Africa

The continent of Africa, with a land mass measuring 11,699,000 square miles and a population totaling 1,000,010,000, is the second largest continent in terms of land area and the second most populous in the world.http://esa.un.org/unpp/p2k0data.asp

With coasts on the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Red Sea and Indian Ocean to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west; Africa is a continent that straddles the Equator and is the only continent which incorporates equatorial, northern temperate and southern temperate climates.

The etymology of the name assigned to the continent is attributed to two sources, both originating from northern Africa. The Phoenician word afar, which means dust; the Berber word ifri; have been seen as possible origins for the word Arica.http://www.jstor.org/pss/714549?cookieSet=1

The origin of the human species, homo sapien, is considered to have originated on the African continent by paleontologists, with fossils of proto-human species having been discovered that are as old as 7 million years. As such, the African continent has been determined to be the longest inhabited land area by modern humans.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1058484.stm

Although anthropological and paleontological evidence of human existence and evolution on Africa dates back over 100,000 years, to the very evolution of modern man, the historical record of human civilization in Africa does not begin until 3500 B.C. with the rise of the ancient Egyptian civilization in the Nile Delta region.

With climate zones that include arid desert areas, savanna plains, dense tropical rain forests and even subarctic zones along its highest mountain peaks, Africa contains a diverse ecology which provides home to a diverse fauna and wildlife

The United Nations Environment Program has claimed that Africa is undergoing a rate of deforestation that is double the rate found anywhere else on the globe. Analysis from the agency states that up to 90% of West African rain forests having been depleted and that 65% of the land available for agriculture on the continent is suffering from soil degradation.http://www.unep.org/publications/