Forestry Outlook Studies in Africa(FOSA)

ZIMBABWE

E.M. Shumba

Please note that the views expressed in this paper reflect those of the authors and should not beattributed to any of the institutions.

This paper has been minimally edited for clarity and style.

December 2001

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SUMMARY

A Brief on the Forestry Outlook Study1E.M. Shumba

Acting General ManagerForestry Commission

PO Box HG 139, Highlands Harare, ZimbabweTel: 263-4-49 30 87 36; Fax: 263-4-49 7070

frchigh@internet.co.zw

The following are options that can enhance the contribution of the forestry sector to sustainabledevelopment in Zimbabwe. This is achieved by addressing the internal and external pressures beingbrought to bear on the sector during the next twenty years.

Depletion of indigenous forestsAbout 60% of Zimbabwe is under various forest types while some heavily populated districts have lessthan 30% cover. It is estimated that some 0.6% of the country’s indigenous forests are lost toagricultural expansion and other household uses such as energy supply, construction and food. In factthe current demand for commercial indigenous hardwoods cannot be met from the local resource alone.To address the problem of indigenous forest depletion the following recommendations are made:

• Increasing the role and contribution of exotic plantations.

Exotic plantations will increasingly become important ion future as timber processing companies thriveto complement the declining indigenous timber resource for their operations. However, since the areaavailable for expanding large scale exotic timber production is limited, there is tremendous scope toengage communal and resettlement area farmers in exotic timber productions contract to large timberprocessing companies through outgrower schemes. This process has already started.

• Recognising and supporting the increasing importance of trees outside forests

With the expansion of the agricultural frontier into traditional forest areas, trees outside forests areincreasingly becoming important for the provision of timber and non-timber forest products andservices at the local level. To address this problem, there is need to aggressively promote agroforestryand afforestation initiatives with emphasis on protected niches such as areas around the homestead,gardens and fields. The success of such moves will largely depend on adding value to non timberforest products and on improving their marketability in order to improve their competitive edge as aprofitable land use system. It must, however, be noted that there is very limited data on the extent andstate of these forests due to lack of information. Developing such a data base should be an importantentry point.

• Development of alternative energy sources

Sizeable portions of indigenous forest areas are cut to meet household energy needs especially in thecommunal and resettlement areas. To reduce this over dependence on woodfuels there is need tointensify research into the development of alternative and appropriate technologies such as solar energywhich has largely remained untapped.

1 FOSA website available at: http://www.fao.org/forestry/FON/FONS/outlook/Africa/AFRhom-e.stm

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The communal land tenure systemThe communal land tenure system that operates in communal and resettlement areas is a disincentiveto long term investment in natural resources such as forests largely due to lack of individualaccountability on the resource. The situation has been exacerbated by the erosion of powers of thetraditional leaders who used to oversee the observance of certain environmentally friendly resourcemanagement and utilisation regimes.

As a way of addressing the communal land tenure problem, emphasis should be placed on building andcapacitating local level institutions so that the community as a whole can take collective responsibilityover the communally owned resources. In this regard, the concept of Resource User Groups will haveto be strengthened and expanded. Once established, such groups are trained in leadership skills, by-lawinformation and technical aspects of forestry. Such skills and instruments are then locally used tomanage, protect and sustainably utilise the forest resource for the benefit of both the community andecosystem. The concept of Resource User Groups is already being implemented in some districts. Thisis going a long way into strengthening the enforcement of existing legislation which has hitherto beenrather weak.

Reduced government support for sustainable forest managementThe economic reform programmes being implemented by government have led to a reduction in thefinancial and human resources being allocated to statutory agencies who regulate and advise on themanagement and utilisation of natural resources. Such a trend is likely to persist.

To address this problem, the following recommendations are made:

• The Forestry Commission, the state forest authority, should be restructured into a leaner and moreefficient regulator and advisor in the forestry sector. This aspect is addressed later.

• Communities, especially those in the communal and resettlement areas should be given incentivesfor effective participation in the protection and management of forest resources. This can beachieved by promoting activities that increase rural incomes from forest resources. These includethe establishment of pole treatment tanks, beekeeping, craft production and the processing andcommercialisation of indigenous fruits. Communities can be enticed into these ventures by theprovision of a low interest revolving fund which can be administered at the village or district levels. The revolving fund concept is already being developed as a substitute to the support fund that usedto be given to communities in earlier reafforestation programmes. However, in order to legallyoperationalise this recommendation, there is need to revisit and amend the Communal Lands ForestProduce Act that restricts the exploitation of forest produce by communal and resettlement areainhabitants to “own use” and prohibits the sale or supply of any forest produce to any other person. The Resource User Group concept highlighted earlier can then be used as a vehicle to protect andsustainably utilise the resource.

• The private sector should be asked to fund specific aspects of plantation forestry development inwhich it derives a direct benefit. This has already started in research but needs strengthening.

• The Forestry Commission should forge strategic alliances with relevant government and nongovernment organisations operating at various levels in order to minimise duplication and reducecosts.

• The forestry sector should develop a strategy for accessing financial resources from forestry relatedinternational conventions and agreements to which Zimbabwe is a signatory.

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Shifting from the protectionist approach to gazetted forest area managementBiodiversity conservation in the 800,000 ha of gazetted indigenous forest areas in the country is beingthreatened by neighbouring communal area inhabitants who illegally occupy or obtain timber and nontimber forest products from them. To address this problem, plans are under way to replace the colonialprotectionist approach to conserving these forests to one which considers communities living on the“forest edge” as partners in their conservation, management and utilisation. This is being pursuedthrough the development of resource and benefit sharing models and a new policy that reflects thispositive shift is being finalised. In addition to benefiting communities such a policy, once implemented, will reduce the cost of protecting and managing gazetted forest areas as such responsibilities will beeventually shared with the beneficiaries.

Forest resource assessment and evaluationThe forestry industry contributes 3% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product. However, this does notinclude benefits derived by the nation and communities from various timber and non timber forestproducts and services that are not captured in the national accounts despite their increasing importancein rural welfare. This is exacerbated by the lack of comprehensive information on the indigenous forestresource base. For example, no information exists on timber volumes by species and age class. Furthermore, the forests are not classified by the dominant species. Such information is critical for theidentification and subsequent economic evaluation of various timber and non timber products andservices that flow from the forests.

In view of the above, the following is recommended:• An evaluation of the biophysical status and economic value of forest resources. The latter helps

to establish the true contribution of forests to the national economy and can be used to lobby formore public sector support into the sector in future. On the other hand, biophysical assessmentscan assist in establishing the relative contribution of the country’s forests to carbon sequestrationand to the ecosystem in general.

• Given the increasing importance of non timber forest products and services, there is need to raisetheir profile and improve their contribution to rural incomes through value addition and thecommercialisation of the resultant products.

Expanding the formal timber marketThe local timber market for exotics is likely to remain depressed for the foreseeable future. Consequently, in order to improve viability in this sector there is need to place emphasis on valueaddition for the export market to generate the much needed foreign exchange. To achieve this thereis need to invest in new product development and to upgrade the manufacturing and processingcapacities of timber companies. The export market drive will also promote sustainable forestmanagement by entrenching the certification process which has already been initiated in someindigenous forest areas and exotic plantation estates.

Capacity enhancement in the forestry sectorGiven the increasing demands that will come to bear on the forestry sector during the next 20 years,there is need to enhance the resource base and product quality through appropriate research and humanresource development initiatives as follows:

• Given the long gestation period and large fixed costs associated with most tree related research

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initiatives, there is need to forge strategic alliances with other regional and international researchinstitutions and networks. Furthermore, there is need to establish criteria and indicators forsustainable forest management at various operational levels as a basis for monitoring progress.

• In the area of formal training, it is recognised that the country’s forestry colleges cannot survivefrom the local market alone given the small related size of the country’s forestry industry. To thisend, there will be need to aggressively market these excellent training facilities throughout theSouthern African Development Community (SADC) region. Getting an affiliate status with arenowned university can greatly improve the attractiveness of the training offered at these collegesregionally.

Apart from the formal training offered by the colleges, there is need for capacity building, through inservice training, in order to tackle the new challenges facing the forestry sector. These include thecurrent thinking to consider communities as partners in forestry development (through the devolutionof authority and management responsibilities) as opposed to the “command and control approach”.

Creation of an enabling institutional framework for forestry developmentThe hiving off of trading activities from the regulatory and developmental functions of the state forestauthority will enable the new Zimbabwe Forestry Commission to become only a referee and not aplayer in the forestry sector. Such a development, which is nearing completion, will help theCommission concentrate on vision setting and (through a National Forest Programme) the creation ofa conducive environment for the forestry sector to thrive. Furthermore, a streamlined state forestauthority with a broadened revenue base will be able to competently translate and implementprovisions of forestry related international conventions to which Zimbabwe is a signatory. The leanerorganisation will have to work very closely with local level institutions such as Resource User Groups(described earlier) and relevant government and non governmental organisations reduce transactioncosts and duplication.

With respect to wildlife, the imminent conversion of the Department of National Parks and WildlifeManagement into a Statutory Fund will help to boost revenue receipts for wildlife conservation,management and sustainable use. In addition, it will help the department to recruit and retainexperienced and qualified personnel.

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1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BackgroundZimbabwe is a landlocked country covering some 39 million hectares of land. It lies between 150 40"and 220 30" south and 250 15" and 330 05" East latitudes. Although well within the tropics, thecountry’s climate is sub-tropical being moderated by altitude. Eighty percent of the land is above 600metres, while the remainder is below this height. An outstanding feature of the country’s landscape isthe central plateau known as the highveld which is about 650km long and 30km wide. On either sideof this is the middleveld which is between 600 and 1 200 metres above sea level. The lowveld is below600 metres.

Rainfall is the major climatic factor that influences the performance of sectors such as agriculture,forestry, wildlife and aquatic life in Zimbabwe. The rainy season stretches from November to Marchwhile the dry cool season is between May and August. Frost is not uncommon during the winterseason while October and November are the hottest months. Annual rainfall varies from an averageof below 400 mm in the low lying areas to 900mm over the central watershed and 1 500mm in partsof the eastern highlands. Recommended land use systems in these areas are:• Afforestation, agriculture and intensive livestock production in the high rainfall areas,• Intensive cropping and pasture production in the medium rainfall areas; and• Livestock and game ranching in the low rainfall areas.

About 70% of the country’s soils are derived from granite and are often sandy, light textured and oflimited inherent agricultural potential (Grant, 1981). There is, however, a significant development ofsoils with a heavier clay content in various parts of the country. The extreme west of the country haslarge tracts of deep Kalahari sandy soils which have very low agricultural potential.

1.2 Forestry ResourcesZimbabwe is characterised by savanna woodlands interspersed with open grassed drainage lines ordambos. Impended drainage gives rise to limited areas of open grassland and a few patches of sub-tropical forests occur in the eastern districts. Although forests provide a wide range of timber and nontimber forest products and services to the majority of Zimbabwe’s population, they are being lost atan alarming rate. It is estimated that about 70,000 ha of the country’s forests are lost to agriculture eachyear. Furthermore, although some 66% of Zimbabwe is still covered by woody vegetation, the coverin some heavily populated districts such as Chivi now stand at only 30%. There is also a strongrelationship between the amount of vegetation cover and the land tenure system across the country.

1.3 The Land Tenure Systems in ZimbabweThe land holding rights and obligations in Zimbabwe find their expression in the country’s four mainsystems of land tenure, namely the freehold (private), state land, communal and leasehold(resettlement) systems. The tenure systems impact and shape the property rights and natural resourceaccess regimes that exist in the country. With the exception of the resettlement tenure system, the otherthree systems are largely part of the country’s colonial heritage.

The freehold tenure system is prevalent in the commercial farming sector which consists of large scaleand small scale commercial farmers and occupy about 32% of the country’s land area of 39 million ha.This sector is characterised by individual land ownership. The registered land owner has exclusiveproperty rights and full control and responsibility over the land and everything attached to it except tothe extent that ownership and exclusive control over the land and some natural resources may be

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limited by statutory provisions. Such limitations relate to changes in land use, controls over publicwater courses, felling of indigenous timber resources and controls on wildlife. It is often argued thatfreehold tenure provides land owners with incentives to conserve and improve the natural resourcebase.

The communal land tenure system is governed by the Communal Lands Act and is applicable to 42%of Zimbabwe’s land area, where approximately 66% of the country’s population resides. Accordingto the Communal Lands Act, all communal land is vested in the State President who has powers topermit its occupation and utilisation in accordance with the Act. Communal Area inhabitants thus haveusufructuary rights over communal land. Rural District Councils, on the other hand, have adispensation to allocate land to qualified persons on behalf of the State. Resettlement areas cover 10%of the country and are a product of the post independence period targeted at relieving populationpressure in communal areas and have no title. It is often argued that the communal land tenure systemis a disincentive to long term investment in agriculture and other key natural resources such as forests.Consequently, the highest rates of deforestation occur in the communal and resettlement areas. Toaddress the land tenure related problems, government set up a Land Tenure Commission in 1994 toamong other things, review the current land tenure systems and make appropriate recommendations(Land Tenure Commission Report, 1995). However, some of the key recommendations related to thecommunal land tenure system have not yet been implemented.

The State set aside 15% of the country as gazetted/protected forests (2%) and national parks (13%).These offer good examples of in situ conservation and sustainable use of Zimbabwe’s biologicalheritage.

A summary of Zimbabwe’s land tenure systems are given in Figure 1, while Table 1.1 shows thedistribution of the country’s agricultural land by farming sector and natural region (NR). Overall, only19% of Zimbabwe’s farmland is in NRs I and II and almost 63% of this high potential land is in thelarge scale commercial sector. This land distribution pattern shows that:• in general, Zimbabwe has limited agricultural potential; and• the large scale commercial areas have an inherently higher agricultural potential than the other three

farming sectors. However, the bulk of the country’s population resides in the latter sectors. Thishas contributed to the high levels of land degradation and poverty especially in communal areas.

It is against the foregoing background of a skewed land distribution pattern in favour of large scalecommercial farmers who number about 4,500 compared to over one million communal area farmhouseholds that the government has embarked on the fast track land resettlement programme. Theprogramme will see the resettlement of about 150,000 land hungry Zimbabweans on about 5 millionha of land to be acquired from the large scale commercial farming sector by government. These settlerswill naturally open up forest areas for agricultural purposes.

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Table 1.1 Distribution of Zimbabwe’s agricultural land by farming sector and Natural Region (NR)

Natural region* Farming sector

Communal (000ha)

Large scalecommercial(000 ha)

Small scalecommercial(000 ha)

Resettlement areas(000 ha)

I & IIIIIIVV

Total

1,4102,8207,3404,780

16,350

3,8902,4102,4302,490

11,220

250530500100

1,380

6201,240 810 620

3,290Natural Regions are largely based on annual rainfall (in mm) as follows: NR I, over 1000; NR II, 800-1000; NR III, 650- 800; NR IV, 450 - 650; and NR V, less than 450 (Vincent and Thomas, 1960)Source: Zimbabwe Agriculture Sector Memorandum, 1994

Table 1.2 gives estimates of wood stocks of indigenous forests and woodlands by land tenure categoryin the country. Of the total estimated wood stock of 636 million tonnes, 42%, 40% and 16% are foundon the wildlife estate, commercial farming areas and communal areas respectively. It must be notedthat despite having the largest land area, communal lands have the least wood stock levels comparedto the other two sectors. This is attributed to rampant deforestation that occurs in the former sector.

Table 1.2 Estimates of total wood stocks of indigenous forests and woodlands in Zimbabwe (excluding exoticplantations)

Land tenure category Land area (000 ha) Wood stock (million tonnes)

Communal landResettlement areasCommercial farming landWildlife estateGazetted forest areasTotal

16,350 3,29012,600 5,406 800

38,446

104 11252269 1636

These timber volume figures suggest that the country’s forests store and sequestrate considerableamounts of carbon. Consequently, there is scope for the country to use this global carbon sink functionto access financial resources from the Kyoto protocol and invest them in forest conservation,management and afforestation programmes.

1.4 Current national reafforestation effortsAs indicated in Section 1.3 deforestation is a major problem in the communal and resettlement areasthan in the other farming sectors and land use systems. It is against this background that the ForestryCommission (a parastatal under the Ministry of Environment and Tourism) in collaboration withvarious government departments and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), has been spearheadingrural afforestation since 1983.

The first rural afforestation programme (RAP 1) which ran from 1983-1989 was based on a perceivedfuelwood crisis in the communal areas where over 65% of the country’s population resides. RAP 1was targeted at afforesting these areas using fast growing exotic trees in order to relieve pressure onindigenous woodlands. The programme focused on the establishment of individual and communal

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woodlots supported by 73 central nurseries for seedling production. Through RAP 1, eucalyptusseedling production and planting increased from 0.2 million in 1982/83 to 4.2 million in 1989/90. However, post establishment survival rates were generally low due to livestock and termite damage;water stress; and poor post establishment-management and protection.

It later became apparent that the concept of “centralised nurseries” during RAP 1 was very expensiveand that the emphasis on eucalyptus did not give beneficiaries interested in multi-purpose tree speciesmuch choice. This led to a shift in emphasis during the second phase of the rural afforestationprogramme (RAP II) which ran from 1990-1998. This phase broadened its content from eucalyptuswoodlots alone to include agroforestry and indigenous woodland management with emphasis onpoverty alleviation and food security. Some of the major achievements of RAP II were thediversification of the nursery product mix from 100% eucalyptus to about 85% with the remainderconsisting of exotic fruit trees and indigenous tree species. There was also a marked increase inseedling production from 3.2 million in 1990/91 to 9 million in 1998. Seedling survival rate wasaround 67%. About 1,470 agroforestry sites were also established during this period. With respect towoodlands, 803 sites measuring a total of 64,000 ha were set aside for deliberate management.

Since 1999, the rural afforestation programme is being implemented within the context of theAgricultural Services Support Programme (ASSP). The ASSP recognises the link between agricultureand forestry in communal area land use systems and within the livelihood of rural people. Theprogramme has the following objectives:• To increase the quantity and quality of tree and forest resources through tree planting and woodland

management. Specific activities being undertaken include awareness campaigns, trainingworkshops, field days and the production of extension materials such as posters and pamphlets.

• To increase rural incomes from timber and non timber forest products through the promotion offorest based enterprises. Activities undertaken include the establishment of pole treatment tanks,beekeeping, craft production and the processing of indigenous fruits.

• To build local level capacity for the sustainable management and utilisation of tree and forestresources. Activities undertaken include the establishment and training of natural resource usergroups in leadership, by-law formulation and in technical aspects of forestry. Since the launch ofthe ASSP in 1999, some ten million seedlings have been produced; 501 woodland managementsites have been identified and deliberately managed; and 1134 agroforestry sites have beenestablished. Key statistics on the achievement of RAP II and the ASSP are presented in Table 1.3.

Despite the highlighted successes, a number of constraints are being faced within the rural afforestationprogramme. They include:• Low seedling survival largely due to lack of water. To minimise this problem, emphasis is being

placed on locating tree planting sites near water points such as gardens and boreholes.• Tree damage by livestock due to lack of protection. This is being minimised by concentrating tree

planting in niches that have some measure of protection such as areas around the homestead, fieldboundaries and in gardens. Ways of assisting communities access funds (e.g. through a revolvingfund) to purchase fencing materials and other necessities are being explored. During RAPs I andII, a support fund was set up for such purposes. However, apart from being seen as buttressingdependency, the provision of such a fund has proved to be very expensive.

• Open access to woodlands which makes it difficult to implement sustainable management andutilisation regimes. To address this problem, emphasis is being placed on building and capacitatinglocal level institutions so that communities as a whole can take collective responsibility over thecommunally owned resource.

• Limited markets for the resultant forest based products such as exotic and indigenous fruit trees,honey and craft work. To reduce this problem, ways of directly linking the affected communities

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to appropriate markets are being explored.

Table 1.3 Seedling production, tree planting, woodland management and agroforestry statistics for RAP II(1990-1998) and the ASSP (January, 1999-Oct, 2000) at the national level

Afforestation programmeParameter

RAP I RAP II

Seedlings produced (No.)Trees planted (No.)Woodland management: No. of sites Area (ha)No. of agroforestry sites

47,312,63224,166,198

803 63,745 1,470

10,955,252 2,720,785

501 43,393 1,134

1.5 International agreements and national environmental policy frameworksZimbabwe is a signatory to several important international and national policy frameworks forsustainable natural resource use, the majority of which emerged from the United Nations Conferenceon Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. These include theConvention on Biodiversity, the Convention to Combat Desertification, the Montreal Protocol and theConvention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES). Regardingthe implementation of the country’s obligations to some of these conventions, the following has beendone:• A national Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan document has been produced in line with the

requirements of the Convention on Biological Diversity.• A national communication on the Climate Change Convention has been produced.• A National Action Plan on the Desertification Convention is now in place.

However, despite the foregoing progress, the country has not yet benefited from funds from either theGlobal Environment Facility (GEF) or the Kyoto Protocol to implement specific forestry projectsemanating from these initiatives. In fact the national desertification fund created by government sometwo years ago still lies empty. Given that public sector funding into the forestry sector will continueto decline in the future, there is need to put in place strategies that enable the country to access fundsfrom forestry related conventions to which it is a signatory. Other international initiatives in which thecountry is now going into, albeit to a limited scale are: the development of criteria and indicators forsustainable forest management; and forest certification with emphasis on the export market.

In 1987 the country prepared a National Conservation Strategy based on the World ConservationStrategy. The main objective was to ensure that natural resources are used on a sustained yield basis.The strategy document has become a useful reference guide book for sustainable development inZimbabwe.

Significant progress has also been made in the area of environment policy and planning since 1997.

In late 1992, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism held a national conference to merge nationaland global (post Rio) environmental and development priorities. The conference report contained amatrix of issues, objectives and responsible agencies, which upon reflection indicates that most of theobjectives have been addressed. For example, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism has developeda National Environment Impact Assessment policy. The Ministry is also leading a law reform process

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to deal with problems associated with the administration of at least 18 pieces of legislation on theenvironment which are housed in nine different ministries and departments. In this regard, anEnvironmental Management Bill will be tabled in Parliament in early 2001. Furthermore, the countryhas adopted the District Environment Action Plan process (DEAP), in order to integrate environmentalconservation issues into the planning process at the local level.

1.6 Objectives and format of the country outlook paperThis country outlook paper aims to provide a concise account of the general direction of thedevelopment of Zimbabwe’s forestry sector up to the year 2020. It is based on a critical assessment ofinternal and external factors that drive change in the sector. The paper highlights options available tothe Government of Zimbabwe with respect to enhancing the contribution of the sector to sustainabledevelopment. It will provide a key input into the development of sub-regional and regional forestryoutlook reports for Africa whose presentation is being coordinated by the Food and AgriculturalOrganisation (FAO). More importantly, these outlook studies will serve as a basis for priority settingfor financial assistance in the forestry sector by donor agencies, national governments and the privatesector.

Chapter 2 of the paper discusses internal and external factors that impact on Zimbabwe’s forestrysector. They include population growth; social and cultural issues, poverty; the macroeconomicenvironment; policy and institutional issues; energy use; and infrastuctural and technologicaldevelopments. A visualisation of the nature of the forestry sector in 2020 based on issues raised inChapter 2 and changes that are required to achieve the desired state are given in Chapter 3. Chapter 4presents a summary of the key findings and recommendations of the assessment.

1.7 Methodology followedA team of seven national experts under the leadership of the National Focal Point was assembled toprepare the country paper. Five of the experts were drawn from the public sector and one each fromthe private and non governmental organisation (NGO) sectors. To initiate the process, the NationalFocal Point held a meeting with the team whose objectives were to:• Explain the Forestry Outlook Study for Africa (FOSA) project in general and the preparation of the

country paper in particular; and,• Agree on responsibilities for team members and develop a work plan for the preparation of the

country paper.

The following work plan was agreed upon and implemented:• Literature reviews, consultations and report writing as per agreed country paper format were

undertaken. Team members were assigned specific topics based on their comparative advantage.Individual submissions were then amalgamated by the National Focal Point. A consolidated reportwas sent to team members for review and comments.

• A one day workshop for the team was held to brain storm on the consolidated paper with emphasison the conclusions and recommendations made. The National Focal Point subsequentlyincorporated these inputs into the final draft country paper.

In addition, the country paper preparation process greatly benefited from outputs of an internationalconsultancy that was commissioned between October and November 2000. The objective of theconsultancy was to make recommendations on the restructuring of the State Activities wing of the

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Forestry Commission, the state forest authority, with respect to its new mandate, organisationalstructure and revenue base. The consultancy team interacted with a wide range of stakeholders whoincluded; Forestry Commission personnel at all levels; the private sector; relevant government and nongovernmental organisations; representatives of the donor community; and independent experts fromthe forestry, environment and finance fields.

2 THE CHANGE DRIVERS

Zimbabwe is undergoing a number of social, economic, political and technological changes that havea bearing on the country’s forest resources. Some of these changes are presented in this chapter.

2.1 Socio-economic factors

2.1.1 Population

According to census records, Zimbabwe’s human population was 10.4 million in 1992 and wasestimated at 12.2 million in 1997, given an annual growth rate of 2.5% per annum. Declining mortalityrates have been largely credited for the rapid increase in the country’s population over the yearsalthough the effect of the Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) pandemic on populationgrowth still remains to be seen.

The 1997 male to female population ratio was 1:1.05 with 47% of the people being under 15 years ofage. Such a growing population structure poses great challenges to the country’s biodiversity as thedemand for natural resources continues to increase. This is worsened by the fact that about 66% of thecountry’s population lives in rural areas where because of poverty, people tend to rely on naturalresources such as forests for their survival. Furthermore, there are more people per unit area in thewetter (e.g. NRI & II) than the drier areas (NR III to V) of the country (Table 2.1). This has led togreater exploitation of natural resources through the opening of large tracts of land for cultivation andincreased demand on forest goods and services in the former areas. The opening up of forest land foragricultural expansion is in fact the major reason for the loss of the country’s forest biodiversity as anestimated 70,000 ha of forest land is lost to agriculture each year. Consequently, it is now difficult tofind pristine miombo woodlands on the central watershed of Zimbabwe as most have disappeared togive way to cropping and grazing land. Similar negative impacts of population concentrations onnatural resources are evident in areas around urban and rural service centres. The rampant landdegradation that results from such activities are contributing to the siltation of the country’s majorwater sources such as the Save River. Projections into the next two decades indicate that these trendsare likely to continue with an automatic increase in the demand for forest resources and enhanced landdegradation.

Table 2.1Human population density and natural resource exploitation by natural region in selected districts of Zimbabwe

District Natural region Population density Cultivation Woodland

Chipinge I 65 47 39

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MutasaGoromonziChegutuTsholotshoChiredziGwanda

IIIII

IVVV

655930151111

414437251126

263835646559

Source: Shumba et al, 1998.

2.1.2 Social and cultural issues

Zimbabwe’s population is diverse. About 98% of the population consists of indigenous Africans, whilethe remainder is mostly made up of whites and coloureds. The indigenous inhabitants are mostly ofShona and Ndebele origin.

The rural to urban push in search of employment opportunities has led to the migration of the malepopulation to urban centres leaving their families in the rural areas. Such an arrangement guaranteesthe family social security in the event of loss of a job or retirement. This “dual economy” system givesindigenous people the right to a piece of land in the communal area even if they are gainfully employedelsewhere. Such an arrangement is said to sometimes lead to serious competition for limited resourcesas more people may claim pieces of land for cultivation and grazing rights for security and not forproductive purposes.

Families are patrilineal among the dominant population groups. In the event of a marriage, men paya bride price to the family of the prospective wife. This gives the man uxorial rights to the woman foras long as the couple is married. Furthermore, the traditional land tenure system does not allow womento own land. These factors tend to affect the status of women in society. However, this situation is nowchanging as the crucial role of women in various spheres of economic life including natural resourcemanagement and utilisation is being recognised. Some of the traditional values that have assisted inthe sustainable use of natural resources in Zimbabwe include the following:• Traditional rules and regulations that forbid the cutting of fruit trees and other “sacred” tree species

for uses such as fuelwood and construction; and,• The use of one side and position of a tree to harvest roots or bark for traditional medicines. This

deterred people from exploiting the same tree before it had sufficiently regenerated.

Unfortunately some of the above conservation sensitive traditional beliefs and customs are breakingdown.

2.1.3 Poverty

As is the case in most developing countries, Zimbabwe has high poverty levels. The definition ofpoverty considers the ability of a household or individual to meet basic needs of food, clothing,education, health, transport and shelter. Results of a 1995 poverty assessment study conducted in thecountry are depicted in Table 2.2. According to the study, 62% of the country’s households are poorwith 46% of them living in absolute poverty as they can hardly afford basic food requirements.Furthermore, the majority of such poor households are headed by women. The table also shows that:• Poverty is more prevalent in rural areas where 72% of the households are poor compared to 46%

in the urban areas.• Within the rural areas poverty is more widespread in communal areas (where 81% of the

households are poor) followed by the small scale commercial farms and resettlement areas (68%)and large scale commercial farms (51%) in that order.

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It is important to note that 93% of the study sample indicated that poverty levels are on the increase.Given the foregoing high poverty levels in the country, people are venturing into unsustainablelivelihood strategies such as cultivation of marginal areas and tree cutting for timber and non timberproducts. These activities are contributing to increased environmental degradation and have becomepart of the poverty cycle whereby people are unable to take proper care of the environment.

Table 2.2 The poverty profile in Zimbabwe

Sector Poverty category (%) Sample size

Very poor Poor Non poor

NationalRuralUrbanCommunal areasLarge scale commercial farmsSmall scale commercial farmsand Resettlement areas

4657256830

54

1615211321

13

3828541949

32

18,79811,479 7,319 7,528 2,903

1,048Source: Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Development Fund, 1996

2.2 Macroeconomic environmentZimbabwe’s per capita income in 1996 was US$ 718 2 based on a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) andforeign exchange. The dominant sectors and their contribution to GDP in 1996 were as follows: manufacturing, 17%; agriculture and fishing, 15%; forestry, 3%; and distribution, hotels and restaurants(which include tourism), 18%.

Zimbabwe’s economy has been undergoing some changes since 1991 due to the implementation of Z$85.5 billion (in nominal terms) and a population of 11.9 million people. However, in real terms, theGDP per capita has declined from US$ 271 in 1980 to US$ 201 in 1996 largely due to high inflationand the depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar.

The country’s economy depends heavily on natural resources for generating employment, income ofeconomic reform programmes, namely; the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme, ESAP (1991-1995) and the Zimbabwe Programme of Reform for Economic and Social Transformation, ZIMPREST(1996-1999).

The seven major policy objectives of these economic reform programmes were:• trade and investment liberalisation;• removal of trade restrictions;• deregulation of financial and labour markets;• removal of price controls;• attainment of a 5% annual growth in GDP;• reduction in the national budget deficit; and,• reform of public enterprises and the rationalisation of the civil service.

2 This figure is significantly higher than previous estimates by the World Bank, World Resources Institute and theFood & Agriculture Organisation. The reason is that in recently released national statistics by the Central StaticalOffice, estimates of GDP from the informal sector were included. This has increased the official GDP figures byalmost 60% over previous values.

15

While the first four objectives were largely met, the last three have been more difficult to achieve dueto a number of constraints. These include persistent droughts, government’s assumption of parastataldebts, delayed disbursement of external financial support for the reform programmes and increasedexpenditure on issues such as the AIDS pandemic. Furthermore, the economic structural adjustmentprogrammes have put considerable pressure on biological resources as more people turn to them inresponse to declining real incomes from the fiscal and monetary policy changes. Table 2.3 shows thatmost of the key macroeconomic indicators in the economy have performed badly between 1995 and1999. Key features include a shrinking GDP; reduced growth of the dominant productive sectorsnamely agriculture, manufacturing, mining and tourism; a growing external debt burden; and highinflation. This trend has continued to worsen up to now. It is against the foregoing sombre backgroundthat government launched the 18 months Millennium Economic Recovery Programme in February,2000. The programme seeks to achieve the following broad objectives:• consolidate fiscal policies;• accelerate and complete the public enterprise reform;• stabilise prices at lower levels;• lower interest rates;• stabilise the value of the Zimbabwe dollar and resolve the foreign currency crisis;• deepen financial sector reforms;• stimulate the growth of the productive sector;• build confidence;• protect vulnerable social groups; and,• establish accountable implementation and monitoring institutions.

The objectives are aimed at removing the fundamental causes of inflation and to restoremacroeconomic stability in order to create an economic environment that is conducive to low interestrates, sustainable investment capabilities, stable real incomes and poverty mitigation. If properlyimplemented the programme will, among other things, have the following impacts:• Boost the performance of the agricultural, manufacturing, mining and tourism sectors which failed

to respond to previous economic reforms.• Reduce poverty levels in both the rural and urban areas and thus reduce the over reliance on natural

resources such as forests for survival.• Increase financial resources to statutory agencies who regulate the utilisation of natural resources.

16

Table 2.3 Trends in the key macroeconomic indicators in the Zimbabwean economy: 1995-1999

Indicator 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999*

Real growth in GDP (%)Population growth (%)Agricultural growth (%)Manufacturing growth (%)Mining growth (%)Tourism growth (%)Inflation (%)External debt (% of GDP)Commercial Bank base lending rate (%)

- 1.0 2.8- 7.3-11.5 5.3 5.5 22.6 55.0 31.6

8.5 3.3 19.4 4.6- 2.4 6.8 21.4 50.9

30.1

2.62.72.62.5

-2.02.3

18.872.328.5

1.5

4.9-2.70.40.9

31.761.536.2

0.5

3.5-7.5-2.53.5

58.359.649.1

* Figures for 1999 are estimatesSource: Central Statistics Office, 1999

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, 1999

2.3 Policy and institutional issues

2.3.1 Policy frameworks

The Forest Act and the Communal Lands Forest Produce Act (CLFPA) are the principal pieces oflegislation that govern the exploitation and protection of forest and woodland resources in Zimbabwe.This is achieved through the establishment of conditions for and regulation of the magnitude to whichforest produce may be utilised. Despite post independence amendments, the two Acts largely retain thecolonial approach to natural resource management. On the other hand the Parks and Wildlife Act(PWLA) is the principal piece of legislation regulating the conservation and utilisation of wildliferesources of the country.

The Communal Lands Forest Produce Act

As is evident from its title, the CLFPA finds its application in the communal areas which were assignedfor African occupation. This Act imposes a rather strict regulatory framework which is highly stateinterventionist as it vests the administration of exploitation of all communal area forest produce withthe Minister. However, a range of authorities are provided for, and these cover licences, agreementsand permits. Exploitation of forest produce by communal area inhabitants is restricted to “own use”and the sale or supply of any forest produce to any other person is prohibited. Consequently, theCLFPA effectively removes the management of natural forest resources from the inhabitants of its areaof application. Firstly, the Minister is vested with the authority to exploit the forest resource on behalfof the State. In cases where a forest falls within the jurisdiction of a local authority, control over theresources therein lies with the appropriate Rural District Council, which has the right to grantconcessions to outsiders to utilise forest products for commercial purposes. However, the limitationof the right for inhabitants to exploit forest produce for “own use” prevents local level initiatives forthe sharing or exchange of resources and fails to acknowledge the centrality of woodland resourceswithin the rural economy.

The Forest Act

While the Forest Act seeks to be broad in its coverage of forest resources throughout the country, itfinds is primary focus on State forests and on forest resources occurring on lands, most of whichcomprise the predominantly white large scale commercial farming sector.

17

The controls of the Forest Act over private forests are less strict and provides a somewhat selfregulatory control mechanism for the management of private forest resources by their owners. TheForest Act prima facie prohibits the harvesting, injury or destruction of any indigenous trees or timberfrom private forests and forest produce from any State land except in terms of a valid timber permitissued with the consent of the appropriate authority for the land. It has been argued that security oftenure and flexibility in the provisions of the Forest Act have contributed to good forest biodiversityconservation on privately owned land.

The Forest Act provides for the establishment of demarcated forest areas and establishes a Commissionto serve as the State authority mandated with the dual responsibility of providing policy advice to theMinister responsible for the administration of the Act and of performing regulatory functions. Theregulatory functions deal with the control, management and exploitation of State forests, plantationsand forest nurseries belonging to the State and any other land as may be required by the State forforestry purposes.

In line with the provisions of the Forest Act, government gazetted 800,000 ha of indigenous forests inthe fragile Kalahari sands of western Zimbabwe in the 1940s. However, biodiversity conservation inthese forest areas is being threatened by neighbouring communal area inhabitants who illegally settleor obtain timber and non timber forest products from them. Plans are now underway to replace thecolonial protectionist approach to conserving these forests to one which considers communities livingon the “forest edge” as partners in the conservation, management and utilisation of the forests throughresource and benefit sharing arrangements.

The Parks and Wildlife Act (PWLA)

The Parks and Wildlife Act (PWLA) sets out six types of protected areas which may be established,namely national parks, safari areas, sanctuaries, botanical gardens, botanical reserves and recreationalparks; each with a specific objective. Currently the Parks and Wildlife Estate constitutes 13% of thetotal land mass of the country. The purposes of these parks include the preservation and protection ofthe natural landscape, scenery of wildlife and plants and the natural ecological stability of wildlife andplant communities found therein with the ultimate objective being public enjoyment; education andinspiration. All human activities in the parks are prohibited except as provided in a permit, licence orother authorisation issued by the responsible authority. Appropriate authority status for wildlife incommunal areas is granted to Rural District Councils (RDCs) to exploit wild animals and plants onbehalf of the communities they serve.

The government of Zimbabwe regards wildlife utilisation as a viable, legitimate and sustainable landuse system; which may be most appropriate in agriculturally marginal areas. This is partly becausewildlife makes better use of available vegetation compared to livestock and has many marketable usesapart from the provision of game meat. Furthermore, the local wildlife industry has a comparativeadvantage in world markets due to the presence of unique large mammals and high ecological diversity.Consequently, in 1975 the government took a bold positive step in the area of wildlife conservationby putting provisions in the PWLA which allowed the “custodial ownership” of wildlife by privatelandholders. The fact that land owners could benefit from the use of wildlife on their land encouragedthem to invest in wildlife management by establishing game ranches. In addition, the PWLA wasfurther amended to give appropriate authority status to RDCs so that they could manage and benefitfrom wildlife within the communal areas. This saw the inception of the Communal Area ManagementProgramme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) programme and 33 of the country’s 55 RDCs areparticipating in this programme. As a result of CAMPFIRE, communities now perceive wildlife as anasset with value and not merely posing a threat to life, property, crops and domestic stock. On average,

18

CAMPFIRE projects in Zimbabwe generate over Z$ 25 million annually, 90% of which comes fromthe hunting of elephants, buffalo, sable, antelope, etc. In addition to income directly accruing toparticipating households, local communities have put up schools, grinding mills, electric fences andsales depots using revenue from the CAMPFIRE programme.

2.3.2 Institutional arrangements

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism through its line departments (the Forestry Commission, theDepartment of Natural Resources and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management)is the major player in forest biodiversity management. Other sectors such as agriculture, constructionand water have both direct and indirect impacts on forest resources.

The Forestry Commission, in its capacity as the State forest authority, is responsible for the in situ andex situ conservation of forest biodiversity and the Department of National Parks and WildlifeManagement is in charge of the wildlife component. The Department of Natural Resources isresponsible for regulating and enforcing broader environmental issues, while the Department of Ruraland Urban Planning formulates local by-laws for resource conservation with the involvement of RuralDistrict Councils, who are closer to the natural resources. A number of other government and nongovernmental organisations are also involved in various aspects of forest management albeit to varyingdegrees. Given the complementary roles played by these institutions in the maintenance of forestbiodiversity the need for cross sectoral linkages cannot be over emphasised.

The Forestry Commission’s operations are guided by the Forest Act of 1948 which gives it authorityto protect forests and woodlands and to govern the exploitation of forest resources. The Commissioninteracts with other government departments and a plethora of NGOs in the performance of its tasks.However, despite the complementarity of its work with that of NGOs, there is considerable mistrustamong these players.

The Natural Resources Act of 1942 governs the functions of the department of Natural Resources andcovers all natural resources including forests, water, soil, air and minerals. The department’s functionsgenerally involve monitoring, regulation and enforcement of rules on environmental conservation. However, the distinction between its regulatory functions and those of the Forestry Commission inforestry matters is unclear.

The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management is responsible for managing the country’sparks which contain a large part of the country’s forest biodiversity. However, vegetation resources inNational Parks are largely viewed as “food” for the animals, with their conservation being accordeda subordinate role. This is worsened by the lack of joint planning between the Department and theForestry Commission on forest conservation matters.

Although forests provide crop nutrients through leaf litter and regulate waterflow and infiltration, therole of trees and woodlands in agriculture is not clearly articulated in Zimbabwe’s agricultural policy. This has contributed to the rather poor positive linkages between agriculture and forestry.

2.4 Changes in energy useAccording to Table 2.4, nearly half of Zimbabwe’s energy requirements are supplied by the traditionalenergy sector (in the form of fuelwood and charcoal). On the consumption side, 51% of this energyis utilised in the household sector. A 1997 survey revealed that 90% of rural households depend onwoodfuels for their daily cooking as well as for water and space heating at an average annual

19

consumption of 4 tonnes per household. About 15% of this fuelwood is purchased from rural marketsand not directly gathered from the forest areas. On the other hand, use of household fuels in the urbanand peri-urban areas is mixed between kerosene, electricity and fuelwood with 80% of the latter beingpurchased.

Table 2.4 Zimbabwe’s energy supply and consumption situation in 1997

Item % of total energy

Supply source

Biomass fuels (fuelwood and charcoal)CoalLiquid petroleum fuels (diesel, petrol, kerosene and fuel oil)ElectricityCoke

Consumption situation

Household sectorIndustryTransportAgricultureCommerce and servicesMining

52.1

19.0

13.212.5 7.2

51.219.712.3 9.5 4.2 3.1

Natural forests and woodlands are the major source of fuelwood for rural and low income urbanhouseholds. In urban areas, most of the wood sold by vendors is from indigenous woodlands that arewithin 100km of the urban centre. Experiences with fuel substitution in the country have been mixed.The rising costs of electricity and kerosene in urban areas are forcing poor households to revert to anddepend on fuelwood. On the other hand, the use of solar panels has been limited to institutions andmiddle and high income families, largely due to the high costs of purchasing and installing the solarpanels and the cooking stoves and other end use equipment. Notwithstanding, solar energy holdspromise if ways of lowering the cost of the solar systems are found. Solar systems are particularlysuitable for powering solar lamps, refrigerators, radios and televisions. With respect to coal, there arecurrently some technological limitations to its use as a household fuel as it is generally not user friendlyand not readily available in rural areas. About 45% of the country’s electricity is imported and 84%of urban households have access to this energy source compared to only 7% in the rural areas. Becausea significant proportion of the electricity is imported, it is expensive and beyond the reach of most poorhouseholds. The same situation applies to petroleum fuels which are also imported. Given the currentforeign currency shortage and the devaluation of the local currency, the cost of these energy sourcesis likely to rise further and hence became more inaccessible to the poor. The latter are then forced toincrease their dependence on fuelwood.

The foregoing increasing dependence on fuelwood is contributing to increased deforestation. It isestimated that the country’s natural forests and woodlands are being depleted at a rate of 0.6% perannum due to agricultural expansion, overgrazing, forest fires, over exploitation of timber and thecutting of trees for wood fuels and construction. However, afforestation efforts aimed at improvingfuelwood supply have had minimal impact hence natural woodlands have remained the major fuelwoodsource. This has led to the emphasis on woodland management as a strategy to increase woodybiomass in recent years. However, this has had limited success due to lack of clarity on land use

20

policies, insecurity of tenure, rapid population growth, conflicting stakeholder interests and inadequatesilvicultural information. As these issues are being addressed, there is need to intensify research todevelop appropriate technologies in the use of alternative fuels such as coal and solar energy.

2.5 Infrastructural and technological developments

2.5.1 Infrastructural developments

As is the case in other developing countries, Zimbabwe continues to prioritise infrastructuredevelopment for economic growth than biodiversity conservation per se. Consequently, the rapidpopulation growth and the related urbanisation is exerting pressure on habitats and eco-systemssurrounding cities, towns and rural service centres through the provision of infrastructural services suchas houses, factories and roads. This is confounded by the drive to attract foreign investment withtourism, agriculture and mining being the most lucrative sectors. Such investments result ininfrastructural developments that can crowd out various biological species from their habitats. Forexample, unless developments in the Victoria Falls area are controlled, they could destroy theecosystem on which the very existence of the tourism industry depends. As a way of minimising theadverse effects of infrastructural development on the environment, government has instituted anEnvironmental Impact Assessment policy. Under this policy, projects with potentially adverseenvironmental effects are prescribed, making them subject to environmental audits.

2.5.2 Technological changes

Although forestry research in Zimbabwe has been evolving since the 1930s, formal research onlystarted in 1948. Early work focused on indigenous forests in the demarcated areas of the western partof the country which consists of commercial timber species on the fragile Kalahari sands. The impetusfor the research was the need to sustainably manage and utilise the valuable tree species in particularand to conserve the fragile ecosystem in general.

As the demand for timber increased, considerable pressure was placed on the slow growing indigenoustree species resulting in the need for research on fast growing exotic tree species for plantationdevelopment. This led to the establishment, in the 1960s and 1970s, of a series of forest stations in theeastern part of the country and the sourcing, evaluation and subsequent improvement of pine andeucalyptus germplasm for production under Zimbabwean climatic and edaphic conditions. Suchresearch has had a significant impact on plantation forestry development in the country and, throughsales of high quality seed abroad. For example, during the 1930s and 1940s, eucalypts produced anannual timber increment of 12m3/ha compared to 0.5m3 from indigenous woodlands. However, dueto research and development efforts, these figures now average 25m3/ha and 0.9m3, respectively.

A number of organisations are involved in forest and forest related research in Zimbabwe. Forexample, the Forestry Commission initiated an exotic plantation tree improvement programme in 1958.This programme reduced the rotation age of pines from 33 to 25 years and significantly increased stemform. These achievements have increased the productivity of industrial pine plantations both locallyand internationally. Similar work is now being extended to indigenous trees especially fruit trees thathave considerable commercial value (e.g. Uapaca and Zizyphus) which have hitherto been neglected.Other tree related research being conducted by various local institutions includes the ecology andmanagement of indigenous trees, screening of multipurpose-purpose tree species for agroforestrysystems, forest resource evaluations and the development forest resource sharing models between stateauthorities and communities living “on the edge” of gazetted forests.

21

Efforts to encourage tree planting in communal areas for uses such as fuel wood and fruit supply havehad some impact on the country’s regreening efforts. For example, the Forestry Commission has beenimplementing the rural afforestation programme since 1983. Seedling production was identified as akey activity during the first phase of the programme and resulted in the establishment of 78 centralisednurseries of eucalyptus seedlings which were then distributed and sold to interested farmers,communities, schools and local authorities. However, the concept of “centralised nurseries” provedexpensive and the nurseries were handed over to interested local groups and individuals in the secondphase of the programme. Local communities were then asked to establish their own “satellite nurseries”in which they would raise seedlings of their choice. This resulted in the diversification of the seedlingmix from eucalyptus alone to include fruit and indigenous tree species. Such efforts have helped toincrease the woody vegetation cover in the country.

There is considerable potential of using biotechnology in forestry development. For example, micro-propagation techniques which facilitate the rapid multiplication of planting material can help alleviatethe problem of limited availability of tree seedlings. Micro propagation of orchids and other woodlandproducts such as mushrooms is being carried out at Africa University in response to a survey thatshowed a decline in the biodiversity of traditional mushrooms in line with decreases in symbioticindigenous forest tree species. The remaining local mushroom varieties are being collected andpropagated using water hyacinth, maize cobs and other local compounds as substrates.

3 FORESTRY SECTOR IN 2020

This section visualises the situation that is most likely to develop in the forestry sector during the nexttwo decades due to the impact of the change drivers presented in chapter 2.

3.1 State of forests and plantationsTable 3.1 shows areas under various land uses in Zimbabwe. According to this table, 66% of thecountry’s land area is under various forest types compared to 27% which is under cultivation. Theheaviest concentrations of forests occur in the gazetted state forest areas, national parks areas, theeastern highlands and the large scale commercial farms. On the other hand the woody vegetation coverin most communal areas is low and variable with heavily populated districts such as Mutasa and Chivihaving only 26% and 30% cover respectively. Exotic plantations occupy about 156,000 ha of land ofwhich over 90% is in the eastern districts. Also found in the latter areas are the unique tropical rainforests that occupy some 11,500 ha.

Table 3.1 Areas under various land use systems in Zimbabwe

Land use Area (000 ha) % of total

Natural forests1

PlantationsIndigenous woodlandsGrasslandsCultivated landSettlements2

Other3

Total

11.5 155.8 25,771.4 1,893.9 10,738.1 139.1 379.4 39,089.2

0.03 0.40 65.92 4.85 27.47 0.36 0.97100.00

1 Tropical rain forest2 Cities3 Rock outcrops and water bodies

Source: Forestry Commission 1996

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3.1.1 Indigenous forests outside gazetted areas

The predominant woodland types found in Zimbabwe are the miombo, mopane, teak, acacia andterminalia/combretum. Although these woodlands occupy a significant proportion of the country (twothirds) no information exists on the available timber volumes by species and age class. Furthermore,the available inventory data does not classify these forests by dominant species, which could helpidentify the various timber and non timber products and services flowing from them. Although noaccurate figures on deforestation exist due to inadequate forestry change data, it is estimated that about0.6% of Zimbabwe’s forests are lost each year (FAO, 1997) largely due to agricultural expansion whichaccounts for about 70,000 ha per year. In fact it is now difficult to find pristine miombo woodlandson the central watershed of Zimbabwe as most have disappeared to give way to cropping and grazingland. This situation will worsen as the rising human population will continue to expand the agriculturalfrontier into marginal areas and cut trees for fuelwood and other purposes. In addition, the current landreform programme will see more forest areas being turned into cropping as the plan to resettle about150,000 families on 5 million ha of land from the large scale commercial farms is implemented.

3.1.2 Indigenous trees within the gazetted areas

The country degazetted 800,000 ha of indigenous forests in western Zimbabwe in the 1950s. Theseareas are managed by the Forestry Commission on behalf of government. The need to conserve andprotect these forests arises from the fact that they are located on ecologically fragile soils, the Kalaharisands. Consequently, any indiscriminate cutting of trees in these areas can easily turn them into desertsand drastically reduce the number and range of animal species present. In addition, the forests “house”commercial indigenous timber species such as Baikea plurijuga (teak), Pterocarpus angolensis(mukwa) and Guibourtia coleosperma (mchibi). Uncontrolled exploitation of these valuable treespecies can result in loss of biodiversity. In order to promote the local processing industry and toreduce illegal harvesting, the export of timber “in the round” was banned. Furthermore, in line withinternational market demands, the certification of some indigenous forest areas with commerciallyexploitable timber in both the gazetted forest areas and in communal areas is being actively considered.This trend is likely to increase in future.

In their quest for agricultural land, some people (especially the rural poor) have been illegally movinginto demarcated forest areas giving rise to the problem of illegal settlers (commonly referred to assquatters). This has contributed to the following:• Uncontrolled and unplanned cultivation of land involving the cutting down of trees and clearing

forests resulting in land degradation.• Rampant soil erosion caused by over grazing, removal of forests for construction and agricultural

purposes and forest fires which are used as methods of hunting and land preparation.• Poaching of forest products such as timber and wildlife.

The foregoing has invariably resulted in land use conflicts between the squatters and the legitimate landowners, the Forestry Commission. The former consider their settlements legitimate since the land issuehas always been at the centre of the political economy of Zimbabwe and was the strongest singlejustification put forward in support of the armed struggle that brought national independence to thecountry in 1980. On the other hand, the Forestry Commission’s mandate of sustainably managing theseforest areas is made difficult by the squatters’ presence hence it has responded by prosecuting andevicting them in some cases. Such contradictions have highlighted the need to explore concepts suchas “co-existence” and “resource sharing” as ways that can satisfy the expectations of the two parties.

23

3.1.3 Exotic plantations

Table 3.2 shows that the area under exotic plantations was rather stagnant from the late 1980s to themid 1990s. This has been largely attributed to persistent drought and a rather subdued demand fortimber products during that period. According to the table, approximately 72% of the plantation areais under pines which are predominantly in the eastern districts, whilst some 15% and 13% of the areais planted to eucalyptus and wattle, respectively. All the wattle is grown in the eastern districts whileeucalyptus is more widely distributed throughout the country. With respect to exotic plantationownership, about 42% belong to the State (through the Forestry Commission); 54% to privatecompanies and the remainder to small private growers who include cooperatives. Zimbabwe’s exoticplantations are managed for different timber products. About 70% of the plantation area is managedfor sawlog products, 9% for poles and 14% for pulpwood.

Table 3.2 Trends in areas under exotic plantation tree species (in hectares)

YearSpecies1994/95 1992/93 1991/92 1990/91 1989/90 1988/89

Softwoods: Pines

Hardwoods: Eucalyptus Wattle

Total

79,200

16,500 14,300

110,000

82,188

15,200 17,763

115,151

77,792

15,457 12,902

106,151

75,607

15,934 12,895

104,436

74,656

16,971 13,063

104,690

72,436

17,766 13,930

104,132Source: Research and Development Annual report, 1997

Table 3.3 shows the age distribution by area of exotic plantations. Some 47% of the pine area had treesless than ten years old and 15% had trees between 21 and 25 years in 1992/93. This difference in areacould be partly attributed to the national liberation war years (1970s) when very little planting wasdone. On the other hand the presence of over age trees (+30 years) reflects an over supply of timberin the market at that time. Given that the domestic timber market has been depressed for some time andthat it is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future, emphasis will be on the production of valueadded products for the export market. The need to capture the international has reinforced therequirement for sustainable forest management practices in exotic plantations. This has led a numberof forestry companies to apply for certification under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and thistrend will continue in future.

It is important to note that exotic plantations will become increasingly important in future as timberprocessing companies will have to complement the declining indigenous timber resource. Given thearea available for expanding large scale exotic timber production is limited, there is tremendous scopeto engage communal or resettlement area farmers in exotic timber production on a contract basis withthe large timber processing companies through outgrower schemes.Table 3.3 Age distribution by area of exotic plantations in 1992/93

Species and area planted (ha)Age(years)

Pines Otherconifers

Eucalyptus Otherhardwoods

Wattle Total

0-1011-2021-25

35,853 19,51911,260

3,790 682

102

8,330 1,041 292

3,996 532 157

15,527 1,895 305

67,496 23,669 12,116

24

26-3030+

Total

8,047 2,333

77,012

27 575

5,176

294 207

10,164

61 290

5,036

20 16

17,763

8,449 3,421

115,151Source: Research & Development Report; 1997

3.1.4 Trees outside forests

Trees outside forests are those found outside the three traditional situations namely, indigenous treesoutside and inside gazetted forest and wildlife areas; and exotic trees in plantation forest areas (seesections 3.1.1 to 3.1.3). With the expansion of the agricultural frontier into traditional forest areas, treesoutside forests are increasingly becoming important for the provision of timber and non timber forestproducts at the local level. However, there is very limited data on the state of these forests due to lackof national level data on the assessment of these trees. Notwithstanding, these trees have been widelypromoted through some of the following national initiatives. • Tree planting through programmes such as the Rural Afforestation programme initiated by the

Forestry Commission in 1983. This programme has seen the establishment of exotic woodlots andthe planting of both exotic and indigenous tree species in areas that are protected against livestockdamage and have access to water, such as areas around the homestead, gardens and fields.

• Agroforestry initiatives that aim to integrate both exotic and indigenous trees into agriculture invarious land use niches. This is in recognition of the fact that agriculture will continue to havepriority over trees in all future land use plans.

3.1.5 Non timber forest products

The bulk of the country’s indigenous forests have limited timber production potential and hence theyhave low economic value. This is largely why these forests are currently considered as a “reserve land”for agricultural expansion. Notwithstanding, communal and resettlement area dwellers are increasinglybecoming heavily dependant on a wide range of non timber forest products for food, shelter andincome. However, the contribution of such products to the national economy has not been quantifiedin economic terms. There is considerable scope for improving the contribution of non timber forestproducts to rural incomes through value addition and the commercialisation of the resultant products.Such a move would also help increase the competitive edge of forests as a worthwhile land use system.

Some of the non timber forest products and services whose demand will increase include the following:• Agroforestry products. The production and utilisation of trees on farmland and grazing areas plays

an important role in the local production systems and are directly linked to agricultural productionthrough the transfer of leaf litter, plant nutrients; the provision of fodder and browse; and thesupply of construction poles and timber.

• Household food security through the direct provision of products such as fruits, honey, roots andinsects (e.g. mopane worms). Some employment and income is also being generated from thewoodcraft industry. However, this component has been adversely affected by the current slump inthe tourism industry but is likely to pick up in future.

• Fuelwood supply, especially in the highly populated areas.• Use as traditional medicines. A significant proportion of the population can no longer afford

modern medicines which are also not readily available in some cases. As some importantmedicinal plants are becoming rare due to deforestation and over exploitation, some traditionalhealers have resorted to planting them in niches outside traditional forest areas.

25

3.2 State of the forest industries

3.2.1 Exotic plantations

Exotic plantation forestry in Zimbabwe is largely based on pines and eucalyptus. The industry is highlyvertically integrated into timber production, processing, packaging and marketing. It employs about16,000 people and contributes some 3% to the Gross Domestic Product. The sector has seen someconsiderable investment in saw milling and value adding capacity during the last decade. Table 3.4shows the trends in roundwood utilisation in the industry. There has been a considerable increase inthe utilisation of most of the products over the last 20 years. The last four years have also seen theemergence of small private sawmills to cater for the lower end of the market. This has filled the nicheleft by large companies who are abandoning small mills in favour of the big ones. This has led to aproliferation of small bush mills without kilns. Exotic plantations provide roundwood input for 13 largeand 28 small sawmills; six pole treatment plants; two veneer and plywood producers; one particleboard and fibreboard factory; two paper and product manufacturers; one wattle extract factory; onecharcoal producer; and one match factory.

Table 3.4 Trends in exotic roundwood utilisation (m3) between 1981 and 1999

YearProduct

1981 1986 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Sawlogs &mining timber

Pole production& impregnation

Veneer plymills

Particle board &fibreboard

Pulp & paper

Match

Charcoal

453,329

17,873

27,072

-

108,594

2,688

-

251,487

29,108

33,043

27,445

109,235

3,824

-

887,000

62,100

34,100

26,600

92,300

54,100

44,000

889,100

67,100

35,200

96,400

116,800

6,100

49,000

889,778

88,278

33,530

133,650

125,900

12,000

50,125

873,872

85,852

28,417

96,608

87,961

10,173

58,500

896,594

97,280

29,814

95,800

94,305

10,009

36,683

The wood supply and demand picture in exotic plantations is mixed (Arnold et al, 1993). Averageannual timber consumption in the sector was 656,000 m3 between 1987 and 1990 and 541 333 m3

between 1989 and 1991. However, the actual volume of roundwood harvested compared to thatconsumed is somewhat clouded by fibre imports as 51% of the fibre requirements for pulp and paperproducts and reconstituted panel products are imported. Furthermore, chips from sawlog productionare used to manufacture pulp and paper and reconstituted panel products. When the most optimisticwood supply scenario of low economic growth, expanded plantation areas and high yields is used, notimber deficits are projected for both pine and eucalyptus up to the year 2020. The most pessimisticscenario of high economic growth, no expansion of plantation areas and low growth and yield wouldresult in serious wood supply deficits over the same period. However, the most likely scenario liesbetween the two extremes.

26

3.2.2 Indigenous forests

Commercial timber production from indigenous forests is mainly based on Pterocarpus angolensis andBaikiaea plurijinga. The total demand for roundwood in 1989/90 was approximately 50,000 m3, whilethe 1991/92 supply of high value hardwoods from concessions in western Zimbabwe was less than22,000 m3. This means that the current demand for commercial hardwoods cannot be met from thelocal resource alone. This situation will definitely worsen in the future.

Apart from commercial timber, the country’s natural forests generate a wide range of other productsthat include: fuelwood for charcoal, small artisinal crafts, fodder, fruits, honey, mushrooms, insects,bark for rope, medicines, leaf litter and gum. Services provided by these woodlands include: watershedconservation; carbon fixation; and the provision of windbreaks, shade, soil stability and wildlifehabitat. No exact economic value has been established for these goods and services, but specificstudies can produce some point estimates. For example, a modified contingent valuation study thatestimated the mean direct and indirect values of a range of timber and non-timber products in miombowoodlands gave an average value of Z$ 200/ha per year (Campbell, et al, 1991). Based on this figure(and mindful of many caveats about extrapolating the very specific Campbell results), the total stockvalue of indigenous woodlands (21 million ha) can be estimated at Z$ 4.2 billion per year.

The increasing human population and the limited growth in other economic sectors will continue toput considerable pressure on forests to provide the above functions in the future. This is largely becausesuch products will continue to be sourced at much lower cost than their substitutes (such as importedliquid fuels).

3.3 Conservation of forest biodiversity

3.3.1 Cost of biodiversity conservation

The costs of current biodiversity conservation measures are important in determining future strategicdirections. In a limited sense, current expenditures are a measure of the value placed by decisionmakers on biodiversity conservation. However, such expenditures are limited by income.Consequently, current expenditures alone could significantly underestimate the value of biodiversityconservation to the country. Notwithstanding, information on current expenditures can be useful indetermining costs and resource requirements of future strategies and actions to improve biodiversityconservation. Where resources are limited, trade-offs can be better appraised between biodiversityconservation (and the values generated) and other options for public expenditures.

Long term biodiversity conservation in Zimbabwe is undertaken by the government through variousdepartments. Table 3.5 shows that government’s budget allocation to key departments involved withsome aspects of forest biodiversity conservation and management increased from Z$ 171 million in1987/88 to Z$ 801 million in 1997/98. This represents a 36% budget increase over the eleven yearperiod in nominal terms. However, when inflation is accounted for, it becomes apparent thatgovernment expenditure levels on biodiversity conservation fell by 49% from Z$ 276 million in1987/88 to about Z$ 137 million in 1996/97. Given the thrust of the national economic reformprogramme this trend is likely to continue into the future. The net effect is to reduce the statemachinery’s capacity to implement forest biodiversity conservation programmes.

Apart from central government, a number of local and international non governmental organisations(NGOs) and land owners are actively involved in financing biodiversity conservation in Zimbabwe.However, no comprehensive data base containing summaries of in-country expenditures by NGOexists. In addition, it is difficult to identify the budget components that go directly into biodiversityconservation. Notwithstanding, NGOs and the private sector are expected to play an increasing role

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in this area in future.

Table 3.5 Zimbabwe Government’s expenditure on issues related to forest biodiversity conservation:1987/88 - 1997/98

Governmentdepartment

Budget allocation (Z$)

87/88

88/89

89/90

90/91

91/92

92/93

93/94

94/95

95/96

96/97

97/98

ForestryCommission

NaturalResources

NationalParks

AgriculturalExtension(AGRITEX)

AgriculturalResearch(DR & SS)

WaterResources

Total(nominal)

Total (real)1

12.4

4.5

21.9

35.5

16.9

80.3

171.4

276

14.5

5.0

19.2

39.4

19.2

103.9

201.2

274

18.0

6.5

25.7

42.4

19.6

51.4

163.6

187

19.3

8.3

31.1

53.1

24.9

100.3

237.0

237

19.0

9.4

35.1

63.9

26.7

92.2

246.3

187

21.2

9.6

37.5

185.1

29.5

169.0

451.9

272

19.7

12.3

40.2

111.5

37.6

185.3

406.6

202

18.5

14.0

47.3

152.8

43.2

148.4

424.2

169

16.3

12.8

51.8

216.2

53.1

124.7

474.9

162

23.2

21.5

48.4

169.5

73.2

145.9

481.7

137

36.3

40.2

20.0

399.6

135.4

169.8

801.3

-

1 Real expenditures are deflated by the Gross Domestic Product index, 1990 = 100 to account for inflation.Nominal expenditures were also deflected by the CPI index with little differences in results.Source: Central Statistical Office, 1997

3.3.2 Economic incentives for forest conservation

Given the reducing government budget allocations to biodiversity conservation, the need to considervarious economic incentives cannot be overemphasised.

Direct incentives include cash incentives, such as fines to deter timber poaching or improper harvestingmethods; compensation for damage to community forests from wildlife or development projects;compensation to people living adjacent to state forests who are excluded from using the woodlands;and subsidies for forest management such as free seedlings.

With respect to communal forests, the Communal Land Forest Produce Act allows communal areainhabitants to exploit timber for personal use within certain limits free of charge, while licences areissued for commercial exploitation of the forest resource. Where forest damage occurs, costs of

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ameliorating the damage may be imposed by the State. For example, the maximum fine for improperconservation under the Natural Resources Act is Z$ 1,000. However, such provisions are fairly broadand do not appear to neither deter poor conservation practices, nor encourage sound resourcemanagement in communal areas.

Direct subsidies in the form of free or low cost seedlings is a common practice in Zimbabwe. In 1983,the Forestry Commission initiated the Rural Afforestation Programme to boost the production of treeseedlings (through central nurseries) for distribution at little or no cost to schools, communities,farmers and local authorities (Remme, 1995). This programme was later decentralised to the local levelin 1989. These efforts and those of NGOs, have contributed to tree planting initiatives in communalareas. Other indirect incentives include subsidies that shift rural people from woodfuel to alternativefuel sources such as solar technology for cooking purposes; and the promotion of communitydevelopment programmes that are tied to improved conservation practices. All these efforts should bestrengthened in future.

3.4 Institutional framework for forestry

3.4.1 Separation of regulatory and enterprise functions of the Forestry Commission

The current mandate of the Forestry Commission is derived from the Forest Act of 1948 whichprovides for state authority and trading functions. The former is funded from government grants, ownrevenue and donors while the latter is self financing. In line with the country’s economic reformprogrammes, the Forestry Commission is now working on the separation of its two functions. This hasbeen made possible by the amendment of the Forest Act in March 1999 which now allows theorganisation to form companies. To this end the trading function will be incorporated into the forestrycompany of Zimbabwe which was registered under the Companies Act in May, 2000. It is anticipatedthat the commercialisation and subsequent privatisation of the company will take about 18 months. Thecompany will have a 125 year land lease and its share holding will include a strategic partner who willinject some capital and expertise to retool and come up with a more economically viable organisation.Given that the Forestry Commission is the largest exotic plantation forestry owner in the country, theForestry Company of Zimbabwe will be a dominant player in the forestry industry. Apart from creatingthe much needed employment, the company will contribute towards poverty alleviation by promotingoutgrower schemes for communal and resettlement area farmers. Under such schemes, farmersneighbouring forest estates will be contracted to grow timber which will then be purchased andprocessed by the contracting companies. This hiving off of trading activities from the regulatory anddevelopmental functions enable the new Forestry Commission to be only a referee and not a player inthe forestry sector. Such a development will help the Commission to concentrate on vision setting andthe creation of a conducive environment for the forestry sector to thrive in.

3.4.2 The new Forestry Commission

In October, 2000, the Forestry Commission recruited an international consultancy to undertake thefollowing:• Review the mandate of the State authority wing (new Forestry Commission) in relation to other

players in the forestry and environment fields;• Analyse the current organisational structure and human resource base and recommend a leaner and

more efficient structure and human resource profile.• Review the current sources of funding for the organisation and propose alternative and sustainable

financing arrangements to fulfil its mandate.

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Some of the key findings and recommendations from the consultancy were that:• The new Forestry Commission should retain the current regulatory, management and capacity

enhancement functions being performed by the State forest authority. However, in order to reducetransaction costs, team work and collaboration with other government agencies and nongovernmental organisations including the private sector should be strengthened. Furthermore, theparticipation of local communities in the planning, implementation and evaluation of forest projectsand programmes should be emphasised. These three functions are elaborated below:

• The regulatory function involves the promotion of the sustainable development of forest resourcesand the optimisation of their contribution to social and economic development of the nation bysetting appropriate standards and enforcing legislation on sustainable forest management. Activitiesunder this function should be clearly articulated in the National Forest Programme which is not yetin place. This will involve the setting up of criteria and indicators for the latter.

• The State authority wing of the current Forestry Commission has four technical divisions (viz:Forestry Extension Services, Indigenous Resources, Research and Development and ForestryColleges); support services departments (finance, human resources and corporate planning) and asafari operation. The key functions of these divisions are as follows:• The Forestry Extension Services Division provides an advisory and regulatory service on all

forestry related matters in the country with emphasis on sound environmental management andimproved rural welfare.

• The Indigenous Resources Division manages and protects 800,000 ha of gazetted indigenousforests located on the fragile Kalahari sands of western Zimbabwe. This is done for the benefitof the ecosystem and the nation as a whole.

• The Research and Development Division is responsible for generating appropriate technologiesfor the exotic plantations (pines and eucalyptus) and indigenous forests. Such technologies areaimed at enhancing the contribution of the forestry sector to the national Gross DomesticProduct and at improving rural livelihoods and incomes on a sustained basis.• The Ngamo Safaris Division is responsible for the sustainable utilisation of the biodiversity

on gazetted forest areas through hunting safaris and photographic operations. The formerhas been performing reasonably well while the latter has been making losses largely dueto very low occupancy rates.

• The Forestry Colleges offer forestry and industrial oriented skills to the forestry sectorthrough certificate and diploma level training in forestry (from the Zimbabwe College ofForestry) and Wood technology and Saw doctoring (from the Forest Industries TrainingCentre, FITC). The latter was established as a Southern African Development Community(SADC) regional project in 1992 and was then handed over to the Government ofZimbabwe in 1998. FITC also runs a demonstration plant for training and incomegeneration. However, the plant’s capacity to generate revenue is limited by its structuralconfiguration which is skewed towards training. Consequently, it has been operating at aloss.

The foregoing divisions and units have an employee complement of 776. In order to reduce the salaryand wage bill and to streamline operations it is recommended that the four technical divisions bereduced to two, namely:• The Conservation and Extension Division combining the current Divisions of Indigenous

Resources and Forestry Extension Services; and,• The Research, Development and Training Division combining the current divisions of Research

30

and Development and Forestry Colleges.

The two new divisions will be headed by Deputy General Managers.

It is further recommended that:• Ngamo Safaris Division be incorporated into a company (wholly owned by the new Forestry

Commission) in order to increase its revenue generation capacity by facilitating: the hiring ofcompetent personnel, the engagement of a strategic marketing partner for the photographicoperation; and a reduction of bureaucracy in running the outfit.

• The FITC demonstration will still allow students to access the plant for training purposes, and thelessee to invest in the plant so that the operation becomes profitable.

The proposed amalgamation of technical divisions and the shedding off of the FITC demonstrationplant will reduce the organisation’s employee complement by 36%. The reductions will mostly affectsupport staff while the number of technical positions will largely remain the same. The current andproposed organograms are presented as Appendices 1 and 2. The proposed personnel reductions willreduce the current remuneration bill (including salaries and wages) by about 33%. However, therestructuring programme would cost the organisation a similar amount as indicated for the saving inretrenchment packages.

• It was noted that the revenue base of the new Forestry Commission is quite limited. However,opportunities to strengthen the current revenue sources and to bring in additional ones wereidentified. They include: charging a levy to the forestry industry; establishing strategic businessunits within the authority; recovering costs from certain services rendered; tapping into financingwindows of forestry related international conventions and agreements (eg, the Kyoto protocol) towhich Zimbabwe is a signatory; offering a consultancy service; and leasing land to the ForestryCompany of Zimbabwe. Such initiatives are expected to increase the organisation’s own revenuereceipts by about 60% within the two years. Although this figure is likely to increase as additionalrevenue sources come on stream in future, such incomes are unable to completely replace the needfor government funding.

• It was pointed out that the foregoing reorganisation of the technical divisions coupled withincreased own revenue inflows will considerably reduce the level of the government grant requiredby the organisation in future. Furthermore, a streamlined state forest authority will be able tocompetently translate and implement provisions of forestry related international conventions towhich Zimbabwe is a signatory. However, in order to reap the full benefits of the neworganisational structure and the broadened revenue base, there is need for an elaborate re-toolingexercise in the new Forestry Commission. To achieve this, the following initiatives arerecommended:

• Undertaking a needs assessment and a resource requirements analysis in the areas ofinformation technology, infrastructural development, capital requirements and capacity buildingin the key mandate areas. The consultancy established that the Forestry Commission iscurrently under capitalised and that most of its personnel will need some retraining in order toeffectively fulfil the mandate of the organisation. Key areas include community participation,shared forest management and team building.

31

• Development of project proposals and the mobilisation of resources to undertake the followinginitiatives:

• National Forest Programme development. This will help the new organisation develop avision for the country’s forestry sector and to articulate its role and that of other playersthrough a consultative process.

• Provision of incentives for sustainable forest management. This involves the developmentof resource and benefit sharing arrangements and the building of local level institutions.

• Development of a shared vision within personnel of the new Forestry Commission.

3.5 Institutional framework for wildlifeThe Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management (DNPWM) is the management andscientific authority for wildlife in the Parks and Wildlife Act. It manages wild fauna and flora withinthe wildlife estate which occupies some 13% of the country’s land area. The DNPWM falls under theMinistry of Environment and Tourism. As a way of boosting the department’s operational funds,government authorised it to retain the money it generates from various activities some two years ago.Such funds are normally sent to Treasury for nationwide allocation. Furthermore, plans are at anadvanced stage to run the department as a Statutory Fund. Apart from enhancing the revenue base, sucha move will enable the department to recruit and retain competent and qualified personnel. This isbecause as a semi-autonomous entity, the organisation will offer better conditions of service than thoseoffered by purely government departments.

Communities who include both the large scale commercial farmers running conservancies/gameranches and smallholder farmers involved in the Communal Area Management Programme forIndigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) programme are key players in sustainable wildlife managementin the country. The former have also been providing space for relocated animals such as the rhino fromthe Zambezi valley and offer the DNPWM opportunities to carry out research on their farms. Anumber of non governmental organisations (NGOs) also play central roles in wildlife managementthrough their support to the CAMPFIRE programme. The foregoing stakeholder institutions involvedin wildlife are linked through the services and facilities they offer. For example, the DNPWM sets outthe overall policies and controls on wildlife utilisation; offers opportunities to other stakeholders forresearch within the protected areas; and negotiates on the international flora (e.g. Convention onInternational Trade in Endangered Species, CITES) for wildlife product markets Universities offertrained manpower to organisations involved in wildlife. For example, a two year MSc Programme runby the University of Zimbabwe in Tropical Resources and Ecology was specifically designed to trainspecialised initiatives within the CAMPFIRE programmes. Such linkages will help achieve greatersynergy and efficiency within the wildlife sector in future.

SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter summarises options that can enhance the contribution of the forestry sector to sustainabledevelopment in Zimbabwe. This is achieved by addressing the internal and external pressures beingbrought to bear on the sector during the next twenty years.

Depletion of indigenous forests

About sixty percent of Zimbabwe is under various forest types while some heavily populated districtshave less than 30% cover. It is estimated that some 0.6% of the country’s indigenous forests are lostto agricultural expansion and other household uses such as energy supply, construction and food. In

32

fact the current demand for commercial indigenous hardwoods cannot be met from the local resourcealone. To address the problem of indigenous forest depletion the following recommendations are made:• Increasing the role and contribution of exotic plantations: Exotic plantations will increasingly

become important ion future as timber processing companies thrive to complement the decliningindigenous timber resource for their operations. However, since the area available for expandinglarge scale exotic timber production is limited, there is tremendous scope to engage communal andresettlement area farmers in exotic timber productions contract to large timber processingcompanies through outgrower schemes. This process has already started.

• Recognising and supporting the increasing importance of trees outside forests: With the expansionof the agricultural frontier into traditional forest areas, trees outside forests are increasinglybecoming important for the provision of timber and non-timber forest products and services at thelocal level. To address this problem, there is need to aggressively promote agroforestry andafforestation initiatives with emphasis on protected niches such as areas around the homestead,gardens and fields. The success of such moves will largely depend on adding value to non timberforest products and on improving their marketability in order to improve their competitive edge asa profitable land use system. It must, however, be noted that there is very limited data on the extentand state of these forests due to lack of information. Developing such a data base should be animportant entry point.

• Development of alternative energy sources: Sizable portions of indigenous forest areas are cut tomeet household energy needs especially in the communal and resettlement areas. To reduce thisover dependance on woodfuels there is need to intensify research into the development ofalternative and appropriate technologies such as solar energy which has largely remained untapped.

The communal land tenure system

The communal land tenure system that operates in communal and resettlement areas is a disincentiveto long term investment in natural resources such as forests largely due to lack of individualaccountability on the resource. The situation has been exacerbated by the erosion of powers of thetraditional leaders who used to oversee the observance of certain environmentally friendly resourcemanagement and utilisation regimes.

As a way of addressing the communal land tenure problem, emphasis should be placed on building andcapacitating local level institutions so that the community as a whole can take collective responsibilityover the communally owned resources. In this regard, the concept of Resource User Groups will haveto be strengthened and expanded. Once established, such groups are trained in leadership skills, by-lawinformation and technical aspects of forestry. Such skills and instruments are then locally used tomanage, protect and sustainably utilise the forest resource for the benefit of both the community andecosystem. The concept of Resource User Groups is already being implemented in some districts. Thisis going a long way into strengthening the enforcement of existing legislation which has hitherto beenrather weak.

Reduced government support for sustainable forest management

The economic reform programmes being implemented by government have led to a reduction in thefinancial and human resources being allocated to statutory agencies who regulate and advise on themanagement and utilisation of natural resources. Such a trend is likely to persist.

To address this problem, the following recommendations are made:• The Forestry Commission, the state forest authority, should be restructured into a leaner and more

efficient regulator and advisor in the forestry sector. This aspect is addressed later.

33

• Communities, especially those in the communal and resettlement areas should be given incentivesfor effective participation in the protection and management of forest resources. This can beachieved by promoting activities that increase rural incomes from forest resources. These includethe establishment of pole treatment tanks, beekeeping, craft production and the processing andcommercialisation of indigenous fruits. Communities can be enticed into these ventures by theprovision of a low interest revolving fund which can be administered at the village or district levels.The revolving fund concept is already being developed as a substitute to the support fund that usedto be given to communities in earlier reafforestation programmes. However, in order to legallyoperationalise this recommendation, there is need to revisit and amend the Communal Lands ForestProduce Act that restricts the exploitation of forest produce by communal and resettlement areainhabitants to “own use” and prohibits the sale or supply of any forest produce to any other person.The Resource User Group concept highlighted earlier can then be used as a vehicle to protect andsustainably utilise the resource.

• The private sector should be asked to fund specific aspects of plantation forestry development inwhich it derives a direct benefit. This has already started in research but needs strengthening.

• The Forestry Commission should forge strategic alliances with relevant government and nongovernment organisations operating at various levels in order to minimise duplication and reducecosts.

• The forestry sector should develop a strategy for accessing financial resources from forestry relatedinternational conventions and agreements to which Zimbabwe is a signatory.

Shifting from the protectionist approach to gazetted forest area management

Biodiversity conservation in the 800,000 ha of gazetted indigenous forest areas in the country is beingthreatened by neighbouring communal area inhabitants who illegally occupy or obtain timber and nontimber forest products from them. To address this problem, plans are under way to replace the colonialprotectionist approach to conserving these forests to one which considers communities living on the“forest edge” as partners in their conservation, management and utilisation. This is being pursuedthrough the development of resource and benefit sharing models and a new policy that reflects thispositive shift is being finalised. In addition to benefiting communities such a policy, once implemented,will reduce the cost of protecting and managing gazetted forest areas as such responsibilities will beeventually shared with the beneficiaries.

Forest resource assessment and evaluation

The forestry industry contributes 3% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product. However, this does notinclude benefits derived by the nation and communities from various timber and non timber forestproducts and services that are not captured in the national accounts despite their increasing importancein rural welfare. This is exacerbated by the lack of comprehensive information on the indigenous forestresource base. For example, no information exists on timber volumes by species and age class.Furthermore, the forests are not classified by the dominant species. Such information is critical for theidentification and subsequent economic evaluation of various timber and non timber products andservices that flow from the forests.

In view of the above, the following is recommended:• An evaluation of the biophysical status and economic value of forest resources. The latter helps to

establish the true contribution of forests to the national economy and can be used to lobby for morepublic sector support into the sector in future. On the other hand, biophysical assessments can assistin establishing the relative contribution of the country’s forests to carbon sequestration and to theecosystem in general.

34

• Given the increasing importance of non timber forest products and services, there is need to raisetheir profile and improve their contribution to rural incomes through value addition and thecommercialisation of the resultant products.

Expanding the formal timber market

The local timber market for exotics is likely to remain depressed for the foreseeable future. Consequently, in order to improve viability in this sector there is need to place emphasis on valueaddition for the export market to generate the much needed foreign exchange. To achieve this there isneed to invest in new product development and to upgrade the manufacturing and processing capacitiesof timber companies. The export market drive will also promote sustainable forest management byentrenching the certification process which has already been initiated in some indigenous forest areasand exotic plantation estates.

Capacity enhancement in the forestry sector

Given the increasing demands that will come to bear on the forestry sector during the next 20 years,there is need to enhance the resource base and product quality through appropriate research and humanresource development initiatives as follows:• Given the long gestation period and large fixed costs associated with most tree related research

initiatives, there is need to forge strategic alliances with other regional and international researchinstitutions and networks. Furthermore, there is need to establish criteria and indicators forsustainable forest management at various operational levels as a basis for monitoring progress.

• In the area of formal training, it is recognised that the country’s forestry colleges cannot survivefrom the local market alone given the small related size of the country’s forestry industry. To thisend, there will be need to aggressively market these excellent training facilities throughout theSouthern African Development Community (SADC) region. Getting an affiliate status with arenowned university can greatly improve the attractiveness of the training offered at these collegesregionally.

Apart from the formal training offered by the colleges, there is need for capacity building, through inservice training, in order to tackle the new challenges facing the forestry sector. These include thecurrent thinking to consider communities as partners in forestry development (through the devolutionof authority and management responsibilities) as opposed to the “command and control approach”.

Creation of an enabling institutional framework for forestry development

The hiving off of trading activities from the regulatory and developmental functions of the state forestauthority will enable the new Zimbabwe Forestry Commission to become only a referee and not aplayer in the forestry sector. Such a development, which is nearing completion, will help theCommission concentrate on vision setting and (through a National Forest Programme) the creation ofa conducive environment for the forestry sector to thrive. Furthermore, a streamlined state forestauthority with a broadened revenue base will be able to competently translate and implementprovisions of forestry related international conventions to which Zimbabwe is a signatory. The leanerorganisation will have to work very closely with local level institutions such as Resource User Groups(described earlier) and relevant government and non governmental organisations reduce transactioncosts and duplication.

With respect to wildlife, the imminent conversion of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife

35

Management into a Statutory Fund will help to boost revenue receipts for wildlife conservation,management and sustainable use. In addition, it will help the department to recruit and retainexperienced and qualified personnel.

---------------------------------