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Language: Contributions in either English of French
Proceedings of a symposium held at the 6th Plenary meeting of the "Association pour I'Etude Taxonomique de la Flore d'Afrique Tropicale" (A.E.T.F.A.T.) in Uppsala, Sept. 12th-16th, 1966.
In recent years the intensified exploitation of tropical and subtropical countries necessitated by the population explosion has led to wholesale destruction of nature over vast areas – to the extent that several natural ecosystems are on the verge of extinction. The seriousness of this development was first realized by zoologists and already long ago steps were taken to save some of those animal species that were particularly menaced. Botanists and ecologists were slower to react, but today it is being realized by an increasing number of people and national institutions, as well as by international bodies like UNESCO and FAO, that urgent measures are required if we want to save representative samples of most tropical ecosystems before it is too late.
This plenary meeting was therefore devoted to the theme "The Conservation of Vegetation and of its constituent Species in Africa South of the Sahara". The other two themes treated at the same symposium, "Progress in the study of the tropical African Flora" and "Progress in the mapping of the African Flora" also have direct bearing on the conservation of African vegetation. The present volume contains the papers read at this symposium and summaries of the discussions. Each contribution is printed in the language in which it was read, which matches as a rule the language used by government departments and scientific institutes in the relevant country. The discussions have been summarized as far as possible from the abstracts submitted by participants and from the notes of the secretariate.
