AFRICA: Research and Tradition Could Save Environment

By Stephanie Nieuwoudt CAPE TOWN, Oct 10 (IPS) - Africa risks losing up to 50 percent of its indigenous species over the next century due to global warming. Flooding and droughts are already causing millions of the continent's people to leave their homes, and land gets degraded as droughts force pastoralists to seek new grazing areas. The long-term ecological predictions are bleak, but scientists say this could be different if natural habitats are managed and protected. Ways of mitigating potential damage to the environment were discussed recently at a conference of the Biota Africa project, held in Stellenbosch, in South Africa's Western Cape Province. The Biodiversity Monitoring Transect Analysis in Africa (Biota) Project, sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, creates partnerships with... [read full story]