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Africa's Tropical Forests

Authors: Adair, Francis Jesse;

Africa's Tropical Forests

Abstract

Central Africa is home to the Guineo-Congolian rainforests that have persisted in one form or another for millions of years. Gorillas have evolved alongside the forests but habitat loss and the bushmeat trade threaten their continued existence. Increasing temperatures from climate change is drying soil and excessive atmospheric CO2 is altering vegetation compositions. Suitable agricultural land is adversely affected and so more forest is cleared in a feedback loop as fertile soils become increasingly rare. Logging practices could be made more sustainable but are generally destructive and pave the way for large-scale human habitation at the expense of biodiversity. In response to local, regional, and global pressures forest dependent and indigenous communities' are being driven to unsustainably exploit the forest too. Since their livelihoods and access to land are being drastically altered, developing a strategy to support these people must go beyond reducing pollution to meet climate goals. If correctly perceived and implemented then the conservation of tropical rainforest can contribute to both adaptation and mitigation actions. Gabon and Cameroon have designated a number of national parks but wildlife and forest degradation is ongoing and climate change is making matters worse. Ecotourism offers a source of revenue for keeping ecosystems intact, but cannot compete with the economic returns of extractive industries like logging. Ecosystem Services are a school of thought that try to value the conservation of ecosystems but contrasting facts and opinions make defining ES difficult. Nevertheless, conservationists must consider a cost-benefit analysis when deciding where or what to attempt to conserve which means also understanding the effects of climate change and local contexts. The biota of protected areas may need to migrate in response to climate change and so linking protected areas together or conserving large expanses of habitat could help to avoid extinctions. Models are needed that can accurately predict land use change and species migration but high quality data is lacking for Central Africa. The emergence of cheap technologies that can be deployed to collect lots of data in the field is making conservation aims more achievable.

Keywords

Primates, Technology, Adaptation strategy, Animal habitat, Climate Change, Conservation, Biodiversity conservation, Wildfires, Species extinction, Forest exploitation, Climate change mitigation, Habitat destruction, Tropical forest, Extinction (ecological), Tropical rain forest, Indigenous forest, Ecosystem services, Hunting, Indigenous Peoples, Poverty, Ecosystem, Ecotourism, Tropical Climate, Gorilla gorilla, Forest policy, Habitat loss, Carbon Dioxide, Environmental conservation, Resource conservation, Refugium, Soil conservation, Wildlife conservation, Equatorial climate, Mitigation measure, Animal Migration, Forest conservation

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    popularity
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    influence
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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average
Green
Related to Research communities
Italian National Biodiversity Future Center