Millions of Africans may lose a key source of livelihoods as a fifth of freshwater African species are threatened with extinction, the updated Red List of endangered species showed Thursday. Scientists conducting a survey on 5,167 African freshwater species found that some 21 percent of species of fish, molluscs, crabs, dragonflies and aquatic plants were at risk of becoming extinct, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said in a statement. As fish is the main source of protein and livelihoods for much of Africa's poorest people, the disappearance of fish species could have a devastating impact on the local population, the IUCN noted.

African livelihoods at risk as species threatened: IUCN. (2010, September 3-4). BusinessWorld, p. S1/1.