Hoguane - Eduardo Mondlane University

8/7/2019 Hoguane - Eduardo Mondlane University

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Threats to coastal and marine biodiversity in Africa

African seas andcoasts of Sub-Saharan Africa haverelatively pristinehabitats and hence,high biodiversityrich.


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Africa possesses severalareas of high endemismincluding five areas ofinternationallyrecognized biodiversityrichness, and theseinclude: The Western

Indian Ocean Islands,Maputaland in SouthernAfrica, Guinea Forest inWest Africa.


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These Ecosystems andresources have highsocial, economical andecological value:They are the basis forsubsistence of themajority of coastal

communities, theysupport the economyof the majority ofcoastal states


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The ecosystems and the associated resources areunder threat from both the natural processes andfrom human activities. Hence, the observed decline inthe richness and in the diversity of the ecosystems inAfrica:-Deforestation rate was about 0.78% yr -1 in 1990/00-Elephants declined about 60% in 80s-Southern Africa lost about 50% of wetlands in 90s

-About 80% of Guinea forest have now been cleared-Number of recorded extinct plants increased about50% in 80s-Over 700 vertebrates and 1000 plants arethreatened with extinction.


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Natural threatsare Associatedwith extremeclimate eventssuch as floods,droughts,cyclones


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Anthropogenic threats are of major concern sinceoften they cause chronic stresses into theecosystems.

They can be grouped into two major categories:

Those that act upon the resources directly

And Those that cause the destruction of the habitatsthat sustain the ecosystems and the resources


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Threats that act directlyinto the resources include:

Overexploitation of theresources due to:

Population pressureMarket demand

Economic developmentUse of inadequateharvesting practices


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Threats that causes the destruction of key habitats.

Key habitats concerned are basically the nursery,breeding and spawning grounds of key marine andterrestrial species. They sustain importantecosystems, from which availability of naturalresources are dependent. Thus, they have a

considerable contribution in the biodiversity, economyof coastal states and constitute basis of livelihood ofmost of the coastal communities.Example: Rivers/wetlands, mangroves, coastal dunesand corals


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Major threats to keyhabitats:

Modification of streamflow due to

Damming the river forhydropower production

Upstream abstraction

of runoff for irrigation,urban and industrialdemands


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Major threats to keyhabitats (cont):

Destruction ofmangroves due to

Urban expansionOverexploitation

Destruction ofseabeds, corals due to

use of inadequateharvesting practicesDestruction of coastal

dunes due to badtourism practices


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Threats to coastal and marine biodiversity in AfricaThe way forwardOne of the major challenges of the African CoastalStates is to assure the Economic growth, mostlydependent on the exploitation of the natural

resources, while at the same time assure thesustainability of these resources and of theecosystems that support them.

This require a sound understanding of the ecosystemstructure and functioning, knowledge about thefactors that determine the availability anddistribution of the resources and adoption ofsustainable strategies of resources uses and

management.


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Some of the projects of the programme ofintervention, developed under African Process andthrough coordination of UNESCO/IOC and ACOPS aimat:

enhancing the productivity of the ecosystems andassociated living resources,

maintenance of biological diversity andimproving the wellbeing of local communities;

through improvement/maintenance of the breeding,nursery and spawning habitats.

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Hoguane - Eduardo Mondlane University