Ecological Impact of African Cities

Joy Clancy from the University of Twente has reviewed the problem in the current issue of the African Journal of Ecology. She says “A hundred years ago 95% of the African population was rural, today 38% live in cities with about half the population expected to be urban by 2010.”

This rapid growth is resulting in huge changes in natural resource use, but the effects are highly controversial. “Some environmentalists say that demand for fuel wood and charcoal from cities are causing deforestation, but in fact it is change in land use that is the main driver” continues Joy.

“The real change is around cities – the ‘peri-urban’ areas – where woodlands are cleared for agriculture to feed the new centres of population.” She points out “When this is added to the effect on water demand and waste disposal on aquatic ecosystems, then African cities can have an ecological footprint much larger than their actual extent.”

But there is little research on the ecology of cities “Africa is famous for its wildlife and the ecology of places such as the Serengeti are familiar to people all over the world, but remarkably few ecologists are studying urban environments” says Jon Lovett, associate editor of the African Journal of Ecology.

“Although we know a lot about lions and wildebeest, the real ecological challenges are in the cities and these are being ignored” he continues. “We need a massive shift in focus to tackle the most urgent environmental issues”.

Media Contact

Davina Quarterman alfa

All latest news from the category: Ecology, The Environment and Conservation

This complex theme deals primarily with interactions between organisms and the environmental factors that impact them, but to a greater extent between individual inanimate environmental factors.

innovations-report offers informative reports and articles on topics such as climate protection, landscape conservation, ecological systems, wildlife and nature parks and ecosystem efficiency and balance.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

The Sound of the Perfect Coating

Fraunhofer IWS Transfers Laser-based Sound Analysis of Surfaces into Industrial Practice with “LAwave”. Sound waves can reveal surface properties. Parameters such as surface or coating quality of components can be…

Customized silicon chips

…from Saxony for material characterization of printed electronics. How efficient are new materials? Does changing the properties lead to better conductivity? The Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS develops and…

Acetylation: a Time-Keeper of glucocorticoid Sensitivity

Understanding the regulatory mechanism paves the way to enhance the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory therapies and to develop strategies to counteract the negative effects of stress- and age-related cortisol excess. The…

Partners & Sponsors