Lower Guinean forests
coastal forest region in the Guinea region
The Lower Guinean forests also known as the Lower Guinean-Congolian forests, are a region of coastal tropical moist broadleaf forest in West Africa, extending along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Guinea from eastern Benin through Nigeria and Cameroon.
The Dahomey Gap, a region of savanna and dry forest in Togo and Benin, divides the Lower Guinean forests from the Upper Guinean forests to the west, which extend along the western coast of the Gulf of Guinea from Togo to Liberia and north to Guinea. To the north and northeast, the Lower Guinean forests transition to the drier inland Guinean forest–savanna mosaic and Northern Congolian forest–savanna mosaic and to the southeast are bounded by the Congolian Coastal forests, whose boundary is the Sanaga River in Cameroon. The Lower Guinean forests share many biotic affinities with the Upper Guinean forests but are located in Sierra Leone. They are collectively known as the Guinean Forests of West Africa.
The Lower Guinean forests represent an ecological region in West and Central Africa. Stretching along the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, these forests encompass parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea. The Lower Guinean forests are globally recognized as a biodiversity hotspot, characterized by their ecological significance and species diversity.
Ecoregions
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) divides the Lower Guinean forests into a number of distinct ecoregions:
Nigerian lowland forests (Benin, Nigeria)
Niger Delta swamp forests (Nigeria)
Cross–Niger transition forests (Nigeria)
Cross–Sanaga–Bioko coastal forests (Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea)
Cameroonian Highlands forests (Nigeria, Cameroon)
Mount Cameroon and Bioko montane forests (Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea)
São Tomé, Príncipe, and Annobón moist lowland forests (Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe)
The WWF has designated two regions of the Lower Guinean forests as Global 200 priority regions for conservation. The WWF's "Coastal Congolian forests" region includes the Cross-Sanaga Bioko coastal forests, São Tomé and Príncipe moist lowland forests, and Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests ecoregions.
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