The population growth numbers are dramatic - Nigeria alone with 900 mil people. The population growth will result in majority of land for human use way before 2100. Lets hope a few national parks survive.

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sy..._Populations_WEB.pdf

Mike

The Population Reference Bureau has predicted a 100%+ increase in the human population of Africa by 2050. They are predicting that it could be as much as 3x for the real basket cases like Somalia.

Now look at where agriculture is going. Mugabe has transformed Zimbabwe from breadbasket to basket case. Same thing is happening in Zambia - not agriculture per se but the infrastructure is failing to cope with energy needs so the rural people are deforesting for charcoal.

Point is, it's clear the infrastructures will continue to wane as the population waxes.

In 150 years or so, with that kind of population growth, the population levels will likely return to 1800 levels, as there will be devastating outbreaks of numerous pandemics, coupled with lack of adequate medical care and diminished water supply. And given the likelihood of weapons of mass destruction making there way onto the continent, it is unlikely that such weapons will go unused. The real question is whether or not what remains will be livable, or wildlife there will survive at all.

The sky has been falling on Africa for some years, and I see no end to it till everything dies, and the earth goes back to the natural world of evolution of new things instead of man!

It is not just Africa going that way either! Humans are their own worse enemy.

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The sky is falling everywhere not just in Africa. Human population growth is limiting hunting every damn day. More people equals less hunting, period.

I can't help but be reminded of the movie The Matrix, in which Agent Smith says:

quote:

I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.

Maybe a bit much, but there are striking similarities.

I like that the us population is headed to 400 mil. Population growth allows for financial markets and social safety net systems to grow.

China and Russia will have issues as their population declines.

The Africa numbers are mind blowing. Nigeria is projected to have 90 percent of China - that is crazy.

National parks in Africa are the only hope - all the hunting areas will be run over in time in the belt from liberia to Kenya.

Southern Africa should be okay. But the belt from Liberia to Kenya will look like the Ganges plain - a mass of humanity,

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
I like that the us population is headed to 400 mil. Population growth allows for financial markets and social safety net systems to grow.

China and Russia will have issues as their population declines.

The Africa numbers are mind blowing. Nigeria is projected to have 90 percent of China - that is crazy.

National parks in Africa are the only hope - all the hunting areas will be run over in time in the belt from liberia to Kenya.

Southern Africa should be okay. But the belt from Liberia to Kenya will look like the Ganges plain - a mass of humanity,

Mike

"Social Safety Net?" are you kidding me? We are already near the tipping point of a permanent underclass of entitlement voters.

The Chinese are already hunting in the national parks all over Africa.

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
I like that the us population is headed to 400 mil. Population growth allows for financial markets and social safety net systems to grow.

China and Russia will have issues as their population declines.

The Africa numbers are mind blowing. Nigeria is projected to have 90 percent of China - that is crazy.

National parks in Africa are the only hope - all the hunting areas will be run over in time in the belt from liberia to Kenya.

Southern Africa should be okay. But the belt from Liberia to Kenya will look like the Ganges plain - a mass of humanity,

Mike

"Social Safety Net?" are you kidding me? We are already near the tipping point of a permanent underclass of entitlement voters.

The Chinese are already hunting in the national parks all over Africa.

Steve

There is going to remain little outside of national parks - even if they are shot out.

The hunting lands will go first before shot out national parks.

Uganda the size of Oregon is projected to have 200 mil. people.

Mike

With such dramatic population growth, it seems likely that future hunting in Africa, as we have come to know it at present, will be greatly diminished; very sad indeed.

No one can know. We can only speculate, or presume to predict.

I prefer to think, and hope, that we will find a way.

A hundred years ago the same predictions were being made for conditions in our times.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
No one can know. We can only speculate, or presume to predict.

I prefer to think, and hope, that we will find a way.

A hundred years ago the same predictions were being made for conditions in our times.

Population projections tend to be very accurate.

http://www.gapminder.org/answe...population-forecast/

I am now really tempted to hunt savanna buffalo in West Africa.

Mike

.

We live in a world of relentless change and an insatiable appetite for fuel and foodstuffs.

In the year 1800 the global population was 1bn, 100 years later it was 2bn and in the 1960s we went to 3bn. Today the population stands at 7bn with a prediction to go to 11bn by 2100 - 1 bn in the Americas, 1bn in Europe, 4 bn in Africa and 5bn in Asia!

In the 60s the global avg babies per woman was 5. It is now 2.5.

Will we still be hunting as a recreational activity in 2100? I do not think so. Not just in Africa but anywhere in the world for that matter.

I believe that the mass pressure against hunting will continue and regulators and governments will shut hunting down down step by step, bit by bit, day by day until it is a thing of the past. And I believe that this pressure will come from the least populated regions of the planet, namely North America and Europe.

I believe that we will see bans on more and more animals, we will see more and more carriers decide not to carry hunting trophies, we will see manufacturers of hunting goods reduce their range of products and we will see farms and parks switch to Eco and photo tourism and like a cancer it will slowly overcome and kill hunting.

Africa's lion will become India's tiger and today's safari hunter will become the 'not so great white hunter' of yesteryear.

All doom and gloom, no. Other sports and passions and past times will emerge and develop and fill the void that was sport hunting as we knew it in Africa and elsewhere.
Will I be around to enjoy them? I doubt it. But my children and hopefully grandchildren will be.

And in the meantime, I plan to get in as much hunting with my wife and children and hopefully grandchildren as I can and I hope that one day I will have a pair of tusks somewhere in my house that I can caress as I walk past them and remember for a moment the joys and pleasures that I have experienced when hunting in Africa

.

Unfortunately I think you're right.

I can remember when outfitters sold tiger hunts in India.

I think that hunting will become more and more expensive, which in turn will cause fewer of us to hunt, and make it easier for governments to ban it. the US government has already, for all practical purposes, banned lion and elephant hunting.

More than half of global population growth
predicted between now and 2050 is expected
in Africa. By 2100 the continent’s population
could rise from 1.1 billion to 4.2 billion.

This is a bleak future for hunting Africa!

I figure I have about 10 more good years to be physically able to hunt. After that, I am leaving it up to the night shift. Good luck, you younger guys- you are going to need it. Hunting as we currently know it will not exist in 20 years.....