Credit: Fortune of African

African forests and woodlands occupy an estimated 1.606 billion acres (21.8 percent) of the land area of this continent and account for 16.8 percent of the global forest cover. 

Africa’s forests and woodlands can be classified into nine general categories including tropical rain forests, tropical moist forests, tropical dry forests, tropical shrubs, tropical mountain forest, subtropical humid forests, subtropical dry forests, subtropical mountain forests and plantations. Mangrove forests cover 3390,107 ha. Only 32.5 million ha of forests and woodlands, or five percent of the total forest area, are formally protected.

Africa has a high per capita forest cover at 0.8 ha per person compared to 0.6 ha globally.

On average, forests account for 6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in Africa, which is the highest in the world.

In Uganda, for example, forests and woodlands are now recognized as an important component of the nation’s stock of economic assets and they contribute in excess of US$546.6 million to the economy through forestry, tourism, agriculture and energy.

Flora and Fauna

The forests and woodlands of Africa are home to half the world’s species of animals, birds and insects. Almost half the forest which remains across the world is in the tropics, where the Congo basin makes up a fifth of the globe’s rainforest.

Animals include African forest elephant, Monkeys, Chimpanzees, Antelope, Bush Pig, Buffalo Chameleon Chimpanzee Crocodiles, white rhinoceros, endangered Painted Hunting Dog and Cheetah among others.

Challenges

Many of the forests are severely fragmented due to the encroachment of an expanding human population, leading to demand for firewood and extensive conversion of land to agricultural use.

Largest African Forests

January 2025 was Earth’s hottest January on record

January had not been expected to set a new record because of cool waters in the Eastern Pacific from a weak La Niña event.

The first month of 2025 was Earth’s warmest January in analyses of global weather data going back to 1850, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, or NCEI, reported Feb. 12. NASA also rated January 2025 as the warmest January on record, 1.59 degrees Celsius (2.86 °F) above the 1880-1899 period, which is its best estimate for when preindustrial temperatures occurred. This beat the previous record from January 2024 by 0.12 degrees Celsius (0.22 °F). The European Copernicus Climate Change Service and Berkeley Earth also rated January 2025 as the warmest January on record.

Global land areas had their warmest January on record in 2025, and global oceans had their second-warmest January, according to NOAA. Oceana had its second-warmest January; Europe and Asia had their third-warmest January; South America, its fourth-warmest; Africa its fifth-warmest; and North America, its 10th-warmest. Update below, first five months shown below.