A place-based assessment of biodiversity intactness in sub-Saharan Africa
Hayley S. Clements, Reinette Biggs, Alta De Vos, Emmanuel Do Linh San, Gareth P. Hempson, Birthe Linden, Bryan Maritz, Ara Monadjem, Chevonne Reynolds, Frances Siebert, Nicola Stevens, Matthew F. Child, Enrico Di Minin, Karen J. Esler, Maike Hamann, Ty Loft, Belinda Reyers, Odirilwe Selomane, Geethen Singh, Andrew Skowno
Abstract
Abstract Maintaining biodiversity is central to the sustainable development agenda 1 . However, a lack of context-specific biodiversity information at policy-relevant scales has posed major limitations to decision-makers 2,3 . To address this challenge, we undertook a comprehensive assessment of the biodiversity intactness of sub-Saharan Africa 4 using place-based knowledge of 200 African biodiversity experts 5 . We estimate that the region has on average lost 24% of its pre-colonial and pre-industrial faunal and floral population abundances, ranging from losses of <20% for disturbance-adapted herbaceous plants to 80% for some large mammals. Rwanda and Nigeria are the least intact (<55%), whereas Namibia and Botswana are the most intact (>85%). Notably, most remaining organisms occur in unprotected, relatively untransformed rangelands and natural forests. Losses in biodiversity intactness in the worst-affected biomes are driven by land transformation into cropland in grasslands and fynbos (Mediterranean-type ecosystems), by non-agricultural degradation in forests and by a combination of the two drivers in savannas. This assessment provides decision-makers with multifaceted, contextually appropriate and policy-relevant information on the state of biodiversity in an understudied region of the world. Our approach could be used in other regions, including better-studied localities, to integrate contextual, place-based knowledge into multiscale assessments of biodiversity status and impacts.