| Abstract: | Concern for the better management of environmental resources grew during the 1980s. While this concern encompassed the misuse of the Third World's resources, those nations' governments and their peoples showed less awareness of the environmental damage being done in their quest for development. Environmental degradation has reached serious proportions in Algeria where oil wealth has masked failings of agricultural production and, together with industrialization, has provided a ‘veneer’ of economic development. The vulnerability of Algeria's natural environment and the fragility of its ecosystems have been stressed by Cǒte (1983). Once cleared, Algeria's woodlands and forests are slow to re-establish and surface deposits are easily erodable. Soils were largely formed under past climatic conditions, and so cannot be restored naturally by present pedogenetic processes. Such an environment is difficult and delicate to exploit to any high degree of agricultural intensification and is under increasing demographic pressure. Culturally and organizationally the agricultural system is far from ideal if agriculture is to be sustained. Often in Algeria the highest rainfall falls on the steeper slopes while the gentler slopes receive insufficient for agriculture. Only 500 000 hectares out of Northern Algeria's 38–40 million hectares receive more than 600 mm of rainfall and have slopes of less than three per cent (Cǒte, 1983). As much as 20 million hectares of Northern Algeria were identified by Dregne (1983) as … ‘vulnerable to desertification’ with large areas falling into his ‘severe’ risk category. This study seeks to demonstrate the dimensions of environmental degradation through observations and the monitoring (during the 1980s) of Algeria's media: largely newspaper and television reports. Particular emphasis is placed on the growing environmental ‘crisis’ since 1988. It should be stressed that the Algerian Government uses a controlled media to disseminate official information. Misuse and overuse of environmental resources have combined with inadequate government economic policies and a neglect of ecological issues to cause the ‘crisis’. |
