Where are the major gaps in the reserve network for Africa's mammals?
Date
2004-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Abstract
The establishment of protected areas for wildlife conservation in Africa was motivated by a number of
different reasons (including hunting, recreation and wildlife conservation). The current reserve network
provides good coverage of the distributions of the 194 species of larger mammals (> 3 kg) and 51 species of
threatened larger mammals. However, it is less effective in covering the distribution of all 197 of Africa's
threatened mammal species, which includes >140 smaller bodied species ( <3 kg) often restricted to habitat
patches. A fully comprehensive network of areas for the conservation of African mammals, especially those
facing extinction, is not yet in place, and further reserves may be needed in the Horn of Africa (Somalia in
particular), the Cameroon Highlands, parts of the eastern African coastal forests and Eastern Arc Mountains,
and parts of the Albertine Rift Mountains. More and larger reserve areas are also required to adequately
cover all the species of South Africa. Parts of these gaps are already covered by government forest
reserves, and the importance of this reserve category for the conservation of African mammals, especially
threatened species, needs to be better recognized. As many of the gaps in reserve coverage are in areas of
high human population and good agricultural potential, conservation goals may be difficult to achieve unless
we supplement traditional reserves with novel approaches to maintain natural habitats and wildlife outside
reserves.
Description
The original publication is available from http://www.cambridge.org/
Keywords
Forest reserves -- Africa, Protected areas -- Africa, Reserve network -- Africa, Threatened mammals -- Africa
Citation
Fjeldsa, J., Burgess, N.D., Blyth, S. & De Klerk, H.M. 2004. Where are the major gaps in the reserve network for Africa's mammals?, Oryx, 38(1).