Cape lions used to roam the Cape Flats grassland plains of South Africa, in what is now known as Western Cape Providence. When Europeans arrived in South Africa in the mid-1600s, Cape lions, along with many other African carnivores and herbivores, were hunted as agricultural practice to protect livestock and humans. By the mid-1800s, less than 200 years since European arrival, Cape lions had been hunted to extinction.

Although 60,000 known plant species and 123,000 known animal species are found in Africa, only 20 plants and 385 animals have been sequenced till date. Even 50% of the orphan crops, which play a crucial role in food security, have not been sequenced. To correct this oversight, the African BioGenome Project was launched in June 2021 as a coordinated, pan-African effort to generate, analyze, and deploy genomics data for the sustainable use of biodiversity and agriculture across Africa.