annually.  The countries hardest hit include the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea, and Ghana.

Today, Africa is heavily undeveloped.  As in many other areas of the Third World, governments are forced to allow large amounts of pollution.  As a result, many multinational corporations that damage the environment now conduct their operations in African countries.  However, there are many species of animals that only survive today in the greatly untouched African wild.