Hotmail
Messenger
My MSN
MSN Directory
|
|
Windows Live® Search Results
Windows Live® Search Results Page 2 of 12
Article Outline
Uganda has a wide variety of plant life, from mvuli trees and elephant grass of the plateau to dry thorn scrubs, acacia trees, and euphorbia shrubs of the northeast, as well as papyrus in swamps, which surround many of the country’s lakes. The country also has spectacular wildlife, including elephants, lions, leopards, gorillas, chimpanzees, rhinoceroses, antelopes, zebras, Rothschild’s giraffes, and crocodiles.
Because it is an agricultural country, Uganda’s soils are its most important resource. It has small amounts of mineral resources, mainly copper, cobalt, gold, tin, tungsten, beryllium, iron ore, limestone, phosphates, and apatite. For most of its electric power, Uganda depends on hydroelectricity from the Owen Falls Dam on the Nile at Lake Victoria. At present 26 percent of the land area is cultivated and 11 percent used for permanent crops such as coffee and bananas.
Uganda’s temperatures are moderate throughout the year. In Kampala, near Lake Victoria, average daily temperatures range from 18° to 28°C (65° to 83°F) in January and from 17° to 25°C (62° to 77°F) in July; in Kabale, in the highlands of the southwest, they range from 9° to 24°C (49° to 75°F) in January and from 8° to 23°C (47° to 74°F) in July. Except for its northeastern border area and small areas in the southwest, Uganda usually receives sufficient rain throughout the country to permit crops to grow once or even twice a year. Most areas of the country have distinct dry and wet seasons, though the Lake Victoria area receives rain throughout the year. The rainy seasons occur from March through May and from October through November. The driest areas, in the north, usually receive about 900 mm (40 in) annually, while the wettest, in the south, get more than 1,500 mm (60 in). Rainfall varies greatly, however, and local droughts are not uncommon.
Soil erosion, overgrazing, and desertification threaten Uganda’s environment, as the country’s growing population attempts to subsist mostly through agriculture and farming. In order to provide more land for agricultural use, many forests have been cleared and wetlands have been drained. About 1.8 percent (1990–2005) of Uganda’s forestland is destroyed each year, in part because 90 percent (1997) of the country’s energy requirements are met by burning wood or charcoal. About 18 percent (2005) of the land area remains forested. Uganda is situated in an area of rich biodiversity and about 7 percent (2004) of the country’s land is protected in parks or reserves. However, several animal species have been greatly reduced, particularly the rhinoceros, which is endangered. The greatest threat to all species is the growing need for land for farming and raising cattle. Poaching for rhinoceros horn and elephant tusks, capturing of gorillas for zoos, and shooting of antelopes for food and sport, particularly by soldiers during Uganda’s wars, have also taken their toll.
Uganda’s population is predominantly rural and is concentrated in the south, particularly in the crescent at the edge of Lake Victoria and in the southwest. Almost all Ugandans are black Africans. Foreign residents make up less than 4 percent of the population and come mostly from neighboring states. In 2007 Uganda’s population was estimated at 30,262,610. The estimated growth rate of the population in 2007 was 3.6 percent. The birth rate was 48 per 1,000 people and the death rate 13 per 1,000. The fertility rate, the number of births per woman, was 6.8.
© 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
© 2008 Microsoft
  |
