Nations throughout Africa, with their populations soaring, are facing dilemmas as they try to grow their economies and stem poverty without destroying their unique wildlife and landscapes. In Cameroon, 90 percent of virgin forests have been decimated, and hunters are following the logging industry into the forests to kill large mammals for the growing bush-meat trade. In Botswana, fences erected to cordon off areas for cattle are leading to the deaths of wild animals. Wars in central Africa have created hundreds of thousands of refugees who contribute to environmental degradation when they cultivate land and chop down trees to meet their basic needs. A series of articles and photos this week in Newsday examines these and many other environmental challenges in Africa.
