Biodiversity Conservation, a Crucial Step Towards Food and Nutritional Security, Food Justice and Climate Change Resilience in Africa

Abstract

Biodiversity conservation has been identified as an important climate change mitigation tool. Healthy ecosystems act as natural carbon sinks while also strengthening resilience, making them essential for climate change adaptation. Climate change effects have led to various negative impacts, including biodiversity loss and food insecurity. The loss of forest biodiversity threatens vital wild fruits and vegetables that sustain rural communities, disrupting natural food sources and constituting a form of social injustice for poor, vulnerable, and previously marginalised groups in rural and semi-urban communities. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between previous biodiversity conservation outcomes, ecosystem services, highly utilised wild vegetables and fruits, food and nutritional security, climate change effects, and climate resilience. We identified gaps in African biodiversity conservation and developed a conceptual framework to highlight integral principles required for the effective biodiversity conservation of wild forests in Africa. The integral principles are active community engagement, a strong network of stakeholders, sustainable plant resources management practices, legal reforms, and the creation of awareness through various platforms. Conservation policies should prioritise African indigenous wild, drought-tolerant vegetables and fruits that serve as an interface between food and medicine; play various roles in human survival in the form of ecosystem services; and act as carbon sinks to ensure a food-secure future with reduced climate change effects. The African indigenous community’s efforts in biodiversity conservation engagements are key to successful outcomes.