Wet Tropics Africa
The great tropical rainforests of Africa are some of the most species-rich natural habitats in the world. Powered by sunlight, heat, and abundant rainfall, these ancient, complex ecosystems teem with life, providing homes to a unique assemblage of plants, animals, and fungi, most of which are found nowhere else on earth.
Kew's special area of expertise is the rainforests of western Cameroon, where most of our current research projects and co-operative ventures are based.
The Cameroon link goes right back to 1861, when Kew's first director, Sir William Hooker, sent a botanist to explore and collect in the Gulf of Guinea. Since then, the herbarium at Kew has built up an unrivalled reference collection of Cameroon plants – some 50,000 which are now databased – that has provided the source material for regional floras, botanical accounts, inventories, and practical guidebooks. This wealth of knowledge is now being shared with a new generation of Cameroon biologists keen to continue researching, monitoring, and conserving the extraordinary biodiversity of their rainforest heritage.
Kew's main partner in Cameroon is the National Herbarium at Yaoundé, with which we have jointly secured project funding that has enabled the training of new staff through workshops, new computer and e-mail access, and essential logistical support. We have also had a long association with the Botanic Garden at Limbé, involving not only Kew's botanists but horticulturists as well, helping redevelop their important nineteenth century gardens and associated herbarium.
We are delighted to acknowledge the help and support of Earthwatch for substantial funding of field trips and for enabling over 100 African botanists and conservationists from fourteen different countries to join us in training programmes in Cameroon since 1995. Additional funding for specific projects has come from the Darwin Initiative, BAT and the Global Environment Facility.
The following pages provide an introduction to the main project areas where Kew scientists and staff have recently been involved in biodiversity and conservation studies. Maps and images show some of the scenery, plants, and interesting new discoveries. Additional pages include a list of books and scientific publications produced as a result of this work, a file of locally distributed posters on threatened plant species, plus brief biographies of Kew's current research team.