Finding the dry dense forests in Africa: the central role of local knowledge in the process of classifying forest types in Southeast Angola
Authors: Escobar Alvarado Luisa 
Published: March 2024

It has been claimed that the highlands of the Moxico province in southeast Angola contain the largest contiguous and relatively intact miombo woodland in Africa (NGOWP, 2017). Previous spatial analysis show vast extensions of somewhat homogeneous miombo (a vegetation that spreads to seven countries in Africa, Ribeiro et al, 2020), interspersed with savannas along watercourse margins. After conducting several interviews, focus groups, transect walks and participatory mapping methods with locals, our study lead us to consider that the characteristics of some of the vegetation formations in the area, such as response to fire, tree species composition and ground cover do not match with the description of miombo reported in scientific literature. Specifically, locals reported a vegetation formation (&#8220;dense woodlands&#8221;) dominated by Cryptosepalum spp., that is of high economic and cultural importance to them. The results of this work show that those dense woodlands might rather be representative of dense dry forests, currently reported endemic to West Lunga in Zambia, an area also known as the Zambezian dry evergreen forest dominated by Cryptosepalum exfoliatum pseudotaxus (WLCP, 2023). Meanwhile, east Angola remains classified as tropical savanna or miombo woodlands (White, 1983; WWF, 2006). With these insights, articulated with data obtained from ecological surveys of those forests, maps of these unique African evergreen dry forests can be updated to incorporate a more accurate description of vegetation types, including socio-cultural values and perceptions, uses and management.
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This work highlights the value of giving voice to local communities in the process to understand a complex landscape (touched by war, colonization, migration, etc.) that has been classified and managed by them since ancient times; and it emphasises the importance of integrating different types of knowledge on the process of building scientific knowledge. The outcomes of this study can be used by habitat managers in the region and by the broader scientific community to study, manage and conserve African dry forests through approaches that are inclusive and fair. In addition, I hope this work contributes in the safeguarding of local ecological knowledge, helps reinforce cultural indigenous identities and connections to their living place, and gives visibility to experiential spatialities.
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References
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Ribeiro, N., Katerere, Y.,&#160;Chirwa, P., &amp; Grundy, I. (2020).&#160;Miombo woodlands in a changing environment.&#160;Springer International Publishing, Switzerland.&#160;
West Lunga Conservation Project. (2021). Unique ecosystems. Available at: https://www.westlunga.org/ecosystems#:~:text=Mavunda%20(Cryptosepalum)%20Forest,of%20dry%2Devergreen%20Cryptosepalum%20forests. Accessed on March 14th, 2023.
World Wildlife Fund (2012). Terrestrial ecoregions of the world. Available at: https://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/terrestrial-ecoregions-of-the-world. Accessed on March 21st, 2023.
White, F. (1983) The Vegetation of Africa. UNESCO, Paris, 356 p.
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