East Africa
East African coastal forest
The coastal region of east Africa is one of the continent’s most biologically diverse areas. It is made up of a unique combination of habitats, ranging from coastal forests and savannah woodlands to mangroves and marine habitats.
The region covers some 260,000 sq km from southern Somalia, through Kenya, Tanzania and much of Mozambique.
Tracts of the region comprise a mosaic of patchy, dense, deciduous coastal forest, which is of vital importance to both wildlife and local communities. Much of this forest has been converted to farmland and cut for timber, fuel wood and charcoal production over thousands of years. Only around 400 patches of closed canopy coastal lowland forest now remain in east Africa. Forest covers just 6,250 sq km, or 2% of the ecoregion at most, representing only 10% of original forest cover. Yet the forests contain remarkable levels of biodiversity and endemism (unique species that are found no where else), with species composition often varying dramatically from one forest patch to the next.
In Kenya 787 sq km and in Tanzania 692 sq km of coastal forest remain and is mostly found in fragmented patches of limited size. Many of these forests have some level of official protection. In Mozambique, 4,778 sq km of forest cover remains as relatively large areas of undisturbed forest, but the vast majority are not protected and only recently have scientists been able to explore the forests following the end of decades of civil war. Overall across the region only 17% of forest areas are protected in some way and only a few forests have the highest level of protection.
What makes the region unique, and globally significant for conservation, is its huge number and high density of animals and plants found nowhere else in the world, such endemic species are often particularly vulnerable to habitat change and many are listed as endangered or critically endangered. 1,750 plant species are unique to the forests, such as the original African violet, and 80 vertebrate species are recognised as endemic to the area. Mammals include the bushbaby, elephant shrew and mangabey. The forests also house an array of birds such as the turaco, sunbird and endemic owls, as well as many endemic varieties of butterflies, frogs, lizards, insects, freshwater fish and snails. Recent expeditions to the previously little explored coastal forests of northern Mozambique have found 20 new plant species and it is likely that as biologists continue to survey the area new plant, and possibly animal, species will be discovered.
Threats
The coastal forests are not only important because of their unique biodiversity but also because of their many and varied uses to local people as sources of medicinal plants, fuel wood, building materials and food. They also provide vital eco-system services such as reducing soil erosion, carbon fixing and maintaining ecological cycles including freshwater flow. Many forests have significant cultural importance, recognised locally as “sacred groves” and called Kaya Forests in Kenya, and which local communities help manage sustainably.
The open savannah which typically surrounds the coastal forest is home to some of Africa’s most vulnerable large animals, including the elephant, lion, leopard, cheetah and hunting dog as well as the critically endangered black rhino.
Only 2% of this east African ecoregion is still covered in forest. This is mainly due to the heavy pressure it is under from a variety of local uses including subsistence agriculture and cutting for timber, fuel wood and increasingly charcoal production and global forces including large scale infra-structure developments, tourism and international demand for timber.
Only 17% of the regions forests have some level of protection. Protection levels are higher in Kenya and Tanzania where forest cover is very fragmented and many small patches exist, whilst the majority of the larger tracts of coastal forests in Mozambique remain un-protected.
With an ever growing population one of the key threats to this region remains the conversion of forests to agricultural land. Charcoal production and firewood collection are further problems, with more than 70 million people in the region relying on firewood and charcoal daily for cooking.
Other threats include uncontrolled fires, unsustainable and illegal logging, poor governance and protection of gazetted forests and unplanned developments including tourism, oil and gas, bioenergy and mining. The future of the forests is also at risk from the impacts of climate change.
Solutions
East Africa’s coastal forests are among WWF-UK’s key priority sites for conservation and are a key component of WWF’s Coastal East Africa Network Initiative - a major 5 year programme of work across the region.
In recent years WWF has helped to lobby government to gazette new areas of forests for protection against development, cutting of timber and poaching. WWF has also worked to expose and curb the trade in illegal timber throughout the region whilst promoting Forestry Stewardship Certification (FSC) of timber products and addressing unsustainable charcoal production through our Dar Charcoal project.
We have also increased the ability of local communities to manage their forests sustainably, gain FSC status and generate revenue through local and increasingly international markets. For example, in Kenya incentives are in place through WWF’s Good Woods initiative for wood carvers to meet the strict requirements to gain FSC status which includes a shift from relying on traditionally preferred indigenous hardwood trees to farm-grown fast growing tree species. The reliance on indigenous tree species had led in part to the degradation of east African forests.
In addition, WWF have supported civil society in challenging governments and worked with government officials directly to help improve on their natural resource governance through strengthened technical and management skills and knowledge, increased motivation and support, addressing corruption and improved legislation and policy making.
In the future, we will continue to work closely with central and local government authorities to ensure that sound forest policies are put into practice, to provide further scientific evidence of the importance of coastal forests, to make community forestry a reality, to help governments and local communities understand and secure funding for forest protection through emerging new forest protection schemes including the UN’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) and Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) initiatives, to explore alternative livelihood options with local communities that are heavily dependant on forestry resources and to ensure forests are managed sustainably.
Infrastructure development is important for economic growth in east African countries. However, if projects are poorly planned, roads, plantations and even tourist resorts may be built in extremely sensitive or biologically important locations. WWF is working with the authorities to plan these vital infrastructure projects in a more sustainable manner.
Another challenge for WWF is minimising the impacts of climate change on the region. We will work to reduce the threats to the forests themselves and with local communities on climate change adaptation strategies. We will also increase connectivity between forest patches, creating a network of protected coastal forests that will be more resilient and resistant to climate change.
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