46% of Albertine Rift species may be threatened by 2080, study finds

East Africa’s Albertine Rift extends nearly a thousand miles from the border between northwestern Uganda and northeastern DRC down through Rwanda and Burundi to Malawi. Dotted with mountains and pockmarked with lakes, the region is considered one of the most biodiverse places on the continent and is home to many animal and plant species that evolved in isolation and are endemic – meaning they’re found nowhere else in the world. But agriculture and climate change are putting many of these species at risk, according to a study published recently in Biological Conservation. Its findings indicate nearly half of the Albertine Rift’s endemic species may become threatened with extinction by 2080 if current climatic trends continue. The Albertine Rift region contains several isolated mountain ranges and lakes, and much of it is already contained within protected areas. (Itombwe and Kabobo reserves have since been established). Image courtesy of Wildlife Conservation Society. The study was conducted by researchers with institutions in the U.S. and UK who synthesized data on 162 plant and animal species found only in the Albertine Rift region. They used computer modeling to figure out how much habitat has so far been lost to agriculture and estimate how much may be lost in the future due to climate change. They found that, on average, 38 percent of these species’ habitats have been lost to land conversion for agriculture. Some species have lost as much as 90 percent of their habitat, the researchers write in their study. And climate change…

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