The economic cost of Africa’s disappearing forests

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is losing forests faster than almost any other region in the world, and the economic fallout is becoming harder to ignore.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that the continent loses nearly 4 million hectares of forest every year, almost twice the global average. Agriculture, charcoal production, and logging are the biggest culprits.

Forests are more than an environmental buffer; they underpin livelihoods