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 in the Congo are mostly under threat from logging, subsistence activities like small-scale agriculture and firewood collection, and commercial agriculture, including large plantations. Wildlife is endangered from hunting.
Beyond the rainforest of the Congo Basin, Africa's other major rainforests are the Guinean Forests of West Africa, which run from Sierra Leone to Cameroon; the Eastern Afromontane, which span Ethiopia to Southern Africa; the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa from Kenya to Mozambique; and the forests of Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands.
Statistics on tropical forest cover and loss in Africa
| Country | Primary forest extent 2020 (million hectares) | Primary forest loss 2010-2019 | Tree cover extent 2020 (million hectares) | Tree cover change 2010-2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DR Congo | 99.8 | -3.5% | 188.0 | -5.3% |
| Angola | 2.3 | -3.8% | 46.8 | -3.1% |
| Central African Republic | 7.2 | -1.5% | 46.6 | -1.0% |
| Cameroon | 18.5 | -2.6% | 28.7 | -3.4% |
| Republic of Congo | 20.8 | -1.2% | 26.0 | -2.2% |
| Gabon | 22.4 | -0.7% | 24.4 | -1.2% |
| Mozambique | 0.1 | -7.5% | 23.1 | -7.8% |
| Tanzania | 0.7 | -2.8% | 19.3 | -6.3% |
| Zambia | 0.3 | -6.5% | 16.6 | -4.4% |
| Madagascar | 4.0 | -14.0% | 13.5 | -17.8% |
| Ethiopia | 1.8 | -2.5% | 12.1 | -2.0% |
| Nigeria | 1.8 | -5.3% | 9.6 | -6.4% |
| Côte d'Ivoire | 1.0 | -17.3% | 8.7 | -16.5% |
| Liberia | 4.2 | -4.1% | 7.9 | -14.9% |
| South Sudan | 0.1 | -1.6% | 7.3 | -0.4% |
| Ghana | 1.0 | -5.9% | 5.7 | -12.3% |
| Uganda | 0.4 | -9.0% | 4.4 | -9.5% |
| Sierra Leone | 0.2 | -8.4% | 4.0 | -25.8% |
| Guinea | 0.2 | -4.2% | 3.5 | -20.9% |
| Kenya | 0.6 | -4.2% | 2.7 | -5.8% |
| Equatorial Guinea | 2.2 | -2.1% | 2.5 | -3.5% |
| Indonesia | 84.4 | -6.5% | 141.7 | -10.1% |
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Review questions
- What is the largest rainforest in Africa?
- The Congo Rainforest From our main rainforests web site
- African rainforest news From Mongabay's news service
- Congo rainforest news From Mongabay's news service
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