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Sub-Saharan Africa receives large investments in biodiversity conservation, and if these investments can be concentrated on the highest threats to biodiversity, the benefits to conservation from the investments would increase. Yet there is no available prioritization of the many direct threats to biodiversity to inform organizations developing sub-Saharan or sub-regional conservation strategies. Consequently, regional investments by funders of biodiversity conservation such as international conservation organizations, foundations, and bilateral and multilateral donors may be suboptimal. The objective of this study was to determine what are the highest direct threats to biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa and its sub-regions. To do this, we collected threat data using standardized IUCN threat categories from a Delphi consensus of sub-Saharan Africa biodiversity experts, known threats to IUCN Red-listed sub-Saharan African species, and National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans from 40 sub-Saharan African countries. After averaging the threat ranking from the three sources, the highest threats were: (1) annual and perennial crops (non-timber); (2) fishing and harvesting aquatic resources in marine and freshwater areas; (3) logging and wood harvesting in natural forests; and (4) hunting and collecting terrestrial animals. The highest-ranked sub-regional threats were hunting in Central Africa and agriculture in East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Aligning biodiversity investments to address these threats and tailoring activities to reflect local socio-ecological contexts would increase the conservation of biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Albertine Rift is one of Africa's most biodiverse regions, but is threatened by habitat loss as a result of agricultural expansion and human development. Previous studies estimated that 30% of the region has been lost to agricultural conversion and we estimate here that 33% is allocated for mining concessions. For conservation planning, we used niche models for species endemic to the Albertine Rift and those that are globally threatened. We assessed where to conserve these species using three scenarios: (1) a baseline assuming equal conservation costs across all grid cells in the study area, (2) a scenario locking in existing protected areas (i.e. always selecting them by default) and assessing which unprotected areas require conservation, and (3) a scenario considering mining planned across the region. Marxan analyses produced similar results for the three scenarios, highlighting the importance of existing protected areas and the value of several community-managed or provincial protected areas in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The current protected area network covers 134,246 km2 and an additional 64,586 km2 would be required to ensure the conservation of all threatened and endemic species outside the parks and wildlife reserves. However, if trying to avoid mining concessions this increases to 145,704 km2, an area larger than the existing protected areas. Some mining concessions harbour species with a restricted range and would thus need to be protected to ensure the persistence of threatened and endemic fauna and flora. These mining concessions should be challenged by the conservation community.

Grauer's gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) have declined drastically across their range in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Survey data analysed in 2016 estimated a 77% decline in numbers between the mid- 1990s and 2016 and predicted that Kahuzi-Biega National Park (KBNP), and the contiguous Oku Community Reserve (OCR) held much of the global population. An estimate of 3800 Grauer's gorillas was made across its range at that time. Here, we publish the most extensive survey of Grauer's gorilla numbers to date, using nest counts from 230 line transects across KBNP and OCR to derive more accurate estimates of both gorilla and chimpanzee numbers. Gorilla numbers were estimated from line transects at 1,571 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 824-2,993) within KBNP and at 2,244 (95% CI: 1,471-3,422) in OCR. Eastern chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) numbers were estimated at 2,500 (95% CI: 1,804-3,462) in KBNP and 687 (95% CI: 472-999) in OCR. Estimates of total numbers for the survey area were 5,252 (95% CI: 3,687-7,481) Grauer's gorillas and 4,275 (95% CI: 3,322-5,502) eastern chimpanzees. Chimpanzee numbers were not significantly different from the estimates in the mid-1990s but the gorillas had significantly declined, mostly in KBNP. Modeled densities of these apes indicated that distances to mines, villages, or roads significantly explained part of the distribution of these apes, with higher densities also found in more rugged and remote sites. Other primates have all declined in this region, likely due to bushmeat hunting, especially the Endangered Ulindi River Red Colobus Piliocolobus lulindicus. These results confirm the negative impact of insecurity on Grauer's gorilla but indicate that the population declines may not be as great as previously feared. Using our revised gorilla density estimate we revise the original estimate of global numbers from 3,800 to 6,800 individuals.

Avian endemism in the Albertine Rift is among the highest of any region in Africa. Conservation of these forests is a high priority, but informed prioritization has been hampered by limited data for most endemic bird species. We employed ecological niche models, coupled with remote sensing and field data, to present a case study of 2 Albertine Rift bush-shrikes (Laniarius) that until recently had been considered conspecific. The ecological niche models are based on presence-only data from museum specimens and sight records from field surveys from the region. We generated a set of competing models with different subsets of environmental variables. We evaluated competing models with an intuitive and broadly applicable model-selection strategy appropriate for assessing suitable habitat for species of conservation concern. Based on its distribution, habitat requirements, and the boundaries of national parks in the Albertine Rift, our results demonstrate that the recently described and cryptic Willard...

The Albertine Rift region of Africa is one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet, with more threatened and endemic vertebrates than elsewhere on the continent. Many of the endemic species are confined to montane forest or alpine areas. We assessed impacts of loss of habitat to agriculture and predicted impacts from niche modelling of climate change to the endemic species of the Albertine Rift. Modelling species distributions for 162 endemic terrestrial vertebrates and plants, we estimated the average percentage of habitat already lost to agriculture at 38% across all species. However, of the remaining suitable habitat the average percentage protected is currently 46%, greatly increased by the recent establishment of Itombwe, Kabobo and Ngandja Reserves in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo from 30%. Species ranges in 2080 were estimated using climate models and predicted to lead to an average loss of an additional 75% of remaining suitable habitat across all species. An estimated 34 endemic species were predicted to lose >90% of their current remaining suitable habitat. The percentage of the total suitable habitat protected in parks or reserves increases under future climate change to 56% because as ranges contract more of the remaining area occurs within existing protected areas. This indicates that the protected area coverage is reasonably well located for future climate change. Based on these data we estimate that 46% of the endemic species we assessed would qualify for threatened status on the global Red List.

Biological surveys starting in the 1950s provided clear evidence that the Itombwe Massif, located in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is one of the most important areas for conservation in Africa. Further surveys in the mid 1990s and early 2000s showed key species were still present and could be conserved. Following a report on these surveys the Ministry of Environment established the Itombwe Reserve in 2006 without consulting local communities who have legitimate customary rights to reside within the area and use the region's natural resources. Although creating the Reserve was within the government's legal authority, its establishment violated the rights of the people there. Here we report over a decade of work by a consortium of international and national human rights and conservation NGOs, the local communities and the protected areas authority (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature), to remediate this taking of customary rights. Starting in 2008 these partners began a participatory process with all 550 villages within and around the boundary of the Reserve. Using a community resource use mapping approach, developed from best practices, the team helped communities determine the boundary of the Reserve, and then pilot participatory zoning to identify zones for settlements, agriculture, hunting, gathering of non-timber forest products, and conservation. This process secured the customary rights of long-term residents in the Reserve and protected their lands from being taken by non-rights holders. As a result of this work the use rights of communities were largely restored and the communities agreed on 23 June 2016 to formalize the boundaries of the renamed Itombwe Nature Reserve.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo artisanal and small-scale mining is estimated to provide a source of livelihood for 14–16% of the population, or 8–10 million people. In the eastern part of the country it is one of the main threats to large mammal species and their habitats, including forest elephantsLoxodonta cyclotisand great apes, such as the Critically Endangered Grauer's gorillaGorilla beringei graueriand the Endangered eastern chimpanzeePan troglodytes schweinfurthii. We used semi-structured questionnaires to survey mining communities in and around Kahuzi–Biega National Park and the Itombwe Nature Reserve to understand better the socio-economics of artisanal mining in the region, as well as the impacts of mining on bushmeat hunting. Minerals exploited at the sites surveyed included cassiterite, gold, coltan and wolframite, and most mines were controlled by armed groups. On average, miners earned significantly higher revenue than non-miners. However, mining was seen as a short-term activity and most miners were in favour of leaving the sector for better opportunities. Almost all respondents stated openly that they consumed bushmeat regularly because of the lack of alternatives and believed that bushmeat hunting had caused declines and local extinctions of some large mammal populations, including great apes. Respondents stated they would reduce their consumption of bushmeat if domestic meats became more available. We recommend that future interventions should target mine sites to address bushmeat hunting, by improving access to sustainable meat sources, establishing micro-financing mechanisms to help miners leave the mining sector, and working towards de-militarizing these sites to facilitate law enforcement.

Aframomum ngamikkense, a new species from the Misotshi-Kabogo Massif in the Albertine Rift, Eastern D.R. Congo, is described and illustrated. It differs from the superficially similar A. pseudostipulare in the shorter and obtuse ligules up to 5 mm long (vs. acute and up to 10 mm long), and the indistinctly 3-lobed apex of the stamen (vs. distinctly 3-lobed).