WITH Zimbabwe losing about 330 000ha of natural forests and woodlands each year, communities are being encouraged to combine efforts to preserve forests and exploit them in a sustainable manner that does not prejudice future generations.
According to stakeholders, forests and woodlands, which cover 45 percent of the country, are being lost as a result of unsustainable agricultural activities, tobacco curing, infrastructural development, commercialisation of wood energy and veld fires among other drivers.
Past land use trends between 1992 and 2008 show that the greatest forest reductions occurred to primary woodlands, wooded and open grasslands.
Experts have said participatory forest management by the public is critical to safeguarding and managing the forests.
Speaking during a stakeholder workshop on participatory forestry management in Zimbabwe, Forestry Commission’s general manager Darlington Duwa said the model had been tried in Mafungabusi, in Matabeleland North and has helped preserve forests in the area.
The objectives of the PFM workshop were to share experiences on participatory forestry management based on case studies, identify challenges and opportunities of participatory forestry management, explore potential institutional models for successful participatory forestry management and establish building blocks for a model participatory forestry management pilot project.
“The PFM model was launched some years ago in Mafungabusi and it saw the participation of the community in fire guarding among other activities. This has also brought about resource sharing between the Forestry Commission and the local communities who have harvesting permits, have their livestock grazing in the forests and have controlled harvesting of broom grass,” said Duwa.
“The community also does bee keeping in the area, they have eco-tourism projects running in the forests and harvest mushrooms.
He, however, said the legislative framework was no longer in line with population increase hence the need to revisit the framework to increase community participation.
The general manager said there was need to learn from other countries to achieve the best results on the PFM model.
“Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, India and Guatemala are some examples to learn from as Zimbabwe embraces PFM to reverse the destruction of our forests,” he said.
Crucial, he said, was increasing the protected forest area, outgrower schemes to communities surrounding the forests and garnering the support from private companies.
Forestry expert Enos Shumba said the country risked losing all indigenous trees if action was not taken in the short-term to preserve them.
“For example, Malawi now relies on exotic plantations which are state forests or communally owned and have lost a lot of biodiversity and tourism with the loss of the indigenous forests. The PFM is critical for forests that fall within the public domain and whose goods and services are consumed by a wide range of stakeholders,” Shumba said.
“ The key pre-requisites for a functional PFM regime are the active participation of local communities and stakeholders, the provision of adequate economic incentives, the existence of enabling policy, legislative and institutional frameworks and their enforcement at various levels, effective institutions, functional cross sectoral coordination and respect for land use planning and the resultant land use plans.”
Also speaking during the workshop Dr Peter Robertnz, WWF Sweden, said Sweden’s system in managing its forests could help Zimbabwe.
“With the poor forests management systems having been experienced in the 1880s, Sweden put its first forest legislation in 1903 for replanting and managing forests. The latest legislation is that of 1993 and that of 2006 which have resulted in two billion cubic metres of forests,” Dr Robertnz said.
“The successful implementation of the PFM model now witnesses the harvesting of 80 to 90 million hectares of trees annually resulting in the forest industry contributing significantly to the national economy.
“To be able to achieve this also means having a secure land tenure system in place in which private owners own 50 percent of forest land and distribution of ownership has also helped the industry achieve this success.”
Sweden has 23 million hectares of productive forests which carry a lot of biodiversity.
This was, however, not the case during the years of coal and productive agriculture from the 1880s to 1890s, which was the time when the socialist industries heavily utilised the forests, but without proper management and afforestation systems in place.
Tanzania’s Mpingo Conservation and Development Initiative which embarked on the PFM model and has scaled up and expanded into 15 villages of the Tunduru districts and the Coatlan Cooperative of the Honduras which has 14 small timber producing community groups are also examples that Zimbabwe can learn from.
These communities have improved their livelihoods through sustainable exploitation and management of their forests.
Peter Gondo of SAFIRE disclosed that communities in Makoni were currently commercialising forest products and finding great value in the PFM model.
“A people driven management system with links between the state and other players must operate under a legitimate framework and sharing of profits. The community in Makoni is currently commercialising forest products and ensuring the forest is protected. With appropriate technology they have learnt to do masau jam extracting value from the forest products. They also have macimbi, marula oil, and Makoni tea. They are set to export 10 000 tonnes of baobab pulp to Europe. This collective management and decision making has made PFM successful. ”