Holocene environmental change in the Albertine Rift : sediment-based evidence from Virunga volcanoes

Abstract

The Albertine Rift is one of the most important conservation areas in tropical Africa, with exceptionally high levels of biodiversity (including rare and endemic montane flora and fauna) and high human population densities. Environmental changes in the Albertine Rift during the Holocene have been influenced both by long-term climate change and by human activity, although establishing clear cause-effect relationships is often problematic - particularly as this area is known to have had a long and complex history of human settlement. An understanding of the long-term drivers of environmental change in the area is important in order to provide a context for the possible effects of future climate change and other environmental perturbations.