16 research outputs found
Shepherding sub-Saharan Africa's wildlife through peak anthropogenic pressure toward a green anthropocene
Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA’s) iconic biodiversity is of immense potential global value but is
jeopardized by increasing anthropogenic pressures. Elevated consumption in wealthier countries
and the demands of international corporations manifest in significant resource extraction from
SSA. Biodiversity in SSA also faces increasing domestic pressures, including rapidly growing
human populations. The demographic transition to lower fertility rates is occurring later
and slower in SSA than elsewhere, and the continent’s human population may quadruple by
2100. SSA’s biodiversity will therefore pass through a bottleneck of growing anthropogenic
pressures, while also experiencing intensifying effects of climate change. SSA’s biodiversity
could be severely diminished over the coming decades and numerous species pushed to extinction.
However, the prospects for nature conservation in SSA should improve in the long
term, and we predict that the region will eventually enter a Green Anthropocene. Here,
we outline critical steps needed to shepherd SSA’s biodiversity into the Green Anthropocene
epoch.http://www.annualreviews.orgam2023Mammal Research InstituteZoology and Entomolog
The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance
INTRODUCTION
Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic.
RATIONALE
We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs).
RESULTS
Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants.
CONCLUSION
Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century
Food: Rethinking global security
Today, humanity produces sufficient calories, in theory, to feed the 7.7 billion people on the planet: the amount of food produced per person on the planet has gone up more than 40% since the 1960s. Yet, ironically, the prevalence of undernourishment - which had been declining for decades - has started to tip upwards again: the total number of people undernourished in 2018 stood at more than 820 million people, up from a record low of 785 million in 2015 (see Figure: Hunger rising). At the same time, some 1.9 billion people are overweight, and 650 million are obese
Shepherding sub-Saharan Africa’s terrestrial biodiversity through peak anthropogenic pressure toward a green anthropocene
Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA’s) iconic biodiversity is of immense potential global value but is
jeopardized by increasing anthropogenic pressures. Elevated consumption in wealthier countries
and the demands of international corporations manifest in significant resource extraction from
SSA. Biodiversity in SSA also faces increasing domestic pressures, including rapidly growing
human populations. The demographic transition to lower fertility rates is occurring later
and slower in SSA than elsewhere, and the continent’s human population may quadruple by
2100. SSA’s biodiversity will therefore pass through a bottleneck of growing anthropogenic
pressures, while also experiencing intensifying effects of climate change. SSA’s biodiversity
could be severely diminished over the coming decades and numerous species pushed to extinction. However, the prospects for nature conservation in SSA should improve in the long
term, and we predict that the region will eventually enter a Green Anthropocene. Here,
we outline critical steps needed to shepherd SSA’s biodiversity into the Green Anthropocene
epoch