The countries that I am doing are Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria. Mali locates on the inside of Western Africa with the population of 17,467,108. There is an overwhelming amount of population living in the south along the border with Burkina Faso. The area is 1,240,192 square kilometers. The climate of Mali is semi-tropical to dry, hot and parched from February to June and cold and dry from November to February. This country is facing flooding and dust laden in dry seasons affecting people around and the environment. The major environmental problems that Mali faces are desertification, soil erosion, deforestation, low supplies of drinkable water, and poaching. There are about 124,200 people with HIV/AIDS, and around 6,500 people died from the disease. The GDP of Mali is $39.09 billion; gold mining and agricultural exports are the things that the economy reply upon. Poor infrastructure is one of the country’s problems that has restricted the growth and development of the economy. Other issues are physical insecurity, high population growth, corruption, and low levels of human capital. Also, there is war in the northern half of Mali, where highways can’t cross. Only the north Mali has war and is part of the Sahara desert, which means that there’s still a way where we can build a highway. The highway can be constructed in the south of Mali to avoid conflict in the north and the desert. We have to avoid the Sahara desert because the workers would die there while building the highway, and the amount of population in the north is much less than the south so the highway would be useless there. The rugged hills in the north would make it harder to build highways since the elevation of the hills varies and hills make it tougher to build than flat land.
Next up is Burkina Faso locating in Western Africa. The population is 19,512,533, and the area is 274,200 square kilometers. The winters are warm and dry; the summers are hot and wet with the climate being tropical. The land is mostly flat with ripple plains; however, the west and southeast regions have hills. The natural hazard that this country is facing is drought, which affects the growth of plants and decreases the amount of drinking water. The environmental problems that Burkina Faso has are desertification which seriously upset agricultural activities. Other challenges are population distribution, overgrazing, soil degradation, and deforestation. There are about 95,300 people with HIV/AIDS and 3,600 deaths caused by this disease. For economy, most people perform subsistence farming with cotton being the major cash crop of this country. There are some domestic issues including the high cost of living, bribery, political insecurity, unreliable energy supplies, and poor transportation. The GDP is $32.99 billion, and there is no conflict in this country, fortunately. The highway can be built in Burkina Faso connecting after Mali. Although this country has droughts and other environmental problems, it is mostly safe because it is not in the Sahara desert and there is no war or major conflict around either.
Niger also locates in Western Africa with the population of 18,639,600 people mostly in the south along the border with Nigeria and Benin. The area is 1.267 million square kilometers. The geographic feature of the country is mostly sultry, parched, and sandy, where the south has flat rolling plains and the north has hills. The natural hazard that it has is drought. Overgrazing causes soil erosion and desertification which decrease the productivity of the country’s farmland. Deforestation had caused Niger to lose about 1,266,000 hectares of its forests and destroyed many habitats of plants and animals. Poaching has also threatened the wildlife populations because of human benefits. There are currently about 49,000 people with HIV/AIDS and around 3,600 deaths. Subsistence crops, livestock, and uranium deposits are what the economy of this country rely upon. Terrorist activities and kidnapping had enormously impacted the economy of Burkina Faso. Cheap uranium prices, demographics, and security payments are the factors that may cause troubles for the government finances. The GDP is pretty low with $20.27 billion, but luckily, there is no conflict or war. The highway should be built in this country in the southern part since the North is in the Sahara desert. Also, the South has a greater amount of population than in the north, which means that building a highway in the south would be more useful since more people are living in this region.
Chad is located in the middle of Africa and has the population of 11,852,462 people. The population spreads unevenly due to the differences in climate and physical geography, but the greatest population density is mostly in the south. This country has an area of 1.284 million square kilometers. The south’s climate is tropical, and the north is arid. Central Chad has broad, dry plain. The north is arid, the Northwest has mountains, and the south has lowlands. The natural hazards are humid, dry, sandy wind occur in the north, locust plagues, and recurrent droughts. The environmental problems are lacking supplies of drinking water, desertification, and wrong ways of disposing waste in rural areas causing soil and water pollution. There are currently 165,600 people with HIV/AIDS and 8,500 deaths. The economy of Chad depends on oil and agriculture. The GDP is $30.59 billion. For conflict, there is a small area near Lake Chad. The highway can be built in southern Chad because the north is part of the Sahara desert. Even though there’s war in the south in a small area at Lake Chad, we can avoid it by going through the area above Lake Chad.
Libya is located in Northern Africa and has the population of 6,541,948. About 90% of the population lives near the Mediterranean coast due to the middle of the country being part of the Sahara desert and the inadequacy of water. The area of Libya is 1,759,540 square kilometers. The climate is Mediterranean near the coast and dry, harsh desert on the inside of the country. Libya has mostly unfruitful land, flat to ripple plains, depressions, and plateaus with dust storms and sandstorms as natural hazards. The environmental problems are desertification and insufficient natural freshwater resources. The economy has been depending on gas exports and oil. The GDP is $90.89 billion. There are some major conflicts and violent wars in the north creating a harmful impact on the economy. Although we can build the highway in the north along the Mediterranean coast where it is not part of the Sahara, conflicts, and war are going on. Therefore, we can save the highway to build it later on after the conflicts are over.
Besides Libya, Algeria also locates in Northern Africa and has the population of 40,268,711 with the majority living in the very northern part near the Mediterranean coast. The area is 2,381,741 square kilometers. The climate is desert to semi-desert. Winters are wet and mild; summers are hot and dry. There are mostly high plateaus and desert with some mountains; the coastal plains are strait and discrete. Overgrazing and weak farming habits cause soil erosion. Industrial effluents such as dumping of raw sewage and petroleum refining wastes lead to the river and coastal water pollution. There are currently 8,800 people with HIV/AIDS and about 100 deaths. The economy mostly depends on hydrocarbons with the GDP of $609.4 billion. For conflict, there is an enormous area of war in the south and some small ones in the north. Highways can be built in northern Algeria even though there are tiny areas of conflicts in the north. We can still construct by staying close to the coastal line to avoid those conflict zones.
Tunisia locates in Northern Africa with the population of 11,134,588. There is an overwhelming number of people living in the north, and the south is left desolated. The total area is 163,610 square kilometers. The climate is clement in the north and arid in the south. Winters are mild and rainy; summers are hot and dry. The North has mountains; the central plain is hot and dry; the south is semiarid blending in into the Sahara. Tunisia finally received some rainfall after being desert for the past few years; however, this causes flooding in some areas. Poisonous and dangerous waste disposal lead to health problems, and raw sewage pollutes the water affecting the environment. Some other environmental issues are minimal water resources, deforestation, soil erosion, overgrazing, and desertification. There are about 2,600 people with HIV/AIDS and 100 deaths. This number is very low comparing to some other countries in Africa. Instead of depending on farming or natural resources, Tunisia’s economy relies upon bolstering export, foreign investment, and tourism with the GDP of $130.8 billion. Opportunely, there aren't any war or major conflicts. This country is pretty safe and ideal for building highways. Although there is pollution, it would not affect much on building the highway. However, the highway should be focused on in the north since more people are living there than in the south.