Tracking Forest Loss Across Africa

Africa is home to some of the planet’s richest forests, stretching from the Congo Basin’s vast tropical canopies to the unique, biodiverse landscapes of Madagascar. These forests help the climate, provide homes for animals, and support millions of people. But Africa is losing trees fast, creating serious environmental and social problems.

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DRC has the Largest Forest Cover in Africa

The largest forested countries are found mainly in Central and Southern Africa, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) at the top. The DRC alone has nearly 200 million hectares of dense forest. Surrounding nations such as Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, and Angola also have large tracts of dense forest. 

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Madagascar, though smaller in total area, holds unique and highly biodiverse forests that are home to some endemic species.

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https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/25628429/ 

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The biggest forests are losing the most trees. Since 2001, the DRC has lost more than 21 million hectares. Most of the forest loss comes from local, small-scale activities. The main driver is shifting cultivation, a traditional farming method where land is cleared, farmed for a few years, and then left to regrow. This practice accounts for over 80% of tree cover loss in the country. Madagascar comes in second having lost a total of 5,153,136 hectares of dense tree cover.

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https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/25571057/ 

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2017: Algeria’s Year of Great Forest Loss

Globally, 2017 stands as the single most destructive year on record, with 5.04 million hectares. In Africa the loss was hard felt in Algeria whose tree loss reached 45,969 hectares due to fires during this period. This was nearly five times the country's average annual loss. 

https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/25628386/ 

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Central Africa loses more trees each year, but Western Africa faces the more immediate threat to its forests

Western Africa has suffered the heaviest proportional losses, losing over a quarter of its dense forest (25.57%), while Central Africa remains more stable, with 7.93% lost, largely buffered by the sheer size of the DRC’s forests.

Central Africa appears to perform best with the lowest relative loss at 7.93% but in absolute terms, it loses far more forest each year than Western Africa. Central Africa’s massive forest—332 million hectares—means that even large losses each year show up as a small percentage.

For Western Africa, its forests are smaller, about 50 million hectares, so losing 12.77 million hectares wipes out a quarter of its total forest. Even though the absolute loss is smaller than in Central Africa, the relative loss of 25.57% makes the situation dire.

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About the Data

The data is sourced from Global Forest Watch dataset (Hansen et al., 2013; updated annually by UMD’s GLAD lab via Global Forest Watch). It measures tree cover loss as complete canopy removal of vegetation taller than 5 m at 30 m resolution from 2001 to 2024.

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Find the clean full dataset here

Cover Photo by raquel raq on Unsplash