While development of Africa’s natural resources such as oil, gas and minerals are important for the continent’s growth, it could be detrimental to more than 70% of sub-Saharan Africa’s natural heritage sites on which the livelihoods of nearly 2 million people are dependent.
A report by the WWF shows almost half of all natural world heritage sites – including Victoria Falls, Kilimanjaro National Park, Lake Turkana, Virunga National Park and the Namib desert, among others – are threatened by industrial activities such as mining, oil exploration and illegal logging.
According to a report by Mail and Guardian Africa, oil or gas concessions were granted in 40 of the sites and mining in 42. Meanwhile 28 sites are at risk from dams or unsustainable water use, 28 from illegal logging, 20 from the construction of roads or railways and two from overfishing.
