Abstract:
Protected areas (PAs) cover 12 % of terrestrial sub-Saharan Africa. However,
given the inherent inadequacies of these PAs to cater for all species in conjunction with the
effects of climate change and human pressures on PAs, the future of biodiversity depends
heavily on the 88 % of land that is unprotected. The study of biodiversity patterns and the
processes that maintain them in human-modified landscapes can provide a valuable evidence
base to support science-based policy-making that seeks to make land outside of PAs
as amenable as possible for biodiversity persistence. We discuss the literature on biodiversity
in sub-Saharan Africa’s human-modified landscapes as it relates to four broad
ecosystem categorizations (i.e. rangelands, tropical forest, the Cape Floristic Region, and
the urban and rural built environment) within which we expect similar patterns of biodiversity
persistence in relation to specific human land uses and land management actions.
Available research demonstrates the potential contribution of biodiversity conservation in
human-modified landscapes within all four ecosystem types and goes some way towards
providing general conclusions that could support policy-making. Nonetheless, conservation
success in human-modified landscapes is hampered by constraints requiring further
scientific investment, e.g. deficiencies in the available research, uncertainties regarding
implementation strategies, and difficulties of coexisting with biodiversity. However,
information currently available can and should support efforts at individual, community,
provincial, national, and international levels to support biodiversity conservation in
human-modified landscapes.
