Commonwealth Forests 2010 an Overview of the Forests and Forestry Sectors of the Countries of the Commonwealth
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Commonwealth Forests 2010 An overview of the forests and forestry sectors of the countries of the Commonwealth Commonwealth Forestry Association he African Development Bank (AfDB) has, since the late 1970s, supported forestry interventions in its Regional TMember Countries (RMCs). A policy, guiding lending to ...at work the sector, has been in place since 1994 and focus has been on arresting deforestation and ecological degra dation; promoting sustainable production of timber and non-timber forest products to meet local, national and international requirements; and, more recently, addressing the global issue of climate change. Dr Donald Kaberuka, President of The AfDB seeks to promote sustainable the African Development Bank. econo mic growth and reduce poverty on the continent, and the forestry sector is an important contributor in achieving these goals. Through its efforts to prioritise projects and programmes that promote national and regional cooperation, there are new initiatives encouraging countries to work together where trans-boundary forest resources require joint management action. The Congo Basin Forest Fund (CBFF) is one such initiative. Ten Central African countries are collaborating to address critical conservation and sustainable forest management in the Congo Basin. Forestry is closely linked to agriculture, food security and sustainable water resources management. These are critical issues in many of the Bank’s regional member countries. To date, the Bank has made significant investments in these sectors and remains committed to providing further support to its RMCs. Increasingly, climate change is becoming a major threat to sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. This could, ultimately, threaten political stability in some regions as competition over available natural resources increases. Africa is still highly dependent on fuelwood and charcoal as sources of energy and there are no obvious alternatives in the short term. This dependency will continue to exert enormous pressure on forest resources. Addressing this challenge requires both supply-side and demand-side interventions. While more plantations for fuelwood supply will be required, it is clear that more efficient technologies for using biomass will also be required. In addition, adoption of The The AfricanDevelopment Bank various renewable energy options is imperative in order to meet increasing energy demand. In most AfDB regional member countries, the forestry sector has been adversely affected by increasing population growth, weak ...atforestry institutions; andwork significant social, economic and political demands on forest resources. Conflicts and wars have, in some regions, created favourable conditions for illegal exploitation and destruction of ecosystems, exacerbated by the influx of refugees. Private sector operators continue to plunder forest resources with out regard to environmental conservation and resource sustainability. Concessions and license holders need to be regulated and encour- aged to adopt efficient extraction and utilisation technologies as well as sustainable forest management principles. Furthermore, they should be encouraged to be responsive to the social needs of affected communities as part of their corporate social responsibilities. Many governments lack financial resources and the technical knowhow needed to implement cutting-edge forestry operations and projects. For countries that are well endowed with forest resources, high indebtedness tends to encourage some of them to overexploit their resource base in order to expand their current income streams. In others, poverty has led to encroachment on the forests for food production. It is imperative that the institution’s regional member countries and their development partners work together to ensure that poverty reduction interventions meet environmental sustainability criteria. Financing and technical capacities for the sector should also be enhanced. Other sectoral interventions such as agriculture, infrastructure and irrigation should complement forestry sector investments to ensure sustainability. Lastly, the Bank has noted emerging positive trends in the sector in some of its regional member countries. Such countries have reorganised their forestry institutions and reformed their forestry policies and laws to make them more responsive to current challenges. Many of them are delegating greater roles and responsibilities to local communities and the private sector in the management of their forestry resources. A greater appreciation of the global values of forests is also observable. Against this background, the AfDB is optimistic about the sector’s future. The Bank is committed to working with other development partners to ensure the The AfricanDevelopment Bank sustainable management of Africa’s forests. Canadian Forestry Schools University of Toronto, Faculty of Forestry o ers: • PhD and MScF graduate programs, and University of British Columbia, Faculty • a unique 16-month Master of Forest of Forestry, in addition to MSc MASc MF and Conservation (MFC) program PhD Programs UBC o ers Bachelor of Science degree • The Faculty of Forestry in collaboration with the programs in: Faculty of Arts and Science, o ers Specialist, Major • BSc Natural Resources Conservation and Minor options within bachelors programs (BSc • BSc Forest Sciences in Forest Conservation Science and BA in Forest • BSF Forest Resources Management Conservation), and • BSF Forest Operations • Major and Minor options within a BSc in Forest • BSc Wood Products Processing Biomaterial Science www.forestry.ubc.ca www.forestry.utoronto.ca rest Scien Fo ce of & l M University of Alberta, o o a h n c a g S a e t m r Faculty of Agriculture, e e n b l t University of Northern British Columbia A Forestry and Home College of Science and Management o ers nine Economics o ers BSc programs in: undergraduate programs including four-year BSc • Natural Resources Management with a major degrees in: in Forestry (majors in Wildlife and Fisheries and • Forestry outdoor Recreation are also available) • Forest Business Management (o ered jointly with • MSc and PhD degree programs in Natural the School of Business) Resources and Environmental Studies • Environmental and Conservation Sciences www.unbc.ca/csam/ • Combined BSc degree in Environmental Conservation Sciences/BA in Native Studies ( ve years) www.afhe.ualberta.ca La Faculté de foresterie, de géographie et Lakehead University Faculty of Forestry de géomatique de and the Forest Environment o ers: l’Université Laval o re des programmes uniques • Honours Bachelor of Science in Forestry (HBScF) en français en Amérique du Nord : • Honours Bachelor of Environmental Studies (Forest • BScA en aménagement et environnement forestiers Conservation) (BES) • BScA coopératif en opérations forestières • Master of Science in Forestry (MScF) • BIng coopératif en génie du bois • Master of Forestry (MF) • MSc en agroforesterie, sciences du bois et sciences • PhD (Forest Sciences) forestières www.lakeheadforestry.ca • PhD en sciences du bois et sciences forestières www. gg.ulaval.ca University of New Brunswick, Faculty of Forestry and Environmental La Faculté de foresterie de l’Université Management o ers: de Moncton, Campus d’Edmundston, o re : • Degree programs in Forestry (BScF) and Forest • un programme de baccalauréat Engineering (BScFE) • de maîtrise en sciences forestières • Co-op terms www.umce.ca/foresterie • Grad programs leading to MScF, MF, MScFE, MFE and PhD degrees www.unb.ca/forestry/ Support provided by Natural Resources Canada’s Canadian Forest Service a4 ad.indd 1 11/25/09 9:37:37 AM Commonwealth Forests 2010 An overview of the forests and forestry sectors of the countries of the Commonwealth Copyright © Commonwealth Forestry Association 2010. The entire content of this publication is protected by copyright, full details of which are available from the publisher. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval systems or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Published by: Commonwealth Forestry Association The Crib Dinchope Craven Arms Shropshire SY7 9JJ England E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: +44 (0)1588 672868 Facsimile: +44 (0)870 0116645 Website: www.cfa-international.org ISBN 978-0-9557113-1-2 The cover pictures are of the Iwokrama Forest in Guyana (upper) and Cathedral Grove, a Coastal Douglas Fir forest on Vancouver Island in Canada (lower). Contents CFA message from hrh The Prince of Wales 6 2.2 Area and Change in Extent of Primary Forest, 1990-2010 147 Foreword by Dr mark Collins 8 2.3 National Importance of Forest Ecological Zones 149 Introduction 9 2.4 Change in Extent of Forest, 1990-2010 150 2.5 Planted Forests, 1990-2010 151 Acknowledgements 12 2.6 Forest ownership, 2005 153 Annex 3: Management and Conservation 156 Glossary 13 3.1 management of the Production, Tropical Permanent Forest Estate, 2005 156 Chapter 1: The Forest resource 16 3.2 management of the Protection, Tropical By Jim Ball Permanent Forest Estate, 2005 156 3.3 Commonwealth member Countries of Chapter 2: Sustainable Forest management 32 International Processes on Criteria and By Jim Ball Indicators for Sustainable Forest management 157 3.4 Commonwealth Countries with some Chapter 3: Benefits from the Forest 54 Forests under Certification Schemes 157 By Gary Q. Bull, Steven Northway and Jim Ball 3.5