The United Nations environment agency Tuesday revealed a new atlas that shows what it describes as dramatic effects of climate change on Africa.

The atlas, a 400-page publication, features over 300 satellite images taken in every African country. The images are before and after photographs, some of which span a 35-year period, and appear to show striking environmental changes across the continent.

"The atlas clearly demonstrates the vulnerability of people in the region to forces often outside their control," Achim Steiner, executive director, for the United Nations Environment Program said at a meeting of African environmental ministers in Johannesburg. "It is an indication of how serious the situation has become."

According to the atlas, Africa is losing nearly 10 million acres of forest every year — twice the world's average deforestation rate. The atlas also points out that some areas of the continent are losing over 55.12 tons of soil per 2.5 acres each year and appears to illustrate that erosion as well as chemical and physical damage have degraded about 65 percent of the continent's farmlands.

The atlas also shows the dramatic expansion of cities such as Senegalese capital Dakar, which has grown over the past 50 years from a small urban center at the tip of the Cap Verde Peninsula to a metropolitan area with 2.5 million people spread over the entire peninsula.

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