Forest Management

Forest cover in the region is estimated at 357 million hectares or about 33% of land area (Table 1.1). Forest cover accounts for an average of about 30% of the land area, although it varies from about 0.5% for Lesotho to nearly 67% for Seychelles and about 60% for the Democratic Republic of Congo.

• Natural forests
• Plantation forests
• Deforestation in SADC
• Industrial Wood Production and processing

Natural forests

Natural forests are comprised mainly of five main vegetation types, which are:

• Miombo woodlands, which extend northwards from the Limpopo River. The predominant genera are Brachystegia, Julbernardia and Isoberlinia;
• Zambezi teak forests, which are found in western Zimbabwe, northern Botswana, north–eastern Namibia, eastern Angola and Zambia. These woodlands are dominated by Baikiaea plurijuga in association with Pterocarpus angolensis and Guibortia coleosperma;
• Mopane woodlands, which are found in drier lower areas with sordic soils. The predominant species is Coleospermum mopane;
• Acacia woodlands, which cover most of the arid and semi arid areas. The predominant genera are Acacia, Combretum and Terminalia;
• Montane and tropical moist forests, which are found in pockets in high altitude, high rainfall areas of Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Zambia, most of Angola and the DRC. The common species include Tectona grandis, Chlorophora excelsa, Pteleopsis diptera, Khaya nyasica, and Tabernaemontana spp; and
• Mangrove forests, which are found along the coastline of Tanzania, Mozambique and Angola. The common species include Anacardium occidentale, Hyphaena spp, Xylocarpus, Sonneratia, Rhizophora spp and Nypa fruticans.

Plantation forests

Plantations account for about 2.5 million ha or approximately 1% of forest cover in the region. Over 75% of the plantations are commercially managed and these are mostly in South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe where the bulk of them are privately owned. They are mainly located in the high elevation and high rainfall areas. The main species planted are Eucalyptus grandis, E. cloeziana, E. camaldulensis, Pinus patula, P. taeda, P. elliottii and P. kesiya.
Source: Department of Primary Industries, Victoria (2003)

Further expansion of industrial plantations is limited by unavailability of suitable land. In this regard, community outgrower schemes, which have been introduced in South Africa and Zimbabwe, have the potential to make significant contributions thereby transforming rural livelihoods. Softwood plantations in other SADC countries have not received much management attention either due to civil conflict, abundance of natural wood resources or limited investment in industrial wood processing emanating from public ownership of land.

Deforestation in SADC

SADC has one of the fastest growing populations in the world and as such faces the challenge of increasing food requirements. This challenge has inevitably resulted in large forested areas being cleared. Annual forest losses range from about 2.7% for Zambia, 2.4% for Malawi, 0.7% for Zimbabwe to about 0.1% for South Africa (FAO, 2002).

Source: National Geographic (2003)

The major causes of deforestation in the region are mainly attributed to agricultural expansion and wood energy requirements generally triggered by population increase and the ongoing land reform in some countries. Forests are under continuous clearance mainly for food production, energy and construction requirements. The relatively limited access and high cost of electricity and fossil fuels in rural areas where over 70% of the people reside and in urban areas respectively, worsen the situation.

Source: Lynn Hurry (2003)

Major threats to forests in SADC include:

• Expansion of land for agriculture;
• Fuelwood and charcoal demands for domestic use, tobacco curing and brick kilning;
• Land clearing for infrastructure development;
• Uncontrolled wild fires;
• Selective logging through timber concessions and unlicensed curio carving; and
• Habitat destruction by elephants.

Most SADC rural communities are entrenched in a poverty trap where they destroy the environment upon which their very existence is founded. Soil erosion is the most important factor in the decline of agricultural productivity, the impacts of which severely affect rural communities that depend on small scale agriculture and natural resources for their livelihoods. It is clear that SADC’s goal of poverty reduction cannot be achieved through spatial agricultural production alone, but also through careful land-use planning and maximizing land productivity. This entails that policies aimed at sustainable development in the region need to recognize forestry as a viable land use option, which has serious long -term impacts on food security and poverty reduction.

Industrial Wood Production and processing

Africa’s forest resources are among the richest and most diverse in the world. Woodfuel is the primary source of energy, accounting for over 70% of total roundwood production in the region except in South Africa where electricity is extensively utilized. Industrial wood products from commercial plantations are produced mainly from South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Zambia, Angola, Mozambique and the DRC are leading industrial producers of indigenous roundwood and sawnwood.

Forest industries comprised of mainly primary processing and consisting of sawmills, boardmills, pulp and paper mills are concentrated in a few countries namely South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Swaziland and the DRC. Table 2.1 gives an overview of production and consumption levels for the region. Consumption exceeds production on sawnwood, wood-based panels plywood and veneer, fibreboard and high value printing paper while production exceeds consumption in roundwood, particle board, woodpulp, low value paper and paper board. It can be noted that as the degree of value addition increases, the quantities produced dwindles sharply, which is the general weakness of most developing countries.

Table 2.1: Industrial wood production and consumption in SADC

Source: FAO, 2002b

Although non-wood forest products (NWFP) play a critical role in improving the livelihoods of most SADC communities, their statistics are hardly captured. Large quantities of medicinal plants, indigenous fruits, edible plants, edible insects, honey, bees wax, exudates and mushroom are collected from the forest and consumed locally while a significant proportion is exported outside the region.