Web Essays

Desertification—the expansion of deserts into semiarid areas—is especially problematic in Africa. Northern Africa has seen the recent expansion of the Sahara Desert both northward and southward. While transnational action is needed and encouraged, some governments continue to act in the national, rather than regional, interest when it comes to water use. Libya, for example, depletes irreplaceable fossil water supplies to irrigate crops through the Great Man-Made River Project. The construction of the Aswan High Dam across the Nile River has resulted in significant impacts on that river, both positive and negative.

Choose one topic related to desertification or water use in northern Africa. Compare economic as well as environmental costs and benefits of human activity in that area.

The member nations of OPEC, many of which are from this region, influence the global prices and production targets for petroleum. They have also had variable relations with the United States and Russia, other major oil producers whose policies do not always agree with those of OPEC.

What is the stated goal of OPEC? Who are its current members? Where are they located geographically? Look at the brief history of OPEC. What was the 1973 OPEC Oil Embargo about? Was it successful? Currently, what is the likelihood of oil being used as an economic weapon?

Ethnic Kurds live as minority groups in five countries (map): Armenia, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Government policies in these countries have not favored the Kurds, as groups such as the PKK and PDK have striven to establish an independent Kurdish state. Pro-independence insurgencies have engaged in attacks in these countries, oftentimes meeting strong government reaction—in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule and in Turkey. The recent overthrow of the Iraqi government prompted new elections, in which the Kurds look to have a much more significant role in the politics of the country.

What is the political future for the Kurdish people? Do they have enough economic clout or international sympathy to improve their situation locally or transnationally?