Dar has highest number of hungry people in EA

Ironically, Rwanda is the only country in the region to have increased its forest cover during this period.

Tanzania accounts for 90 per cent of the deforestation in East Africa and its share of the region’s forested land dropped from 58 per cent to 47 per cent in the 15 years to 2005.

On the other hand, the report shows, the population of the region’s rich fauna and flora, has also been declining in recent years thanks to population and development pressure.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the region was home to 1,348 species of animals and 29 per cent of the world’s species of mammals (excluding marine mammals), 3,839 bird species (38 per cent of the world’s total) and 23,702 plant species (nine per cent of the world total).

But the report says that the number of threatened species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, molluscs, invertebrates and plants in East Africa currently stands at 1,159.