Where Population Pressures Have Deadly Consequences

By: Alex Ashlock

With the world population now topping 7 billion, the November issue of National Geographic opens a window on a place where population pressures are having deadly consequences.

“The competition for finite resources has led to power grabs, the shredding of the bio-diversity… and the pitting of one ethnic group against another.”

–Robert Draper, reporter

Africa’s Albertine Rift is a 920-mile crease or rift formed by shifting plate tectonics, where the countries of Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Burundi all meet.

It’s the continent’s most bio-diverse region, with highland forests, snow-capped mountains, savannas, great lakes and wetlands, populated with rare birds and fish not to mention lions, hippos and gorillas. Reporter Robert Draper wrote the piece and he told Here and Now the very richness of the area has led to scarcity.

To read more: http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2011/12/01/where-population-pressures-have-deadly-consequences