The population of giraffes has dwindled across Africa over the past 30 years, according to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF). In West Africa, the regional subspecies was once common in many countries, including Nigeria, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal, but now only exists in Niger.
Formerly widespread across northern Nigeria, today lions survive in only two sites in the country: Kainji Lake National Park and Yankari Game Reserve. More than 90% of the lion's original range has now been lost across Africa.
Today leopard are restricted to a few protected areas of Nigeria such as Kainji Lake National Park and Gashaka-Gumti National Park as well as Yankari Game Reserve. Leopard have been heavily persecuted in Nigeria for their beautiful skins, highly-prized for traditional purposes and ceremonies.
There are no zebra in the wild in Nigeria. (There are zebra on Nigerian postage stamps but that is about selling stamps to collectors, not zebra habitat.) While it is possible for a cheetah to exist in the savannas of northern Nigeria, this is extremely rare.
Some 415,000 elephants can be found in 37 range countries in the continent now. Around 100 savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana), one of the two species of elephants found in Nigeria, live in the 2,244-square-kilometer (866-square-mile) Yankari park, making it the largest and most viable herd in the country.
“Whales are national heritage. In Nigeria, the living whales are our national heritage. The carcasses are our heritage as well.
Nigeria has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, having lost around 410,100 hectare per year over the period 2005 to 201012. The main drivers of deforestation in the country are agriculture, logging and mining.
The Sambisa forest reserve in northeastern Nigeria has been a key Boko Haram hideout for years. Colonel Boubakar Bakary, one of Cameroon's senior military officers, commanding troops fighting Boko Haram around the forest, says Sambisa is very dangerous because it is one of Boko Haram's main remaining strongholds.
The African white mahogany tree and the ube tree are both common rainforest trees found in Nigeria as well. Both of these trees are often cut down for their wood, and the ube tree also produces edible fruits (also called African pears) that are common in Nigerian food and culture.
In terms of vegetation structure, Nigeria can be divided into nine vegetation zones (Siynabola et al., 2003). Out of these, five are forest formations and four are savanna formations (Figure 1). The forest types are mangrove, freshwater swamp, lowland rain forest, riparian, and montane forests respectively.
Forest reserves are portions of state lands where commercial harvesting of wood products is excluded in order to capture elements of biodiversity that can be missing from sustainably harvested sites.
Forest reserves in Nigeria and their locations
- Okeluse Forest Reserve. This forest reserve is located in the South Western region of Nigeria.
- Ise Forest Reserve. This forest reserve is located in the south western part of Nigeria.
- Oluwa Forest Reserve.
- Okumu Forest Reserve.
- Oba Hills Forest Reserve.
- Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve.
- Idanre Forest Reserve.
- Edumanom Forest Reserve.
approximately 60,000 square kilometers
Amazon, Daintree, Congo Basin: The largest rainforests in the world.
The Amazon jungle is the world's largest tropical rainforest. The forest covers the basin of the Amazon, the world's second longest river. The Amazon is home to the greatest variety of plants and animals on Earth. A 1/5 of all the world's plants and birds and about 1/10 of all mammal species are found there.
Most of Africa's remaining rainforests are found in the Congo river basin on the Atlantic Ocean side of the continent. The Congo rainforest is famous for its gorillas, chimpanzees, and elephants as well as its native population of forest dwellers known as pygmies.
Rainforests are populated with insects (like butterflies and beetles), arachnids (like spiders and ticks), worms, reptiles (like snakes and lizards), amphibians (like frogs and toads), birds (like parrots and toucans) and mammals (like sloths and jaguars). Different animals live in different strata of the rainforest.
Around 2 million km² of Africa is covered by tropical rainforests. They are second only in extent to those in Amazonia, which cover around 6 million km². Rainforests are home to vast numbers of species.
Nine countries share the Amazon basin—most of the rainforest, 58.4%, is contained within the borders of Brazil. The other eight countries include Peru with 12.8%, Bolivia with 7.7%, Colombia with 7.1%, Venezuela with 6.1%, Guyana with 3.1%, Suriname with 2.5%, French Guyana with 1.4%, and Ecuador with 1%.
El Yunque National Forest (Puerto Rico)While we do have rainforests in the U.S., almost all of them are temperate. The only tropical rainforest managed by the U.S. Forest Service is El Yunque National Forest in northern Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the U.S., and Puerto Ricans are American citizens).
Four Types of Forests
- Tropical. Outside of a zoo, where can you find rhinos, tigers, elephants and orangutans all in one place?
- Subtropical. Subtropical forests are like their tropical cousins, but not quite as hot or biodiverse.
- Temperate. Temperate forests cycle through all four seasons.
- Boreal.
These are:
- the tropical,
- temperate,
- and boreal forests (taiga).
Nigeria also has over 1150 dialects and ethnic groups. The six largest ethnic groups are the Hausa and Fulani in the north, the Igbo in the southeast, and the Yoruba predominate in the southwest, the Tiv people of North Central Nigeria and the Efik - Ibibio.
The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and a host of problems for indigenous people.
Deforestation has negative implications on the environment in terms of soil erosion, loss of biodiversity ecosystems, loss of wildlife and increased desertification among many other reasons. The annual rate of deforestation in Nigeria is 3.5%, approximately 350,000-400,000 hectares per year.
There are broadly three major types of forests – tropical, temperate, and boreal forests. They are classified according to latitude. Also, these major types are divided farther into more specific categories.
WAYS TO STOP DEFORESTATION IN NIGERIAReforestation: This will involve an intentional and decisive plan to plant trees in order to replace the ones already lost. This effort can be driven by both the government and private individuals. In 2005, about 1 million hectares of land had been reforested in Nigeria.
