Of the 17 natural UNESCO World Heritage Sites that are in danger, 12 are located in Africa. Here is a deep-dive into five of these unique sites and the looming threats that surround them.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) awards landmarks and areas around the world status as a ‘World Heritage Site’ for the location's unique cultural, historical or environmental significance. As part of this, World Heritage Sites are provided legal protection by UNESCO, however, many of these sites are now endangered. According to UNESCO, Africa and the Middle East have the largest number of threatened sites. Of the 17 UNESCO natural world heritage sites that are endangered, 12 are located in Africa. Five of these endangered African parks and reserves are described below.
1. Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park, Central African Republic
Black rhinoceros, Central African Republic. Photo by Wynand Uys on Unsplash.
This Central African national park is located in the prefecture of Bamingui-Bangoran near the Chad border on the Bahr Aouk and Kameur Rivers. It was awarded status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988 because of its unique biodiversity and is the largest park in the country, with around 6,700 square miles of land. This park’s historical significance lies in its unique flora and fauna and its position as a “crossroads” savanna. This location acts as the intersection where species from Eastern and Western savanna communities and Southern savanna communities meet. Straddling the Sudano-Sahelian and Sudano-Guinean biogeographical zones, the park hosts various habitats from grassy floodplains and wetlands in the north to savannas with gallery forests in the south. The park is home to various rare species, including black rhinoceroses, elephants, sudanese cheetahs, leopards, wild dogs, red-fronted gazelles, buffalo and hippopotamus.
Around 320 bird species can be spotted in the park, with at least 25 of them being species of raptors. Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park is home to many rare animals; however, its unique biodiversity has made it a target for illegal poaching of rhinoceros, elephants and giraffes as well as grazing. The western black rhinoceros that was indigenous to the land went extinct in 2011. The park is now governed by the Ministry of Water and Forests, Hunting and Fishing in efforts to protect the property.
2. Okapi Wildlife Reserve, Democratic Republic of Congo
Ituri Forest, near Okapi Wildlife Reserve. MONUSCO. CC BY-SA 2.0.
The Okapi Wildlife Reserve is located in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, occupying one-fifth of the Ituri forest. It is part of one of the largest drainage systems in Africa, the Congo river basin. Labeled as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 and categorized as “in danger” by 1997, the Okapi Wildlife Reserve stretches to around 5,300 square miles. The reserve is home to many threatened species of primates and birds, including leopards, forest buffalos, bongos, water chevrotain, dwarf antelopes and giant forest hogs. It also provides refuge to 5,000 of the estimated 30,000 remaining okapis, a forest giraffe and has the country’s largest population of forest elephants and chimpanzees.
In addition to the 17 species of primates, the reserve is inhabited by nomads and hunter-gatherers like the Mbuti and Efe pygmies. Although the Ituri forest is mostly untouched by logging and other development activities, the reserve is threatened by slash and burn deforestation, commercial hunting and gold mining.
3. Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserve, Niger
Dorcas Gazelle which can be found in Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserve, Niger. FurLined. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
The Aïr and Ténéré Natural Reserve in Niger covers 29,870 square miles, awarding it position as the second-largest nature reserve in Africa. It was first established as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991 to preserve endangered species, various habitats and beautiful desert landscapes. The reserve is made up of two main zones: the eastern half of the Aïr mountains and the western sections of the Ténéré desert. The mountainous and plain landscapes are home to Saharo-Sahelian flora and fauna that exist within the various habitats of the reserve. Everything from it’s living dunes and stony gravel desert, to cliff valleys and water holes is necessary to preserve the reserve’s biodiversity. The property provides a sanctuary for many threatened species, emphasizing desert antelopes, including the addax, the white antelope native to the Sahara desert, the dorcas gazelle, ostrich, fennec fox, barbary sheep and cheetah. The mountains also attract large numbers of migratory birds, totaling around 165 different species of birds. However, political instability in northern Niger, poaching and illegal grazing and other threats have led to the disappearance and decline of many endangered species and designated the site in danger by 1992. The civil unrest left the reserve with no official management plan; poaching led to the extinction of rare species, grazing of domestic animals and crop production minimized resources for wildlife and denied wildlife access to certain crucial wetland habitats.
4. Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal
Bordering the Gambia river, Niokolo-Koba National Park is located in the Sudano-Guinean zone. The park is home to the Derby Eland, an open forest and savanna antelope, chimpanzees, lions, elephants, leopards and more than 300 bird species.
Waterways, gallery forests, dry forests, savanna floodplains and rocky slopes are all landscapes that are found in this endangered World Heritage Site. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, the park is managed through the Ministry of Environment and Nature Protection and the National Parks Directorate. Poaching, one of the most significant factors contributing to landing the park on UNESCOs danger list in 2007, has been a major threat to the park for decades and has eliminated most giraffes and elephants that resided in the park. Bush fires, poor soil and the premature drying up of ponds are other factors that have endangered the park.
5. Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania
The Selous Game Reserve is located in Tanzania and covers more than 21,000 square miles of land. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982, the reserve has diverse wildlife and habitats such as Miombo woodlands and its inhabitants—African bush elephant, black rhinoceros, East African wild dog, Cape buffaloes, Masai giraffe, Plains zebra and Nile crocodile—grasslands, Acacia savanna, rivers and swamps.
Crocodile, Selous Game Reserve. Ravpix. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
One of the most famous rivers in the region includes the Rufiji River, which flows into the Indian ocean. While the reserve held the largest number of elephants in the world in the mid-1970s, more than 100,000, the number of elephants in the ecosystem fell to about 15,000 by 2014. The reserve was labeled as endangered by UNESCO in 2014 and is threatened by poaching, deforestation, mining, oil and gas exploration and dam construction. The national government approved a plan to build a hydroelectric dam across the Rufiji River in 2018, and the dam is currently under construction. The damage caused by the dam’s construction has tempted UNESCO to strip the reserve of its status as a World Heritage Site.
Mia Khatib
Mia is a rising senior at Boston University majoring in journalism and minoring in international relations. As a Palestinian-American, Mia is passionate about amplifying the voices of marginalized communities and is interested in investigative and data-driven journalism. She hopes to start out as a breaking news reporter and one day earn a position as editor of a major publication.