Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa

The coastal forests of East Africa (Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa ) are a biogeographic region and one of the biodiversity hotspots on the African continent. The forests taking place in a narrow band along the Indian Ocean coast of southern Somalia in the north along the coast of Kenya and Tanzania to the mouth of the Limpopo River in southern Mozambique.

The WWF divides the region into two WWF ecoregions on:

• Northern Zanzibar - Inhambane coastal forest mosaic that. Of southern Somalia, runs along the Kenyan coast to southern Tanzania and the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba includes
• Southern Zanzibar - Inhambane coastal forest mosaic, which extends from southern Tanzania along the Mozambican coast to the mouth of the Limpopo.

Plant

44 percent of the plant species in the coastal forests of East Africa are found worldwide only in this region and 40 percent is found only in a certain area in the woods ( forest -patch ). There is a very small-scale endemism in the coastal forests of East Africa before: areas that are only 100 km apart, have a difference of plant stand of 80 percent.

Animals

The region is home to an abundance of vertebrates, such as three endemic species of primates that are highly endangered, and two endemic species of galagos. At the Tana River, which runs through Central Kenya live the two highly endangered primate species, the Tana Red Colobus and the Tana Mangabe. The Pembanektarvogel (English Pemba Sunbird ) ( Cinnyris pembae ) is named after the island of Pemba Tanzania before and was not discovered until 1905. The IUCN leads the Pembanektarvogel as "Least Concern". The bird is endemic to this ecoregion.

Endangering

One of the main problems in the region is the clearing of the forests for firewood around the country to win for agricultural cultivation. The expansion of agriculture is the biggest threat to the coastal forests of East Africa. Also due to the agricultural use of relatively poor soil quality and the general trend of an ongoing population growth are highly endangered ecosystems in the region.