Module 1: Diversity
Natural wealth through variability
Today, Africa covers 22% of the Earth's land mass. Nevertheless, its spatial extent is regularly underestimated. Its biodiversity is extraordinary. From north to south, over 45,000 plant species and more than 1,100 mammal species live in 7 ecozones.
This diversity of nature goes hand in hand with a diversity of human culture: nowhere are more languages spoken; nowhere is the genetic diversity of people greater.
More about Module 1:
Africa is distorted on many maps, but the continent is actually larger than often assumed - it comprises 22% of the Earth's total land mass.
The East African lakes, such as the Chew Bahir in Ethiopia, serve as valuable climate archives and enable the reconstruction of environmental and climate changes over hundreds of thousands of years.
Africa is home to two vast faunal regions - the Palaearctic in the north and the Aethiopian in the south - with an incredible diversity of species, from tropical rainforests to the vast savannahs and deserts.