It is possible for certain species of plant and animals to die off and or go extinct due to the challenges they face from others of their own kind or from some adverse natural conditions. However, since the human population began to soar, there has been an increased dependence on the environment for food and other resources to solve problems in human society.
This has left no small effect on the world of plants and animals. For many centuries now, the major threat wildlife receives is from human activities.
Human activities such as logging – the cutting of trees for commercial purposes, commercial farming – which results in clearing huge vegetation, construction projects, and bush burning destroy large tracts of vegetation reducing the size of the forest where the plants and animals live. When it happens like that, animals find themselves in areas too small to support their population. They begin to compete over what little food sources are left, at the end of which many will not survive due to starvation.
The illegal trade of animal resources. The tusk of an elephant is highly-priced ivory, the horns of rhinos are sought after as medicine to cure cancer, the skin of big cats and crocodiles is an important source of leather, and, in general, certain animal parts are highly-priced and valued worldwide. Also because of the fact that Africa is facing many challenges of abject poverty, unemployment, and so on, people resort to hunting wildlife to collect their parts such as tusks, bones, hide, skin, etc. to trade illegally.
Regular hunting of wildlife is a major threat too. Communities and villages located at the coast turn to the sea for fish. Those that are located in the hinterlands turn to the forest for their source of animal protein. The increase in human population and expansion of settlements has brought high demand for animal protein; hence hunting is carried out at a rate faster than the natural recovery of the population of the hunted species. This often leads to some species becoming endangered and extinct.
