What has caused deforestation in Africa?
Causes of Deforestation In Africa. The most important driver of forest loss in Africa is industrial activities rather than human activities such as subsistence agriculture, often using slash-and-burn / fallow techniques to clear land. This usually involves cutting trees for sale as timber or pulp.
What is the African rainforest?
Most of Africa's remaining rainforests are found in the Congo river basin on the Atlantic Ocean side of the continent. The Congo rainforest is famous for its gorillas, chimpanzees, and elephants as well as its native population of forest dwellers known as pygmies.
Is most of Africa a natural rainforest?
Around 2 million km² of Africa is covered by tropical rainforests. They are second only in extent to those in Amazonia, which cover around 6 million km².
What percent of Africa is rainforest?
18 percentTropical African forest is 18 percent of the world total and covers over 3.6 million square kilometers of land in West, East and Central Africa.
Why are rainforests in Africa being destroyed?
The conversion of forest land to agriculture, both subsistence and commercial, is by far the most common and most destructive cause of deforestation in Africa and other tropical regions.
Why is the African rainforest endangered?
Home to half of the continent's animal species, Africa's vast rainforests are falling silent. Deforestation, road construction and slash-and-burn farming have already wiped out roughly 90 percent of the West Africa's rainforests.
Is the African rainforest shrinking?
Central Africa's deforestation rate since 1990 has been the lowest of any major forest region in the world. However there are still a number of threats to the health of the Congo rainforest and its residents.
Is the African rainforest decreasing in size?
It stretches across six central African countries (though more than half its trees are in Congo). Its absorbent peatlands hold the equivalent of three years' worth of global carbon emissions, mitigating global warming. But it is shrinking fast.
Which part of Africa is losing its rainforest the fastest?
Nigeria is losing its rainforests at the fastest rate.
Is Africa being deforested?
According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), nearly 4 million hectares of African forests are being cut down each year, at almost double the speed of the world's deforestation average.
How old is the African rainforest?
Most people probably think that the rainforest of central and west Africa, the second largest in the world, has been around for millions of years. However recent research suggests that it is mostly just 2,000 or so years old.
Where is Africa's largest rainforest?
the Congo BasinThe rainforest in the Congo Basin is the largest rainforest in Africa and second only to the Amazon rainforest in size, with 300 million hectares compared to the 800 million hectares in the Amazon.
What is the African rainforest known for?
The Congo rainforest is known for its high levels of biodiversity, including more than 600 tree species and 10,000 animal species. Some of its most famous residents include forest elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, okapi, leopards, hippos, and lions.
How big is Africa rainforest?
The African forest covers over 2.2 million square miles. It is the second-largest rainforest in the world. The largest rainforest being in South America. This forest can be found in these African countries: Cameroon.
Who lives in the African rainforest?
Besides the Mbuti, there are three other major rainforest peoples of Africa: the Aka (Central African Republic and northern Congo), the Baka (southern Cameroon), and the Twa (central Congo/Zaire river basin).
Where is Africa's largest rainforest?
the Congo BasinThe rainforest in the Congo Basin is the largest rainforest in Africa and second only to the Amazon rainforest in size, with 300 million hectares compared to the 800 million hectares in the Amazon.
Where are the rainforests in Africa?
Rainforests in Africa. Most of Africa's remaining rainforests are found in the Congo river basin on the Atlantic Ocean side of the continent. The Congo rainforest is famous for its gorillas, chimpanzees, and elephants as well as its native population of forest dwellers known as pygmies.
Where is the Congo rainforest?
Map showing the Congo rainforest. Click to enlarge. Beyond the rainforest of the Congo Basin, Africa's other major rainforests are the Guinean Forests of West Africa, which run from Sierra Leone to Cameroon; the Eastern Afromontane, which span Ethiopia to Southern Africa; the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa from Kenya to Mozambique;
Why is the rainforest hot?
The tropical sun keeps the rainforest so hot that when the rains fall each day, the water evaporates into steam. This keeps the forest dripping with water. That way most small animals can stay safely hidden in the treetops, eating leaves, fruits, and insects.
What are the plants that grow in the rain forest?
Tree ferns stand 30 feet high. Yellowwood and bamboo grow thickly here. Many rare and beautiful orchids add color to the rain forest canopy .
What are some predators that hunt on the forest floor?
Genets and civets are cat-like predators that hunt on the forest floor. The crowned eagle hunts from the air above. Strange okapis, a relative of the giraffe, and tiny duikers graze on stems and branches. Tailor ants sew leaves together with silken threads to build their nests.
What animals eat trees?
Animals Found in This Habitat. Chimpanzees and gorillas are apes and feed in the trees, eating leaves and fruits. Colobus, Diana, and mangaby monkeys all eat the many forest leaves. The golden potto, a small primate, hunts at night for fruit and insects. Flying squirrels glide through the trees.
How many species of trees are there in the rainforest?
This makes rainforests astoundingly dense with flora and fauna; a 10-square-kilometer (4-square-mile) patch can contain as many as 1,500 flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies. Rainforests thrive on every continent except Antarctica.
What are rainforests used for?
National Cancer Institute, 70% of plants useful in the treatment of cancer are found only in rainforests. Rainforest plants are also used in the creation of muscle relaxants, steroid s, and insecticide s . They are used to treat asthma, arthritis, malaria, heart disease, and pneumonia. The importance of rainforest species in public health is even more incredible considering that less than one percent of rainforest species have been analyze d for their medicinal value.
What is the top layer of the rainforest?
The top layer of the rainforest is the emergent layer . Here, trees as tall as 60 meters (200 feet) dominate the skyline. Foliage is often sparse on tree trunks, but spreads wide as the trees reach the sunny upper layer, where they photosynthesize the sun’s rays.
Why are forests important?
Rainforests’ rich biodiversity is incredibly important to our well-being and the well-being of our planet. Rainforests help regulate our climate and provide us with everyday products.
What are the crops that Mbuti people trade?
Although they are a historically nomadic society, agriculture has become a way of life for many Mbuti communities today as they trade and barter with neighboring agricultural groups such as the Bantu for crops such as manioc, nuts, rice, and plantains. Chimbu.
Where do rainforests live?
Rainforests thrive on every continent except Antarctica. The largest rainforests on Earth surround the Amazon River in South America and the Congo River in Africa. The tropical islands of Southeast Asia and parts of Australia support dense rainforest habitat s.
Where are temperate rainforests located?
These geographic conditions help create areas of high rainfall. Temperate rainforests can be found on the coasts of the Pacific Northwest in North America, Chile, the United Kingdom, Norway, Japan, New Zealand, and southern Australia.
Where is the most of Africa's rain forest?
Today, 80 percent of Africas rain forest is concentrated in central Africa, along the Congo River basin.
Where are the most vegetation areas in Swahili?
Heavy cultivation has diminished the diversity of plant species in this interior area of the Swahili Coast. Mangrove forests are the most common vegetation. Mangroves have exposed root systems. This allows the trees to absorb oxygen directly from the air, as well as from the nutrient -poor soil.
Why is the Sahel desert?
Unfortunately, the Sahels fertile land is rapidly becoming desert as a result of drought, deforestation, and intensive agriculture. This process is known as desertification.
How is Africa divided?
It is divided in half almost equally by the Equator. Africas physical geography, environment and resources, and human geography can be considered separately. Africa has eight major physical regions: the Sahara, the Sahel, the Ethiopian Highlands, the savanna, the Swahili Coast, the rain forest, the African Great Lakes, and Southern Africa.
What is the most common animal in the Sahel?
The Sahel's animal communities are constantly scavenging for scarce water and vegetation resources. The Senegal gerbil, the most common mammal in the Sahel and measuring only a few centimeters, consumes as much as 10 percent of the Sahel's plants.
What is the largest desert in the world?
Sahara. The Sahara is the worlds largest hot desert, covering 8.5 million square kilometers (3.3 million square miles), about the size of the South American country of Brazil. Defining Africa's northern bulge, the Sahara makes up 25 percent of the continent. The Sahara has a number of distinct physical features, including ergs, regs, hamadas, ...
What is an oasis in the desert?
An oasis is a hub of water in the desert, often in the form of spring s, wells, or irrigation systems. About 75 percent of the Saharas population lives in oases, which make up only 2,071 square kilometers (800 square miles) of the deserts vast area.
How much forest did farmers destroy?
With the help of investment money from the World Bank, farmers and ranchers built enough roads and settlements to destroy an average of 8,158 square miles of forest per year, an area about the size of New Jersey. That’s when the environmentalists really got moving.
How many articles about the Amazon forest were published in 1990?
Using the Nexis news database, the Lantern found 993 articles about the Amazon forest in U.S. papers from 1990. In 1995, that number dips by more than one-third, even as deforestation rates spiked higher than they’d ever been.
How much of the Amazon rainforest is freshwater?
Environmentalists fret over the fate of the Amazon for good reason: It contains more than half of the planet’s remaining tropical rainforest, one-fifth of our global freshwater, and as much as one-third of the world’s biodiversity.
How much carbon does the Amazon rainforest hold?
That’s mainly because of the role that forests play in staving off climate change: Scientists estimate that the Amazon itself has between 85 billion and 100 billion tons of carbon stored in its trees and shrubs, or about 11 years’ worth of global emissions.
When did the Rainforest Action Network start protesting?
That’s when the environmentalists really got moving. In 1985 , the San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network began staging protests around the country and helped put an end to Burger King’s $35 million “rainforest beef” contract in Central America.
When did Brazil pass a law to encourage landless peasants to leave the slums and develop?
Advertisement. Fifty years ago, the Amazon was still largely intact. Then in 1964 , Brazil passed a law to encourage landless peasants to leave the slums and develop the interior. Anyone who could demonstrate that land was being put to “effective use” would get a title to it.
Where was the Rainforest Alliance workshop held?
The following year, the newly formed Rainforest Alliance held a workshop in New York City, which was covered in New York Times with an article titled “Concern for Rain Forest Has Begun To Blossom.”.
