Geography of Gabon
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Template:Infobox country geography
Gabon is a country in Central Africa, lying along the Atlantic Ocean, just south of the Bight of Biafra.
Area and borders
[edit | edit source]- Area
-
- Total: 267,668 km²
- country rank in the world: 76th/77th
- Land: 257,670 km²
- Water: 10,000 km²
- Total: 267,668 km²
- Area comparative
-
- Australia comparative: approximately 1/6 larger than Victoria
- Canada comparative: approximately 2/3 the size of Newfoundland and Labrador
- United Kingdom comparative: approximately 1/10 larger than the United Kingdom
- United States comparative: slightly smaller than Colorado
- EU comparative: approximately 1/10 smaller than Italy
Gabon has a total of 3,261 km of international boundaries. It borders Equatorial Guinea (335 km) and Cameroon (349 km) to the north and the Republic of the Congo (2,567 km) to the east and south. Gabon lies on the equator.
- Maritime claims
-
- Territorial sea: 12 nmi (22 km)
- Contiguous zone: 24 nmi (44 km)
- Exclusive economic zone: 200 nmi (370 km)
Terrain
[edit | edit source]| Land Use | (2012) |
|---|---|
| • Arable land | 1.26% |
| • Permanent crops | 0.66% |
| • Other | 98.08% |
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Narrow coastal plain with patches of Central African mangroves; hilly interior; savanna in east and south. A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 420 km2 of tidal flats in Gabon, making it the 50th ranked country in terms of tidal flat area.[1]
- Irrigated land: 44.5 km2 (2003)
- Total renewable water resources: 164 km3 (2011)
Environment
[edit | edit source]International agreements:
Party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
Climate
[edit | edit source]The equatorial location of Gabon means that it has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am) and a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw), with the temperature being hot year-round and humid, although the Benguela Current can moderate temperatures.
Forests
[edit | edit source]REDD+ reference levels and monitoring
[edit | edit source]Under the UNFCCC REDD+ framework, Gabon has submitted a national forest reference level (FRL). On the UNFCCC REDD+ Web Platform, Gabon's 2021 submission is listed as having an assessed reference level, and the platform also lists reported REDD+ results, a safeguards information summary, and a national REDD+ strategy.[2]
The first assessed FRL, technically assessed in 2021, covered all five REDD+ activities at national scale - reducing emissions from deforestation, reducing emissions from forest degradation, conservation of forest carbon stocks, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. Using a historical reference period of 2000-2009, the assessed FRL was -96,468,186 t CO2 eq per year, revised from -97,055,549 t CO2 eq per year in the original submission.[3] The technical assessment states that the benchmark included above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, deadwood and litter, excluded soil organic carbon, and reported CO2 only.[3]
The same UNFCCC country page lists Gabon's reported REDD+ results for 2010-2018 against that assessed FRL, and records results-based payments from the Central African Forest Initiative for 2016 and 2017.[2]
Tree cover extent and loss
[edit | edit source]Global Forest Watch publishes annual estimates of tree cover loss and 2000 tree cover extent derived from time-series analysis of Landsat satellite imagery in the Global Forest Change dataset.[4][5][6][7] In this framework, tree cover refers to vegetation taller than 5 m (including natural forests and tree plantations), and tree cover loss is defined as the complete removal of tree cover canopy for a given year, regardless of cause.[8]
For Gabon, country statistics report cumulative tree cover loss of 554,641 ha (5,546.41 km2) from 2001 to 2024 (about 2.2% of its 2000 tree cover area).[4] For tree cover density greater than 30%, country statistics report a 2000 tree cover extent of 24,690,954 ha (246,909.54 km2).[4] The charts and table below display this data. In simple terms, the annual loss number is the area where tree cover disappeared in that year, and the extent number shows what remains of the 2000 tree cover baseline after subtracting cumulative loss. Forest regrowth is not included in the dataset.[4][8]
| Year | Tree cover extent (km2)[lower-alpha 1] | Annual tree cover loss (km2) |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 246,758.71 | 150.83 |
| 2002 | 246,620.19 | 138.52 |
| 2003 | 246,451.73 | 168.46 |
| 2004 | 246,351.90 | 99.83 |
| 2005 | 246,174.91 | 176.99 |
| 2006 | 245,981.91 | 193.00 |
| 2007 | 245,816.90 | 165.01 |
| 2008 | 245,643.23 | 173.67 |
| 2009 | 245,460.70 | 182.53 |
| 2010 | 245,353.94 | 106.76 |
| 2011 | 245,172.34 | 181.60 |
| 2012 | 244,997.58 | 174.76 |
| 2013 | 244,553.10 | 444.48 |
| 2014 | 244,065.58 | 487.52 |
| 2015 | 243,810.86 | 254.72 |
| 2016 | 243,489.35 | 321.51 |
| 2017 | 243,102.91 | 386.44 |
| 2018 | 242,835.04 | 267.87 |
| 2019 | 242,549.43 | 285.61 |
| 2020 | 242,329.21 | 220.22 |
| 2021 | 242,146.04 | 183.17 |
| 2022 | 241,851.49 | 294.55 |
| 2023 | 241,654.43 | 197.06 |
| 2024 | 241,363.13 | 291.30 |
Climate change
[edit | edit source]Gabon is highly vulnerable to climate change due to its dense coastal population, economic hubs along the shore, and dependence on rain-fed agriculture.[9] Rising sea levels threaten to erode the coastline and contaminate freshwater sources with saltwater. The country is already experiencing more frequent and severe extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, and storms, which damage infrastructure, displace communities, and disrupt food security and livelihoods.[10]
To adapt, Gabon prioritises protecting its coastal areas, as well as its fishing, agriculture, and forestry industries.[9] Gabon's vast forests act as a net carbon sink.[11][12] It is recognized as a global leader in climate action and is widely considered the most carbon-positive country in the world, due to its strong conservation efforts.[10] However, Gabon’s economy remains heavily dependent on oil and other natural resources, leaving it exposed to global market shifts and climate-related risks. In 2023, the country accounted for just over 0.04% of global greenhouse gas emissions (24.7 million tonnes). Gabon has pledged to stay carbon neutral beyond 2050 and, with adequate support, aims to maintain net carbon removals of 100 million tons CO2 equivalent per year beyond that date.[13] It also seeks to expand its renewable energy sector.[14]
Extreme points
[edit | edit source]- Northernmost point - unnamed location on the border with Cameroon on the Ntem River, Woleu-Ntem province
- Easternmost point - the unnamed location on the border with the Republic of Congo immediately south-west of the Congolese village of Mbeyi-Mbola, Haut-Ogooué province
- Southernmost point - the point at which the border with the Republic of Congo enters the Atlantic Ocean, Nyanga Province
- Westernmost point - the north-west point of Cape Lopez, Ogooué Maritime province
See also
[edit | edit source]Notes
[edit | edit source]- ↑ This residual measure does not include forest regrowth.
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ Murray, N.J.; Phinn, S.R.; DeWitt, M.; Ferrari, R.; Johnston, R.; Lyons, M.B.; Clinton, N.; Thau, D.; Fuller, R.A. (2019). "The global distribution and trajectory of tidal flats". Nature. 565 (7738): 222–225. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0805-8. PMID 30568300. S2CID 56481043.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Gabon (GAB) - Submissions provided by Country". REDD+ Web Platform. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Report on the technical assessment of the proposed forest reference level of Gabon submitted in 2021 (PDF) (Report). United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 31 October 2021. FCCC/TAR/2021/GAB.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Gabon Deforestation Rates & Statistics". Global Forest Watch.
- ↑ Hansen, Matthew C.; Potapov, Peter V.; Moore, Rebecca; et al. (2013). "High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change". Science. 342 (6160): 850–853. doi:10.1126/science.1244693.
- ↑ "Tree cover loss". Global Forest Watch Open Data Portal.
- ↑ "Tree cover (2000)". Global Forest Watch Open Data Portal.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "How much forest was lost in 2023?". Global Forest Review.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal. "Gabon". climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Othering & Belonging Institute. "Gabon Case Study". belonging.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
- ↑ UNDP Biofin. "Gabon". BIOFIN. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
- ↑ UNFCCC (5 August 2024). Record of the facilitative sharing of views at the sixtieth session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation: Gabon (PDF).
- ↑ Climate Watch. "Gabon". www.climatewatchdata.org. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
- ↑ "National Climate Plan (Plan Climat) - Climate Change Laws of the World". climate-laws.org. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook website https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/.
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