A concise yet thorough overview of the environmental issues, problems, and controversies facing the continent of Africa and the Middle East Africa and the Middle East. No words better conjure up Earth's rich diversity of life. From the lions of the Serengeti to the gorillas of Rwanda, they teem with some of the most photogenic species on the planet. But Africa and the Middle East are also home to the world's fastest-growing human population. How will the two co-exist in the 21st century? Africa and the Middle East, a new title in ABC-CLIO's World Environments Series, explains why. Examining both the rich biological heritage of the world's second largest continent and the very serious human threats to it, Africa and the Middle East explores the impact global pollution and a burgeoning population are having on landscape and wildlife alike. How is global warming responsible for the rapidly expanding Sahara Desert? The southward march of the Sahara - cause by climate change, overgrazing, and agricultural mismanagement - has threatened Sahelian and savanna species with a reduction in habitat. Can local populations be recruited to preserve threatened species? Over 80 percent of Madagascar's species are endemic, the highest percentage of any major ecological region in the world. Many of them are incomparably strange, like the octopus tree, the highly endangered Aye-Aye which resembles a cross between a monkey, a bat, and a woodpecker, and the giraffe-necked weevil, a red rainforest insect with a neck like a fire-truck rescue ladder. Readers will learn all about these fascinating species and much more.