India, Dec. 9 -- Sub-Saharan Africa, the part of Africa south of the Sahara, has lost 24 per cent of its biodiversity since pre-industrial times, according to a new study.

Biodiversity is an integral part of sustainable development. One major limitation to achieving conservation goals is the lack of information on the impacts of diverse human activities on biodiversity and resulting ecosystem functions and services.

To overcome critical data gaps and limitations of top-down biodiversity models, the study undertook a comprehensive assessment of the Biodiversity Intactness Index of Africa (bii4africa) using place-based knowledge of 200 African biodiversity experts.

The Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII) is a simple and practical tool th...