THE CONSERVATION ATLAS OF TROPICAL FORESTS AFRICA Contributors SIMON ANSTEY, WWF-International, Gland, ARTHUR GREEN, WWF, Korup National Park, DON MOORE, US Geological Survey, Eros Data Switzerland Cameroon Center, Sioux Falls, USA E.O.A. ASIBEY, World Bank, Washington, D.C., GLEN GREEN, Geology Department, Macalester TH. MULLER, National Herbarium and National USA College, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA Botanic Garden, Harare, Zimbabwe SERGE BAHUCHET, Centre Nationale de MICHAEL GREEN, WCMC, Cambridge, UK DOMINIQUE N'Sosso, Ministry of Forest Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France JOHN HALL, School of Agricultural and Forest Economy, Brazzaville, Congo ROBERT BAILEY, Department of Anthropology, Sciences, Bangor, UK JOHN OATES, Hunter College, City University of University of California, Los Angeles, USA ALAN C. HAMILTON, WWF, Godalming, Surrey, UK New York, USA ANDREW BALMFORD, Large Animal Research ALEXANDER HARCOURT, Department of KATIE OFFERT, Nyungwe Forest Conservation Group, University of Cambridge, UK Anthropology, University of California, Davis, Project, Rwanda R.K. BAMFO, Forestry Commission, Accra, Ghana USA NICOLA O'NEILL, Swansea, Wales RICHARD BARNES, Wildlife Conservation JOHN HART, Wildlife Conservation International, J.G.K. Owusu, Insitute ofRenewable Resources, International, University of California, San Project Okapi, Epulu, Zaire Kumasi, Ghana Diego, USA TERESE HART, Wildlife Conservation RISTO PAIVINEN, FINNIDA, Finland RICHARD BARNWEU., WWF, Godalming, Surrey, UK International, Project Okapi, Zaire PRINCE PALMER, Forestry Division, Sierra Leone JOSEPH B. BESSONG, Forestry Department, WILLIAM HAWTHORNE, ODA, Kumasi, Ghana ALEXANDER PEAL, Forestry Development Yaounde, Cameroon PHILIPPE HECKETSWEILER, Institut Botanique, Authority, Liberia NEIL BIRD, ODA, Kumasi Ghana Montpellier, France JEAN-YVES PIROT, IUCN Wetlands Programme, A. BLOM, WWF, Epulu, Zaire BARRY HEWLETT, Tulane University, New Gland, Switzerland K.T. BOATENG, Forestry Department, Accra, Orleans, USA ROGER POLHILL, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Ghana PETER HOWARD, Kampala, Uganda Surrey, UK DENYS BOURQUE, Quebec, Canada MARK INFIELD, WWF-International, Gland, DEREK POMEROY, Zoology Department, NEIL BURGESS, RSPB, Sandy, Bedfordshire, UK Switzerland Makerere University, Uganda PETER BURGESS, Suffolk, UK GIL ISABIRYE-BASUTA, Kibale, Uganda G. PUNGESE, Department ofGame and Wildlife, JOHN BURLISON, Nature Conservancy Council, MARTIN JENKINS, Cambridge, UK Accra, Ghana Balloch, Scotland ANDY JOHNS, Kibale, Uganda S.J. QUASHIE-SAM, Institute of Renewable TOM BUTYNSKI, Impenetrable Forest PETER JONES, -Department of Natural Resources Resources, Kumasi, Ghana Conservation Project, Uganda and Forestry, Edinburgh University, UK SIMON RIETBERGEN, IIED, London, UK G. CABALLE, Institut Botanique, Montpellier, SCOTT JONES, Bristol, UK ANNE ROBERTSON, National Museums ofKenya, France CHRIS JUSTICE, NASA, Goddard Space Flight Nairobi, Kenya JULIAN CALDECOTT, Cambridge, UK Center, Greenbelt, USA ALAN RODGERS, Cambridge, UK PIERRE CAMPREDON, IUCN, Bissau, Guinea FRANCIS KAsISI, WWF-International, Gland, ALISON ROSSER, Cambridge, UK Bissau Switzerland PER RYDEN, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland RICHARD CARROLL, WWF, Dzanga-Sangha, RONALD KEAY, Cobham, Surrey, UK JACQUELINE SAWYER, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland Central African Republic JACKIE KENDALL, NASA, Goddard Space Flight GOTZ SCHREIBER, World Bank, Washington, JAVIER CASTROVIEJO, Asociacion Amigos de Center, Greenbelt, USA D.C., USA Doftana, Seville, Spain OLIVIER LANGRAND, WWF, Antananarivo, HEINRICH STOLL, Bremen, Germany KEVIN CLEAVER, World Bank, Washington, D.C., Madagascar DAVID STONE, Begnins, Switzerland USA NIGEL LEADER-WILLIAMS, Large Animal SIMON STUART, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland NONIE COULTHARD, RSPB, Sandy, Bedfordshire, Research Group, University of Cambridge, ROBERT SUSSMAN, Anthropology Department, UK UK Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, MICHAEL CROSBY, ICBP, Cambridge, UK DAMIEN LEWIS, London, UK USA ALAN CROSS, UNEP/GRID, Geneva, Switzerland MICHEL LoUETTE, Musee Royal de l'Afrique IAN THORPE, School of Biology, University of GLYN DAVIES, ODA, Nairobi, Kenya Centrale, Belgium East Anglia, UK JEAN-PIERRE D'HuART, WWF, Brussels, Belgium RICHARD LoWE, Botany Department, University RAPHAEL TSILA, Ministry ofForest Economy, CHARLES DOUMENGE, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland of Ibadan, Nigeria Brazzaville, Congo FRAN<;:OISE DOWSETT-LEMAIRE, Liege, Belgium PETER LoWRY, Missouri Botanical Garden, St K. TUFOUR, Forestry Commission, Accra, Ghana JOSEPH DUDLEY, Department of Biology and Louis, USA CAROLINE TuTIN, Lope Reserve, Gabon Wildlife, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA H.F. MAITRE, Centre Technique Forestier AMY VEDDER, Wildlife Conservation PAT DUGAN, IUCN Wetlands Programme, Tropical, Nogent-sur-Marne, France International, New York, USA Gland, Switzerland CLAUDE MARTIN, WWF-International, Gland, FRED VOOREN, Forestry Department, University CHRIS ELLIOTT, WWF-International, Gland, Switzerland ofWageningen, Netherlands Switzerland JAMES MAYERS, WWF, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania JOHNWAUGH, IUCN, Washington, D.C., USA JOHN FA, Irish Town, Gibraltar MANKoTo MA MBAELELE, Zaire Institue for CLIVE WICKS, WWF, Godalming, Surrey, UK JULIA FALCONER, ODA, Kumasi, Ghana Nature Conservation, Kinshasa, Zaire ROGER WILSON, FFPS, London, UK J. H. FRAN<;:OISE, Forestry Department, Accra, JEFF McNEELY, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland RON WITT, UNEP/GRID, Geneva, Switzerland Ghana TOM MCSHANE,WWF-US, Libreville, Gabon PETER WOOD, RSPB, Sandy, Bedfordshire, UK K. FRIMPONG-MENSAH, Institute of Renewable ERICA MCSHANE-CALUZI, WWF-US, Libreville, IpALAKA YOBWA, Forest Inventory and Resources, Kumasi, Ghana Gabon Management Service, Kinshasa, Zaire STEVE GARTLAN, WWF, Douala, Cameroon JEAN-BoNIFACE MEMVIE, Forest Service, K. GHARTEY, Forestry Department, Accra, Libreville, Gabon Ghana HADELIN MERTENS, WWF, Kinshasa, Zaire In addition authors and reveiwers are acknowl DONALD GORDON, WCMC, Cambridge, UK ALAIN MONFORT, Liege, Belgium edged at the end of each chapter. ii THE CONSERVATION ATLAS OF TROPICAL FORESTS AFRICA Editors JEFFREY A. SAYER International Union for Conservation ofNature and Natural Resourees, Gland, SwitzerIand CAROUNE S. HARCOURT WorId Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, UK N. MARK COLUNS WorId Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge, UK Editorial Assistant: Clare Billington • Map Editor: Mike Adam W orId Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge • M Theworld ~ Conservation Union WORLD CONSERVATlON MACMILLAN MONITORING CENTRE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This atlas was produced under the Forest Conservation Programme Contributors to the atlas are listed earlier and their labours are of IUCN, The World Conservation Union .. IUCN's work in much appreciated. A work ofthis nature, however, inevitably rep tropical forests receives financial support from the government of resents the labours of hundreds of people who have painstakingly Sweden. Much of the research, editing and map preparation was documented the forests, researching their ecology and wildlife, and done at the World Coqservation Monitoring Centre which is who have laboured over the production of the maps from field work supported by IUCN, the World.Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and to final printing. Heartfelt thanks are offered by the editors to all the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); the Centre these unnamed people. is also part of UNEP's Global Environment Monitoring System The editors would also like to thank all their colleagues at IUCN (GEMS) towards which thls atlas is a contribution. and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, without whose IUCN is especially indebted to The British Petroleum Company dedicated work this project would not have been possible. In p.l.c. for the original idea for the atlas and for the generous fund WCMC, particular thimks go to Harriet Gillett and Donald ing which has enabled the research for the project to be undertaken. Gordon for information on conservation areas, to Simon Blyth and Thanks also go to IBM, for providing a computer which was Gillian Bunting for work on the maps and to Barbara Brown, James used for running the geographic information system (GIS) needed Culverwell, Brian Groombridge and Martin Jenkins for much to compile the maps, and to the Environmental Systems Research appreciated and varied assistance. At IUCN, invaluable help was Institute (ESRI) ofCalifornia whichprovided the ARC/INFO soft provided by Ursula Senn, Jacqueline Sawyer and Jill Blockhus. ware for the project. Petroconsultants Ltd of Cambridge kindly Finally, Paul Woodman at the Royal Geographical Society gave us made available 'MundoCart', a world digital mapping database considerable aid with, among other things, correct spellings of which proved invaluable in the preparation of this atlas. ever-changing place names~ Copyright © IUCN 1992 Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover Ist edition 1992978-0-333-57757-8 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any Iicence permitting Iimited copying issued by the Copyright licencing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be Iiable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. First published in the United Kingdom by Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1992 Distributed by Globe Book Services Ltd Bronel Road, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hants RG21 2XS British Cataloguing in Publication Data Sayer, Jeffrey A. The Conservation atlas of tropical forests. Africa. I. Title 11 Harcourt, Caroline S. 111 Collins, N. Mark 574.5022 ISBN 978-1-349-12963-8 ISBN 978-1-349-12961-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-12961-4 Acknowledgement of Sources The sources of the country maps are given at the end of each chapter. The sources of the illustrations and maps are given in footnotes and captions. Designed by Robert Updegraff. Map Production by Lovell Johns, Oxford Typeset by BP Intergraphics, Bath, Avon. Contents Foreword 6 I: PART THE 1SSUES 1 Introduction 9 2 History of Forests and Climate 17 3 Biological Diversity 26 4 Case Studies in Conserving Large Mammals 33 5 Forest People 43 6 Population, Environment and Agriculture 49 7 Timber Trade 56 8 Forest Management 62 9 The Protected Areas System 69 10 A Future for Mrica's Tropical Forests 81 PART 11: COUNTRY STUDIES 11 Benin and Togo 97 12 Burundi and Rwanda 102 13 Cameroon 110 14 Central African Republic 119 15 Congo 125 16 Cöte d'Ivoire 133 17 Eastern Africa 143 Djibouti Somalia Ethiopia Sudan Kenya Tanzania 18 Equatorial Guinea 161 19 Gabon 168 20 The Gambia and Senegal 175 21 Ghana 183 22 Guinea 193 23 Guinea-Bissau 200 24 Indian Ocean Islands 206 Comoros Reunion Mauritius Seychelles 25 Liberia 214 26 Madagascar 221 27 Nigeria 230 28 Säo Tome and Principe 240 29 Sierra Leone 244 30 Southern Mrica 251 Angola Mozambique Malawi Zimbabwe 31 Uganda 262 32 Zaire 270 Acronyms 283 Glossary 283 Index 0/ Species 284 General Index 287 Fo re wo rd The loss of the world's tropical forests is one of today's most publicised, debated and least understood environmental issues. Some articles give the impression that the destruction is so rapid and catastrophic that by the end of the century there will be only scattered remnants of forest in increasingly embattled national parks. More than half the species that live on land are inhabitants of the tropical forests and a simple extrapolation leads to dire conclusions about what forest clearance means for the world's biological diversity. But the situation is far more complicated than that. The statistics of total forest loss - 17 million hectares a year, an area considerably bigger than Switzerland - mask an intricate pattern ofvariation from country to country. The causes offorest loss also vary, though clearance for cultivation is generally the most important. Deciding what policy to pursue is not easy for tropical governments who are striving to meet the needs of growing populations and to secure economic growth that will allow them to end degrading poverty and provide food security, health care, education and employment. For such nations, forest resources are vital. For many people the forests are the only hornes they have ever known. Used sustainably for meat, nuts, fruits, gums, wild rubber, fibre, medicines, rattans and carefully extracted timber, tropical forests can provide a continuous supply of materials and income to human communities and at the same time maintain local climate, regulate the run-off of rainfall and lock up some of the carbon dioxide, the accumulation of which is causing climatic change. Used destructively the forests may give Gross National Product a quick boost but often leave local communities ruined. Governments everywhere are reviewing their policies and moving towards sustainable management. They are negotiating international conventions to conserve biological diversity and halt climate change. Conventions on Forests and Biodiversity are also being discussed. Wise use is central to all these initiatives but conventions cannot work without sound knowledge of the forests themselves: where they are, what species exists in them and what essential services they provide. It is a remarkable and disconcerting truth that we lack much ofthis essential knowledge today. In 1974 Reider Persson wrote, in a ground-breaking survey of the world's forest resources, 'we know quite a lot about the mo on, but we do not know how much of the earth is covered by forests and woodlands.' His words are still true. The problem is particularly acute for Africa. Although we have the capacity to use remote sensing to monitor in considerable detail what is happening in tropical forests, no forest map has ever been produced for some countries and for many the statistics available from different sources are contradictory. This atlas is an attempt to present the facts on forest extent and loss in Mrica. It addresses the issues central to forest conservation and sustainable use. What are the real causes of loss? What are the values of the forests to the people of Africa? How can these values be translated into tangible benefits for the poor rural societies who live in and around the most diverse forests? The volume begins with an analysis of ecological history. Contrary to popular belief that tropical forests are ancient and unchanging, those of Africa have changed a great deal with the past few tens of thousands of years in response to alterations in climate and sea level. These dynamics need to be understood. The later chapters analyse the characteristics of today's forest, the ways forest-dwelling peoples use them and the implications of agricultural and social trends. The role of the timber industry as a potential force for conservation or destruction is evaluated. The maps are the heart of the atlas. They have been much more difficult to compile than in our previous volume on the forests of the Asia/Pacific region. Those for most of West Africa and large parts of Central Africa have never before been published. These maps are based on satellite imagery obtained in the past few years and they give a new picture of the dramatic decline in the forests of these areas. The continent is losing its forests faster than any other region. Thirty per cent have already gone and the remainder are being eroded at 1 per cent per year. In Central Africa, where very large tracts offorest remain, they are being fragmented and encroached upon by sma ll farmers. Even light disturbance makes them very vulnerable to fire. Finally, most of Africa's closed forest occur under rainfall regimes which are marginal for this type of vegetation and as a consequence they are more vulnerable to disturbance or small changes in climate than those of other regions. This atlas is offered to all concerned with conservation and sustainable living in the forested zone of Africa. Those processes will only come about if they are a priority of the peoples of Africa. Conservation programmes that seek to impose external views are doomed to failure. There is a new emerging generation of African conservationists who are weIl aware of the materials and cultural value ofthe forests to African societies. Many ofthem have contributed to this atlas. We hope that the atlas will be of value to them and to their nations in ensuring that Africa's wonderful forests, and the diverse animallife they support, remain a prized asset in the 21 st century. MARTIN HOLDGATE Director General IUCN -The World Conservation Union vi PART I Geological Time Scale Eon Era Period Epoch TIme (Mo) Holocene 65- Quaternary 0.1 Pleistocene 1.8 225- Pliocene 5 Neogene Miocene Cenozoic 26 570- Tertiary Oligocene 37 Eocene Palaeogene 53 1000- Poloeocene 65 lote CretDceous Cretoceous 100 eorly Cretoceous Phonerozoic 136 Mesozoic lote Jurassic 160 Jurassic middle Jurassic 176 eorly Jurassic 190 Triossic 225 2000- Permion 280 Pennsylvanion Corboniferous 315 Mississippion 345 2500- Poloeozoic Devonion 395 Silurion 430 3000- Ordovicion 500 Combrian 570 Vendion 650 lote Riphean Proterozoic Ripheon 900 middle Ripheon Pre- 4000- 1300 combrion eorly Ripheon 1600 eorly Proterozoic 2500 Archoeon Archoeon 4550 4550- viii 1 Introduction Africa is, essentially, a continent of woodlands and grasslands; it the coastline to deep inland, but agricultural and urban expansion contains more than twice as much open woodland as elosed canopy have led to large-scale deforestation and fragmentation, graphically forest. Indeed, satellite images of Africa show elearly that this is presented in Figure 1.2. The relict blocks of forest left at Gola in the driest of the three main tropical continents (National Sierra Leone (chapter 29), Sapo in Liberia (chapter 25) and Tal Geographie, 1990, pp. ii-iii). Rain forests now cover only ab out 7 in Cöte d'Ivoire (chapter 16), are now of global importance as the per cent of the land area. Africa's rain forests represent slightly less last significant remnants of the structurally complex, species-rich than one-fifth of the total remaining global resources, while Asia forests ofthe Upper Guinea zone. holds slightly more than a fifth and Latin America still contains In Central Africa there still remains a vast, more or less contin almost three-fifths. Asia's rain and monsoon forests are depleted uous expanse of rain forest. Although whittled away by fire and by half (Collins et al., 1991), while those of tropical America agriculture on its borders, and by exploitation along the banks of remain more intact covering at least four-fifths of their early 20th the great rivers of the region, large areas of little-disturbed forest century extent. The figures in this Atlas reveal that the forests of remain. Indeed around 80 per cent of the rain forest on the conti Africa are the most depleted of all with only one-third or so of their nent is concentrated in this region, particularly in Zaire. As Figure historical extent still remaining. (See Table 10.1, which assurnes 1.3 indicates, this area of the continent still has the opportunity for that areas elassified by White (1983) as forestlsavanna mosaics strategie planning for conservation and economic development. were once completely forested.) Furthermore, West Africa's To the south, the main forest block gives way to dense miombo forests are being lost faster than those of any other region. woodlands with scattered patches of dry deciduous forest. In the 1990s Africa's forests are under severe and growing pres In East Africa the moist forest peters out as the elimate gradu sures. Annual deforestation rates in Africa's elosed canopy forests ally becomes more arid. Increasingly, forest occurs only in strips for the years 1976-80 were estimated to be ab out 0.61 per cent of . bordering rivers, along the tops of mountains, or on the wet coastal the total elosed forestarea in 1980 (FAOfUNEP, 1981). FAO has hills. These fragmented forest patches share problems of severe yet to finalise its statistics to a 1990 baseline but moist forest loss encroachment and exploitation, yet they harbour a high propor is likely to be about 1 per cent per year (FAO, 1990). Annual defor tion of plant and anima I species which are found nowhere else in estation is more serious in West Africa (2.1 per cent) than in the world. Many of these forests are the subject of individual con Central Africa (0.6 per cent). There are indications that unplanned servation programmes, which are rearguard actions to save the last deforestation, and environmental degradation in general, are elose remnants of pristine forest lands. correlates of human population growth. As chapter 6 of this vol urne reveals, Africa's population growth rate is now running at 2.9 Forest Classification per cent (doubling time 24 years), an expansion that is resulting in White's memoir and map, published by Unesco, was the result of massive demands for agriculturalland, water, fuelwood and other some 15 years of cooperation between Unesco and the Association natural products. Notwithstanding this, as chapter 2 relates, the pour l'Etude Taxonomique de la Flore de l'Afrique Tropicale forests of Africa are even now considerably more extensive than (AETFAT). AETFAT's Vegetation Map Committee, whose they were during the most recent high latitude glacial advance members compiled the materials from which White worked, around 18,000 years ago. ineluded many distinguished authorities. Building upon earlier works such as the well-known Yangambi elassification of tropical Africa (Trochain, 1957) and Keay's (1959) vegetation map of FORESTS OF THE REGION Africa, White's elassification has withstood scrutiny for almost a The limits of African tropical forests shown in this Atlas are based decade, and looks set to do so for several more. The greatest threat on the recent definitive vegetation elassification provided by F. to its boundaries, predictably, is the rapid expansion of anthropic White's memo ir and 1:5 million scale map (1983). As in the landscapes at the expense of natural vegetation. Asia-Pacific Atlas (Collins et al., 1991), only the elosed canopy White's elassification identifies 16 major vegetation types or for tropical forests are mapped. Selected forest types are shown, gen mations, all based on structure and physiognomy without recourse eralised from White (1983), in Figure 1.1. to elimatic or other environmental considerations (Table 1.1). Africa's elosed canopy tropical moist forests run from the man There is a wide diversity of woody vegetation types, ineluding for groves of Senegal on the west coast of the continent to the mon est, thicket, shrubland, Afroalpine vegetation, scrubland, man tane forests ofJebel Hantara ne ar the eastern tip ofSomalia. Most grove and bamboo; woodland being the most widespread (White, of the countries of West Africa were once elothed in forest from 1983, p. 47). Africa differs from tropical Asia in the occurrence of 9