Baobab – Climate Alarm for the ‘Mother of the Forest’

by Ruth Weiss

Baobab in Saadona National Park (WikiC Rashedhrasheed2019)

The baobab tree—an icon of African nature and one of the most remarkable trees on earth, closely linked to local cultures and traditions—is in danger, as we heard from the NAD Africa News in May.

Baobab trees have many names: “mother of the forest,” “upside-down tree,” “tree of life,” or even “dead rat tree” because of their strange shapes—and because of their role in the food cycle, their longevity—because they can live up to 1,000 years and more and grow enormously. They store large amounts of water in their trunks to survive the dry seasons. The fruits are a foodstuff, and the trunk can be used to make fibres for ropes and clothing. They are important bird nesting sites, producing large white flowers that attract bats as pollinators at dusk, which fly long distances to feed on their nectar.

Six of the eight baobab tree species with their enormously thick trunks have been native to Madagascar for over 21 million years, from where the seeds were transported to Africa and as far away as Australia by wind and ocean currents. In Madagascar, the trees grew in extensive forests. But now, up to 4,000 hectares of forest are destroyed annually by deforestation.

An ARO-Baobab project was launched in 2020 by a scientific research group and as a joint project there, and more than 50,000 baobab and other seedlings have been planted as part of it. A women’s cooperative was initiated to maintain the tree nursery. This generates income for the women involved there, which is intended to give the project sustainability.

Previously, the BBC, among others, had reported on the extent of the death of the baobab trees. Researchers are shocked by the decline of this tree species and call for greater protection for these huge trees. It had been found that eight of the 13 oldest and five of the six largest baobab trees in Africa had either completely died or their oldest branches had collapsed. Dr. Adrian Patrut of Babeș-Bolyai University in Romania said climate change was also a reason for the situation. “It’s very sad to see these trees die.” The dying or already dead trees were found in Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, and Zambia. All are between 1,000 and more than 2,500 years old.

Researchers from universities in South Africa, Romania, and the USA consider the loss of baobab trees to be “an event of unprecedented proportions.”