The African Rainforest Conservancy (ARC), works to conserve and restore

African rainforest The Afrotropical realm is one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopi ...

s, particularly focusing on the Eastern Arc mountains of

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

located about southeast of

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

. These lush mountains are among the oldest and most biodiverse in the world. The forests themselves are in jeopardy from local logging, used mostly in the surrounding villages for fuel. In addition,

poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...

activities endanger several rare species. ARC works to protect these mountains by training the community to be caretakers of the forest, developing the many sustainable business opportunities that exist in the region. Concurrently large scale train planting projects work both to reforest denuded native trees and create timber plantations in non-rainforest areas that can be managed sustainably for generations to come.

Biodiversity

Despite the fact that 70% of the original rainforest cover has gone, the Eastern Arc mountains hold thousands of species that have not yet been named as well as the highest density of endangered animals anywhere in the world. These findings were presented by a group of scientists in the Journal of Biological Conservation.

References

Animal welfare organisations based in Tanzania {{africa-org-stub