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ZIMBABWE
Zimbabwe Forest Figures
Forest CoverTotal 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, 2000-2005Annual 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 ClassificationPublic: 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 BreakdownTotal 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
PlantationsPlantations, 2005: 154,000 ha % of total forest cover: 0.9% Annual change rate (00-05): n/a
Carbon storageAbove-ground biomass: 843 M t Below-ground biomass: 226 M t
Area annually affected byFire: n/a Insects: n/a Diseases: n/a
Number of tree species in IUCN red listNumber of native tree species: 1,747 Critically endangered: 0 Endangered: 2 Vulnerable: 12
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.
Language and conservation: why words matter
(10/28/2009) The words we choose matter. Benjamin Lee Whorf, an influential American linguist theorized that the language one speaks directly impacts our thoughts; he is quoted as saying, "language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about". If this is the case then those who believe in conservation must select their words wisely. My wife and I recently traveled to Africa where we visited wildlife parks in both Zimbabwe and Botswana. The animals we encountered and the scenes we were fortunate enough to witness proved so beautiful and wondrous that I have a difficult time describing them—at least in any way that accurately depicts the experience.
Uganda to open its doors to big game hunters
(10/15/2009) Uganda, which suffered a 90 percent decline in large mammals during the 70s and 80s, has now lifted a decades-long ban on big game hunting, reports the AFP.
Solar powered conservation
(08/25/2009) Electricity can be a difficult commodity to procure in the remote areas where conservationists often work. Typically field researchers and wildlife rangers rely on gas-powered generators, which require imported fuel, often produce noxious fumes and disruptive noise, and can be costly to maintain. A better option, especially in sun-drenched parts of the world, is solar. Clean and silent, with no need for supplemental fuel, solar seems like an ideal fit for conservation work except for one major drawback: cost. But Stephen Gold – Solar and Technology Manager for Wildlife Conservation Network has been working to overcome that obstacle.
Camping in the Okavango Delta in Botswana
(08/19/2009) The first animal we saw in the Okavango was unmistakable. Although far away, we could easily make it out with its telltale trunk: an African elephant—the world’s largest land animal—was striding peaceably through the delta’s calm waters. We watched, entranced, from the mokoro, a small boat powered and steered by a local wielding a long pole to push the craft along.
Rhino poaching rises sharply due to Asian demand for horns
(07/09/2009) Rhino poaching rates have hit a 15-year-high as a consequence of demand for horns for use in traditional medicine, according to new report published by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. Asia-based criminal gangs run the illegal trade.
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.
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.
