Sub-Saharan Africa’s Perspectives on Environmental Change and Biodiversity Conservation: An Introduction

This chapter highlights the interlinkages between environmental change and biodiversity loss given sub-Saharan Africa’s comparative advantage in biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. The region’s biodiversity is characterized by intrinsic and instrumental values essential for fostering sustainable coexistence between humans and nature, highlighting the need for sustainable utilization. The Anthropocene epoch where human-induced alterations in biodiversity in response to escalating socio-economic demands has resulted in habitat conversion, overexploitation of resources, climate change, invasive species, and other factors, consequently threatening nature’s ability to sustain human well-being. This underscores the unique position of sub-Saharan Africa in the context of global biodiversity and sustainability, especially in promoting conservation strategies that are both equitable and sustainable. Addressing global environmental change and biodiversity conservation necessitates urgent and comprehensive transformations in economic, social, and political spheres. These changes are critical to meeting sustainability goals at national, regional, and global levels, particularly in the context of the Anthropocene and sustainable range and forest management.