Mangroves in Africa: the big picture
About 3 million hectares in 32 countries, with Nigeria, Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau holding the most.
In Atlas, the Global Mangrove Watch v4.1 maps show about 2.98 million hectares of mangrove in 32 African countries in 2025.
Where it is (2025, hectares) Nigeria ≈ 811,000 · Mozambique ≈ 311,000 · Guinea-Bissau ≈ 295,000 · Madagascar ≈ 268,000 · Guinea ≈ 224,000 · Cameroon ≈ 208,000 · Gabon ≈ 194,000 · Senegal ≈ 162,000 · Sierra Leone ≈ 142,000 · Tanzania ≈ 113,000. These ten hold the vast majority of the continent's mangrove. Kenya has about 53,000 ha.
How it changed since 1996. For these countries the net change is a loss of about 1.2% (roughly 36,000 ha). The picture is uneven: Nigeria lost the most in hectares (about −32,000 ha), Mozambique and Madagascar also lost, while Senegal (about +40,000 ha) and Guinea-Bissau (about +17,000 ha) gained.
Reading it carefully. These are net totals of mapped area. A country can lose old forest in one place and gain new growth in another. Check the Mangrove Change page for each country and the methods articles for caveats.
Related reading
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- How mangroves store carbon in their soil
- What mangroves do for people (ecosystem services)
- LAPSSET: why a corridor project matters to mangroves
- Blue carbon projects and carbon markets
- East African coastal forests
- Why mangroves matter
- Global Mangrove Watch: version 3 and version 4 explained
- West and Central African mangroves
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