The+Nigerian+Rainforests

This is the model of the Nigerian rain forest we made. The top of the rain forest is called a canopy.

The Nigerian rain forest is home to crocodiles,buffaloes,elephants,patas monkeys (the largest monkeys in the world),mandrills,and populations of lowland gorillas. Other animals include snakes,spiders,scorpions,tree frogs,fish,flies and other animals. Some of the animals there can be very deadly. Others will look deadly but are very harmless.

Some Nigerian rain forests can get over 200 inches of rain a year.Most rain forests are tropical and found in warm humid places near the equator.In the rain forest the air is very humid which means there is a lot of moisture in the air and the the temperature is always warm .Deforestation is a serious problem in Nigeria, which currently has one of the highest rates of forest loss (3.3 percent) in the world. Since 1990, the country has lost some 6.1 million hectares or 35.7 percent of its forest cover. Worse, Nigeria's most bio-diverse ecosystems—its old-growth forests—are disappearing at an even faster rate. Between 1990 and 2005, the country lost a staggering 79 percent of these forests and since 2000 Nigeria has been losing an average of 11 percent of its primary forests per year—double the rate of the 1990s. These figures give Nigeria the dubious distinction of having the highest deforestation rate of natural forest on the planet.

 Nigeria's new and more accountable government is concerned about rising deforestation and environmental degradation—which costs the country over $6 billion a year. Nevertheless, it has failed to curb illegal logging and other forms of degradation, and only 6 percent of the country is nominally protected on paper. Timber concessions have been granted in national parks, and oil-palm plantations are replacing natural forest. Past governments have tried to stem forest loss through a ban on log exports, promoting of aggro forestry and community-based conservation schemes, increasing energy and fuel efficiency, and encouraging plantations and reforestation programs to achieve a target of 25 percent forest cover. But the impact appears to be limited given Nigeria's astounding deforestation rate.

 As its forests fall, Nigeria has seen wildlife populations plummet from poaching and habitat loss, increasing desertification and soil erosion. There has also been a drop in the productivity of coastal and inland fisheries, and mounting social unrest in parts of the country. It appears that Nigeria's swift economic development has exacted a high toll on its people and environment.

 Despite its environmental degradation, Nigeria has striking biodiversity. Home to gorillas, chimpanzees, baboons, and elephants, the country has 899 species of birds, 274 mammals, 154 reptiles, 53 amphibians, and

4,715 species of higher plants. **Recent articles** |

(10/06/2010) A new global assessment of forest stocks by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows continuing loss of primary forests since 2005 despite gains in the extent of protected areas. FAO's Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 reveals some 13 million hectares of forest were cleared between 2000 and 2010, down from around 16 million hectares per year during the 1990s. Loss of primary forest—mostly a consequence of logging—averaged 4.2 million hectares per year, down from 4.7 million hectares per year in the 1990s .