Tropical Africa - Conservation

Conservation

In colonial rule, governments planned only one way to promote conservation. In Nigeria for example, the government introduced forest protection regulatory measures by classification of some forest areas, licensing requirements, and the apprehension and prosecution of offenders. Ghana issued classification permits to firms and executed log export restrictions. The Ivory Coast and Cameroon introduced log supply quotas, as Liberia did.

This trade product is "raw" lumber. Trees native to the West African rainforest from which timber is exported include limba, emeri, obeche and opepe as well as the exotic species gmelina, teak, and pinus.

Fauna

The Tropical African rainforest has rich fauna, commonly smaller mammal species rarely seen by humans. New species continually are being found. For instance, in late 1988 an unknown shrub species was discovered on the shores of the Ndian River in Western Cameroon. Since then many species have become extinct. However, undisturbed rainforests are some of the richest habitats of animal species. Today, undisturbed rainforests are remnant, but rare. Timber extraction not only changes the edifice of the forest, it affects the tree species spectrum by removing economically important species and terminates other species in the process. The species that compose African rainforests are of different evolutionary ages because of the contraction and expansion of the rainforest in response to global climatic fluctuations.

In Tropical Africa about 8,500 plant species have been noted and 403 species of orchids note down. The pygmy hippopotamus, the giant forest hog, the water chevortain and a number of insectivores, rodents and bats, tree frogs, bird species inhabit the area. These species, along with a diversity of fruits and insects, make a special habitat. Top canopy monkey species, the red colobus, and others, already have disappeared from much of Tropical Africa's forest.

Species unfamiliar to the changes in forest structure for industrial use might not survive. If timber use continues and an increasing amount of farmers happens, it could lead to the mass killing of animal species. The home of nearly half of the world's animals and plant species are tropical rainforests. The rain forests provide possible economic resource for over-populated developing countries. Despite the stated need to save the West African forests, there are divergence in how to work. In April 1992, countries with some of the largest surviving tropical rain forests banned a rainforest protection plan proposed by the British government. It aimed at finding endangered species of tropical trees in order to control trade in them. Experts estimate that the rainforest of West Africa, at the present trend of deforestation, may disappear by the year 2020.

Africa’s rainforest, like many others emergent in the world, has a special significance to the indigenous cultures who have occupied them for millennia.