The fight for conservation is also a fight against poverty

The fight for environmental conservation is also a fight against poverty and ignorance that can only be won with education and increased awareness of what is at stake.

This was highlighted during the recent observation of World Biodiversity Day, which was introduced by the General Assembly of the United Nations to raise public awareness about biodiversity’s importance for all life on Earth. This year’s theme was, ‘Harmony with nature and sustainable development’.

This includes working towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and communicating the importance of biodiversity and other conservation sciences.

But, as scientists like Harith Farooq, a lecturer at Mozambique’s Lurio University, points out, these ideals are often at odds with reality for many people in Africa. Farooq’s work includes running a project to locate and study species that are threatened or close to extinction.

Farooq notes that identifying critically endangered species could help to create protected areas, and that he is proud of the students he has taught who went on to contribute to nature preservation: “The biggest challenge has been the poverty engulfing my country. It is very hard to promote nature conservation when people are starving or don’t have their basic needs met,” he told University World News.

Farooq is also involved in initiatives to understand patterns of the world’s conservation needs. This includes mapping threats to biodiversity or priority areas for conservation on a global level. As part of this work to combat biodiversity loss, he has developed a metric for ranking areas in terms of biodiversity conservation.

In 2019, Farooq also began doing assessments for the International Union for Conservation of Nature. He says the degradation of nature is particularly alarming in areas with unique species that had previously been isolated for millions of years but are now threatened and in danger of extinction.

African universities are instrumental in educating the public and training the next generation of conservationists but, says Farooq, “What, unfortunately, happens is that the most talented individuals are absorbed by private institutions which often have different goals that lead them away from nature conservation, or they migrate to other countries to get better salaries. In these new jobs, they contribute very little to conservation in their home countries.”

To change the world, you need the right people, Farooq believes. “Teaching at university level for almost 15 years now, I have seen plenty of brilliant minds, [people who are] passionate about biodiversity. I’ve seen them arrive, I’ve seen them sparkle as they handle species in the field, [but] I’ve also seen many, perhaps most, of them lose their interest in nature due to the lack of opportunities.”

Vultures are crucial

An example of how academic study can drive conservation is Caroline Hannweg, a PhD student in zoology. Her research focuses on the effects of environmental factors on African white-backed vultures in Southern Africa.

The research is conducted with the South African conservation organisation Vulpro, under the supervision of the University of Pretoria; Germany’s Max Planck Institute; the North Carolina Zoo in the US; and the Peregrine Fund, a non-profit organisation founded in 1970 that conserves threatened and endangered birds of prey worldwide.

Hannweg told University World News that the absence of vultures in an ecosystem can fuel the spread of diseases and infections that can be transmitted between animals and humans. Her work is to study how current climatic effects have an impact on the breeding, movement, foraging and roosting habits of these birds.

“Vultures are extremely important for the environment because they are obligate scavengers, meaning they will only eat carcasses and decaying meat,” Hannweg says. “This is a vital step in the nutrient cycle, as the vultures break up carcasses exceptionally quickly, helping to pass nutrients back into the soil.

“However, what makes them different from other scavengers is that they are immune to many contagious pathogens such as rabies, botulism and anthrax. While other scavengers might contract these pathogens from eating an infected carcass, vultures do not and, thus, when they consume these carcasses so quickly they help to stop the spread of these diseases.”

She points to examples of what happens when vultures are no longer part of the ecosystem. “During the 1990s, Southeast Asia had a sudden drop in vulture numbers. This led to other scavengers such as jackals and feral dogs taking their place in the environment, which led to pathogen outbreaks among humans, costing governments millions of dollars in healthcare.”

While vulture numbers in Africa have dropped dramatically in the past three decades, Hannweg says conservation work has helped prevent a similar crisis.

Another example of the importance of research is Zimbabwean conservationist Locadia Dzingwena, a PhD student in nature conservation at South Africa’s Nelson Mandela University. Dzingwena told University World News that African universities are at the centre of innovative and interdisciplinary conservation solutions as they generate context-based research, which is important for filling knowledge gaps and tackling biodiversity loss in practical ways.

Her work has helped uncover patterns in baboon behaviour that had not been documented before, and offers insights into how wildlife might cope with increasing climate change, and specifically how baboons’ daily schedules can be used to manage conflict between humans and wildlife.

Highly adaptive

“Baboons are generalist feeders, making them vital for seed dispersal and nutrient recycling. They are highly adaptive and one of the species that have successfully occupied almost all the biomes of Southern Africa, making them key ecological indicators of environmental stressors like climate change,” Dzingwena says.

“They keep ecosystem dynamics balanced by providing food for predators like lions and leopards, and are also important for understanding human-wildlife conflict.”

Dzingwena believes African universities can benefit from increased investment to help retain the talent needed for the conservation of biodiversity.

“Many institutions are producing cutting-edge research on biodiversity and climate change these days. They are committed to African-led science, producing young scientists with a local context and advocating for community-driven solutions,” she says.

“However, our biggest challenge is funding and a lack of resources. Many institutions are operating with outdated equipment and lack basic infrastructure for the implementation of innovative, novel research work. There is also a lack of synergy between the universities, the industry and policymakers, meaning research outputs are not always applied.”