AN INTRODUCTION TO THE FOREST PROFILES

In this ‘Coastal Forests’ website there are descriptions of individual coastal forests organised by Country, Region/Province and District. For example:

Country: Kenya
Province: Coast
District: Kilifi
Reserve name: Arabuko-Sokoke

Country: Tanzania
Region: Coast
District: Kisarawe
Reserve name: Pugu

Each District has an introductory section, which provides information on the number of coastal forests found within the District, differentiating between those profiled on this website and those lacking sufficient information to develop a profile. In addition information is provided on the presence of any conservation designations, such as Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and ongoing or recently completed conservation initiatives.

Following the District introductory section, individual forest profiles are provided with brief but comprehensive details, including forest description; location; closest settlements; area; threatened (IUCN Red list) species; major threats to the forest; conservation designations and initiatives within the forest; references used, and; maps and photos where possible. The forests are placed in alphabetical order within the District. The references cited for each forest description are those used to compile the information directly. Other reports relevant to the forests in each district, but not directly used due to an overlap of information with other reference materials, are found in the overall publications list.

Summary of forests by Country and District:

The map below shows the overall distribution of lowland coastal forest patches along the eastern African coastline.