Maritz, BryanClements, Hayley SBiggs, Reinette2026-02-092026-02-092025Clements, H.S., Biggs, R., De Vos, A., Do Linh San, E., Hempson, G.P., Linden, B., Maritz, B., Monadjem, A., Reynolds, C., Siebert, F. and Stevens, N., 2025. A place-based assessment of biodiversity intactness in sub-Saharan Africa. Nature, pp.1-9.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09781-7https://hdl.handle.net/10566/21944Maintaining biodiversity is central to the sustainable development agenda1. However, a lack of context-specific biodiversity information at policy-relevant scales has posed major limitations to decision-makers2,3. To address this challenge, we undertook a comprehensive assessment of the biodiversity intactness of sub-Saharan Africa4 using place-based knowledge of 200 African biodiversity experts5. We estimate that the region has on average lost 24% of its pre-colonial and pre-industrial faunal and floral population abundances, ranging from losses of <20% for disturbance-adapted herbaceous plants to 80% for some large mammals. Rwanda and Nigeria are the least intact (<55%), whereas Namibia and Botswana are the most intact (>85%). Notably, most remaining organisms occur in unprotected, relatively untransformed rangelands and natural forests. Losses in biodiversity intactness in the worst-affected biomes are driven by land transformation into cropland in grasslands and fynbos (Mediterranean-type ecosystems), by non-agricultural degradation in forests and by a combination of the two drivers in savannas. This assessment provides decision-makers with multifaceted, contextually appropriate and policy-relevant information on the state of biodiversity in an understudied region of the world. Our approach could be used in other regions, including better-studied localities, to integrate contextual, place-based knowledge into multiscale assessments of biodiversity status and impacts.enAfrica South of the SaharaAgricultureAnimalsBiodiversityConservation of natural resourcesArticle