ENB:04:11
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Professor A.M. Imevbore, Obaferni Awolowo University,
Nigeria, spoke about desertification as a threat to
the conservation and utilization of biodiversity. He emphasized
the need to redefine desertification. He pointed out that
desertification can be defined by vegetation cover, short
savanna, woodlands, and by impact of human activity such as
logging, reduced availability of water and reduction in woody
biomass. He emphasized the importance of conserving biodiversity
in the drylands and said that 64 out of 300 species of medicinal
plants are located in the drylands and that the few existing
plant species in the drylands serve multiple purposes. He also
highlighted the importance of the tourism industry based on
wildlife found in the drylands, such as Kenya. He concluded that
there is need to conserve biodiversity and underlined the vast
amount of research required to manage the drylands efficiently.
These include availability of remote-sensing data for drought
preparedness, strengthening of institutional structures for the
management of wildlife, fauna and flora and the search for
greater perenniality.