Chapter 22

Section 1
1. Three problems that cash-crop production has created for countries in sub-Saharan Africa are: (1)the risk of being dependent on one or two crops, (2)the effects on the economy because of a drop in crop prices or (3)an unfavorable growing season that could affect crops.

2. Three ways that transportation and communications in the region are changing are as follows: (1) Nigeria is planning to link all of its railway systems, (2) new satellite technology is helping to bring television stations to households in Africa, to make it cheaper to get channels outside of urban areas, and (3) the number of telephone and cell phone lines has neatly tripled between 2000 and 2004, allowing people to communicate across long distances, while costing them less money.

African girl holding her cell phone

creative writing: countries in the sub-Sahara African region have taken on enormous debt that they have been unable to repay. i think that this is from their advances in technology, communications, and transportation. because these countries are so poor, they could not afford to pay for all of these advances on their own, so they borrowed money from other, richer countries to take a step into the twenty-first century, but their economies still have to balance out before they can repay their loans.

Section 2

1. Three reasons that food shortages have occurred in parts of Africa south of the Sahara are: (1) drought, which shortens the amount of crops that survive to produce fruits, vegetables and grains, (2) wars, which stop economic growth, causes farmers to give their products to soldiers, and destroys farmland, and (3) exceeded carrying capacities.



Somali soldiers



2. Three of the steps African countries south of the Sahara are taking to protect their environments are as follows: (1) eliminating poaching with new, stricter laws, (2) new ranching laws that encourage crocodile farming, and (3) protecting habitats for endangered animals like elephants, rhinoceroses, and smaller game animals, so that when animals are reintroduced, their habitats will be able to support them.



African Elephants were hunted for their valuable tusks,
and in 1989, they were put on the endangered species list.



creative writing: Famine and war are among the threats to the people of Africa south of the Sahara, and desertification and poaching are among the threats to the environment and wildlife. War and poaching are both ways of killing a species, war being the killing of humans, and poaching being illegal hunting of animals. Both are serious threats that are caused by humans. famine and desertification are both natural occurrences that can destroy a population, whether it be human or animal. If humans can stop fighting and make peace, the citizens of the sub-Sahara African countries can focus on their farming, conservation of land, and protection of wildlife. this may seem far-fetched, but if the fighting stops, we can fix all of our other problems by working as one.