to provide information and coordination for institutions and organizations working in the forested systems of the Eastern Arc Mountains.
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Home of the African Violet, Saintpaulia spp.
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Many visitors will recognize African violets as the beautiful flowering plants that decorate the inside of people’s houses, particularly flower lovers from Europe and North America. Very few people know that these extraordinary houseplants originate in several mountains and coastal forests in eastern Tanzania and south-eastern Kenya.
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The Eastern Arc Mountains are a chain of mountains in Kenya and Tanzania that are influenced by the Indian Ocean. The mountain chain is a series of isolated mountains, which have been heavily covered by forests. Much of the original forests, especially at the more accessible or lower elevations, have been converted for agricultural crops. These mountains are recognized as one of 24 globally important "hot spots" for forest biodiversity according to Conservation International. These mountains also serve as water catchments for urban areas such as Dar es Salaam, Tanga, and Morogoro, Tanzania. The forests provide firewood, medicinal plants, lumber, and other forest-related products. Local villagers depend on these forests to live. In place of closed mountain forests is now a patchwork of forest fragments and agriculture. |
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