Guinean Forests of West Africa

The Guinean forests of West Africa is a biodiversity hotspot designated by Conservation International, which includes the belt of tropical moist broadleaf forests along the coast of West Africa, running from Sierra Leone and Guinea in the west to the Sanaga River of Cameroon in the east. The Dahomey Gap, a region of savanna and dry forest in Togo and Benin, divides the Guinean forests into the Upper Guinean forests and Lower Guinean forests.

The Upper Guinean forests extend from Sierra Leone and Guinea in the west through Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, and Ghana to Togo in the east. The Lower Guinean forests extend east from Benin through Nigeria and Cameroon. The Lower Guinean forests also extend south past the Sanaga River, the southern boundary of the hotspot, into southern Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Cabinda, and Democratic Republic of the Congo.

According to some sources, deforestation has already wiped out roughly 90% of West Africa's original forests.^[1]^[2]

Ecoregions

The World Wide Fund for Nature divides the Upper and Lower Guinean forests into a number of distinct ecoregions:

Upper Guinean forests

Western Guinean lowland forests (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire)
Guinean montane forests (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire)
Eastern Guinean forests (Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin)

Lower Guinean forests

Nigerian lowland forests (Benin, Nigeria)
Niger Delta swamp forests (Nigeria)
Cross-Niger transition forests (Nigeria)
Cross-Sanaga-Bioko coastal forests (Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea)
Cameroonian Highlands forests (Nigeria, Cameroon)
Mount Cameroon and Bioko montane forests (Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea)

References

^ "Forest Holocaust". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2008.
^ Forests and deforestation in Africa - the wasting of an immense resource Archived 2009-05-20 at the Wayback Machine, afrol News

External links

GUINEAN FORESTS OF WEST AFRICA

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[1] "Forest Holocaust". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2008.

[2] Forests and deforestation in Africa - the wasting of an immense resource Archived 2009-05-20 at the Wayback Machine, afrol News

[1]

[2]

v t e Regions of Africa
Central	Guinea region Gulf of Guinea Cape Lopez Mayombe Igboland Mbaise Pool Malebo Congo Basin Chad Basin Cameroonian Highlands forests East Sudanian savanna Congolian rainforests Ouaddaï highlands Ennedi Plateau
East	African Great Lakes Albertine Rift East African Rift Great Rift Valley Gregory Rift Rift Valley lakes Virunga Mountains Kavirondo Zanj East African montane forests Eastern Arc Mountains Serengeti Horn of Africa Afar Triangle Al-Habash Barbaria Danakil Alps Danakil Desert Ethiopian Highlands Dahlak Archipelago Hanish Islands Gulf of Aden Gulf of Tadjoura Red Sea Indian Ocean islands Comoro Islands Lamu Archipelago Madagascar Central Highlands Northern Highlands Zanzibar Archipelago Swahili coast
North	Eastern Desert Maghreb Ancient Libya Atlas Mountains Barbary Coast Gibraltar Arc Ifriqiya Nile Valley Nile Delta Bashmur Cataracts of the Nile Darfur Lower Egypt Lower Nubia Middle Egypt Nile Delta Nuba Mountains Nubia The Sudans Upper Egypt Tibesti Mountains Western Sahara
South	Rhodesia North South Thembuland Succulent Karoo Nama Karoo Bushveld Maputaland Highveld Fynbos Indian Ocean coastal belt Albany thickets Cape Floristic Region Skeleton Coast Kalahari Desert Okavango Delta Cape Peninsula False Bay
West	Pepper Coast Gold Coast Slave Coast Ivory Coast Cape Palmas Cape Mesurado Guinea region Guinean Forests of West Africa Upper Guinean forests Lower Guinean forests Guinean forest-savanna mosaic Guinea Highlands Gulf of Guinea Dahomey Gap Niger Basin Niger Delta Inner Niger Delta West Sudanian savanna Yorubaland
Macro-regions	Aethiopia Afromontane Arab world Commonwealth realm Equatorial Africa Françafrique Greater Middle East Guineo-Congolian region Islands of Africa List of countries where Arabic is an official language Mediterranean Basin MENASA Middle East Middle East and North Africa Miombo woodlands Mittelafrika Negroland Northeast Africa Portuguese-speaking African countries Sahara Sahel Southeast Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Sudan (region) Sudanian savanna Tropical Africa Zambezian region

Ecoregions

See also

References

External links