The biggest threat to Africa¿s animal life has been man¿s destruction of animal habitats. The African human population is rapidly increasing, requiring more land and water on which to live and human settlement has encroached more and more on the animal¿s territory. Man alters the land to suit his needs, such as knocking down trees and farming. Once man has taken everything he needs from the land and used up all of its resources, he moves on to another area. He leaves the land so badly damaged that animals can no longer live on it either.

Mankind has the technology to change the landscape at high speed. This human expansion and wider settlement has made animal habitats unsuitable for the animals themselves. Some 40 land mammals, including the African elephant, lion and buffalo have proved incompatible with agriculture and human settlement and are now mostly confined to wildlife sanctuaries and nature reserves.

Desertification

Northern and western Africa is experiencing habitat destruction in the form of desertification. The Sahara Desert is slowing encroaching on savanna lands and these areas, which were once covered in a layer of grass and trees, are now sandy and barren, merely part of the ever-expanding desert. The semi-arid area south of the Sahara Desert has moved 100 kilometres southwards between 1950 and 1975.

This is due mainly to overgrazing by domestic animals. The use of fences has restricted the animals¿ ability to move around to other pastures, and therefore they graze in the same area ruining the soil and vegetation. Regular stock movement allows pastures a chance to re-grow their grass, but as the animals never move the grass has no chance of renewal.

The increased human population and poverty have not helped the situation as poor people are forced to overuse the environment. Incorrect irrigation practises have also contributed and salt has built up in the soil preventing the plants from growing. Humans have also destroyed a lot of vegetation for fuelwood in fires. A lack of rainfall is also a problem.

Desertification occurs mainly in semi-arid areas bordering on deserts. It reduces the ability of the land to support agricultural crops and plants, leaving the animals and people without food. Without plants, soil erosion occurs. Once the desertification process has begun it is a cycle that keeps on going. About half of southern Africa is semi-arid and at risk of desertification. The edges of the Kalahari Desert are known to have already deteriorated this century. Good land management is required in semi-arid areas to prevent desertification.

Lack of genetic diversity

Another major threat to Africa¿s animal life is the loss of genetic diversity. Animal populations have become so divided and isolated from one another that they cannot make contact to breed. When an animal group is cut off from another one, the group continually breeds with others in the same family and this is called inbreeding. This means no ¿new blood¿ is introduced to the family.

Animals need large areas to roam and find outsiders to mate with. Even the largest of Africa¿s wildlife reserves is not big enough to prevent the animals continually breeding with the same partners. The reduction of genetic variability and increased inbreeding is a major threat because future generations may be born with defects and lack resistance to disease.

Human Poverty

Poverty is defeating conservation efforts. Poverty, human population growth and environmental deterioration are all linked together. People involved in the poaching trade often pay the poor to hunt and kill rhinos and elephants for their horns and tusks. Such poachers are paid a lot of money to do this work and being poor they cannot refuse the money.

Commercial poaching also provides a much-needed income for poor African countries. The wealthy developed countries of the West are an irresistible market for African poachers who see these countries as their livelihood. If the wealthy countries of the Far East, Europe and America refused to buy ivory and horns, poaching may not be such an attractive job. Impoverished and overcrowded rural communities have no choice but to destroy the land on which they live.

Wildlife Smuggling

Second to habitat loss on the list of major causes of animal extinction is illegal wildlife smuggling. The profits are extremely high for smuggled animals and collectors will pay lots of money. Often the more endangered a species is, the more valuable it is on the illegal market.

These days, the animals smuggled from the wild can be worth more when they are dead, instead of alive. The animals are smuggled in on ships or aeroplanes, often in boxes that are falsely labelled. It is not uncommon for the smuggled animal to be carried through the airport in the smuggler¿s clothing. The risk of being caught is not very high due to the high costs of surveillance.

Threatened Ecosystems

The increased numbers of African animal deaths has not just affected the animal kingdom but has threatened entire ecosystems. The animals and plants exist within the same ecosystem and they each affect one another. As humans encroach on the animals¿ wildlife habitat the animals must live in a more compressed area.

The animals then continue to overeat the vegetation in that area, destroying it because the plants cannot re-grow properly. By conserving the animal groups of an area, we are conserving the entire plant ecosystem that exists.