Target: Tanzania President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete Goal:
Conservation of biologically rich coastal forests in Tanzania
Tanzania’s coastal forests are considered biological hotspots
and they are under increasing threat of destruction. Hotspots
are defined as areas home to a large number of endemic species
that have lost more than 70% of their original habitat. The
coastal forests in Tanzania exist primarily as forest patches
and cover an area of only 700 square kilometers. Despite the
small size of the remaining forest it provides a habitat for an
astonishing number of endemic plant and animal species. There
are 554 endemic plant species, five endemic bird species, three
endemic mammal species, twenty four endemic reptile species and
five endemic amphibian species in these forests. Two species of
trees thought to be extinct until recently are found only in the
coastal forests of Tanzania. Many people living in rural
communities depend on the coastal forests in Tanzania. Coastal
forests provide people with medici