[ti:Global Warming, Population Growth and Unrestricted Development Threaten African Species] [ar:Caty Weaver] [al:Agriculture Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report. [00:04.10]Climate researchers met recently in Cameroon [00:08.18]to talk about threats to Africa's land and animals. [00:13.46]They said they believe the continent may lose as much as 30 percent [00:19.74]of its animal and plant species by the end of this century. [00:25.62]They blame the expected losses on the warming of earth, [00:30.16]population growth and unrestricted development. [00:35.01]The researchers represent 20 African, American and European universities. [00:43.45]They say countries south of the Saharan desert are losing forest [00:49.13]faster than any place on earth. [00:52.51]Wood companies are cutting down trees to meet growing demand [00:57.78]from China, Europe and the United States. [01:01.48]The population is growing at 3 percent per year. [01:06.41]There are now homes, factories and farms on land that once was forest. [01:13.90]Many African animals and plants no longer have a place to live as result. [01:20.77]Climate change also continues to threaten species. [01:25.22]Thomas Smith is the director of the Center for Tropical Research [01:30.69]at the University of California. [01:33.23]"With a 1.5 degree rise in global temperature, [01:37.21]Africa may lose 30 percent of its animals and plants. [01:40.90]And unfortunately with the increase in CO2 [01:45.04]that has been now estimated to be up to three degrees [01:49.15]in terms of rising global temperatures -- [01:52.14]that means we may lose 40 percent of all mammal species in Africa [01:55.87]by the end of the century," said Smith. [01:58.82]The African chimpanzee is one such animal at risk. [02:02.75]Mary Katherine Gonder is a professor in the Department of Biology [02:08.07]at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [02:12.67]She studies chimpanzees in the Congo Basin. [02:17.20]She says the forest home is disappearing. [02:20.59]She also says hunters continue to kill the animals to sell as food. [02:27.77]"What will happen over the next 20 years, [02:30.81]the distribution of those chimpanzees will change. [02:33.80]Their habitat will change fundamentally [02:35.98]and they will no longer be around. [02:37.54]So it is a real threat. [02:39.29]The habitat for those chimpanzees will be gone," said Gonder. [02:41.82]Thomas Smith of the University of California [02:46.79]says it's possible to develop Africa [02:50.23]and care for the environment at the same time. [02:54.09]"With these enormous challenges, [02:57.08]we need to develop green economies. [02:59.17]We need to make sure that the development we do is sustainable. [03:03.56]For example, we are working with parties here [03:06.36]to develop new ways of providing green jobs, [03:09.23]for example areas that you can preserve, [like] forests, [03:13.52]and at the same time produce crops [03:16.10]that are appropriate for people to sell and to eat. [03:19.18]So we need to be thinking about [03:20.88]how to preserve the natural processes [03:23.48]and at the same time provide for the economic needs of the country," said Smith. [03:27.11]The Congo Basin area of western and central Africa [03:31.79]has the second largest equatorial rain forest in the world. [03:36.63]It is important to lives of millions of people. [03:40.97]And that's the VOA Learning English Agriculture Report. [03:46.34]For more agriculture stories, go to our website 51voa.com. [03:55.07]I'm Caty Weaver.