Y.M. Katerere
Summary
Southern Africa's forest resources are under great pressure, reflecting the social, political and economic situation of the region. At least 70 percent of the region's population derives multiple benefits from the forests and woodland resources.
Despite the importance of the communal forests and woodland resources, commercial and trade interests have exerted tremendous influence on the research agenda. The needs of local communities have generally been ignored. The research agenda has included very little social, economic and development considerations.
Technology development and extension within forestry have thus been driven by a narrow research agenda and the rural poor have not been able to derive meaningful benefits from the region's rich biodiversity.
The new research agenda must be driven by a new vision for regional forest and woodland management. The goal must be sustainable development with community empowerment and resource sharing.
Keywords: Woodland management, devolution, resource sharing, indigenous knowledge, policy.
Introduction
The Southern African Region is a grouping of eleven countries (See Figure 1) committed to an integrated regional strategy for the sustainable management of the region's natural resources. It covers an area of 5.7 million km2 equivalent to 17 percent of the African Continent (Katerere 1994). About 32 percent of this land is considered to be forest and woodland.
Figure 1. Countries of Southern Africa Development Community.
Urban transition is very evident and in countries like South Africa and Zambia, urban population is over 50 percent. On average, at least 70 percent of the region's population live in rural areas on land that is mainly under communal tenure. The rural communities depend on the forest and woodlands to provide a range of direct and indirect benefits.
The forest and woodland resources in the communal areas are under increasing pressure from clearing for agricultural land (estimated at between 0.5 and 7.0 percent) and from the high demand for other products such as grazing, construction material and food and fuelwood from an ever dwindling resource base.
Despite the pressure that rural forests and woodlands are experiencing, it is in the protected forests, national parks and exotic plantations that research efforts have been directed at. These forest lands are also those from which local communities are denied legal access and consequently derive no direct benefits from the rich biodiversity. Yet researchers and research institutions have failed to recognise the enormous potential of the rural forest and woodland resources upon which the majority of the region's rural poor derive their livelihood. Researchers need to identify the opportunities and constraints for forest and woodland management by local communities.
The agenda for research and development in the forestry sector has been influenced by commercial and trade interests resulting in emphasis on utilisation, inventory and silvicultural research, for example, has been directed at commercially important species.
This paper will firstly outline some of the challenges facing forestry research in the region with an emphasis on the forests and woodlands located in the rural areas. Suggestions of research needs to enhance the productivity of these forests and woodlands will be made. The empowerment of local communities and women will be highlighted as key to sustainable management of the forest and woodland resources located in the rural areas.
Research Challenges for Forest and Woodland Management
The dilemma facing the region is that, while the majority of its population is dependent on the woodland resources, the extent of the resource is diminishing, its utilization by local people not well understood and the issues of woodland productivity neglected.
The State, on its part, has generally tended to manage forests and woodlands through regulation and control based principally on the misconception that local people destroy the resource through use. Local level natural resource management initiatives have been undervalued and barely acknowledged.
In the past decade, interest in forest and woodland research has grown and both governments and donors have committed resources towards this area of research. Unfortunately, the research has tended to focus on ecological and silvicultural aspects while shying away from social, cultural and economic factors that impact on the region's forest and woodland resources. Forestry research has not been organised to yield an integrated and multidisciplinary vision of forests.
The role of forestry research is ultimately influenced by the prevailing national policies on the economy and development. Today, national development strategies require that forests be integrated in rural development in a manner that the economic, social and environmental needs are balanced including local, national and international interests. The problems of deforestation are no longer a sectoral concern since they are the direct consequence of competing uses of land resources and prevailing economic policies.
Governments are seeking effective arrangements to enable forests to contribute maximally to development and to ensure that such contributions respond to efficiency, equity and growth (FAO 1995). Accordingly, researchers must increasingly examine why and by whom forests and woodlands are managed and the crosscutting issues such as tenure, macro economic policy, legislation, institutional arrangements, capacity building, investment, indigenous local knowledge and gender that impact on sustainable forest and woodland management.
Within the region, the commercial forest sector has benefited more than the rural informal sector from investments in forestry research because the benefits of such investment in research were seen in the form of revenue to state, employment and exports.
A further problem relates to the practice of directing research funds towards protected forest areas and plantations with commercially exploitable timber at the expense of forests and woodlands on communal lands. This conventional type of research is not designed to consider the multiple benefits of forests and woodlands upon which the majority of the region's population are dependent and the modifications that these forests and woodlands have undergone.
The current economic development discourse is forcing many research institutions to structurally adjust and place greater emphasis on demand driven and user paid research. While this might have certain advantages, it is likely to distort regional research priorities and the needs of the rural communities who are unable to pay (Khan, 1995).
Furthermore, the lack of an environment culture in the main financial decision making government departments such as finance, planning and central banks means that the true costs and benefits of sustainable forest and woodland management are not known. Environmental costs of unsustainable forest and woodland management are not internalised and resource allocation to the forest sector generally tends to be low. Forest research is largely ignored and financial resources are meagre, in comparison with agriculture and other fields of research. This is partly due to the fact that forest research in the region has remained élitist and has not been able to establish a continency within the development arena.
There is a flurry of new research proposals in response to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). Many scientists and governments are responding to availability of donor funds rather than user driven research. Given a low level of participation by regional foresters and policy makers in the negotiations leading up to international conventions such as Biodiversity and Climate Change, the relevance of such research with respect to sustainable development in the region needs to be reviewed and assessed. If the competing demands between national, local community and international for forest resources are to be balanced and forest research needs of the disadvantaged and poor are to be addressed, then the research agenda should not be determined by the UNCED process alone.
To address the current imbalance in research expenditure between the formal and informal forestry sectors and in order to inform and influence the policy process in terms of the social, environmental and economic importance of the rural forestry sector, the regional forestry research agenda should focus on facilitating the following:
i) Devolution of Authority. Devolution of management of communal forest and woodland resources to local communities is seen as a viable option for the long term productivity of these resources. However, most States do not know how best to do this without contributing to further degradation of remaining woodland resources. Such devolution has to be supported by amendments to legislation, policy reform and training.
The process of devolution requires that local institutions have the requisite capacity to plan and manage. Given that such capacity may take time to sufficiently develop, what should the role of the State be?
ii) Resource Sharing Schemes. For many communities, the possibilities of enhancing woodland productivity are limited by tremendous pressure on the resource base, low rainfall, land shortages and poor soils.
In such situations options for resource sharing (forests and woodlands) between "resource rich" and "resource poor" neighbours need to be articulated such that both partners may benefit.
Again, the institutional and legal implications of resource sharing need to be articulated. To meet the future challenges for forest and woodland management will require a major shift in how the research agenda is determined and implemented and a conscious involvement of local communities. The results of such research must not only be relevant and appropriate to target beneficiaries, but they must also influence a major policy shift away from "classical" forestry management approaches. Policy failures, paternalistic approaches to extension, lack of incentives, sectoralism and market failures all influence forest and woodland management. Forestry researchers need to include these issues in their research programmes.
The Research Agenda
A new research agenda for the region will require that the countries adopt a new approach to forestry research. The new approach must be driven firstly by a vision of the type of economic development envisaged for the region. More importantly, the forestry research institutions must articulate a vision of the type of forests they would like the region to have in 30 to 40 years time. Such a vision must include a statement on the role of local communities and women and must reinforce cultural values and an ethos that will motivate people towards "ownership" of the process of managing forests and woodlands.
Forestry research must become more and more strategic and should view forestry in a holistic manner and not maintain sectoralism nor be discipline-based. It is most critical that forestry research respond to the reality of a predominantly rural based population, issues of tenure, access and distribution of resources, income generation, employment, technology development and the entire debate around poverty alleviation.
Forestry research in the region must have as its priority sustainable forest and woodland management. This sustainability is not just about sustainable yields of wood fibre but a long-term goal that encompasses social, economic and environmental benefits that can address development and poverty. Forestry must guarantee some benefits such as income and employment to its citizens so that they can be motivated to share the risks and benefits of forest and woodland management.
The research agenda must, therefore, address how and who should be empowered to manage the forests and woodlands and what opportunities exist for resource sharing. To this end researchers must push for a paradigm shift and re-define the research agenda.
Policy Reform
The issue of devolution of control implies a shift in policy by government agencies. It will mean that institutions need to be decentralised and that communities have power over decisions on land and resources. Security of tenure is also important if communities are to be truly empowered.
Policies on how local communities receive funding for projects should not be subjected to bureaucratic bottlenecks.
Policy makers need a better understanding of the process taking place. They need to be assured of the benefits and costs of devolution. This is where researchers can make a major contribution towards change.
Household Use and Management of Forests and Woodlands
Before one can suggest devolution to local communities and propose institutional arrangements or capacity building it will be absolutely essential to understand how households use and manage the existing resources.
There are issues of communal verses individual woodlands, the grazing areas and also local bylaws. Questions on decision making processes between men and women need to be addressed including the status of female headed households.
Valuation of Trade In Forest and Woodland Resources
One of the main reasons why researchers and policy makers have not paid adequate attention to forests and woodlands in communal areas is because these goods and services exist in a rural informal economy and traded mostly outside the formal market. There has therefore been a tendency to undervalue the products and to ignore their value to local communities. This has to change because the bulk of the rural population exist on a biomass-based economy.
This process could be taken further to include a greening of the national accounts so that the true contribution of forests and woodlands to economic development can be acknowledged.
Extend and Nature of Woodland Stocks and Opportunities for Increasing Productivity
The full extent of the region's forest and woodland stocks are not fully understood. If there are to be any research interventions in terms of technology development, productivity enhancement or gene conservation, then the extent and nature of the remaining forests and woodlands needs to be characterised and updated. Additionally, the mapping of forest and woodland resources must be linked to general landuse planning as this impacts on the tree resources. This is absolutely important as some forests and woodlands will be cleared or lost to agriculture, urban expansion, dam and road construction, mining and pollution.
Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS)
Conventional research has failed to address the role of IKS on local forest and woodland management decisions. Furthermore, the role of traditional leaders, and their relationship with the State needs to be studied if the concepts of devolution and resource sharing are to be successful. The issue of local bylaws and the possible conflicts with general law must also be studied if conflicts between the two are to be resolved. More specifically, the role of women in decision making around forest and woodland resources also needs study.
Conclusions
The Southern African Region is characterised by stark dualism. There is dualism between urban and rural areas, between the formal and informal sectors and between commercial and communal farming. It is not surprising, therefore, that this dualism should extend into forestry and forestry research.
If forestry research is going to get political recognition and increased funding then it needs to broaden its constituency beyond the needs of the commercial formal sector. In a region where the bulk of the population is rural based and where the forests and woodlands provide multiple benefits, researchers have a moral obligation to redefine research priorities towards the rural informal sector.
It is accepted that there are numerous weaknesses in the macro-economic policies, legislation and institutional arrangements in relation to the management of forest and woodland resources. However, forest researchers can make a significant contributions towards informing policy makers on the process if they embrace, economic, policy and social aspects into their research programmes.
What is clear is that most governments in the region do not have adequate resources to sustainably manage the region's forests and woodlands. For this reason it makes sense that local communities are empowered to make decisions over land and tree resources. Many governments are willing to proceed in this direction but lack the know-how. Researchers must facilitate this process of a paradigm shift in a responsible manner.
Empowerment of local communities does not imply that the State has no role. Given the long term nature of environmental management and intra and inter-generational equity, the State has to be involved. Furthermore, the issues of poverty which are intricately linked to environmental management cannot be resolved by market forces alone. Political intervention is necessary in the short and medium term to ensure that the structural constraints leading to poverty are addressed. However, government must be transparent in its actions and should ensure that people have rights to information and are able to influence decisions and policies. It is only with greater empowerment of local communities that the goal of environmental sustainable development can be achieved.
References
FAO, 1995: State of the World's Forests. 48 p.
Katerere, Y., 1994: Who is Managing the Woodlands in Southern Africa? The Network. Number 36, pp. 11.
Obaidullah Khan, A.Z.M., 1995: Rural Poor, Empowerment and Forestry Research. CIFOR Occasional Paper No. 5, pp. 14-16.
OE Nov 21, 1996