Conservation

Abstract

As mentioned briefly earlier, a considerable number of national parks and other reserves have been established throughout the African continent, the great majority of them within the last three decades. The obvious aim of this development is to preserve representative areas of “original Africa,” containing as many different habitats and animal species as possible. While great progress has been made in this direction, it is by no means certain that the long-term future of these protected areas is assured. Much depends on, firstly, the socio-economic and political developments in the countries concerned, and secondly on ecological trends within present reserves. National parks can only continue to exist if the human population surrounding them can be convinced that it is advantageous to keep them, for one reason or another, and economic considerations will play an important role in this context for some time to come. Within reserves, large and powerful herbivores requiring great quantities of food have the capacity to alter their habitats substantially, to the possible detriment of other species. The effects of elephant and hippopotamus populations on the vegetation of several national parks in eastern and southern Africa have, for some time, caused considerable concern.