Conserving West Africa’s Forests

For Nature, People and Climate

Biodiversity hotspots are regions that are rich in nature and are home to species which are found nowhere else. Covering 2.4% of the Earth’s land surface, they support nearly 43% of endemic bird, mammal, amphibian and reptile species and provide vital ecosystem services to people.

The Guinean Forests of West Africa Biodiversity Hotspot is of global importance for its wildlife.

The rich landscape of the Guinean Forests of West Africa supports thousands of plant and animal species, including over 900 species of birds and almost 400 terrestrial mammal species (over a quarter of all the mammal species found in Africa!)

Special birds include the Endangered rufous fishing owl (click arrow on right to see more species)

 

as well as the Vulnerable white-breasted guineafowl.

The region is also home to over 30 species of primates, including the Critically Endangered western chimpanzee,

the Endangered western red colobus,

and the Vulnerable white-bellied pangolin.

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These forests are not only vital for biodiversity, but also for climate change mitigation. Vegetation and soils store and sequester significant amounts of carbon, drawing carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. 

Crucially, these forests are also of central importance to local communities. They provide vital ecosystem services (such as fresh water, foods and medicines) and are a source of local identity, culture and livelihoods.

But these forests, along with biodiversity hotspots across the globe, are under enormous pressure.

The planet is facing dual biodiversity and climate crises. Urgent action is needed to halt and reverse the loss of nature, transition to a safe climate and ensure that this transition is just and inclusive for all people.

Added to these pressures, societies across the world have suffered from the devastating impacts of zoonotic diseases such as Ebola and Covid-19.

There is strong evidence to suggest that unsustainable environmental exploitation – especially deforestation and habitat degradation – increases the risk of zoonotic diseases making the jump from animals to humans.

The connection between ecosystem health and human health (both physical and mental) has never been clearer.

If we look after nature, nature will look after us.

‘Nature-based solutions’ offer ways to tackle these multiple challenges. Healthy ecosystems provide a myriad of benefits. 

Specifically, nature-based solutions to climate change can deliver carbon storage and sequestration through the protection and restoration of natural habitats. This helps to mitigate climate change, reduces pressure on and supports nature, and provides a range of benefits to people.

Recognising the importance of West Africa’s forests for nature, the climate, and people, we investigated how nature and carbon intersect in this landscape, across 13 countries encompassing the entire Guinean Forests of West Africa Biodiversity Hotspot.

We especially examined the carbon benefits of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in the region, which are sites of recognised conservation importance.

We show that the best places for nature are also crucial in the fight against climate change and can provide a range of livelihood opportunities for local communities.

Our research shows that devastating tree loss and forest degradation has occurred over the past decade.

In our study area, between 2010 and 2018, there was a 9% decline in the area of land covered by trees, as 58,353 km2 of trees were lost. This is equivalent to an area almost three times the size of Wales.

Tree loss (proportion of tree cover in a 1 km square in 2010 lost by 2018)

This resulted in a loss of up to 575 million tonnes of stored carbon. If converted to carbon dioxide equivalent, that amounts to well over four years’ worth of UK greenhouse gas emissions at 2018 levels. 

carbon loss 2010-2018 (tonnes per hectare)

Agricultural expansion is a major driver of deforestation, fuelled in a large part by global demand for commodities such as cocoa, rubber, palm oil and timber. 

For example, between 2016 and 2018, the amount of land required to meet the UK’s demand for cocoa in Cote d’Ivoire was just over 500,000 ha a year – an area over three times the size of Greater London.

See our  Riskier Business  report for more details.

Even though the UK is thousands of miles away, our food and material production can threaten forests across West Africa. In turn this impacts us: the demise of these forests contributes to global climate change. 

 

But it’s not too late to turn things around. We know what the solutions are, and if we join forces with local communities, civil society, businesses, governments and funders – we can make change happen.

Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) – sites of recognised conservation importance – already deliver significant climate mitigation. 

There is a positive relationship between species-rich forests and ecosystem services such as carbon storage and sequestration, and resilience to environmental change.

We found that KBAs contained almost a third of all the vegetation carbon in the Guinean Forests of West Africa Biodiversity Hotspot in 2010, despite KBAs making up only 11.3% of the area. This means that they punch well above their weight in terms of carbon storage.

carbon (tonnes per hectare)

And the proportion of carbon stored in KBAs in comparison to the rest of the region has increased over time, as rates of trees loss were lower in KBAs than in the wider landscape. This means that these special places are becoming even more important – both for biodiversity and climate.

 

However, the conservation of these KBAs is not guaranteed. Tree cover within KBAs still declined by about 3% between 2010 and 2018. We need to conserve and restore these important places to retain the biodiversity and carbon benefits they provide. 

Action is needed beyond KBAs too. If all tree cover lost between 2010 and 2018 was restored, the resulting carbon sequestration would amount to well over one tenth of the region’s projected emissions (25Mt carbon per year) over 30 years, making a huge contribution to climate stabilization efforts. 

Restoring native tree cover across the landscape can increase carbon storage while providing benefits for biodiversity. This can be achieved through natural regeneration of forests and by integrating native trees into agricultural and pasture lands. In order to maximise carbon storage and other benefits, we need the right trees, in the right places, through engagement with local communities.

Importantly, in order to ensure lasting benefits for nature, people and the climate, these landscape-scale actions should be carried out in a fully participatory and equitable way, working to enhance local livelihoods and build prosperity. 

Case study: The Greater Gola Landscape, Sierra Leone and Liberia

The Greater Gola Landscape is situated at the heart of this globally important biodiversity hotspot.

It is a transboundary region including several areas across Sierra Leone and Liberia: the Gola Rainforest National Park, the Gola Forest National Park, the Foya Proposed Protected Area, the Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary, the Kambui Hills Forest Reserve and surrounding areas of buffer zone and community-managed forest. Together these create the largest remaining single block of the Upper Guinean Forest.

 

The RSPB is working in collaboration with local partners across both countries – the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia (SCNL), the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone (CSSL), and Gola Rainforest Conservation LG (GRC LG)* – on a series of projects in the landscape that are delivering nature-based solutions to climate change, supporting people and protecting nature. 

*GRC LG is a partnership involving The Conservation Society of Sierra Leone (CSSL), the Government of Sierra Leone, and RSPB.

Carbon benefits:

The vegetation and soils in the Greater Gola Landscape are rich in carbon. In 2014, the Gola Rainforest National Park in Sierra Leone was established as the first Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) project in West Africa. By 2021 this will have conserved nearly 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by keeping it locked in the forest and soils.

Biodiversity benefits:

Conserving the Greater Gola Landscape is also vital to protect its globally important wildlife. Many of Gola’s species are found nowhere else in the world, and over 60 species are classified as globally threatened.

The landscape supports 327 bird species, including the Endangered Gola malimbe, the Endangered Timneh parrot, and the Vulnerable yellow-headed picathartes

Over 100 mammals are found in the forest, with almost 50 large mammals, including the Vulnerable African elephant and the Endangered pygmy hippopotamus.

The region also holds an abundance of butterflies (almost 600 species), other insects, amphibians, reptiles, and almost 900 species of plants.

Conservationists from SCNL, CSSL and GRC LG are working hard to ensure that the biodiversity of the Gola landscape is assessed frequently, through a range of bio-monitoring projects. Community volunteers have also been trained to support this important work.

Community benefits:

Local communities are the heartbeat of the Greater Gola Landscape. Work by RSPB and its partners aims to support these communities as active environmental stewards of the natural resource base that underpins and enhances their livelihoods.

Community forest management - we work to establish community-managed forests to ensure that local people play a lead role in the management of the Greater Gola Landscape. Community-managed forest agreements prioritise livelihood support alongside the protection of areas important for conservation.           

Eco-guards and Park Rangers – local community members are employed as eco-guards to patrol the community forests and provide information for the Park Rangers to protect the national parks and combat illegal activity such as poaching, logging and mining.       

Local project support – a Benefit Sharing Agreement under REDD (Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and Forest Degradation) gives each of the seven Gola chiefdoms in Sierra Leone the funds to develop local projects of their choice including infrastructure like hospitals, water pumps and schools.

Education support – A Benefit Sharing Agreement is also used to fund secondary school scholarships, and through an environmental education programme, over 1,600 pupils have participated in climate change education and 140 have experienced nature field trips.

Agricultural livelihoods support – SCNL, CSSL and GRC LG promote sustainable agriculture techniques to enable farmers to grow more food per hectare and simultaneously protect the remaining rainforest. We run farmer training programmes through farmer field schools and demonstration plots. 

Community benefit spotlight –Forest-Friendly cocoa:

GRC LG is supporting special livelihood projects for communities growing Forest-Friendly cocoa*, which is cocoa grown in the shade of forest canopy in the surrounding forest-edge communities of the Gola Rainforest National Park in Sierra Leone.

  • This conserves biodiversity by providing forest-like habitat which can support significant wildlife and provide corridors between areas of high-quality rainforest.
  • It also protects carbon stores by reducing the removal of carbon stores in trees and soils.
  • It can provide a sustainable livelihood to farmers, attracting a higher price on international markets, with chocolate makers keen to capitalize on growing demand for responsibly-produced cocoa products.

This project shows that a more sustainable cocoa model is possible, which does not require the large-scale forest destruction that the Riskier Business report highlighted.

    *The RSPB and partners are developing the Forest-Friendly standard to further define ways of growing cocoa sustainably and which measurably benefits farmers, wildlife, and consumers.

Challenges

This work is far from straightforward. Both Sierra Leone and Liberia have experienced devastating civil wars and face huge developmental challenges. Forest and forest edge communities living in the Greater Gola Landscape are in remote locations with limited access to towns and other infrastructure. They depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. The forest is also threatened by activities such as commercial mining, and licensed and illegal logging. Tensions and trade-offs must continually be addressed.

However, by taking a holistic approach to land-use management at a landscape scale, real progress is being made towards enhancing community livelihoods, conserving globally important biodiversity habitats, and mitigating climate change. 

Conclusions

As the urgency of tackling the climate and biodiversity crises grows, investing in key landscapes offers us a chance to make a difference.

Landscape-scale, long-term and effective Nature-based Solutions to the climate crisis mean investment in better land-use decisions that empower people to be active environmental stewards of the natural resources that underpin and enhance their livelihoods.

Ahead of the upcoming meetings of the UN Climate Convention (UNFCCC COP 26, that the UK will host) and the UN Biodiversity Convention (CBD COP 15), we call on the UK Government to:

  • Scale-up investment in protecting and restoring key ecosystems and nature-friendly landscape interventions, and strengthen alignment between climate and biodiversity finance.
  • Ensure that the UK’s overseas environmental footprint is nature-positive by ending all environmentally harmful practices driven by UK trade, consumption, and the UK’s international aid expenditure.
  • Adequately resource and accelerate the implementation of the commitments made under the  Leaders Pledge for Nature .

 

Interactive mapping showing Key Biodiversity Areas and Tree and Carbon loss layers 2010-2018

Credits

Huge thanks goes to the people and organisations below for providing resources for this story map

Images

RSPB Images (Caroline Thomas, Clare Kendall, Guy Shorrock) David Monticelli, Bruce Liggitt and Benji Barca

Nature-based Solutions Diagram

Nature-based Solutions Initiative, University of Oxford

Tree loss (proportion of tree cover in a 1 km square in 2010 lost by 2018)

carbon loss 2010-2018 (tonnes per hectare)

carbon (tonnes per hectare)

*GRC LG is a partnership involving The Conservation Society of Sierra Leone (CSSL), the Government of Sierra Leone, and RSPB.