Societies' need for aluminum, copper, and forest products has largely increased in resource extraction, both at the individual and industrial levels. Deforestation is another huge threat in Africa. According to the African Wildlife Foundation, 90% of the population use wood as fuel for cooking and heating. Africa's lush vegetation are rapidly being chop down for agriculture, heavy livestock grazing, and industrialization. In West Africa, almost 90% of the original forests have already been wiped out. Deforestation can even hurt the African environment by eroding soil, decreasing water supply, releasing carbon dioxide into the air, and threatening food security.
The relationship between humans and wildlife is a great challenge. Boundaries placed by people often roam outside park boundaries and onto land owned by communities. Because of that, wildlife can cause substantial damages to fields as well as eating crops that belong to the community.This creates tension, which quickly turns into human or wildlife injuries and even death. As humans and wildlife in Africa continue to live alongside one another, the human-wildlife conflict continues as well.
Wildlife trafficking, poaching, and hunting are another huge threat in Africa. Illegal wildlife trade not only threatens national security and global economies, but it also rips species from their habitat, damages the environment, and puts the future survival of both wildlife and ecosystems in jeopardy. People as poachers kill gorillas for their meat. For the elephants, they are killed for their ivory, and for the rhinos, they are killed for their horns. According to the African Wildlife Foundation, 23 metric tons of ivory representing 2,500 elephants-and countless billions of dollars-was seized in 2011. Wildlife poaching threatens the very survival of African wildlife species and it'll continue to rise.
Habitat loss is also another huge threat to wildlife as forests, rivers, and land in Africa continue to decline. It also leads to wildlife displacement and it can even lead to wildlife extinction.
In conclusion, if we don't act now, it can be too late for Africa and it's natural treasures. It's all up to us. Please support this post "Africa Endangered" or visit www.africanwildlifefoundation.org or any other website for your support.
