The mangroves penetrate deep along the Gambia River and its tributaries. The typical succession is described as follows: "each saline water course is characteristically bordered up to the limits of daily tidal flooding by a gallery of tall Rhizophora racemosa. Inside the gallery up to the mean limits of inundation by spring tides are found woodlands of Avicennia africana. Rhizophora harrisonii and R. mangle occur at the boundary between the R. racemosa and A. africana stands". Rhizophora racemosa appears to be the pioneer species and being replaced later on by A. africana until the soil raised becomes too arid to support vegetation during the dry season and constitutes salty barren flats. Both types of mangroves are used by villagers for fencing poles, in house construction and for fuelwood either for local consumption or for sale in Banjul.
Dunsmore J. R. Blair Rains A., Lowe G. D. N. Moffat D. J. Anderson I. P. & Williams J. B. 1976. The agricultural development of the Gambia: An agricultural, environmental and socioeconomic analysis. Land Resource Study 22. Land Resource Division, Ministry of Overseas Development, Surbiton, Surrey, England. 450 pp.
Year |
Area |
Source |
Trend |
Methodology/Comments |
1968 |
66 500 |
FAO, UNEP. 1981. Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project, Forest Resources of Tropical Africa. Part II: Country Briefs FAO, UNEP 586pp. |
X |
Interpretation of aerial photos dated 1968 |
1971 |
64 000 |
FAO, UNEP. 1981. Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project, Forest Resources of Tropical Africa. Part II: Country Briefs FAO, UNEP 586pp. |
Interpretation of aerial photos dated 1968 and updating. | |
1980 |
60 000 |
FAO, UNEP. 1981. Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project, Forest Resources of Tropical Africa. Part II: Country Briefs FAO, UNEP 586pp. |
Estimation for the end of 1980. Rough estimate. | |
1982 |
68 000 |
Ludwig.R and Bojang.L. 1998. Results and Analysis of the National Forest Resources Inventory The Gambia 1997/98 |
X |
Interpretation of aerial photos. |
1985 |
51 300 |
USAID and US Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, EROS Data Center. 1985. Range and Forest Resources of Senegal. |
Iremonger, S., C. Ravilious and T. Quinton. 1997. A statistical analysis of global forest conservation. In: Iremonger, S., C. Ravilious and T. Quinton. eds. A global overview of forest conservation. Including: GIS files of forests and protected areas, version 2. CD-ROM. CIFOR and WCMC, Cambridge, U.K. http://www.unep-wcmc.org/forest/data/cdrom2/index.html | |
1985 |
74 700 |
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 analysis. Scale 1:1 000 000. According to the authors, the estimate provided by Saenger and Bellan, 1995 (see below) is likely to be more accurate. | |
1987 |
66 000 |
Altenburg, W. 1987. Waterfowl in West African Coastland Wetlands: a summary of current knowledge of the occurence of waterfowl in wetlands from Guinea-Bissau to Cameroon and a bibliography of information sources. Zeist, The Netherlands: Stichting WIWO (Werkgroep International Wad-en Watervogelonderzoek). |
Cited in: Fisher, P and Spalding, M.D. 1993. Protected areas with mangrove habitat. Draft Report World Conservation Centre, Cambridge, UK. 60pp. Secondary reference, no primary source provided. "Year" is the publication year. | |
1992 |
45 000 |
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. "Year" is the publication year. | |
1993 |
59 600 |
Ludwig.R. and Bojang.L. 1998. Results and Analysis of the National Forest Resources Inventory The Gambia 1997/98 |
X |
Interpretation of aerial photos and ground survey. |
1994 |
67 000 |
FAO. 1994. Integrated Coastal Fisheries Management in the Gambia By: Willmann, R. FI:DP/INT/91/007 Pilot project of INT/91/007 |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. "Year" is the publication year. Estimation. | |
1995 |
49 700 |
Saenger, P. and Bellan, M.F. 1995. The Mangrove vegetation of the Atlantic coast of Africa. Universitè de Toulouse Press, Toulouse 96 pp. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. "Year" is the publication year. |
