Monitoring biodiversity loss in rapidly changing Afrotropical ecosystems: an emerging imperative for governance and research

Biodiversity loss is the reduction or disappearance of aspects of community dynamics or organismal variety in an ecosystem through elimination of genes, species or biological traits. Despite global advances, unprecedented biodiversity loss has occurred across ecosystems in the past century, with drivers showing no decline and often increasing, undermining ecosystem stability and resilience. Biodiversity loss poses major economic risks by eroding ecosystem services and driving catastrophic effects from habitat conversion; more than half of global GDP depends on natural capital and is vulnerable to biodiversity loss. At COP15 (2022), the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a global framework with goals to halt human-induced extinctions and reduce extinction rates tenfold by 2050, ensure sustainable use and management, equitably share genetic resource benefits, and secure implementation resources. There is an inextricable link between ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss driven by human footprint and environmental perturbations, which alter ecosystem processes (water cycle, energy flow, nutrient cycling and community dynamics) and disrupt biotic-abiotic synergies. Biodiversity regulates physical and chemical ecosystem components and underpins provisioning and supporting services; thus its loss alters pools and fluxes of materials and energy, affecting multiple ecosystem functions. Research—especially from temperate developed regions—has advanced understanding of biodiversity effects on multiple processes; mechanisms linking biodiversity and ecosystem functioning; multitrophic relationships; roles of genetic, functional and structural diversity; cross-ecosystem linkages via matter and energy exchange; and policy linkages. These studies inform policy design and conservation strategies. Adopting and customizing existing biodiversity models for Afrotropical ecosystems could improve understanding if appropriate biodiversity data were available. Effective policies for mitigating biodiversity loss require addressing drivers of ecosystem degradation, including population growth, resource demand, socioeconomic development, heavy reliance on natural resources, and international extraction. Direct drivers include habitat change, climate change, invasive species, overexploitation and pollution; indirect drivers include demographic/sociocultural, economic/technological, institutional/governance, conflicts and epidemics. In Africa, these are compounded by data deficiency due to political instability, lack of effective intergovernmental agencies for policy-driven actions, limited governmental support for environmental management and monitoring, and lack of standardized datasets and programmes. Africa lags in biodiversity knowledge across taxonomic, ecological and physiographical dimensions and lacks established thresholds of environmental change that lead to biodiversity loss. Insufficient financial and technical capacity impedes sound policy formulation and implementation. Few African-focused studies address biodiversity–ecosystem change interplay; international reports are often generic with evidence gaps. Given the centrality of natural resources to livelihoods and development, this paper aims to ignite conversation on monitoring biodiversity loss in rapidly changing African ecosystems, emphasizing data-driven policy interventions and management. The thesis is that funding challenges and lack of highly qualified personnel hinder data acquisition and robust study designs needed to evaluate drivers of ecosystem change and biodiversity loss, inform policymaking, and design restoration solutions.

The paper synthesizes literature on biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships, highlighting advances from temperate, developed regions: simulations of biodiversity effects on multiple processes; mechanisms underpinning biodiversity–ecosystem links; multitrophic biodiversity and functioning; inclusion of genetic, functional and structural diversity; cross-ecosystem exchanges of matter and energy; and links between biodiversity loss and policy. It reviews Africa-specific reports and studies evidencing data deficiencies across taxonomic, ecological and physiographical diversity, uneven availability and accessibility of biodiversity data (e.g., Ramsar site reporting), lack of standardized indicators, weak science–policy interfaces, and limited long-term ecological research compared to other continents. Case-based and regional syntheses (e.g., African Great Lakes, Key Biodiversity Areas, protected area connectivity) are discussed, alongside continental assessments (IPBES, CBD GBO) that frame direct and indirect drivers of change. The review also catalogs existing biodiversity databases (ARBIMS, FishBase for Africa, GBIF, IUCN Red List, Living Planet Index) and national repositories (SANBI, Uganda’s NDBD, Egypt’s National Biodiversity Unit), noting their partial coverage and access challenges.

Narrative, policy-oriented review supplemented by author-led case studies. The authors: (1) reviewed peer-reviewed and grey literature and international assessments to identify data challenges, drivers of ecosystem change, and governance/funding constraints across Africa; (2) synthesized continental ecosystem context and connectivity using GIS-derived land cover and ecoregion datasets; (3) presented empirical insights from their research in the African Great Lakes region, including multi-year compilation and cleaning of riverine fish biodiversity datasets (field surveys corroborated with historical literature) to evaluate community attributes (e.g., size spectra, niche breadth) and ecological health; and (4) collated examples of ongoing database initiatives and training capacity across multiple countries. No formal systematic review protocol is described; the approach is qualitative and integrative, drawing on thematic evidence and illustrative case studies to derive recommendations for monitoring and governance.

- Africa’s biodiversity is under acute pressure from rapid environmental change, with natural resources central to livelihoods and development, amplifying use pressures. - Data deficiencies are pervasive: availability, quality, accessibility, usability, lack of harmonized indicators, and inconsistent monitoring impede sound policy and effective conservation action. - Funding is a major constraint: 45 of 54 African countries are underfunded for biodiversity conservation in a global ranking; institutions face decades of underinvestment, limiting research capacity and long-term monitoring. - Human and institutional capacity gaps (few programs, limited postgraduate training, reliance on external collaborators) hinder data generation and policy-relevant research; agendas of international funders may be misaligned with national priorities. - Ecosystem context: Africa spans vast climate and ecological gradients, with high taxonomic, functional and physiographic diversity; the African Great Lakes hold over 25% of the world’s unfrozen freshwater and >90% of Africa’s freshwater; eight of 36 global biodiversity hotspots occur in Africa. - Drivers of change in Africa (direct and indirect) include land-use and habitat change, climate change, invasive species, overexploitation, pollution, demographic and sociocultural factors, economic/technological forces, governance weaknesses, conflicts and epidemics. - The African population exceeds 1 billion with ~2.3% annual growth, intensifying resource demand (agriculture, logging, settlement, urbanization), leading to ecosystem impairment and biodiversity loss; pollution (nutrients, heavy metals) drives eutrophication and toxicity. - Case study (African Great Lakes/Lake Victoria basin): severe gaps in riverine fish diversity, distribution and population data; inconsistent collection, storage and use obstruct research and management; new applications of size spectra and niche breadth demonstrated feasibility of ecological assessments but highlighted data scarcity and need for harmonized long-term monitoring. - Existing databases (ARBIMS, FishBase for Africa, GBIF, IUCN Red List, Living Planet Index; national repositories like SANBI, NDBD, Egypt’s NBU) are important but incomplete and variably accessible. - Conceptual framing shows bidirectional links: ecosystem degradation leads to biodiversity loss, and biodiversity loss further alters ecosystem processes; understanding mechanisms and linkages is essential for effective policy and restoration. - The paper advocates designing scientifically sound, logistically sustainable monitoring programs that explicitly track biodiversity–ecosystem function linkages to inform evidence-based conservation and restoration.

The findings substantiate the central thesis that Africa’s biodiversity policy and management are constrained primarily by data, funding, and capacity gaps, compounded by intense and growing drivers of ecosystem change. By reviewing continental evidence and presenting case studies, the paper demonstrates how the absence of standardized, accessible, long-term biodiversity datasets impedes diagnosing trends, attributing causes, and evaluating interventions. It argues that focusing solely on either biodiversity patterns or ecosystem drivers is insufficient; instead, monitoring must explicitly link biodiversity components (genes, species, functional traits, communities) to ecosystem processes (energy flow, nutrient cycling, water regulation) to understand mechanisms and predict responses to change. This integrated approach can strengthen the science–policy interface, enabling targeted governance actions (e.g., restoration, protected area planning, resource management) and optimizing the use of limited conservation funding. The discussion highlights that building local institutional capacity, harmonizing indicators across transboundary systems, and committing to sustained, co-designed monitoring will improve policy relevance and conservation outcomes across Afrotropical ecosystems.

Existing scientific knowledge in many African countries is inadequate to underpin robust biodiversity policies or clearly articulate research targets due to limited data reliability, accessibility and usability. Effective mitigation of biodiversity loss requires understanding how drivers of ecosystem change impact community dynamics and ecosystem functions, emphasizing biodiversity–ecosystem linkages. With escalating resource demand and demographic pressures, funding emerges as a critical imperative. Given international commitments to finance biodiversity conservation in developing countries, scientifically sound and logistically sustainable monitoring programs are needed to establish biodiversity benchmarks in Africa. The study underscores integrating biodiversity–ecosystem linkages to improve predictive capacity for future conditions and to support evidence-based conservation and restoration.

- The paper is a narrative, integrative review without a formal systematic review protocol, which may introduce selection bias in sources. - Empirical evidence is illustrative (e.g., African Great Lakes case studies) and not continent-wide; many conclusions rely on secondary data and reports that themselves may be incomplete or uneven across countries. - Lack of standardized, accessible datasets across Africa limits quantitative synthesis, benchmarking, and generalizability of conclusions. - No dedicated funding for the study is reported, potentially constraining the scope of new data collection or analyses.