The strand and mangrove zone covers a narrow strip along the coast, tidal river estuaries and lagoons and is broken in places by the topography. The mangrove swamps are very restricted in area and distribution and rarely develop beyond a thicket stage. Laguncularia racemosa and Rhizophora racemosa are found on the seaward side of lagoons in saline conditions. Avicennia africana (syn A. nitida) occurs on the landward side of the swamps. The latter are in some places exploited for the bark, which is used for tanning fishing nets, and, in other places, firewood is extracted for local use.
FAO, UNEP. 1981. Tropical forest resources assessment project. Forest Resources of Tropical Africa. Part II: Country Briefs. Rome. 586 pp.
Year |
Area |
Source |
Trend |
Methodology/Comments |
1995 |
10 000 |
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 |
21 400 |
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 not provided. The "Year" is the publication year. |
The estimates for 1980, 1990 and 2000 have been calculated applying the FRA 1990 (FAO, 1995) annual forest cover change rate for 1980-1990 (-1.4 percent) and the FRA 2000 (FAO, 2001) annual forest cover change rate for 1990-2000 (-1.7 percent) to the most recent, reliable figure.
