ODA has supported forestry in Africa for a long time. Twenty years and more ago the main emphasis was on the establishment and management of industrial plantations. Although priorities have now changed, the plantations that were created now represent very substantial wealth in the countries possessing them. In particular, Kenya, Malawi, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe all have large areas of plantations which supply wood processing plants and also contribute to meeting demand for fuelwood.
More recent ODA projects have focused on helping establish better forest management and conservation practices, policy and institutional development, and supporting the role of forestry in enhancing rural development.
The first step in improving forest management is often some form of inventory. In Ghana and Cross River State in Nigeria this concentrates on assessing the abundance and distribution of the species to be harvested by local people and industry. In the Mount Cameroon Project it focuses on exploring the diversity of ecosystems and species and understanding their conservation values.
A feature of ODA's support to forestry in much of Africa in recent years has been work directed at exploring and implementing ways of sharing responsibility for forest management. ODA and its partners around the world - including many from West Africa - carried out a major lesson-learning review of participatory forest management during the last year. The findings of the review will be published later this year.
One-tenth of ODA's total expenditure on forestry, which is projected to be £38 million in the current financial year, is spent on research. The Forestry Research Programme accounts for most of this. In addition, ODA supports the development of the capacity of research institutions, such as the Forest Research Institute of Malawi.
Much of the support administered by ODA is in the form of bilateral projects with developing countries. However, an increasing proportion currently costing about £2 million per year, comes under the Joint Funding Scheme, whereby ODA provides funds to a UK non-governmental organisation which then matches the funding and carries out the project. WWF projects in Cameroon, for example, are funded in this way.
The following are examples of some of the projects that ODA is currently funding in Africa.
Much better control of harvesting within reserves in recent years, together with structural changes in the international timber market, led to increased pressure on the remaining forests outside reserves. The Forestry Department, with ODA's support, responded by introducing new legislation (the 'Interim Measures'), carrying out an inventory and introducing better controls in the non-reserve forests.
Forest inventories were accompanied by intensive botanical surveys and classification of plants in terms of their commercial and genetic values. A computerised database combined with a geographic information system was developed to make this information more accessible and useful to forest managers. FROGGIE contains information on the distribution and conservation value of 2200 plant species. This work led to the preparation of a conservation strategy which provides one of the best examples of conservation practice in production forests.
Pioneering work on the use and trade of non-timber forest products in the 1980s improved the understanding of their importance in rural livelihoods. This led to the development of a programme to explore the potential for greater collaboration between stakeholders in forest management and a special unit was established within the Forestry Department to promote this work. Some of the results so far are: pilot forest management schemes; improved access rights enshrined in legislation; changes in concession allocation and management procedures; and, better relations between the Forestry Department and other stakeholders.
FRIM's research is directed at improving the productivity of trees and forests and increasing the availability of forest products. It encompasses both rural development forestry and industrial forestry.
ODA's support is directed at strengthening the capacity of the institute and its staff to plan and manage research. There has been a change from a discipline (e.g. silviculture, pathology) to a strategy based approach (e.g. trees on farms, indigenous woodlands). Strategy Areas are focused on specific users groups, representatives of which help establish priorities and monitor ongoing work. This change has brought about changes in management style and resource allocation. Inter-disciplinary teamwork and a matrix approach to management are now established and younger scientists get earlier exposure to management responsibilities.
For more information contact: Environment Policy Department, ODA, 94 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 5JL. Tel: 0171-917-7000. Fax: 0171-917-0679.
