Country

Cape Verde: one ecoregion. Each with its climate now and toward 2050, and its conservation tier.

A single endemic ecoregion covers Cape Verde: the Cape Verde Islands dry forests, a tropical dry broadleaf forest system of about 1,800 square miles ranked Nature Imperiled. The name states the climate plainly; these Atlantic islands off West Africa are tropical but dry, with vegetation adapted to long rainless stretches, wind, and volcanic terrain rather than to rainforest abundance. Gardening here means working within that dry-forest logic: deciduous and drought-tolerant woody plants, species that leaf out with seasonal moisture, and careful water use everywhere. Because the archipelago's only ecoregion is imperiled, plantings that favor its native dry-forest species over thirsty imports contribute directly to what recovery the islands' natural cover can make.