Examples of some forest reserves in Africa

Among the resources Africa has in abundance is forest; the sub-Saharan regions of the continent are mostly covered by thick rainforests. Over the centuries, human activities and the growing demand for forest products have driven people to harvest forest wood, normally, at a rate much faster than the natural recovery rate.

For this reason, the forest cover is under depletion. Careless activities of man such as bush burning, in some cases, extend into the forest and ravage a large area of vegetation leaving the land bare and the animals without habitation. The bid for minerals such as gold, diamonds, cobalt, etc. has made the already worse situation escalate into a disaster. Large tracts of land are encroached upon in order to extract minerals.

The process of mining requires that the top vegetation be clear to make the land easily accessible. To this end, large portions of the forest cover have been sacrificed for minerals. The expansion of human settlement and the high demand for food and its subsequent expansion and commencement of huge plantations have played their part in depleting the forest. Once great rainforests have been reduced to savanna and Sahel vegetation, which further fades away into a bare desert under harsh and unforgiving climate.

As a matter of fact, the depletion of the forest sets in motion a lot of adverse effects. The habitats of many animal species are destroyed and they are displaced and forced to migrate to places unfamiliar to them. And it takes them quite some time to adapt to their new environment. However, before they adapt, finding food, water, and a mate becomes a challenge in their new environment, for which reason, their very survival is threatened. The depletion of the forest lead to the destruction and, sometimes, extinction of some animal and plant species. African leaders saw the solution to some of these problems in forest reserves.

Forest reserves are areas where commercial harvesting of wood is prohibited in order to preserve the natural environment and or wildlife. In an attempt to protect wildlife, many countries in Africa have created forest reserves. Hence, there are a lot of them in Africa. Let’s mention some examples of forest reserves.