The forests of Africa are one of the great natural wonders of the world. As a person who has spent decades studying the ecology and management of forest ecosystems, those that are unique to the continent never cease to amaze me.
Some of them are most likely unknown to the general public, and yet they are very fascinating and important in tackling current biodiversity and climate issues facing the world. Starting from the northwest and ending with the southeast, I would like to share the ones that are special to me. It is a totally personal selection. Other people would have chosen others, as there are many options. But for how long?
African forests, like many others, are threatened by overexploitation, conversion to other land uses and climate change. Many are likely to disappear or degrade to such an extent that they reach a tipping point where they lose the value they now have.
I hope that this journey through Africa will help spark interest and encourage better conservation and management of these unique ecosystems.
The argan trees of Morocco
Not far from Agadir, on the Moroccan Atlantic coast, grows the argan tree (Argania spinosa). He is the only member of the great family Sapotaceae which grows in the northern hemisphere, the only species of its genus and is endemic to an area of about 800,000 hectares.
The human being has been exploiting and managing it for more than three thousand years to obtain argan oil. This is the most expensive oil of the world, at a cost of up to 275 euros per liter in a market of 450 million euros. Argan oil is perhaps the most widely used moisturizer and is often found in products such as lotions, soaps, and hair conditioners.
The argan forest is slowly dying from overgrazing, deforestation and climate change
In addition, the argan tree is also a source of wood for fences, as well as a source of charcoal and fodder for goats. It is truly versatile, and it is essential above all for the livelihood of women.
Unfortunately, despite being UNESCO biosphere reserve, is slowly dying from overgrazing, deforestation and climate change. Hopefully your oil boom will help conserve and restore this unique forest ecosystem.
The Congo Basin Rain Forest
If we fly southeast, over the Sahara desert and the Sahelian savannahs, we come to the rain forest of the Congo Basin.
The Congolese is second largest tropical green area of the world (after the Amazon). It is the home of many giants, such as the sipo or the moabi. These and others are the origin of the precious wood, but also important resources for the local population, such as food and medicine. It is also home to animals such as elephants, buffalo and lowland gorillas.
Deep in the Congo Basin lies the largest peat swamp forest in the world. Discovered recently by science, this place was known by the aka community, who inhabit it in the belief that it is the site where Mokele Mbembe, a mythical monster the size of an elephant that resembles a dinosaur, roamed.
No one has ever seen it, but it is now known that this territory stores more than 30 billion tons of carbon. Its felling would release all the carbon and if this happens we will have unleashed a monster much worse than the Mokele Mbembe.
Fortunately, due to its remoteness and difficulty of access, this space has been naturally protected until now, but if we are not vigilant, it could soon be threatened by oil exploration.
The Afromontane Forests of East Africa
On the eastern border of the Congo Basin rise the Ruwenzori Mountains, on whose slopes lie the last Afromontane forests, which form the habitat of the tallest tree in Africa, a Entandrophragma excelsu. Tucked away in a remote Kilimanjaro valley, it stands at an astonishing 81.5 meters tall.
These forests harbor a high level of endemism – meaning that many of these trees can only be found in this one place – and biodiversity. They also act as water reservoirs, regulating it and providing it to the lowlands and their inhabitants.
These Afromontane fronds store more carbon per hectare than the Amazon jungle. Unfortunately, in the last 20 years, 0.8 million hectares have been lost to agriculture. Most are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia. This has caused the emission of more than 450 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
miombo forests
If we continue our journey to the south, we soon reach the vast area of the miombo forests. They are estimated to cover a total area of some 2.7 million square kilometres: from Angola in the west to Tanzania in the east and as far north as South Africa.
More of 65 million people They depend on these ecosystems for their subsistence, since they make use of resources such as firewood, wood, charcoal production, fruits, honey, mushrooms, medicinal plants and livestock feed.
Only one tree species makes up the entire landscape: the Colophospermum mopane.
It is an important ecosystem for the diversity and biomass of large mammals in southern Africa, including some of the largest remaining populations of black rhinoceros, elephant, white rhinoceros, hippopotamus, buffalo, giraffe and greater kudu.
This place is also the only source of a less emblematic, but very relevant animal: the mopane worm. Gonimbrasia belinaby its Latin name, is a seasonal source of protein very valuable for the populations that live near
Unfortunately, declining mopane tree densities, lower-than-usual rainfall, and higher-than-normal temperatures have affected greatly to the availability of the worm and to cases of outbreaks, threatening the already precarious livelihoods of local populations.
The spiny forest of Madagascar
Crossing the Mozambique Channel we arrive in Madagascar. In the southwest of the big island spiny forest grows. It is a place like no other on Earth, where endemic rarities like the octopus tree (Didierea madagascariensis) and other strange members of the family Didieraceae grow mixed with swollen baobabs (Adansonia rubrostipa) and other bottle trees (Pachypodium geayi).
The thorny forest is inhabited by even stranger animals, such as ghostly white lemurs that are immune to thorns, birds that sing communally, and a chameleon that spends most of its life in egg form.
Unfortunately, like Africa’s other unique wonders, this area is threatened by overexploitation for charcoal production, as local producers they’ve been put out of business by the increasingly unpredictable weather, and they don’t have many other opportunities in Madagascar’s dry, impoverished south-west.
We have reached the end of our journey through Africa. Our choices are subjective and we could have featured other forest wonders, but we hope this is enough to convince readers of the importance of these ecosystems and that they are threatened by us humans. We should protect and manage them better, as we depend on them to survive.
You can follow PLANETA FUTURO at Twitter, Facebook and Instagramand subscribe here to our ‘newsletter’.
#Africas #forest #wonders #threats #face