Africa needs its forests for sustainable development, poverty reduction, food security, and to make the continent more resilient to climate change. They take up 23% of the continent. At 674 million hectares in extent, these forests occupy an area the same size as the Amazon rainforest.
But Africa has the highest rate of forest loss in the world. About 3.9 million hectares of African forest – the size of about 381 million soccer fields – was destroyed every year between 2010 and 2020.
Africa’s forests are located in the tropical moist regions of central and parts of west Africa. They are dominated by the Congo Basin rainforest and the vast Miombo woodlands, a warm, dry forest area in southern Africa. Deforestation has been caused by the need for agricultural land, unsustainable fuelwood harvesting, logging, and mining.
