The African Ecosystems Program

Mission

“Improve understanding and conservation of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human well-being on the African continent through state of the art ecosystem and social science research, and develop solutions to environmental problems in which people are integral components of the landscape. “

Rationale

Africa harbors enormous biodiversity and provides ecosystem services of world-wide significance, but these natural resources are in peril. Threats to African environments include: habitat loss and fragmentation, deforestation, overgrazing, unmanaged fire, bush encroachment, hydrological diversions, climatic changes, human and animal diseases, invasive species, bushmeat poaching and hunting, increased cultivation of marginal lands, air pollution, and water pollution. Ecological and human-ecological systems are increasingly vulnerable. African ecosystems face not only degradation, but collapse. Such tragic changes can occur suddenly, and may be difficult of impossible to reverse.

Primary Goals

• Improve our understanding of ecological and environmental issues facing Africa and enhance the knowledge-base that informs decision makers at all levels (from family and village to national and regional), identifying the implications of land-use policies and decisions that affect long-term sustainability and integrity of African ecosystems.
• Use the best environmental science to enhance decisions and policies that influence environmental sustainability in Africa.

Primary Products

• Integrated environmental assessments and corresponding strategies for solutions to environmental problems in Africa. Integrated assessments are interdisciplinary studies of ecosystems or human ecosystems that reveal how interactions among system components lead to emergent outcomes.
• Training of scientists and managers in the U.S. and Africa to build capacity for integrated research and assessments that provide viable solutions to African environmental problems

NREL Participants

Randall Boone, Michael Coughenour, Stephen Del Grosso, Kathleen Galvin, Niall Hanan, Jeff Hicke, N. Thomas Hobbs, Alan Knapp, Dennis Ojima, William Parton, Jayashree Ratnam, Robin Reid, Mahesh Sankaran, Robert Sanford, David Swift, Diana Wall, Chris Williams.

Download the full description of the African Ecosystems Program (pdf).