About this site
Providing tropical forest news, statistics, photos, and information, rainforests.mongabay.com is the world's most popular rainforest site. [more] |
Weekly Newsletter
Mongabay will never distribute your email address or send spam.
Share
|
|
|
|
ZIMBABWE
|
Zimbabwe Forest Figures
Forest Cover
Total forest area: 17,540,000 ha
% of land area: 45.3%
Primary forest cover: n/a
% of land area: n/a
% total forest area: n/a
Deforestation Rates, 2000-2005
Annual change in forest cover: -313,000 ha
Annual deforestation rate: -1.7%
Change in defor. rate since '90s: 16.4%
Total forest loss since 1990: -4,694,000 ha
Total forest loss since 1990:-21.1%
Primary or "Old-growth" forests
Annual loss of primary forests: n/a
Annual deforestation rate: n/a
Change in deforestation rate since '90s: n/a
Primary forest loss since 1990: n/a
Primary forest loss since 1990:n/a
Forest Classification
Public: n/a
Private: n/a
Other: n/a
Use
Production: 10.1%
Protection: 2.8%
Conservation: n/a
Social services: n/a
Multiple purpose: 87.1%
None or unknown: n/a
Forest Area Breakdown
Total area: 17,540,000 ha
Primary: n/a
Modified natural: 17,385,000 ha
Semi-natural: n/a
Production plantation: 154,000 ha
Production plantation: n/a
Plantations
Plantations, 2005: 154,000 ha
% of total forest cover: 0.9%
Annual change rate (00-05): n/a
Carbon storage
Above-ground biomass: 843 M t
Below-ground biomass: 226 M t
Area annually affected by
Fire: n/a
Insects: n/a
Diseases: n/a
Number of tree species in IUCN red list
Number of native tree species: 1,747
Critically endangered: 0
Endangered: 2
Vulnerable: 12
Wood removal 2005
Industrial roundwood: 1,185,000 m3 o.b.
Wood fuel: 10,381,000 m3 o.b.
Value of forest products, 2005
Industrial roundwood: $59,047,000
Wood fuel: n/a
Non-wood forest products (NWFPs): n/a
Total Value: $59,047,000
More forest statistics for Zimbabwe
|
Zimbabwe—a country with serious social and political problems—has environmental concerns to match. Misguided resettlement programs by the government have resulted in environmental degradation and soil erosion, while reducing agricultural yields. Over-grazing and agriculture, combined with the erosion, are causing desertification in some areas.
Between 1990 and 2005, Zimbabwe lost 21 percent of its forest cover. The country has no primary forests left, and deforestation rates have increased by 16 percent since the end of the 1990s.
Despite this degradation, Zimbabwe has some 1,747 species of trees among its 4,500 species of higher plants. The country is also home to a number of safari animals like elephants, lions, and hippos. In total 270 species of mammals are found in Zimbabwe along with 180 reptiles and 661 birds.
From a tourism standpoint, Zimbabwe is best-known internationally for Victoria Falls and the Zambezi river. On paper, 14.7 percent of the country is under some form of protection.
Zimbabwe has one of the highest rates of AIDS infection on the planet, and population growth rates have fallen significantly
in the past decade to 1.1 percent (without AIDS the population growth rate would be 2.5 percent). Today, because of AIDS, life
expectancy in Zimbabwe has fallen from 64.9 to 39.2, almost a 40 percent decrease.
Zimbabwe is a major exporter of crocodile skins.
South Africa auctions last of 'legal' elephant ivory to China, Japan
(11/07/2008) South Africa sold 47 metric tons of elephant ivory to Chinese and Japanese buyers for $6.7 million in what was the final of four auctions sanctioned by CITES, an international agreement on the wildlife trade.
Elephant ivory auction produces low prices, controversy
(10/30/2008) The first internally-sanctioned auction of elephant ivory since 1999 produced lower-than-expected prices, but plenty of controversy, reports Reuters.
Ebay bans the sale of elephant ivory
(10/21/2008) Ebay banned the sale of ivory products to help protect elephants from poaching, the company announced Monday.
Cheetah population stabilizes in Namibia with support from farmers
(10/02/2008) Viewing the world's fastest land animal as a threat to their livestock, in the 1980s farmers killed half of Namibia's cheetah population. The trend continued into the early 1990s, when the population was diminished again by nearly half, leaving less than 2,500 cheetah in the southern African country. Today cheetah populations have stabilized due, in large part, to the efforts of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, an organization founded by Dr. Laurie Marker.
Painted Dog population falls 99%, but community efforts could save species
(09/28/2008) The painted dog, or African wild dog, was once found widely across Africa but relentless persecution by humans, coupled with habitat loss and spread of disease from domestic dogs, has driven the population down from 500,000 to less than 5,000 over the past century. The species is now listed as endangered by the IUCN. While the outlook is not good in many countries, there are emerging signs of hope, particularly in Zimbabwe where the efforts of a community-based conservation project has nearly doubled the population of the dog to 700 individuals.
NASA study shows global warming will diminish rainfall in East Africa, worsening hunger
(08/06/2008) A new NASA-backed study has found a link between a warming Indian Ocean and reduced rainfall in eastern and southern Africa. The results suggest that rising sea temperatures could exacerbate food problems in some of the continent's most famine-prone regions.
Suggested reading - Books
Unless otherwise specified, this article was written by Rhett A. Butler [Bibliographic citation for this page]
Other resources
Contact me if you have suggestions on other rainforest-related environmental sites and resources for this country.
Image copyright Google Earth, MDA EarthSet, DigitalGlobe 2005
CIA-World Factbook Profile
FAO-Forestry Profile
World Resources PFD
Last updated: 4 Feb 2006 |
|
|
