bi·o·di·ver·si·ty/ˌbīōdiˈvərsitē/
Noun: The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.

For over twenty years, ARC has been committed to preserving and protecting the Eastern Arc and coastal forests of Tanzania. One goal is to conserve these forests because they are home to local people whose culture and heritage is deeply rooted in them. Another goal is to prevent deforestation as a a way to combat global climate change since “Africa’s tropical forests constitute the second largest reservoir of tropical forest carbon in the world.” And still, another critical conservation goal is to keep the forests standing because they provide habitat for many unique species found here and no where else in the world.

The kipunji (Rungwecebus kipunji) was discovered in the Eastern Arc mountains in 2003 and is the first new monkey species to be discovered in Africa in twenty years. Habitat threats include logging, charcoal making, illegal hunting and unmanaged resource extraction.

The Eastern Arc is part of the Eastern Afromontane, a chain of mountains that are scattered along the Eastern edge of Africa. The Eastern Afromontane and the coastal forests of East Africa have ben named to Conservation International’s list of the world’s “ten most threatened forest hotspots.”  Each of the locales on the list have had at least 90 percent of their original habitat destroyed and contain at least 1,500 plant species found nowhere else in the world. Birdlife International has also pinpointed the Eastern Arc mountains as an Important Bird Area (IBA) due to the incredible variety of bird species. A major threat to the biodiversity of the Eastern Arc is habitat fragmentation caused by habitat loss, as many threatened and endemic species are concentrated in specific locations. As these forests continue to be destroyed, the homes of these unique species are being destroyed too.

Did you know?

• The Eastern Arc has nearly 7,600 species of plants, of which more than 2,350 are endemic, including the African violet (twenty endemic species) and the African primrose (thirteen endemic species).
• About 1,300 bird species occur in the Eastern Afromontane and 110 of these are found nowhere else.
• The Eastern Afromontane is home to nearly 500 mammal species, more than 100 of which are endemic to the region.
• Three species of primates are endemic to the Eastern Arc Mountains and Southern Rift: the Sanje Mangabey, the Udzungwa Red Colobus and the Mountain Dwarf Galago.
• Nearly 350 reptile species are found in the Eastern Afromontane, of which more than 90 are endemic.The hotspot is also home to about 230 amphibian species, nearly 70 of which are endemic.

This past February, at ARC’s 20th annual Artists for Africa benefit, we honored Deloitte UK with their very own frog species, Nectophrynoides deloittei (discovered in 2005), in recognition of their conservation efforts in the Eastern Arc. 

The grey-faced sengi (Rhynchocyon udzungwensis), or elephant shrew, was discovered in 2006 and is the largest elephant shrew in the world.

African Violet (one of twenty endemic species found in the Eastern Arc)

Sources
Conservation International
Mongabay