The Global Importance of Africa

Africa’s forests are an incredibly diverse and important global resource; 25% of the continent, or 674,419,000 hectares, is classified as forest. Africa is the world’s third largest continent for global forest area most of which is concentrated in central and southern countries characterised by a tropical climate such as Zambia, Angola, Tanzania and the DRC. The latter has the world’s second largest rain forest with nearly 152 million hectares; Africa as a whole is home to 25% of the world’s rainforests. According to UN FAO nearly 4 million hectares of forest are cut down each year in Africa – nearly double the speed of the world deforestation average. While deforestation has decreased globally in recent years, the rate of loss of forest in Africa has steadily increased since 1990, weakening the ability of the continents ecosystems to withstand the impact of climate change.

Africa is extraordinarily biodiverse: it is home to an estimated 73,000 plant species, 1,100 mammals, including 194 species of primate and 91 species of antelope, 2,500 birds, (approximately one-quarter of the world’s mammal and bird species), 5,500 freshwater fish, 950 amphibian and 2,100 reptile species. As forests are destroyed, so the habitats for this globally relevant biodiversity are destroyed; it is important that this should be avoided.