Mangrove forests are well developed due to the deep penetration of the six major estuaries and the ocean tides. Tall mangroves mostly composed of Rhizophora spp. with Laguncularia racemosa and Conocarpus erectus sometimes reach 10 m in height and grow alongside rivers to a width of 20 to 100 m. However, most of the mangroves are of the "low" type, made up mainly of Rhizophora sp. and Avicennia sp. Islands of mangroves also occur scattered in flat areas of saline soil lying between the mangrove forest and the neighbouring low savannah.
FAO, UNEP. 1981. Tropical forest resources assessment project. Forest resources of tropical Africa. Part II: Country briefs. Rome. 586 pp.
Year |
Area |
Source |
Trend |
Methodology/Comments |
1940 |
476 000 |
Sá, J. 1994 La planification côtière de Guinée-Bissau In: Cormier-Salem, M.-C., ed. 1994. Actes de l'atelier de travail Dynamique et usages de la mangrove dans les pays des rivières du sud (du Sénégal a la Sierra Leone), Dakar, 8 -15 mai 1994. Paris, France. 353 pp. |
The figure reported in this document refers to the "original" extent of mangroves. | |
1975 |
250 000 |
Hughes, R.H. and Hughes, J.S. 1992. A Directory of African Wetlands. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK/UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya/WCMC, Cambridge, UK. 820 pp |
Analysis of maps and/or remote sensing imageries. No specific scale is given. | |
1976 |
243 000 |
FAO, UNEP. 1981. Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project, Forest Resources of Tropical Africa. Part II: Country Briefs FAO, UNEP 586pp. |
X |
Expert estimate based on SCET International. 1976. République de Guinée-Bissau - Potentialités agricoles, forestières et pastorales. Vol I: Diagnostic sur l'agriculture et les ressources forestières - Esquisse de schéma directeur de développement agricole et forestier. |
1980 |
347 000 |
Cormier-Salem, M.C. 1994. Dynamique de espaces littoraux des Rivières du Sud: grands traits de comparaison. In: Cormier-Salem, M.-C., ed. 1994. Actes de l'atelier de travail Dynamique et usages de la mangrove dans les pays des rivières du sud (du Sénégal a la Sierra Leone), Dakar, 8 -15 mai 1994. Paris, France. 353 pp |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. | |
1980 |
229 000 |
FAO, UNEP. 1981. Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project, Forest Resources of Tropical Africa. Part II: Country Briefs FAO, UNEP 586pp. |
X |
Interpretation of aerial photographs (1:100 000). The document provides the extent of mangroves and palms (235 000 ha), among which 6 000 ha are palms, thus the extent of mangroves is 229 000 ha. |
1986 |
206 250 |
Hughes, R.H. and Hughes, J.S. 1992. A Directory of African Wetlands. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK/UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya/WCMC, Cambridge, UK. 820 pp |
Analysis of maps and/or remote sensing imageries. No specific scale is given. This figure has been elaborated on the basis of the 1975 extent (see above) taking into account a loss of mangroves of approximately 15 percent-20 percent. | |
1987 |
236 000 |
Altenburg, W. 1987. Waterfowl in West African Coastland Wetlands: a summary of current knowledge of the occurence of waterfowl in wetlands from Guinea-Bissau to Cameroon and a bibliography of information sources. Zeist, The Netherlands: Stichting WIWO (Werkgroep International Wad-en Watervogelonderzoek). |
X |
Cited in: Fisher, P and Spalding, M.D. 1993. Protected areas with mangrove habitat. Draft Report World Conservation Centre, Cambridge, UK. 60pp. |
1987 |
250 000 |
Commission of the European Communities. 1987. Mangroves of Africa and Madagascar. Conservation and reclamation: The Mangroves of Madagascar. CML, Centre for Environmental Studies, University of Leyden, 24 pp. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. The "Year" is the publication year | |
1990 |
364 900 |
Spalding, M.D., Blasco, F. and Field, C.D., eds. 1997. World Mangrove Atlas. The International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Okinawa, Japan. 178 pp. |
Map analysis. 1:1 000 000. | |
1990 |
248 400 |
CIRAD-Forêt. 1992. Evaluation des surfaces forestières en Guinée-Bissau. In: Diombera K. 1999. Programme d'évaluation des ressources forestières mondiales au Guinée Bissau. GCP/INT/679/EC. Programme de partenariat CE-FAO (1998-2002). |
X |
Remote sensing |
1996 |
236 600 |
WRI, UNEP, UNDP, The World Bank. 1996. World Resources 1996-1997. New York and Oxford University Press 365 pp. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. The "Year" is the publication year. | |
1996 |
317 000 |
Iremonger, S., Ravilious, C., and Quinton, T., eds. 1997. A global overview of forest conservation CD-ROM. World Conservation Monitoring Centre and Centre for International Forestry Research, Cambridge, U.K. |
Cited in: Forest World. nd. The sustainable Forest Products Resource. http://forestworld.com/public/country The methodology is not specified. | |
2000 |
315 000 |
World Resources Institute. 2000. World resources 2000-2001: people and ecosystem—the fraying web of life. Washington, DC., UNDP. 400 pp. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. The "Year" is the publication year | |
2000 |
240 000 |
Aizpuru, M., Achard, F., and Blasco, F. 2000. Global Assessment of Cover Change of the Mangrove Forests using satellite imagery at medium to high resolution. In EEC Research project n 15017-1999-05 FIED ISP FR – Joint Research center, Ispra. |
Secondary reference, no primary source provided. The "Year" is the publication year. |
The estimates for 1980, 1990 and 2000 are based on expert estimate. No significant changes appear to have occurred in the mangrove area extent over the last twenty years.
