20/05/16

Alien plants turn East Africa into ‘green desert’

Send to a friend

The details you provide on this page will not be used to send unsolicited email, and will not be sold to a 3rd party. See privacy policy.

Invasive species can have unpredictable impacts on new habitats. They can alter the food chain, and overpopulate entire regions at the expense of local animals and plants.

Living creatures have always moved at different rates around the planet. But human transport can rapidly carry animals and plants around the world. Those who thrive in new places will irreparably change local biodiversity.

In East Africa, the proliferation of alien plants such as Opuntia stricta, Prosopis and Parthenium, all captured in this photo gallery, threaten the livelihoods of farmers and rural communities.