African Water Development Report 2006 - United Nations Economic ...

African Water Development Report 2006From the 2004 IUCN Red List of threatenedspecies in Africa there are about 321 and 273critically endangered animal and plant species inthe continent (fig. 6.7). The numbers vary fromcountry to country within the subregions, andsuch countries as Madagascar, Tanzania, Cameroon,Gabon, Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoirehave the highest number of threatened animaland plant species (figure 6.8). The situation seemsto be worsening in all the subregions where thenumber of threatened mammal, bird and fishspecies are increasing at an average rate of about2, 2.5 and 5 times, respectively. The IUCN assessmentof 1998 gave only one endangered fishspecie in the North Africa subregion; this numberjumped to 83 in the 2004 IUCN Red list.Fig. 6.7: Threatened Animal and Plant Totals in Africa and Sub RegionsSource: IUCN, 2004In South Africa, for example, palaearctic migrantsspend the austral summer in locationssuch as the Langebaan Lagoon, near Cape Town,and the boreal summer in the wetlands of Siberia.If climatic conditions or very specific habitatsat either terminus of these migratory routeschange beyond the tolerance of the species involved,significant losses of biodiversity couldresult. Although the species involved have somecapacity to alter their destinations, the probabilityof finding, in an increasingly intensively usedworld, sufficient areas of suitable habitat in thenew areas is small.Under the Ramsar Convention, the current systemof protected habitats is based on present distributionof climate, raising the possibility of vasthabitat types and quality being changed underclimate change. Most African countries have becomesignatories to the Ramsar Convention andhave designated important wetlands as protectedareas (fig. 6.9). The major human-induced threatsto ecosystems and biodiversity are unsustainableexploitation, habitat change, pollution, invasionsby exotic species, and global climate change.Humans are using many of the world’s naturalresources faster than they can replace them, ir-142