Guinean Forests of West Africa

The Guinean Forest of West Africa ( Guinean Forests of West Africa ) is a biogeographic region and biodiversity hotspot. The region includes a tropical deciduous forests along the coast of West Africa, from Sierra Leone and Guinea in the west to the Sanaga River in Cameroon in the east. The Dahomey Gap, a region of savannas and dry forests in Togo and Benin, divides the Guinean forest of West Africa in the Upper Guinean forest and the Lower Guinean forest.

The Upper Guinean forest extends from Sierra Leone and Guinea in the west by Liberia, the Ivory Coast and Ghana to Togo to the east. The Lower Guinean forest extends from the east of Benin through Nigeria to Cameroon. The extended Lower Guinean forest extends south across the Sanaga River, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of Congo, the Angolan exclave of Cabinda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The region is home to an estimated 9,000 species of vascular plants, of which about 20 percent ( 1,800 ) are endemic.

Ecoregions

The World Wide Fund for Nature divides the region into " Upper " and " Lower Guinean forests" and distinguishes the following Ecoregions ( English Biogegraphische original title retained):

Upper Guinean forests

  • Western Guinean lowland forests (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d' Ivoire)
  • Guinean montane forests (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Côte d' Ivoire)
  • Eastern Guinean forests ( Côte d' Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin)

Lower Guinean forests

  • Nigerian lowland forests (Togo, Nigeria )
  • Niger Delta swamp forests (Nigeria )
  • Cross - Niger transition forests (Nigeria )
  • Cross - Sanaga - Bioko coastal forests (Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea)
  • Cameroonian Highlands forests (Nigeria, Cameroon )
  • Mount Cameroon and Bioko montane forests ( Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea)
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