Although The Gambia is a relatively small country with a total area of about 11 295 km (including 948 km2 in-land water) it is endowed with a diversity of flora and fauna. With its characteristic Sudan savannah and woodland vegetation, it has various ecosystems such as the forest (closed and open woodland), agricultural (cropland), marine and coastal, wetland and terrestrial ecosystems. These ecosystems contain numerous flora and fauna species. To date, a high number of these species are not yet known or identified.
Because of the country's desire to protect as much of its diverse natural heritage with the aim of promoting in-situ conservation, it has established six national parks and nature reserves covering 3.7% of the country's total land area (37 772 hectares) with plans to increase it to 5% to include all major habitats. Currently, there are 66 forest parks with a total land area of 34 029 hectares and over 15 000 ha of forest under community management. A Ramsar site has recently been designated to cover a total area of 22 000 ha of wetland.
The only ex-situ facility in the country is the animal orphanage in the Abuko nature reserve. In addition, there are several coastal and marine habitats of high ecological importance in The Gambia.
The Gambia is endowed with a variety of wild flora and fauna. The available data shows that there are 117 species of mammals, about 525 species of birds representing 75 families, 47 species of reptiles and 30 species of amphibians (Murphy, 1997).
There is no reliable information on insects and lower plants. According to Murphy (1997), about 13 species of animals have become extinct over the last few years and a similar number is threatened. It has been reported that The Giant Eland was last seen in 1903 and the last elephant was killed in 1913.
Forests are important natural resources containing numerous species of flora providing food and medicine, habitat for numerous species of fauna with great potential for honey and wax production. There are 150 plant species identified in The Gambia. Currently, 43% of the country's land area (505 300 ha) is under forest cover with woodland accounting for 10% and the remainder consisting of savannah woodland and mangrove forests estimated to cover 67 000 hectares. During the course of the century, The Gambia's forest ecosystem has gradually changed from being a dense and natural diverse environment to its present bare state. The major extraneous factor affecting the variability of vegetation is human influence, in the form of rampant bush fires that have devastated large areas of former dense woodlands and the inappropriate agricultural cultivation systems (shifting cultivation) which also plays a part in turning woodlands into secondary forests.
Although the total forest area remains the same, it has in most part been degraded and has greatly declined in the species composition. No data is available to indicate how many plant species are extinct or near extinction. It is however known that several species of high economic value are threatened. Due to the transformation of the ecosystems, some species might have been replaced by the more tolerant ones.
To arrest this precarious situation of rapid forest degradation and destruction, which could lead to loss of its biological diversity, the forestry sector has adopted new strategies and formulated a new more comprehensive forest policy. The main goals of this policy are to:
1. reserve, maintain and develop forestland resources covering at least 30% of the total land area which is capable of protection;
2. ensure that 75% of the forestlands are managed and protected according to forest management principles;
3. ensure that sufficient supply of forest produce, needed by both the urban and rural population, is available through rehabilitation of forestlands and the establishment of fast growing plantations and wood lots.
The Strategies are to:
a) promote multiple use forestry, apply better extension methods, intensify community forestry.
b) identify campaign issues on bush fires, promote public, governmental and NGO institutions, participation, use political influence.
c) promote community forestry agreements through support to communities and legislation.
