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Fight to save last forests unites farmers
Cape Argus
|August 19, 2025
STRIPS of bare land scar the lush and green mountainsides towering above Mutsamudu, the capital of the Indian Ocean island of Anjouan.
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On the most mountainous and densely populated island in the Comoros, only the most remote forests have escaped decades of deforestation - ravages which several NGOs are now trying to repair.
“We lost 80% of our natural forests between 1995 and 2014,” Abubakar Ben Mahmoud, environment minister of the country off northern Mozambique, said in a recent interview.
The clearing of the forest for cultivation has compounded damage caused by the production of ylang-ylang essential oil, used in luxury perfumes, and the manufacture of traditional carved wooden doors for which the island is renowned.
With a high population density of more than 700 residents per square kilometre, “Deforestation has been intensified as farmers are looking for arable land for their activities,” the minister said.
This story is from the August 19, 2025 edition of Cape Argus.
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