68 - Sustainable Development in Africa & Satellites
Biodiversity is life
i
Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International caregivers feed orphaned gorillas in Kasugho,
eastern DRC. Four gorillas were transported from Goma to Kasugho by a UN MONUC
peacekeepers’ helicopter.
© 2009 Tim Freccia
’
B
iodiversity is one of the planet’s
greatest and yet least recognized
riches.’
wrote the American
entomologist Edward Wilson in 1992.
This is particularly true in Africa where
biodiversity is ‘useful’ insofar as it is a
primary need of the population. Rural
households depend on farming, fishing,
hunting and gathering in their daily
lives. These contribute to subsistence
and generate income, completing other
sources such as earnings in the form
of wages or cash remittances from
elsewhere.
This clearly shows the importance to
be awarded to natural produce and
ecosystems in general. The latter can form
a ‘social security safety net’ by protecting
families from poverty and famine,
especially in case of natural catastrophe.
B
iodiversity is also a reservoir of economic
resources that can be used today to make
agrifood products (
Irvingia gabonensis
Aubry-Lecomte, known as wild mango),
pharmaceuticals (
Prunus africana
, Hook.f.,
a tree of the Rosaceae family whose
bark is used in phytotherapy), cosmetics
(
Baillonella toxisperma
Pierre, which
gives a product similar to shea butter),
etc. Finally it has contributed to the
development of African cultures in many
ways (sacred forests for example).
However, biodiversity is indanger. InAfrica,
the threats come mainly from increasing
over-exploitation of natural resources:
over-fishing, the increased use of wood
as fuel by artisans working in various
fields and above all changes in land use.
Ecosystems classification
and inventory
Terrestrial ecosystems and vegetation of
Africa were classified and mapped as
part of a larger effort and global protocol
(GEOSS – the Global Earth Observation
System of Systems), which includes an
activity to map terrestrial ecosystems of
the earth in a standardized, robust, and
practical manner, and at the finest pos-
sible spatial resolution. This new map is
expected to provide considerable support
for climate change, biodiversity, and eco-
system services assessments.
© Association of American
Geographers, 2013
