Africa’s biodiversity is under serious threat.
The continent, according to the just released report, has experienced a decline of 76 percent in the size of monitored vertebrate wildlife populations between 1970 and 2020, driven primarily by habitat loss, over exploitation, pollution, and the impacts of climate change.
The global decline rate was found to be at 73 percent.
The Living Planet Report 2024 compiled by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) reveals significant declines in the average size of populations of wildlife across Africa.
According to the report the alarming trend highlights the urgent need for transformative action to safeguard Africa’s natural ecosystems and the livelihoods that depend on them.
The WWF report warns that the continued degradation of Africa’s ecosystems could push the region past critical tipping points without immediate interventions.
As ecosystems cross these thresholds, their ability to support both wildlife and human livelihoods becomes compromised, with severe consequences for food security, water availability, and climate resilience.
The WWF Regional Director for the Congo Basin, Martin Kabaluapa, points out that Africa’s biodiversity is calling for urgent action.
“The interlinked crises of nature loss and climate change are pushing African wildlife and ecosystems to their limits, with global tipping points threatening to destabilize entire ecosystems,” he said.
“The catastrophic consequences of losing some of Africa’s most precious species, from forest elephants to gorillas and ecosystems, would reverberate across the world,” adds Kabaluapa.
The report however offers some hope, reporting that Mountain Gorillas in the Greater Virunga Landscape of Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose numbers had plummeted, have rebounded by 3 percent between 2010 and 2016 due to successful conservation efforts.
Senior Director for Policy Influence and Engagement at WWF, Alice Ruhweza, stated: “We must realize that conservation by itself is not enough to bend the curve, and we need a systems shift.”
“However, we have the tools, the knowledge, and the opportunity to reverse these trends if we act now,” said Ms Ruhweza.
She added that it is critical nature-based solutions across Africa to address the interconnected biodiversity loss and climate change crises are scaled up.
“Reforestation, wetland restoration, and agroforestry projects not only help to preserve biodiversity but also enhance livelihoods by providing jobs, improving food security, and increasing resilience to climate change,” Alice added.
The WWF Tanzania Country Director, Amani Ngusaru, warns that the continent was still losing forests.
“Much as the numbers of the black rhinos and the Africa elephants are reported to have increased in the past few years in Tanzania, we are yet to get to the point where we should be confident and comfortable that our wildlife has been restored,” Ngusaru maintained.
“We are still losing forests which are important habitats for wildlife and people, the quality and quantity of our waters in the rivers is deteriorating and our marine resources are definitely affected,” pointed out the WWF Tanzania Country Director
“It is time to up our actions, consume sustainably and bring our combined efforts on board if we want to maintain a balance and achieve the 2030 targets.”
It was also pointed out that the international biodiversity and climate summits taking place this year – COP16 and COP29 – are an opportunity for countries to rise to the scale of the challenge.
The World Wildlife Fund called upon countries to produce and implement more ambitious national nature and climate plans that is the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that include measures to reduce global overconsumption, halt and reverse domestic and imported biodiversity loss, and cut emissions – all equitably.
WWF also urged governments to unlock greater public and private funding to allow action at scale and to better align their climate, nature and sustainable development policies and actions.
African countries have already committed to halting and reversing nature loss under the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and tackling climate change through the Paris Agreement.
Yet, the Living Planet Report 2024 warns that national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) are falling short, with critical tipping points like the degradation of coral reefs, savannah ecosystems, and rainforests still looming.