Appraising Variations in Climate Change Parameters Along the Lower West African Region

Over the last years, the rapid increase in wildlife trade and the continued disappearance of endangered species has reached a frightening frequency in Africa. While such practices not only undermine sustainability, biodiversity and habitat protection, environmental services provided by natural areas and the species contained therein command infinite value. In the process, the incidence of poaching and illegal wildlife trade area threatens the protection of numerous bird mammal and amphibian species with extinction. In the face of all these, the species at risk lack protection over any part of their ranges due to the costs of management and hosts of socio-economic and physical elements. The heinous nature of these practices comes at the expense of biodiversity protection, global heritage and assets of communities endangered in different countries of Sub Saharan Africa region (SSA). Considering the gravity, illegal wildlife trade has emerged as an international development and environmental issue since it weakens security, rule of law, and any initiatives to boost biodiversity and eradicate acute deprivation. In these nations, various individuals depend on forests, wildlife and fisheries for their survival. When people loose wildlife access and security because of organized criminals involved in the illicit trades, society gives up the critical apparatuses essential in the eradication of impoverishment and sustenance of biodiversity. Just as the disappearance of biodiversity and the presence of violent elements linked to trafficking, reduce the prospects for sustainable development and the stability of environmental systems, including eco-tourism. Protecting wildlife from poaching and illegal trafficking in that setting, helps secure our global heritage in the fight against criminal networks that exploit humans and nature by threatening national security and rule of law. Due to these lapses, there has been a growing interest in highlighting the experience of nations in SSA region known for abundant wildlife and species diversity. Accordingly, this paper assesses the menace to endangered wildlife in the SSA region. With emphasis on the issues, ecological analysis, impacts, the factors influencing it and mitigation efforts, the paper uses a mix scale methodology of descriptive statistics and GIS to analyze the trends spatially. While results point to declines in wildlife species among these countries and spatial diffusion of the trends and the role of several factors, the study recommended several measures ranging from education to the strengthening of policies through a coordinated global action plan to stem the savagery.