The effect of humans on sub-Saharan Africa’s plant and vertebrate species has been assessed, including in rural areas, such as this near Calitzdorp in the Western Cape of South Africa.Credit: Engela Duvenage
Around 200 contributors have co-produced the most comprehensive dataset yet to assess the effect of humans on sub-Saharan Africa’s 45,000 plant species and 5,400 vertebrate species.
The project was designed in response to a 2018 call by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) for more African-led research that could close knowledge gaps and mobilize local data.
“The data comes from people that work every day in Africa’s complex landscapes, with an intimate understanding of their dynamics. This gives the dataset credibility and legitimacy,” says project leader, Hayley Clements, of the Centre for Sustainability Transitions and the African Wildlife Economy Institute based at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
The freely available dataset is part of the Biodiversity Intactness Index for Africa Project (bii4africa). The collaborators involved represent 39 countries, including 23 in Africa. Around 72% were based in the continent during the four-year project.
The experts assigned scores to different species after considering how much farming, forestry, livestock grazing, urban development and other human activity already impacted populations. The study method synthesized expert opinion to reach a scientific consensus when there is no sufficient data. The same method is used in similar studies, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessments.
The team is now producing a freely available map that will show where biodiversity thrives or is being lost.
Clemens explains the results inform development-related decisions in rapidly changing, understudied landscapes.“We now have much-needed data to assess and map ecosystem conditions to inform national planning and reporting in the new Global Biodiversity Framework and to support the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to identify priority ecosystems and monitor the impact of investments into restoration,” she adds.
