Mangrove forests are characteristic of silty lagoons and along some rivers in the immediate vicinity of the Atlantic coast. The main species are Rhizopora racemosa, R. harrisonii, R. mangle and Avicennia africana. These trees rarely grow taller than 6 meters, probably because of poor soil conditions; they are always higher when closer to river channels than in other inundated areas, where the height may be limited to 2 to 2.5 m.
Voorhoeve, A.G. 1965. Liberian high forest trees: A systematic botanical study of the 75 most important or frequent high forest trees, with reference to numerous related species. The Netherlands, Waganigen.
Year |
Area |
Source |
Trend |
Methodology/Comments |
1980 |
40 000 |
FAO, UNEP. 1981. Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project, Forest Resources of Tropical Africa. Part II: Country Briefs FAO, UNEP 586pp. |
Tentatively estimation and updating based on: International Cooperation Adm. 1960. Third Report on Forestry in Liberia 1959. Washinghton | |
1981 |
18 748 |
Hammermaster E. T. 1985 Project Report on Forest Resources Mapping of Liberia. Field document 1, LIR/008/LIR. 29 pp. unpublished |
X |
Remote sensing |
1987 |
45 000 |
Commission of the European Communities. 1987. Mangroves of Africa and Madagascar. Conservation and reclamation: The Mangroves of Madagascar. CML, Centre for Environmental Studies, University of Leyden, 24 pp. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. The "Year" is the publication year. | |
1990 |
20 000 |
Nature and Resources. 1990. Managing the Coastal Environment. 26 (2). |
Cited in: Momoh, C.H. 1993. Liberian Mangrove Ecosystem. In Diop, E.S. 1993 Conservation and sustainable utilization of mangrove forests in Latin America and Africa regions, Part II - Africa. p. 71-77 Mangrove Ecosystems Technical Reports vol.3 ITTO/ISME Project PD114/90. Okinawa, Japan, ISME. 262 pp. Rough estimate | |
1990 |
600 |
Sayer J.A., Harcourt C.S. and Collins N.M. 1992. The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forest in Africa. IUCN. 033357757-4 |
Remote sensing | |
1992 |
20 070 |
Hughes, R.H. and Hughes, J.S. 1992. A Directory of African Wetlands. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK/UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya/WCMC, Cambridge, UK. 820 pp |
Analysis of maps and/or remote sensing imageries. No specific scale is given. The "Year" is the publication year. Mangroves occupy an undefined percentage of this extent. | |
1995 |
19 000 |
Saenger, P. and Bellan, M.F. 1995. The Mangrove vegetation of the Atlantic coast of Africa. Universitè de Toulouse Press, Toulouse 96 pp. |
X |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. The "Year" is the publication year. |
1997 |
42 700 |
Spalding, M.D., Blasco, F. and Field, C.D., eds. 1997. World Mangrove Atlas. The International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Okinawa, Japan. 178 pp. |
Map undated. The “Year” is the publication year |
The 1980, 1990 and 2000 figures are based on expert estimate. No significant changes appear to have occurred in the extent of mangrove area in the last twenty years.