Garba Sani Idris, Ebmeier Susanna K, Bastin Jean-François, Mollicone Danilo, Holden Joseph
water@leeds, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
Nat Commun. 2025 May 31;16(1):5065. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-59373-2.
Wetlands provide essential ecosystem services in Africa, yet their extent and fragmentation remain poorly understood. Here we classify African wetlands at 10 m resolution, using seasonal composite imagery and a random forest algorithm. We estimate a total wetland area of 947,750 km² (10% of global wetlands), comprising 46% marshes, 25% swamps, 22% peatlands, 5% seasonal wetlands, and 2% mangroves. Wetland fragmentation is strongly associated with high population densities in countries such as Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea, Egypt, Algeria, and Kenya. African wetlands store an estimated 54 ± 11 Gt of carbon, surpassing Europe's 12-31 Gt. If drained, they could release 260 MtC yr¹, nearly ten times the carbon sequestration of pristine wetlands (27 MtC yr¹). These findings provide a crucial foundation for sustainable wetland management and policy development.
湿地在非洲提供着至关重要的生态系统服务，但其范围和碎片化程度仍鲜为人知。在此，我们利用季节性合成影像和随机森林算法，以10米的分辨率对非洲湿地进行分类。我们估计非洲湿地总面积为947,750平方千米（占全球湿地面积的10%），其中包括46%的沼泽、25%的湿地、22%的泥炭地、5%的季节性湿地和2%的红树林。湿地碎片化与尼日利亚、利比里亚、几内亚、埃及、阿尔及利亚和肯尼亚等国的高人口密度密切相关。非洲湿地估计储存了54±11亿吨碳，超过了欧洲的12 - 31亿吨。如果湿地被排水，它们每年可能释放260百万吨碳，几乎是原始湿地碳固存量（每年27百万吨碳）的十倍。这些发现为可持续湿地管理和政策制定提供了关键基础。
