An Overview of the Potentials, Threats and Conservation of Biodiversity in Africa

Abstract

AbstractThere is a clear link between human developmental strides and biodiversity status on the African continent. The link exists in the form of drivers, outlooks, emergent properties and multiple feedback dimensions. To sustainably manage this relationship there is a need to identify priority and critical areas for investment and interventions, such as biodiversity and biome-level conservation area analysis that combines climate change and deforestation threats to ensure the preservation of high-value biodiversity and cultural heritage. The result will manifest in the form of a robust monitoring plan as well as adaptation to and mitigation of key stressors, threats and risks. Most of Africa’s biodiversity is found outside the limit of native and non-native protected areas and continue to face dynamic threats. Development is the main threat and unless it becomes sustainable will harbour generic issues related to limiting biodiversity potentials and increasing the threats to their use and conservation. This book is a collection of works on the potentials, threats and conservation of biodiversity in Africa and is divided into four sections - an introductory section and other sections on the values of biodiversity in Africa, drivers of biodiversity loss in Africa and trends, scenarios and governance in relation to biodiversity conservation in Africa. This introductory chapter presents an overview of perspectives presented in the book toward a common agenda. Many people only know Africa from the perspective of its unique biodiversity and the values of African biodiversity may be considered from two perspectives—either the whole value or the value of the components. The proximate driver of biodiversity loss in Africa may be biological but the ultimate cause is socio-ecological and economic processes. The major reason for this biodiversity loss is not only direct human overexploitation but also due to pollution, urbanization, habitat fragmentation, invasive species, novel diseases and human population growth. A key sustainability target would be to regularly organize public outreach programmes aimed at informing Africa’s populace about the ongoing biodiversity loss. Also, knowledge-based sustainable utilization, strategic monitoring and assessment of threats, and technology-driven innovative conservation practices should be the used to define all future developmental plan that pertains to Africa’s biological resources.KeywordsBiodiversity valueSustainable use of biodiversityBiodiversity conservationHuman developmentAfrica