TABLE 1a - Areas of natural woody vegetation estimated at end 1980
Closed broadleaved forests (NHC)
(in thousand ha)
Country | Productive | Unproductive | All NHCf | Fallows | |||||||
unmanaged | managed | total | physical reasons | legal reasons | total | ||||||
undisturbed | logged | ||||||||||
NHCf1uv | NHCf1uc | NHCf1m | NHCf1 | NHCf2i | NHCf2r | NHCf2 | total | % (region) | NHCa | ||
Chad | 500 | 500 | ε | 500 | 0.23 | ε | |||||
Gambia | 5 | 5 | 60 | 60 | 65 | 0.03 | ε | ||||
Mali | ε | ε | ε | ε | ε | ||||||
Niger | ε | ε | ε | ε | ε | ||||||
Senegal | 14 | 14 | 143 | 63 | 206 | 220 | 0.10 | ε | |||
Upper Volta | ε | ε | ε | ε | |||||||
NORTHERN SAVANNA REGION | 514 | 5 | 0 | 519 | 203 | 63 | 266 | 785 | 0.36 | ε | |
Benin | 14 | 33 | 47 | 47 | 0.02 | 7 | |||||
Ghana | 154 | 1167 | 1321 | 397 | 397 | 1718 | 0.80 | 6500 | |||
Guinea | 1150 | 300 | 1450 | 600 | ε | 600 | 2050 | 0.96 | 1600 | ||
Guinea-Bissau | 355 | 70 | 425 | 235 | 235 | 660 | 0.31 | 170 | |||
Ivory Coast | 200 | 3094 | 1 | 3295 | 515 | 648 | 1163 | 4458 | 2.08 | 8400 | |
Liberia | 905 | 425 | 1330 | 670 | 670 | 2000 | 0.93 | 5500 | |||
Nigeria | 380 | 2590 | 2970 | 2980 | 2980 | 5950 | 2.78 | 7750 | |||
Sierra Leone | 219 | 219 | 521 | 521 | 740 | 0.34 | 3860 | ||||
Togo | 47 | 206 | 253 | 51 | 51 | 304 | 0.14 | 250 | |||
WEST AFRICA | 3051 | 7091 | 1168 | 11310 | 5572 | 1045 | 6617 | 17927 | 8.36 | 34037 | |
Angola | 2450 | 2450 | 450 | 450 | 2900 | 1.35 | 4850 | ||||
Cameroon | 7000 | 9940 | 16940 | 980 | 980 | 17920 | 8.36 | 4900 | |||
Central African Republic | 3120 | 350 | 3470 | 120 | 120 | 3590 | 1.67 | 300 | |||
Congo | 10330 | 3360 | 13690 | 7520 | 130 | 7650 | 21340 | 9.95 | 1100 | ||
Equatorial Guinea | 785 | 230 | 1015 | 280 | 280 | 1295 | 0.61 | 1165 | |||
Gabon | 10655 | 9250 | 19905 | 595 | 595 | 20500 | 9.56 | 1500 | |||
Zaire | 79740 | 380 | 80120 | 19840 | 5690 | 25530 | 105650 | 49.28 | 7800 | ||
CENTRAL AFRICA | 111630 | 25960 | 0 | 137590 | 29785 | 5820 | 35605 | 173195 | 80.78 | 21615 | |
Burundi | ε | 6 | 6 | ε | 8 | 8 | 14 | 0.01 | 14 | ||
Ethiopia | 450 | 100 | 550 | 2200 | 2200 | 2750 | 1.28 | 300 | |||
Kenya | 170 | 130 | 50 | 350 | 45 | 295 | 340 | 690 | 0.32 | 40 | |
Madagascar | 1600 | 5070 | 6670 | 2700 | 930 | 3630 | 10300 | 4.80 | 3500 | ||
Malawi | ε | 40 | 40 | ε | 146 | 146 | 186 | 0.09 | ε | ||
Mozambique | 70 | 380 | 450 | 460 | 25 | 485 | 935 | 0.43 | 500 | ||
Rwanda | 56 | 56 | 34 | 11 | 45 | 101 | 0.05 | 25 | |||
Somalia | 50 | 50 | 1430 | 1430 | 1480 | 0.69 | ε | ||||
Sudan | 290 | 50 | 340 | 300 | 300 | 640 | 0.30 | 600 | |||
Tanzania | 250 | 580 | 830 | 200 | 410 | 610 | 1440 | 0.67 | 100 | ||
Uganda | 100 | 125 | 440 | 665 | 40 | 45 | 85 | 750 | 0.35 | ε | |
Zambia | 345 | 1970 | 5 | 2320 | 470 | 220 | 690 | 3010 | 1.40 | 900 | |
Zimbabwe | 200 | 200 | 200 | 0.09 | ε | ||||||
EAST AFRICA AND MADAGASCAR | 2985 | 8797 | 545 | 12327 | 8079 | 2090 | 10169 | 22496 | 10.50 | 5979 | |
Botswana | ε | ε | |||||||||
Namibia | |||||||||||
TROPICAL SOUTH AFRICA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
TROPICAL AFRICA | 118180 | 41853 | 1713 | 161746 | 43639 | 9018 | 52657 | 214403 | 100.00 | 61631 |
The following table gives a countrywise distribution of African mangroves. Three main areas can be distinguished: western tip of the coast of the Gulf of Guinea (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone) with a total of some 900 000 ha, the interior part of the Gulf of Guinea (Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon) with 1.4 million ha approximately, and the mangroves of the Indian Ocean (Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania) which cover 900 000 ha.
Mangrove areas (1980)
(in thousand ha)
Country | Areas | Country | Areas |
Senegal | 169 | Equatorial Guinea | 20 |
Gambia | 60 | Gabon | 140 |
Guinea-Bissau | 230 | Angola | 125 |
Guinea | 260 | Zaire | 50 |
Sierra Leone | 170 | Mozambique | 455 |
Liberia | (20) | Madagascar | 300 |
Ivory Coast | ε | Tanzania | 96 |
Ghana | ε | Kenya | 45 |
Togo | ε | Somalia | (20) |
Benin | ε | Ethiopia | ε |
Nigeria | 970 | Sudan | ε |
Cameroon | 272 | Tropical Africa | 3 402 |
The above estimates of mangrove areas are approximate for some countries, especially for those where they are not extensive for which the corresponding figure has been put between brackets or indicated with an “ε”. In some cases it is difficult to know whether the area mentioned is the actual extent of mangrove stands or of the geographical zone including the mangroves.
● Table 1b : Areas of coniferous forests
Total area covered is very small compared to that of America. A large majority (70%) is found in Ethiopia. Kenya has established national parks (Mount Kenya) to protect part of its coniferous forests which are the most important in Africa second to Ethiopia.
● Table 1c : Areas of bamboo forests
The total area is also very small and productive stands correspond to only 63%, almost all of them in Ethiopia. Some bamboo stands in Senegal and Mali have not been accounted for in this table.
● Table 1d : Areas of closed forests
This table summarizes the results of the three preceding ones and shows up the important forest wealth of Zaire which contains almost 50% of African closed forests and the considerable weight of central Africa (80% of closed forest areas).
TABLE 1b - Areas of natural woody vegetation estimated at end 1980
Coniferous forests (NS)
(in thousand ha)
Country | Productive | Unproductive | All | ||||||||
unmanaged | managed | total | Fallows | ||||||||
undisturbed | logged | physical reasons | legal reasons | total | NSf | ||||||
NSf1uv | NSf1uc | NSf1m | NSf1 | NSf2i | NSf2r | NSf2 | total | % (region) | NSa | ||
Ethiopia | 200 | 200 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 800 | 71.43 | ε | |||
Kenya | 70 | 50 | 20 | 140 | 110 | 110 | 250 | 22.32 | 15 | ||
Somalia | 40 | 40 | 20 | 20 | 60 | 5.36 | ε | ||||
Sudan | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 0.89 | |||||
EAST AFRICA AND MADAGASCAR | 270 | 295 | 20 | 585 | 425 | 110 | 535 | 1120 | 100.00 | 15 | |
TROPICAL AFRICA | 270 | 295 | 20 | 585 | 425 | 110 | 535 | 1120 | 100.00 | 15 |
TABLE 1c - Areas of natural woody vegetation estimated at end 1980
Bamboo forests (NHB)
(in thousand ha)
Country | Productive | Unproductive | All | ||||||||
unmanaged | managed | total | |||||||||
undisturbed | logged | physical reasons | legal reasons | total | NHBf | Fallows | |||||
NHBf1uv | NHBf1uc | NHBf1m | NHBf1 | NHBf2i | NHBf2r | NHBf2 | total | % (region) | NHBa | ||
Zaire | 90 | 10 | 100 | 100 | 9.00 | ε | |||||
CENTRAL AFRICA | 90 | 10 | 100 | 100 | 9.00 | ε | |||||
Burundi | ε | ε | 4 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 1.08 | ε | |||
Ethiopia | 700 | 700 | 100 | 100 | 800 | 72.01 | ε | ||||
Kenya | 165 | 165 | 165 | 14.85 | ε | ||||||
Rwanda | ε | ε | ε | 14 | 5 | 19 | 19 | 1.71 | ε | ||
Uganda | 2 | 2 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 1.35 | ε | ||||
EAST AFRICA AND MADAGASCAR | ε | 700 | 2 | 702 | 118 | 191 | 309 | 1011 | 91.00 | ε | |
TROPICAL AFRICA | ε | 700 | 2 | 702 | 208 | 201 | 409 | 1111 | 100.00 | ε |
TABLE 1d - Areas of natural woody vegetation estimated at end 1980
Closed broadleaved, coniferous and bamboo forests (N.f)
(in thousand ha)
Country | Productive | Unproductive | All | ||||||||
unmanaged | managed | total | physical reasons | legal reasons | total | N.f | |||||
undisturbed | logged | ||||||||||
N.f1uv | N.f1uc | N.f1m | N.f1 | N.f2i | N.f2r | N.f2 | total | % (region) | % (country) | ||
Chad | 500 | 500 | 500 | 0.23 | 0.39 | ||||||
Gambia | 5 | 5 | 60 | 60 | 65 | 0.03 | 6.25 | ||||
Mali | ε | ε | ε | ε | ε | ||||||
Niger | ε | ε | ε | ε | ε | ||||||
Senegal | 14 | 14 | 143 | 63 | 206 | 220 | 0.10 | 1.12 | |||
Upper Volta | ε | ε | ε | ε | ε | ||||||
NORTHERN SAVANNA REGION | 514 | 5 | 0 | 519 | 203 | 63 | 266 | 785 | 0.36 | 0.19 | |
Benin | 14 | 33 | 47 | 47 | 0.02 | 0.42 | |||||
Ghana | 154 | 1167 | 1321 | 397 | 397 | 1718 | 0.79 | 7.20 | |||
Guinea | 1150 | 300 | 1450 | 600 | ε | 600 | 2050 | 0.95 | 8.34 | ||
Guinea-Bissau | 355 | 70 | 425 | 235 | 235 | 660 | 0.30 | 18.27 | |||
Ivory Coast | 200 | 3094 | 1 | 3295 | 515 | 648 | 1163 | 4458 | 2.06 | 13.82 | |
Liberia | 905 | 425 | 1330 | 670 | 670 | 2000 | 0.92 | 17.96 | |||
Nigeria | 380 | 2590 | 2970 | 2980 | 2980 | 5950 | 2.76 | 6.44 | |||
Sierra Leone | 219 | 219 | 521 | 521 | 740 | 0.34 | 10.09 | ||||
Togo | 47 | 206 | 253 | 51 | 51 | 304 | 0.14 | 5.34 | |||
WEST AFRICA | 3051 | 7091 | 1168 | 11310 | 5572 | 1045 | 6617 | 17927 | 8.28 | 8.45 | |
Angola | ε | 2450 | 2450 | 450 | 450 | 2900 | 1.34 | 2.33 | |||
Cameroon | 7000 | 9940 | 16940 | 980 | 980 | 17920 | 8.27 | 37.69 | |||
Central African Republic | 3120 | 350 | 3470 | 120 | 120 | 3590 | 1.66 | 5.76 | |||
Congo | 10330 | 3360 | 13690 | 7520 | 130 | 7650 | 21340 | 9.86 | 62.40 | ||
Equatorial Guinea | 785 | 230 | 1015 | 280 | 280 | 1295 | 0.60 | 46.17 | |||
Gabon | 10655 | 9250 | 19905 | 595 | 595 | 20500 | 9.47 | 76.53 | |||
Zaire | 79740 | 380 | 80120 | 19930 | 5700 | 25630 | 105750 | 48.79 | 45.06 | ||
CENTRAL AFRICA | 111630 | 25960 | 0 | 137590 | 29875 | 5830 | 35705 | 173295 | 79.99 | 32.51 | |
Burundi | ε | 6 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 20 | 26 | 0.01 | 0.93 | ||
Ethiopia | 650 | 1000 | 1650 | 2700 | 2700 | 4350 | 2.01 | 3.56 | |||
Kenya | 240 | 180 | 70 | 490 | 45 | 570 | 615 | 1105 | 0.51 | 1.90 | |
Madagascar | 1600 | 5070 | 6670 | 2700 | 930 | 3630 | 10300 | 4.75 | 17.55 | ||
Malawi | ε | 40 | 40 | ε | 146 | 146 | 186 | 0.09 | 1.57 | ||
Mozambique | 70 | 380 | 450 | 460 | 25 | 485 | 935 | 0.43 | 1.19 | ||
Rwanda | 56 | 56 | 48 | 16 | 64 | 120 | 0.06 | 4.56 | |||
Somalia | 90 | 90 | 1450 | 1450 | 1540 | 0.71 | 2.42 | ||||
Sudan | 295 | 50 | 345 | 305 | 305 | 650 | 0.30 | 0.26 | |||
Tanzania | 250 | 580 | 830 | 200 | 410 | 610 | 1440 | 0.67 | 1.53 | ||
Uganda | 100 | 125 | 442 | 667 | 40 | 58 | 98 | 765 | 0.35 | 3.24 | |
Zambia | 345 | 1970 | 5 | 2320 | 470 | 220 | 690 | 3010 | 1.39 | 4.00 | |
Zimbabwe | 200 | 200 | 200 | 0.09 | 0.51 | ||||||
EAST AFRICA AND MADAGASCAR | 3255 | 9792 | 567 | 13614 | 8622 | 2391 | 11013 | 24627 | 11.37 | 2.80 | |
Botswana | |||||||||||
Namibia | |||||||||||
TROPICAL SOUTH AFRICA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
TROPICAL AFRICA | 118450 | 42848 | 1735 | 163033 | 44272 | 9329 | 53601 | 216634 | 100.00 | 9.89 |
● Table 1e : Areas of open broadleaved forests
Those mixed forest-grassland tree formations, considered potentially productive (NHc/NHO1), consist of woodlands and woody savannas with more than 40% cover and account only for one third of the total area of mixed tree formations. Their proportion is less than 15% for the northern savanna region and less than 25% for western Africa, an indication of the intensive vegetation degradation in these zones, whereas it is almost 60% for central Africa with eastern Africa being close to the continental average shown above.
● Table 1f : Areas of woody formations
Several indications can be drawn from this table:
the African continent contains more than twice as much open tree formations than closed forests: Africa is essentially a continent of savannas;
looking at the proportion of wooded areas not disturbed by agriculture (N.f+NHc/NHO) in relation to the total area of each country, it can be seen that all countries with a percentage higher than 40% are located in central Africa, with the exception of Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal. Zaire and Gabon are the most forested countries (75.7% and 76.9% respectively). Some countries have a forest percentage less than 30%. These are in particular:
countries of the northern savanna region (except Senegal), but this is due mainly to the large areas covered by subdesertic steppes and deserts;
Nigeria which is densely populated and where vegetation has been continuously degraded and destroyed;
Ethiopia and Madagascar which are in the same situation as Nigeria but to a lesser extent.
As far as Sudan, Mozambique, and particularly Kenya, are concerned, percentages must be interpreted cautiously. For the two former ones, the high estimate of fallows (NHc/NHOa) is an indication that there has been a tendency to consider a large proportion of the unproductive formations (NHc/NHO2i) as fallows, contrary to what has been done in other countries. This has resulted in a substantial reduction in this latter type. The important areas of shrub formations (nH) must also be noted for these three countries. In the case of Kenya it must be considered that the northern and northeastern two thirds of the country are covered by subdesertic steppes.
The very low figures for Burundi and Rwanda (1.5% and 8.7% respectively) are, on the contrary, an indication of a catastrphic situation in terms of woody cover. Even if fallows and shrub formations are included, percentages remain indeed very low (2.3% and 14.6% respectively). These two overpopulated countries are those where the only forest solution for the future lies in plantations, since natural vegetation has almost completely disappeared and cannot actually be reconstituted because of the very high population pressure;
concerning area estimates of forest fallows (N.a and NHc/NHOa) the following points can be singled out:
in western Africa fallows of closed forests (N.a) cover an area double that of closed forests (N.f). This is an important result because these fallows must be considered from two viewpoints:
ecologically they have a definite impact on the maintenance of the ecological balance, and it would be misleading to ignore them;
economically they constitute large reserves of land (34 million ha) the final use of which (forest or agriculture) has still to be decided.
Much attention should be devoted to them and in particular it would be highly desirable to assess their areas more precisely than has been possible in this study, to know their distribution, composition, structure and dynamics;
in central Africa areas of fallows of closed forest (N.a) amount only to 12.5% of areas of existing closed forest (N.f). They cover large areas only in Cameroon, Angola and lower Zaire where their local importance has to be taken into account as in the countries of western Africa
As for fallows of mixed tree formations (NHc/NHOa) which cover more than 100 million ha in total, that is 20% of the total area of mixed tree formations not disturbed by agriculture (NHc/NHO), their importance in western Africa must be noted (northern savanna regions and western Africa) since they correspond to 58% of the areas of NHc/NHO. In eastern Africa on the contrary they are important only in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Sudan; however, possible confusion between NHc/NHOa and NHc/NHO2i (unproductive mixed tree formations) have already been mentioned. They represent only 24% of areas of NHc/NHO in this region. These estimates of fallow areas must be used cautiously since it is extremely difficult to actually consider an area abandoned by agriculture as a fallow of open formation because of the extreme intricacy of all human activities in the savanna zone, especially with regard to grazing;
areas of shrub formations are only tentative, as it is indeed most difficult to estimate them in many countries. It is also important to note that these areas include the shrub formations altered by agriculture. They are important in the northern savanna region, northern Nigeria (around 63 million ha in total) and they also cover a considerable area in eastern and southern Africa (more than 310 million ha);
natural woody vegetation (N.f+NHc/NHO+nH) covers a total area of 1 145 million ha, that is 54% of the total area of the 37 countries studied. This estimate is significantly higher than the one provided in the Unesco/UNEP/FAO report “Tropical forest ecosystems” - 1979 (734 million ha), extracted from an FAO/UNEP document of 1975, itself based on figures found in “Fisher's Weltalmanach - 1974” and of the 1963 version of the FAO “World Forest Inventory”. If a detailed analysis of the total of 734 million ha is made, many inconsistencies are found related to the various concepts of forests which are not the same for all countries and lead, in most cases, to a significant underestimation. For instance only 120 million ha is indicated for Zaire, which corresponds approximately to its area of closed forests and its 70 million ha of wooded and tree savannas are disregarded. Estimates for Sudan and Chad (13 and 5 million ha of woody formations respectively) are also significantly underestimated since they correspond approximately to 7% only of their total non-desertic areas;
the total area of woody formations and corresponding fallows (N+n) representing the “forest cover” amounts to 1 312 million ha, that is 60% of the total land area. This average is exceeded in all countries of western and central Africa (more than 80% in many countries), but is not generally reached in the northern savanna regions, where grass steppes and deserts exist and in eastern Africa which has large areas of sparse or non-existent woody vegetation.