The first time the writer Amador Guallar touched the rough and rough skin of a black rhinoceros with his hand, he was paralyzed and a bittersweet feeling seized him. “It was like touching a world that had almost disappeared,†he recalls.
That day in the Dinokeng Nature Reserve, in South Africa, his feeling of countdown, of being in front of the last days of an endangered species —according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature there are only 3,142 specimens of this species left , the stage before his disappearance-, it was not an isolated emergency.
“If something isn’t done to stop the decline of Africa’s wildlife and conserve what’s left, I think we’re going to be the last human generation to actually see animals in the wild. We will be the last to experience the untamed world and earthly paradise in which we live, â€he explains.
After covering various conflicts around the world as a reporter, Guallar spent several months touring the natural paradises of Africa to warn about the alarming decline in wildlife on the continent. As a result of those trips, he published the book “The last days of wild Africa” ​​(Editorial diëresis), where he recounts both the threats and the work of those who fight to conserve nature.
In a telephone conversation from l’Escala, where he rests before his next trip, the roots of the problem are clear. “There are many factors behind the decline of animals, but the human being is at the center. The increase in the population and the lack of respect for the ecosystem have caused this situation with almost no return,†explains Guallar. Climate change due to human action and the poaching of rhinos or elephants, but above all that of subsistence linked to poverty, of those who hunt to eat, have also led to an unsustainable situationâ€.
Nature conservation groups have been warning of the catastrophe for years. If a few years ago the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) denounced that since 1970 more than 20,000 populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have reduced their population by 68%, death Last week of Loonkito, the oldest living lion in Africa, aged 19, killed by some Kenyan herdsmen, shows the urgency of the current scenario.
According to experts, with a population of just 20,000 lions in Africa, in just 10 or 15 years the kings of the African savannah will have disappeared in a state of freedom.
The natural context will make things worse. According to a recent study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the worsening of the climate crisis will multiply the threat. After analyzing 49 pieces of research, a team led by American biologist Briana Abrahms revealed that various climate-related phenomena that are becoming more common have increased conflict between wildlife and humans.
“The biggest surprise – Abrahms explains – was how ubiquitous it is (this connection), whether it is in the ocean or on land, in the Arctic or in southern Africa, it is widespread globally.”
In the report, biostatistician Joseph Ogutu leads an exhaustive analysis of 39,000 human-wildlife conflicts between 1995 and 2016 in Kenyan nature reserves. Although most of the cases are related to elephants, which destroy crops, they registered almost 4,500 incidents with monkeys and baboons, 2,400 with buffaloes, 1,500 with hippos, 1,645 with lions and 925 with hyenas.
Although droughts have diminished the diet of some species and the heat endangers the breeding seasons of others, Ogutu points to the expansion of man as a tipping point.
“Wildlife and herders used to get by by being mobile and flexible. But as the number of human beings has increased and the number of human settlements and infrastructure has increased, this is becoming more and more difficult. We really need more space for wildlife to live freely.”
