African forests between nature and livelihood resources

Balancing between conservation and development needs

Mirjam A.F. Ros-Tonen & Ton Dietz; Lecture Mirjam Ros at Rhodes University Grahamstown, South Africa; January 2006

The dilemma

Africa has lost 5.3 million hectares of forest between 1990-2000 (FAO 2001) – an area about the size of France

315 million people – half of the people in Sub- Saharan Africa – survive on less than one dollar per day (World Bank 2003)

> 70% of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa is rural and depends on forests and woodlands for its livelihood (World Bank 2002)

Forests need to be conserved for ecological reasons, because they…

play a mitigating role in climate change through carbon sequestration

are gene pools and a source of biodiversity protect the soils are important watersheds and regulate water flows

BUT: Forests are also an important source of livelihood for

millions of poor people (safety net / poverty alleviation)

Can conservation and forest-related livelihoods go together?

Livelihoods and deforestation: no uniform relationship Forest-expanding livelihood components (LCs):

agroforestry, sylvo-pastoralism, forest enrichment Forest-stabilising LCs: collection of forest produce Forest-transforming LCs: monoculture commercial tree

plantations (for timber, oil, cocoa, etc.) Forest-threatening LCs: overexploitation of NTFPs and

fuelwood, uncontrolled fires, unsustainable tourism Forest-destroying LCs: crop cultivation, mixed farming

systems, mining, human settlements

Forest tolerant or destructive livelihoods?

Depends on: Type of LCs (c.f. hunting/gathering vs. farming) Combination of LCs (e.g. hunting/gathering + logging) Degree of integration into commercial networks Population pressure Environmental shocks (prolonged droughts, crop

failures)

NO UNIFORM APPROACH TO RECONCILE

CONSERV. GOALS & LIVELIHOOD NEEDS

Matching conservation & development

Several approaches: Transition zone management Integrated Conservation and Development Projects

(ICDPs) Community-based conservation Participatory resource management Adaptive or negotiated management Commercial extraction of NTFPs

Lessons learned (1)

Prior to establishing conservation areas: - know how local people use natural resources- know their role in shaping the ecosystem

Sustainable resource use requires:- secure tenure arrangements- recognition of customary land rights

Pro-poor conservation is about rights and obligationsThis requires negotiation between stakeholders - about land-use planning- about controlled forest (land) use

Lessons learned (2)

A fair distribution of costs & benefits requires:

- a careful stakeholder analysis

- awareness that communities are not homogenous Integrating conservation & development requires

effective coordination between conservation programmes & pro-poor policy actions

Formal/modern and informal/traditional governance forms should be recognised and integrated (‘neo-African governance’)

Integration of local knowledge, skills & institutions

Promising trends (1) Multi-sector/multi-scale partnerships for conservation & Sustainable forest use. Examples:

Central African Regional Programme for the Environment (CARPE)

Forest Coffee Conservation and Business Development Project (Kafa zone, Ethiopia)

Promising trends (2):

Neo-African governance

Example:

Loita forest, Kenya

Policy recommendations National sovereignty; global watch dogs Decentralised forest governance (but central government

remaining responsible for law enforcement) Better coordination between various institutions dealing

with conservation and natural resource management Promoting local platforms Stakeholder analysis & entitlement approach Capacity building, empowerment, awareness raising at

local level Proper compensation mechanisms for excluded people

Conclusions In addition to ecological services Africa’s forests play an

important role as resources for people’s livelihoods There will be growing pressure on African forests

(HIV/AIDS, population pressure, increasing urbanisation, growing demand for forest products, climate change)

New institutional arrangements are needed for pro-poor conservation strategies, based on:- multi-sector / multi-scale partnerships- amalgation of traditional and modern governance forms

There are promising examples but claims that a lot has been achieved are based on a romantic illusion!