Central African forests threatened by global change
An international study, in which researchers from the TERRA research unit (Forest is Life, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech) at the University of Liège took part, reveals the composition of the Central Africa forests and their vulnerability to global change. The result is an unprecedented cartography that makes it possible to identify the most vulnerable massifs and to suggest ways to develop conservation and management strategies aimed at ensuring a sustainable future for the second largest tropical forest on our planet. This study was published in the journal Nature.
C
entral Africa is home to the world's second largest continuous expanse of tropical forest, but as the human population grows and the Earth warms, Africa's forests are increasingly under threat. Their protection and sustainable management require a better understanding of their composition and functioning.
A study led by Maxime Réjou-Méchain (IRD), with the participation of Adeline Fayolle, Jean-François Bastin and Jean-Louis Doucet, researchers at ULiège, has enabled the identification of ten main forest types within this vast tropical forest. This was made possible by the use of an exceptional data set collected by forest companies and made available to the scientists (more than 6 million trees from 185 000 plots spread over five countries). The researchers were able to produce the first continuous maps of the floristic and functional composition of these forests, enabling them to identify the most vulnerable areas.
Modelling their evolution - taking into account IPCC climate scenarios and changing human pressures - shows that the northern and southern forest margins, the Atlantic forests and most of the forests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the most vulnerable to the changes expected by 2085. The authors suggest that these data can be used to define strategies to preserve the full evolutionary and functional potential of forests. Protected areas, for example, cover nearly 15% of the forest estate in Central Africa, but they are not evenly distributed across the ten forest types identified. The same is true of the plot network for monitoring forest dynamics. It is therefore necessary to extend them in order to improve their representativeness. These results provide essential quantitative benchmarks for scientists and policy makers, who will then be able to develop transnational conservation and management strategies to ensure a sustainable future for Central African forests.
The data used to carry out these models were acquired through public-private partnerships involving research centres, consultancy firms and forestry companies in the North and South. Many of them are partners in the Dynafac network, in which the University of Liège is actively involved.
Scientific reference
Maxime Réjou-Méchain, Frédéric Mortier, Jean-François Bastin, Guillaume Cornu, Nicolas Barbier, Nicolas Bayol, Fabrice Bénédet, Xavier Bry, Gilles Dauby, Vincent Deblauwe, Jean-Louis Doucet, Charles Doumenge, Adeline Fayolle, Claude Garcia, Jean-Paul Kibambe Lubamba, Jean-Joël Loumeto, Alfred Ngomanda, Pierre Ploton, Bonaventure Sonké, Catherine Trottier, Ruppert Vimal, Olga Yongo, Raphaël Pélissier & Sylvie Gourlet-Fleury, Unveiling African rainforest composition and vulnerability to global change, Nature, 21 April 2021
