Countries' species richness

Biodiversity and the ecosystem services it supports are not only the foundation for our life on Earth, but also critical to the livelihoods and well-being of people everywhere. Africa’s extraordinary richness in biodiversity and ecosystem services, and wealth of indigenous and local knowledge, comprises a strategic asset for sustainable development in the region. Yet the decline and loss of biodiversity is reducing nature’s contributions to people in Africa, affecting daily lives and hampering the sustainable social and economic targets set by African countries. This map shows the countries' richness in animal and plant species assessed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and documented in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Established in 1964, the IUCN Red List is a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity that helps inform necessary conservation decisions.