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Science 30 March 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5513, pp. 2616 - 2619
DOI: 10.1126/science.291.5513.2616
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Reports

Conservation Conflicts Across Africa

Andrew Balmford,1* Joslin L. Moore,12 Thomas Brooks,123 Neil Burgess,4 Louis A. Hansen,2 Paul Williams,5 Carsten Rahbek2

There is increasing evidence that areas of outstanding conservation importance may coincide with dense human settlement or impact. We tested the generality of these findings using 1°-resolution data for sub-Saharan Africa. We find that human population density is positively correlated with species richness of birds, mammals, snakes, and amphibians. This association holds for widespread, narrowly endemic, and threatened species and looks set to persist in the face of foreseeable population growth. Our results contradict earlier expectations of low conflict based on the idea that species richness decreases and human impact increases with primary productivity. We find that across Africa, both variables instead exhibit unimodal relationships with productivity. Modifying priority-setting to take account of human density shows that, at this scale, conflicts between conservation and development are not easily avoided, because many densely inhabited grid cells contain species found nowhere else.

1 Conservation Biology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, UK.
2 Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100, Copenhagen 0, Denmark.
3 Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International, 1919 M Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036, USA.
4 Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania, Pamba House, Post Office Box 312, Morogoro, Tanzania.
5 Biogeography and Conservation Laboratory, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: a.balmford{at}zoo.cam.ac.uk

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