Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Visions of forest loss
Guinée's present national forestry plan suggests that Kissidougou's landscape is degrading fast:
The opinion, quasi-general, is that … the areas … north of Macenta, Gueckedou, Kissidougou will soon be no more than a vast poor savanna, the [forest] islands and gallery forests still present at risk of being rapidly destroyed.
(République de Guinée 1988: 31)A French forestry advisory team describes the forest which policy-makers consider to have been lost:
The region of Kissidougou was covered by a deciduous forest of Khaya sp., Chlorophora sp., Antiaris africana, Afzelia africana, Ceiba pentandra, Triplochiton scleroxyllon …
(Estève et al. 1989: 181)Many modern studies which have informed environmental and rural development projects in the region think that this extensive forest cover has been lost within the past 50 years; within the lifetime of the region's present inhabitants. Thus we read that:
Around 1945, the forest, according to the elders, reached a limit 30 km north of Kissidougou town. Today, its northern limit is found at the level of Gueckedou- Macenta, thus having retreated about 100 km … This deforestation is essentially the result of human action.
(Ponsart-Dureau 1986: 9–10)Or:
In the green belts which surround the villages, one finds the relics of original primary forests. The value of these biotypes in the heart of a nearly 100% degraded environment is inestimable. One finds no individual of [characteristic savanna tree species] more than 35 years old … supporting the thesis that the site has burned systematically only since then.
(Green 1991: 10–11)To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge-org.demo.remotlog.com is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.