C Swamp forests Mangrove swamps 2.4% (Wetlands) Inland valley swamp 1.5% Fringing forests 0.4% Raphia swamp 0.5% Gallery forests D Savannah Moist, closed, Guinea 8.6% woodlands Savannah woodlands Mixed-tree, open, sudan savannah 10.1% woodland Lophira tree savannah 3.7% Coastal park savannah woodland Tall (3m) savannah 1.5% 3.5% E Tropical Riverain grassland + 2.5% Grassland Grassland (1-3m tall) (seasonal Boliland swamp + grassland (1m wetlands) tall) Montane grassland (1m short) 0.1% Lateritic pan grassland (very short) F Plantations, Rubber farmland and Oil palm wetlands Coffee and cacao 0.1% Fuelwood 2.3% Forest trees Vegetation and plant communities in Sierra Leone Forest Estate Sierra is essentially a forest as the climate conditions can support close high forest in about 80 percent of the country. Historical evidence, (cole, 1968) indicated that at the turn of the 20th century, 80 percent of the country was covered with tropical closed forests on the lowland and escarpment area and savannah woodland in the northern plateau region. Unwin (1922), Savill and Fox (1967) reported that it has been estimated that 70% of the country was at one time forested. Mann (1990) also indicated that the beginning of the country, an estimated 75 percent of the land surface was covered in forest, and the remaining area considered of 9 percent swamp, and 16 percent open savannah, forest regrowth and crop fields. Human impact on the vegetation, largely due to the rapid increase in population, demand for forest products (timber, fuel wood and building poles) and slash-and-burn agriculture, wild bush fires and urbanization has been so severe to the extent that, nowadays, the original forest cover has been decimated with just under 6 percent of the country under forest, another 4 percent is secondary forest and 52 percent is in various seral stages of regrowth (Gordon et al. 1979).
C Swamp forests (Wetlands) Mangrove swamps Inland valley swamp Fringing forests Raphia swamp Gallery forests 2.4% 1.5% 0.4% 0.5% D Savannah woodlands Moist, closed, Guinea Savannah woodlands Mixed-tree, open, sudan savannah woodland Lophira tree savannah Coastal park savannah woodland Tall (3m) savannah 8.6% 10.1% 3.7% 1.5% 3.5% E Tropical Grassland (seasonal wetlands) Riverain grassland + Grassland (1-3m tall) Boliland swamp + grassland (1m tall) Montane grassland (1m short) Lateritic pan grassland (very short) 2.5% 0.1% F Plantations, farmland and wetlands Rubber Oil palm Coffee and cacao Fuelwood Forest trees 0.1% 2.3% Vegetation and plant communities in Sierra Leone Forest Estate Sierra is essentially a forest as the climate conditions can support close high forest in about 80 percent of the country. Historical evidence, (cole, 1968) indicated that at the turn of the 20th century, 80 percent of the country was covered with tropical closed forests on the lowland and escarpment area and savannah woodland in the northern plateau region. Unwin (1922), Savill and Fox (1967) reported that it has been estimated that 70% of the country was at one time forested. Mann (1990) also indicated that the beginning of the country, an estimated 75 percent of the land surface was covered in forest, and the remaining area considered of 9 percent swamp, and 16 percent open savannah, forest regrowth and crop fields. Human impact on the vegetation, largely due to the rapid increase in population, demand for forest products (timber, fuel wood and building poles) and slash-and-burn agriculture, wild bush fires and urbanization has been so severe to the extent that, nowadays, the original forest cover has been decimated with just under 6 percent of the country under forest, another 4 percent is secondary forest and 52 percent is in various seral stages of regrowth (Gordon et al. 1979).
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