Africa’s 7 most indigenous people facing extinction

Pygmies

They are traditionally hunter-gatherers living in the rainforests throughout central Africa. Each is a distinct people, such as the Twa, Aka, Baka and Mbuti living in countries across central Africa, including the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Uganda and Cameroon.

They identify themselves as ‘forest peoples’ due to the fundamental importance of the forest to their culture, livelihood and history. But in the past years, their homelands have been destroyed by war, logging and encroachment from farmers.

In Cameroon, the government has forcibly removed the Baka people from the southern tropical forests for logging projects and have resettled them in environments they are unfamiliar with, exposing them to poverty and discrimination.

The end result is they are unable to transfer their forest skills to their children, leading to a loss of traditional knowledge, according to minorityrights.org.