- Guinea-Bissau has West Africa’s largest intertidal ecosystem (12,000+ km²) - Bijagós Archipelago: 88 islands, 4-5m tidal range, daily tides shape unique coast - Mangroves cover 30% of islands – West Africa’s most continuous red forest belt - Low tide exposes 1,800 km² mudflats, feeding hundreds of thousands of migratory birds - Green turtles nest on uninhabited beaches – one of Africa’s key breeding sites - Nearly 1 million waterbirds stop here Nov-Apr; 400+ bird species recorded - NASA satellites track sea level rise flooding nesting beaches, mangrove loss to rice paddies - Intertidal zone retreats tens of meters inland annually – visible sediment lines and vegetation loss - Tidal forests store over 200 million tons of carbon – denser than same-area Amazon rainforest Guinea-Bissau tidal biodiversity, Bijagós Islands, West Africa mangroves, intertidal zone, migratory birds, green turtle nesting, NASA satellite, sea level rise, carbon storage, mangrove deforestation, climate change, wildlife conservation, Guinea-Bissau geography, tidal forest, mudflats, green turtle nesting, mudflats, West Africa coast, mangrove conservation
Comments