Côte d'Ivoire concerned about the disappearance of its forests

The forest of Tanoé-Ehy Marshes in the south-east of Côte d'Ivoire.

© IUCN / Nicolas Salaün

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

African countries, which are among the first victims of the announced ecological disaster, intend to make their voices heard at the COP26.

In West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire is particularly concerned by the disappearance of its forests.

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With our correspondent in Abidjan,

Published last June, the report of the Forest and Wildlife Inventory of Côte d'Ivoire

that 90% of the forest surface has disappeared during the last 60 years.

Alarming figures give the land of elephants one of the fastest annual rates of deforestation on the continent. 

According to Caumouth Alban Kouassi, president of the Ivorian branch of the NGO Green Page, this situation is explained by the population growth, the vagaries of the agricultural market, as well as the intensive cutting of trees to meet the needs of the timber industry. .

Among its disastrous consequences for the environment, the drop in rainfall, the disruption of the seasons and the disappearance of many animal species, of which thirty are already classified on the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. 

For the organization Green Page, which campaigns for education in environmental protection from school onwards, trees must be planted en masse, in order to restore, even partially, the forest cover, which only represents 9%. of Ivorian territory.

Jean-Luc Assi, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, assured him: the country will present its new ambitions for the climate at the COP26 in Glasgow, while the Ivorian government has pledged to restore at least 20 % of national forest cover within ten years.  

The 26th Conference of the Parties

on Climate Change, which opens Sunday, October 31, is to indicate the course to be taken by States to reduce carbon emissions in order to limit the effects of global warming.

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• Ivory Coast

• COP26

• Climate change

• Wildlife