West Africa's diverse forests now relegated to an historical footnote

Photo by gbaku
Trees on logging road near Konimbo, Liberia in May, 1968

We’re late on this, but…. AfricanLoft has a multi-media piece on the state of Africa’s rainforest. The short of it: The band of tropical forests that once extended from Guinea to Cameroon is now a footnote, argues Mongabay.com.

This band is called the Guinean Forest, and is known as a biodiversity hotspot, home to 9,000 vascular plant species, 785 bird species and an estimated 320 species of mammals, representing more than 25 percent of all the mammals in Africa. Hey, primate lovers, the region is home to 18 species of primates. And, reptiles too: A 100 species of snakes and all three types of African crocodiles all live within these boundaries.

The bulk of Africa’s forests now reside south of Cameroon, especially in the basin of the mighty Congo River.

From AfricanLoft:

There are a variety of causes for the diminishing forest in Africa - sustenance farming and infrastructure and real estate development, but the major culprit has always been the foreign corporations’ indiscriminate and excessive logging for African prime wood. This quest to export African timber is been aided by poverty, top level corruption, regional warfare, and misplaced priorities of African governments.