1. Introduction

About a century ago most of the Gambian land territory was reported to be covered by dense and almost impenetrable forest even after large forest areas have been already cleared for groundnut cultivation. At that time the forests were likewise rich in wildlife as they constituted the habitat for a variety of large mammals which are nowadays rare (such as hippopotamus, waterbuck, roan, serial, and Caracas) or locally extinct (such as buffalo, giraffe, elephant, lion, etc.).

With increasing population, the equilibrium between human and nature became disturbed and a vicious cycle of forest destruction was initiated. The main causes of this cycle are rampant fires that systematically burn most of the vegetation cover and other human activities, in particular the practice of shifting cultivation and commercial fuelwood exploitation.

The process of forest deterioration was probably accelerated by the decline of the men annual rainfall since early 70s. In The Gambia, like all other countries in the sub-Saharan Africa, rainfall is the second most important factor apart from human influence determining the chance of successful forest management. In years with exceptional less rainfall, as it was the case in 1990/91 and before in 1982/83, an increased drying down of both indigenous and introduced tree species of various ages is reported. Uncertainty exists among professional as to what tree species should be propagated for planting if the actual trend of climatic changes continues at the same speed.