In the context of Namibia the comprehensive implementation of its forestry strategic plan started in earnest in 1997 through a historic partnership with the Government of Finland as a major donor. It is noteworthy that implementation started within 1 year of the approval of the strategic plan. Prior to 1994, there had only been patchy information on the extent and state of Namibia’s forest resources. The implementation of the national strategy has concentrated on the building of human capacity, gathering and managing information on forest resources, institutional reform and also bringing into operation, our strategy on community-based management of forests and the definition of nationally important forests outside existing protected areas, which have high conservation value. Linked to community based forest management is fire management in which emphasis has shifted from state-led fire control and suppression, to community-based fire prevention and pre-scribed fire use. Since the implementation programme of the strategy has been in existence for only 3 full years, it is not possible to clearly see what could be termed improvements on the conditions of forest resources. What is described herein are only the indications of what will have a positive influence on the conditions of forest resources.
As a forerunner to our strategy of community participation in forest management supported by our current forest bill, a number of community forest reserves have been identified.
In the next 5 years the number of such forests is expected to more than double and the ones listed here in Table 11, will be under formal management regimes since management planning for a number of them are underway.
In the Caprivi in the North Eastern part of Namibia the incidence of fires has been reduced significantly and the area that used to burn has been reduced by 40% since 1996 when the project started. As a result the conditions of the Kalahari and Mopane Woodlands are slowly improving in terms of biomass yields.
From the beginning of implementation of the plan, the Ministry has defined the criteria for identifying and selecting areas outside the current formal protected area network that have unique, ecologically or in a biodiversity sense, worthy of special management or protection. A national map of these areas and brief descriptions of the present status and conservation value has been prepared. Plans are underway for the Minister of Environment and Tourism to present the proposed areas to Cabinet for formal approval and further discussion before a formal declaration in a gazette is accomplished within the provisions of the new forest bill.
Though Namibia stands to gain more from managing its natural forests since planting is limited by its aridity, the Directorate of Forestry encourages planting of trees with immediate economic value. It is true that planting has increased but the plantings are so far, negligible, by the standards required of industrial plantations. Over the last 4 years, only a limited area of 300 ha has been planted. However more planting is expected of high value trees such as the fruit and nut marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea) and pole species such as Eucalyptus in response to demand for industrial marula oil and poles, respectively.
In the Caprivi a commercial company plans to develop a 3 000 ha plantation.
As of now it is still too early to relate our NFP activities to rates of deforestation. However, the Directorate of Forestry has probably had more publicity in the last 4 years than it did 25 years before that. Even though we do not have hard data, it appears that deforestation rates are stable at about 0.5% a year, which in the woodlands in northern parts and the acacia-dominated lands in central Namibia, translates to approximately between 80 000 to 100 00 hectares per year. Furthermore the creation of several community forest reserves has sprung from a general acknowledgement that deforestation is a threat. In a way, it is a rational assumption to claim that community forest reserves discourage the encroachment of forestlands.
|
Community forest reserve |
Area in ha |
Remarks |
|
Uukwaludhi / Uukolonkadhi (North West Namibia) |
200 000 |
The reserve has potential for wildlife conservation for tourism purposes, is currently important for supply of fuelwood, poles and a vital dry season grazing area. Sections of it have been set aside to demonstrate community-based management planning, with management by laws. |
|
Okongo Community Forest Reserve (North West) |
75 000 |
This area has timber, dry season grazing and browsing values. It also has a great eco-tourism area as soon as peace can be restored in Southern Angola. |
|
Ohepi |
60 000 |
The woodland provides poles, fuel wood and valuable grazing and browsing |
|
Rehoboth Acacia Park (90 km south of Windhoek) |
12 000 |
Has immense tourism and conservation value, being near the Capital City, and having very specimens of camel thorn (Acacia erioloba) trees on a floodplain |
|
Tsumkwe |
|
Indigenous fruits and nuts valued locally. Timber including substantial dry wood than can support a cottage industry to support the minority San Community |
|
Bukalo (North East) |
5,000 |
Has direct use values such as poles, fuel wood and grazing |
|
|
|
|
Fire Management
Fire management in the Caprivi Region has produced a number of benefits even if they have not been properly measured and judged to be significant. These are therefore early perceptions on the most plausible effects on fire management.
The quality and quantity of grazing have improved, especially in the managed areas with its possible positive effects on livestock health and production.
It has led to the restocking of a newly created community based wildlife conservancy by wild game species such as zebras, impala, ostriches and lions. These species have high tourism and trophy hunting values; both of which are the main income generating activities for which the conservancy owes its existence.
Valuable thatch grass, which is limited to a few species, has markedly increased in quantity in the Caprivi as a result of the reduction in rampant fires. The grass is exported to other regions of Namibia where numerous tourist lodges are constructed. It has really helped community members to value fire management and to guard against unplanned fires.
The current NFP did not create, but supports the current efforts to promote marula oil. In fact in the next 5-year development phase the Directorate will conduct trials in the vegetative propagation of marula, under our research and farm forestry programmes.
The supply of fuel wood to rapidly growing urban areas is now not currently well organized and often those who gain through wholesale and retail sales have no responsibility for protecting the resource against unsustainable exploitation. With the creation of community forest reserves fuel wood harvesting will be regulated in order to discourage unsustainable practices and enable income to accrue to community members rather than “fly-by-night” dealers.
The supply of timber has not improved except in the sense that the capacity to control illegal harvesting has improved. The capacity of the directorate to monitor the export of various wood and non-wood products has markedly improved as a result of a novel central permit system linked to two regional offices. The permit system does not allow the exportation of non value-added wood products except small quantities of fuel wood to South Africa.
Policy Changes
The national forest policy in use since 1992 was not the result of the National Forest Strategy, which was produced in 1996. It is however important to note that the 1992 policy was criticized for a number of its features even though it filled a huge colonial vacuum during which the forest sector was governed by a series of authoritative statements of experts without a comprehensive written policy which could be used to assess the performance of the government of the day. The policy of 1992 was quite conservation oriented and called for a politically sensitive case of additional land alienation for forestry and laid a lot of emphasis on government action without clear division of responsibility between the state and the local communities around which most forests exist. Despite mentioning community participation, it was unclear about it and sent confusing signals with its call for more forest reserves without adequately thought out strategies. Furthermore, its focus did coincide or conform to the major development objectives expressed in NDP1 and NDP2. In addition, the policy was weak on the more recent global policies and dialogue on forests starting form the Rio Earth Summit, which took place the same year the policy document was approved. In fact post-Rio global dialogue has presented a number of challenges that are now being taken up by individual countries and regional political and economic groupings. With all the above, it became necessary that the new forestry strategic plan make a recommendation to review the policy and make it more precise and more in tune with national development objectives, rural development and global environmental concerns, in which forests play a major and key role.
In 1998, new policy was drafted discussed and adopted by the Ministry in September of 2000. The policy has a number of features and is considered a major improvement over the one in 1992.
The aims of the revised policy of 2000 are as follows:
The sector will employ a multi-sector approach to planning especially at the regional levels and to seek official policy support from land use ministries at the national level.
Annual operations will be guided by mid-term strategic, and annual objectives as described before.
It will develop management plans recognized by stakeholder communities and local political bodies.
Support will be given to Non-Governmental and Community Based Organizations and the private sector involved in forestry.
Pilot projects, which prove to be successful such as the community based fire project in the Caprivi, will be replicated in other areas.
Special attention will be given to income generating projects to alleviate poverty and create employment.
Again the forest legislation that is in parliament originated from a process that started about 6 months before the strategic planning process started. It was however delightful that the two processes overlapped and the strategy made sure that it was in line with the progressive elements in the forest bill. For instance, the community based management of natural forests programme of the strategy is based on the legislation that will allow communities to identify an area of forests over which they have a traditional claim as a community forest reserve and will likewise have the right to receive revenues from any sales of forest produce from the same. This would have been impossible in the old forest act of 1968. In addition new issues such as the conservation of biological diversity are amply covered under the Environmental Forestry Programme of the strategy. The forest bill was adopted by its parent ministry in 1998, after almost two years of discussions and comments from stakeholders. Herein are the essential elements or provisions of the bill.
It calls for a forestry council to advise the Minister and Regional Forestry Councils as deemed necessary. The council will bring together the various interests of the land use sectors and traditional authorities in forest management.
It gives legal recognition to various classes of forests; state forest reserves, regional forest reserves, nature reserves, community forest reserves and forest management areas. This is a way to broaden the ownership of forest resources to reflect the broad interest in forest matters and the sharing responsibility in their management.
It recognizes sustainable forest management and stipulates the use of technically sound management plans for those who own forests and which to derive benefits from them.
It requires that the Directorate of Forestry compile a National Forest Inventory and requisite maps to provide data for policy, and management decision-making purposes at the national, regional and local levels.
It supports Environmental Protection and as an example, requires that Environmental Impact Assessments be done before the establishment of plantations and other activities that interfere with natural vegetation such as large-scale bush clearing activities.
It controls the commercial use of Forest Produce from all forests, in addition to the use of forestlands for non-forestry purposes. In this regard, it permits grazing on selected parts of forest reserves by way of a permit or license.
It provides for Forest and Fire Management Committees at the Regional level. In this regard the Minister can declare areas contiguous with forest areas as fire management areas. In addition, the minister is empowered to declare any land as a fire hazard area and can specify regulations to be followed to prevent un-prescribed burning and also to allow safe legitimate burning for purposes of land management. It empowers the Minister to appoint ‘honorary forest officers’, who could be members of the public and traditional leaders.
It has recommended a rigorous procedure to be followed before a classified forest area or land can be converted permanently to non-forest uses.
It specifies offences (section 34), the powers of forest officers (section 41, 42) and permits the Minister to confer powers on other government officers such as AWildlife Officers@, to inspect premises and arrest suspected transgressors.
An ordinary citizen may bring a lawsuit to require the enforcement of the act (section 48).
To enforce the law the Minister will gazette a set of regulations spelling the details of the legislation. The regulations cover tree harvesting, transport, export, fire management and control, wood processing and application forms for all forms of licenses and permits.
In conclusion, the forest bill allows the general public and local institutions to participate in forest management than was the case in the current two pieces of legislation.
Since the strategy was adopted its implementation looked at the improvement of the organisational efficiency of the forest administration. This entailed the defining of mid term strategic objectives coming out of the main strategic plan and a clear set of result areas and indicators, on the bases of which, performance of the sector would be assessed. Though this exercise is merely in its second full year of implementation it is a worthwhile system in performance management in the forest sector.
Linked to the performance is the gradual adoption of criteria and indicators, which is also going to be used to assess the sectors performance and also to highlight the often hidden or unrecognised contribution of the sector to the national economy. This is a crucial point.
The national strategy also recommended the making priority choices in forest research. So far a report on forest research priorities has been produced and a forest research networking strategy is planned for immediate implementation. However research has lagged due to lack of capacity and the time it takes to develop researchers in-house. It can however be appreciated that current and planned research programmes on the propagation and promotion of indigenous fruits fit quite well with the national strategy of poverty reduction and creation of employment.
It is quite clear that a lot still needs to be done in research on dry zone afforestation, fire management, ecology of dry forests, use of lesser known species, to mention a few.
In education, the strategy has led directly to the development of local diploma level training in forestry. The first graduates of the programme will come out in 2001. This will definitely boost the capacity of the forest service, especially with the new policy of decentralisation which requires a massive deployment of skilled personnel who are able to work with much less supervision from the central government as is the case today. It is also delighting to note that students are exposed to the national strategy while still in college and also as newly recruited officers when they go through the induction course.
Through the institutional capacity building programme of the forestry strategy, the government in conjunction with Finland has mounted a large formal forestry education scholarships at the under and postgraduate levels. The results of this training are likely to have a positive impact on the performance of the forest service.
The community based management of forests programme has an intrinsic extension component since we have to deal directly with rural farmers. A perfect example of this is the integrated fire management project in the Caprivi Region in North-eastern Namibia, which has proved quite successful in raising public awareness on the dangers of unplanned fires and has actually reduced the incidence of fires in the region.
It is however still a fact that Namibia is far from building enough experience and a set of strategies for forestry extension in the short time since independence and also since the implementation of the national strategy began in 1997.
The current process of decentralisation does not owe itself to the forest strategy. It stemmed from the overall policy of the government to devolve more power to the regional and local governments. In this, the forest service has already drawn up a strategy in readiness for the process. This will be helped greatly by the fact that the forest service, though centrally planned and controlled, has a network of offices in each of the 13 political regions o f the country, each under a District Forest Officer. These political regions are clustered together and supervised by senior forest officers, designated as Chief Foresters. On the event of full decentralisation, the central forestry office will give up all the offices under district forest officers but will retain the offices of Chief Foresters to aid in supervising planning and implementation of forestry programmes in political regions. In addition it will retain all the research stations. Policy, legislation and sourcing of funds for development programmes will also remain under central control.
Policy and institutional responses in other sectors
Since forestry training is undertaken under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture, the forest sector is slowly, getting recognized by the ministry of agriculture. Historically it is under this same ministry that forestry was relegated to a tiny division that was totally ineffective to meet the needs of the communal areas in which most forest resources are to be found. It is also from agricultural activities that the majority of the loss of total forest cover is often attributed. It is therefore an important issue to the sector that forestry training which has been ratcheted up within the forest strategy is getting recognized in the agricultural sector and that students of agriculture are exposed to forestry teaching.
There is also a slow but pleasing recognition of “veld foods” by the agricultural sector. This is partly due to the fact that wild foods in the form of nuts and fruits contribute to “food security”, a development theme in which the Ministry of Agriculture is a major player. To this extent agriculture is now co-ordinating an indigenous fruits project in which forestry is expected to play a role in propagation and improvement work.
Because the ministry of lands was represented in our strategic planning process, forestry as a form of lands use is now recognized in the lands sector and it is most likely that the forest sector will be represented in the regional land boards to be constituted upon the adoption of the new communal land bill.
Namibia through its ministry of energy drew up a new energy policy, which among other things plans to exploit available deposits of natural gas in Southern Namibia and wind energy from the windy coastline and solar power from its abundant solar radiation. In addition it has created a body to co-ordinate the sustainable use of biomass energy in which the forest sector is represented. Wind energy and the proposed hydroelectric plants in the north will feed more power into the national grid and with it make it more abundant and cheaper than imported power in the long run.
In effect, the exploitation and promotion of gas and electric energy is likely to have positive implications to forest management since more affluent people are likely to shift to gas and electricity. This is what is likely to happen especially in the northern urban areas where wood fuels are used by a majority of Namibians.
Notably the draft environmental management bill recognizes sustainable use of natural resources but has also specifically put restrictions on forestry development, especially industrial plantation development without the authority of an environmental impact assessment. This is out of the global fear among environmentalists, of the negative ecological effects that large plantations may have.
Impact on economic and social development changes
In this regard it is sufficient to state that the strategic plan was shaped by national development objectives. In implementing the strategy for forestry, it has become clear that the survival of the sector will depend on its response to public opinion and its need for employment, income generation, redistribution of wealth and greater governance by local communities of their natural resources.
The forest sector has responded to global forestry policies by considering conservation of biological diversity, climate change, desertification within the framework of sustainable forest management. The national strategy has made it easy to adopt these global policies and conventions into operational planning.
Nationally the forestry strategy was developed within the framework of national development objectives as was contained in Namibia’s first national development paper, the National Development Plan Number One (NDP1) and has responded positively to issues of socio-political and economic change such as:
The major policy change by the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation to recognize group or communal tenure over land and its resources is not only consistent with, but also beneficial to our programme on community based forest management and is already having a big impact on community based wildlife conservancies.
It is also imminent that a new national policy on wildfires will be formulated based on efforts in the integrated fire management project being implemented today. This could also be considered a response by the NFP to needs in the management and protection of natural resources.
It is rather too early to describe new policy tools that have been based on Namibia’s forestry strategy. However a few tools have emerged but are very much in their early stages:
Perception of forestry by policy makers
On the positive side, it is evident that since 1995 with the review of the forest legislation and 1996 during the cross-sector consultative meetings in aid of strategic planning, the forest sector in this country has continued to enjoy unprecedented publicity in the electronic and print media. Political and media concerns on deforestation in some areas in Northern Namibia have brought the forest sector into sharp focus among policy makers and especially leading politicians. However the public expectations from the sector is often biased towards tree planting and the development of industrial plantations. While this is valid, it does tend to remove the responsibility of public to value and participate in the protection and management of indigenous forests and woodlands that are best suited to survive under Namibia’s arid conditions. In fact, Namibia’s aridity is why it does not have enormous afforestation projects that the political leadership would like to see. The forest service is therefore under pressure to plant trees to get political legitimacy and at the same time protect the woodlands, which have significant ecological and direct economic value to Namibia.
The policy makers of this country have however recognized
the importance of the forest sector, the recent pleasing trend of capacity
building in the technical and professional cadres implemented under the national
forestry strategy. The recent devastating wildfires in the commercial farming
regions of Namibia have also highlighted the national role that the forest
service can play in the livestock industry through the protection of pastures
from fires and the promotion of prescribed burning.
Changes in the perception of other sectors towards forestry
This is probably where the forest sector has the greatest hurdle it needs to overcome in order to achieve meaningful cross-sector collaboration in the achievement of forestry’s objectives. Even though it is true that the strategic planning process raised awareness of other sectors since a number were represented, this has not translated in any significant way to real policy changes from other sectors. There are only a few examples of changes that can be mentioned herein.
The National Planning Commission by virtue of having participated in our planning process has given a lot of recognition to the forest sector and is sensitive to its plight. In general this commission has a healthy attitude towards the forest sector and has tended to support requests for Government Funding for both recurrent and development work.
The Ministry of Agriculture has recently responded positively by recognizing indigenous fruit tree production as a legitimate food security source. They still have to respond to major issues such as fire management as a range or pasture management issue. The sector also tends to have no qualms about converting large areas of forestland to agricultural use, even when such conversion is not done in ways that area environmentally sound.
The Ministry of Lands has made a rather remarkable policy change in that it recognizes the forest sector as an important member in their proposed local bodies to be known as Land Use and Environmental Boards, which will have the power to plan and adjudicate land.
Support for forestry activities
The national strategy has encouraged the participation of community groups in forest management in the same way that wildlife conservancies have done so by conferring rights to forest resources. However, because the densities of commercial timber species is low the levels of new and direct economic benefits is much lower than that for wildlife conservancies. This is because the use values of forest resources may be high but taken for granted by community members and policy makers alike. However the creation of community forest reserves and fire control activities arising out of the forestry strategy has increased the level of participation of communities.
A few non-governmental organisations are more actively involved in non-wood products marketing and are partly supported by our strategy. However, it is difficult to claim their origins from the national forestry strategy.
What is abundantly clear from our national strategy is that it has formed a systematic basis for increased donor funding and it is on the basis of it that the forest sector has mounted unprecedented levels of institution building and human capacity building.
Evidently there is more work that needs to be done to encourage this more deliberately.
It is quite likely that our idea to support income generation in the next National Development Plan (NDP2) from 2001 to 2005 will greater participation of the private sector, non-governmental organisations and women’s and other resource user groups. In particular, plans to support the arts and crafts industry will target wood carvers and weavers groups.
By way of introduction investment in the forest sector in Namibia is limited by a number of factors
The absence of industrial plantations has not supported an internal processing industry. It is however possible that Namibia can produce its own treated poles for its large demand for fencing livestock and game ranches. Most of these can be grown in the form of woodlots and small plantations by the private sector and government.
The traditional concentration on only one major timber species has meant that large stocks of Pterocarpus angolensis were exploited over the last century and the current quantities are low in density and often expensive to log and transport to the mills. In addition, government in the past erected huge capacity mills, which could not be sustained by a single species.
The lack of technology to utilize lesser others and the huge amounts of biomass carried by encroaching bush is yet another problem. Namibia has the potential to produce high quality flooring material from alternative species such as Burkea africana, and Biakieae plurijuga but has yet to exploit this as is happening in neighbouring countries.
The weakly developed markets for non-wood forest products have also been a major factor when in actual fact there is good potential in products such as oil from marula kernels and mangeti nuts and others. It is delightful that something is happening in this regard.
Namibia has so far failed to use its relatively healthy balance-of-payments situation to be an importer of raw materials for manufacture and re-export when it is in a position to do so. South Africa has been particularly successful in doing this and yet Namibia is much closer to producers of high value hardwoods than South Africa.
The current levels of investments in the forest sector are first and foremost, dominated by the public sector and for a good reason. The government felt that it was its responsibility to restore or rehabilitate an environment that had been marred by deforestation, and was naturally arid as to require amelioration to make it more habitable. It can therefore be claimed that the revival of the forest sector by the creation of a full directorate of forestry was motivated more by environmental and amenity concerns rather than the direct economic benefits of wood products sold directly in the market. It has also followed that criticism of the sector’s performance has been related to what appears to be the lack of massive tree planting and greening of the environment in general. Hence the public sector has had to invest in infrastructure such as offices, training and forest development projects generally qualifying as community based.
The level of public investments from both within and outside the state revenue fund is tabulated herein.
Table. 12. Donor funding of the forestry sector
|
Project |
Country |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
Total, N$ |
|
National Remote Sensing Centre |
Denmark |
750,000 |
750,000 |
750,000 |
750,000 |
|
|
|
|
3,000,000 |
|
Vegetation Mapping |
Sweden |
1,180,250 |
1,180,250 |
1,180,250 |
1,180,250 |
|
|
|
|
4,721,000 |
|
Institutional Strengthing |
Finland |
683,333 |
683,333 |
683,333 |
683,333 |
|
|
|
|
4,100,000 |
|
Forest Invenytory |
Finland |
|
|
1,650,000 |
1,650,000 |
|
|
|
|
3,300,000 |
|
Forest Fire Control |
|
|
|
|
900,000 |
|
|
|
|
900,000 |
|
National Tree Seed Centre |
Canada |
|
400,000 |
400,000 |
400,000 |
400,000 |
400,000 |
400,000 |
400,000 |
2,800,000 |
|
Forest Research and Development |
United Kingdom |
|
877,500 |
877,500 |
877,500 |
877,500 |
|
|
|
3,510,000 |
|
Kavango Forestry Support |
Luxemburg |
|
423,000 |
423,000 |
423,000 |
423,000 |
|
|
|
1,692,000 |
|
Support to Forestry Sector |
Australia |
|
|
500,000 |
500,000 |
500,000 |
|
|
|
1,500,000 |
|
North Central Community Forestry |
Denmark |
|
|
|
|
2,255,000 |
2,255,000 |
2,255,000 |
|
6,765,000 |
|
Voluntreer Services to Forestry |
German |
|
|
1,260,000 |
1,260,000 |
1,260,000 |
1,260,00 |
|
|
5,040,000 |
|
Namibia-Finland Forestry Programme |
Finland |
|
|
|
|
12,000,000 |
12,000,000 |
12,000,000 |
12,000,000 |
48,000,000 |
|
Community Foresrtry in North East Namibia |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,340,000 |
1,030,000 |
2,370,000 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
85,328,000 |
It is evident that more private investment in the forest sector occurred prior to the development of Namibia Forestry Strategic Plan in 1996. This was mainly in the form of sawmills in West Tsumkwe and another one, which operated a government owned sawmill in Rundu, Kavango Region. Both of these firms had furniture-making concerns in Windhoek. However due to mismanagement and compe tition from South Africa these firms have since then folded.
Since then, more private investment has been made in the charcoal manufacturing industry. This again has been frustrated by management and product certification requirements in European markets.
The only notable investment in recent years has been the wood-manufacturing factory in the Caprivi Region at a cost of US 2 millions. A veneer mill based on imported is planned at the coastal export processing zone and the initial investment cost will not be less than US $ 5.0 millions, with annual operational costs being about one half of that.
With special attention to the private sector, the forestry strategy has not made a significant change. The levels of investments are shown in chapter 3 of this report.
It is evident that more could be done in the forest sector by way of private sector involvement. In our forestry outlook paper we have envisaged the following.
Reconstituted wood products are a definite investment area using encroaching bush and new or improved technology. During NDP2 the forest sector will prepare a series of policy position papers it wishes to share with the private sector and relevant government ministries. It has a good potential for growth and employment creation.
If the number of species that can be commercially utilized increases investment opportunities will be created. In this regard trees species such as Burkea africana, which are currently not commercially exploited, can be used to produce high quality wood for “parquet flooring”. Namibia has substantial quantities of the species to make it a viable small-scale industrial targeting the local market.
The charcoal industry has the potential to double its output and could gain from recent technologies in making briquettes and the manufacture of industrial carbon, provided that certification does not become a trade barrier. Already the forest service is supporting charcoal exporters and manufacturers to respond to certification requests.
Namibia’s proximity to less industrialized but forest-rich neighbours such as Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo makes it possible for Namibia to create value-added wood-based industries, such as the planned veneer plant at Walvis Bay.
Investment in cottage industries such as processing of oil from tree nuts and the improvement of art and crafts can be viable economic activities that will be pursued.
The facts so far, indicate that not much has been done and achieved in terms of private sector investment under the current strategy or national forest programme. However it is expected that this will pick up as the implementation of the national programme goes into the second national development period (NDP2, 2001 – 2005).
Before the implementation of the forestry strategy Namibia had only 3 people qualified at the professional levels and even then none had a forestry qualification. The Namibians were either specialized in botany or wood science. These were assisted by 5 nationals who had been trained at the technical level in segregated schools in South Africa. In addition, they had never been exposed to planning and supervisory duties. In 1992 and 1993, 3 people were sponsored to go for further studies at the degree or undergraduate level.
Just before and after the development of a national strategy or programme, several positive things have happened as far as institutional capacity is concerned.
The Directorate of Forestry has run an exemplary staff-training scheme in government, which has stressed the need to select people on merit to proceed for further studies, in order to build a professionally and technically competent work force. In this regard several staff members have been sent abroad for further training.
In the recent past an induction programme has been introduced to prepare newly trained staff to be acquainted with the missions, visions and values of the forest service. In addition to this, they are exposed to the elements of the strategic plan, mid-term strategic objectives and the philosophy of result oriented operational planning and monitoring concepts.
Planning is being done systematically and clear result areas and indicators are defined from the office of the director to the district forest officer, so that each level can see how they contribute to the achievement of defined strategic objectives. A management reporting system as part of a newly development management information system (MIS) helps in monitoring the achievement of annual objectives on a quarterly basis.
There is an annual planning session for all staff to review annual objectives and operational plans.
There has been a rapid development of regional offices, which have been equipped with communication facilities to improve the outputs or productivity of the offices.
The levels of Namibians that have been trained as a result of the new strategy are as presented in Table 14.
|
Level of Training |
Number |
Status |
Other Remarks |
|
Diploma (technician training) |
8 |
Completed |
1 drop out |
|
|
10 |
In training |
|
|
Undergraduate (BSc degree training) |
4 |
Completed |
|
|
Undergraduate |
7 |
In training |
|
|
Postgraduate Training (MSc) |
6 |
Completed |
|
|
MSc |
1 |
In training |
|
|
Level of Training |
Number Today |
Other Remarks |
Number in 1994 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
PhD |
1 |
Director |
2; 1 Director 1 Deputy Director (Deceased) |
|
MSc |
9 |
3 in research 1 in inventory 4 in remote sensing 1 in administration |
2 |
|
BSc |
8 |
1 in administration 5 field officers 2 in remote sensing |
2 |
|
Diploma |
14 |
Field officers |
6 |
|
Ranger certificate |
18 |
Field officers |
4 |
Research capacity
As said earlier, Namibia’s research capacity is still limited and the 3 newly trained MSc holders require mentoring and more experience in proposal writing, execution and scientific reporting, not to mention a deeper grasp of researchable issues. A proposal has been prepared to do exactly that and it is hoped that the research institution can twin with a more advanced institution to realize its objectives.
Capacity of other stakeholders
Today Namibia has some capacity among non governmental organisations to run community forestry programmes by virtue of the current and topical interest in the decentralisation of power to local institutions to enable them to manage their natural resources.
The implementation of our community-based management of forest resources has greatly spurred interest and we are slowly but surely building experience in diverse cultures in northern Namibia in forest management. The community-based fire management programme is another example where not only the capacity of the directorate of forestry, but that of participating communities have been improved and we are now moving into the practice of pre-scribed burning. These initiatives have their origins from the national strategy.
Our support to charcoal exporters in the certification process has also improved their appreciation that encroaching bushes can be managed as a crop using sustained yield concepts and through this, we have forged a useful partnership with a rather conservative lot of farmers.
The whole strategy was planned with cross-sector participation
and in pursuing our objectives through field programmes we are consciously
applying the concept of cross-sector collaboration. This is however made difficult
by the fact that most forest products used by people are not commercially
traded. Hence, the economic imperative for sufficient cross-sector participation
in forestry development is often low right from planning to implementation.
It is however apparent that as the service becomes larger, more publicly known
and staffed with well qualified Namibians, the recognition of the service
will give it a more persuasive case to warrant more practical attention of
current and potential collaborators.
Efficacy of the NFP process in encouraging inter-sectoral discussion and integrated planning
Even though there is more to be done with regard to integrated planning a few examples have come out the present national forestry programme.
Through our environmental forestry programme in which we have proposed several areas of conservation interest and which also have the potential to be added to the national protected area network, we have involved the National Biodiversity Task Force and private consultants in the process. Because of that forestry is now a recognized player in this regard.
Forestry’s role as a player in environmental monitoring using remote sensing technology has made it a key member of the desertification control body at the national level. It is notable that this has stemmed out of our capacity building work, which has staffed the National Remote Sensing Centre with qualified Namibian Staff.
It is also imminent that soon forestry will be a leading player in National Fire Policy discussions. This also has the potential to lead to a new national wildfire code such as the one in South Africa to give coverage to fires in forestry and livestock areas and fire in general.
Since the implementation of the national forestry
strategy or programme is merely in its fourth year, it has not even been fully
implemented. To date we have to realize our major objectives such as capacity
building, streamlining organizational and adminsitrative procedures, establishing
a network of strategic forests, establishing a network of community forest
reserves and enhancing community and private sector participation and adopting
a system of national criteria and indicators for SFM in the Namibian Context.
It is likely that progress in these programmes, will be made within the next
5 to 8 years, especially by the end of NDP2. Because of these reasons, it
has not been necessary to consider making changes or modifying the strategy.
It is however pertinent that the forest service have the capacity to make
changes and regularly update the national forestry programme or strategy as
discussed in the next subsection. To date, there are only a few issues to
which the national forest programme or strategy has responded. These are,
the policy of decentralization, and renewed calls for poverty
reduction strategies by all sectors of government during NDP2. Forestry
has responded to these without any problems since they are in any case consistent
with the philosophies behind our community based forest management and farm
forestry programmes.
Capacity to regularly update NFP in response to changes
As was stated before the forest service has adopted a system of planning by way of mid-term strategic objectives, in which clearly defined result areas and indicators are used as guidelines to performance. In this system, officers on an annual basis review the achievements and failures of the previous year’s plans. In doing so, themes or activities requiring new or further emphasis are brought up and in some cases adopted in the next year’s plan of action, meaning that annual objectives are modified to reflect changes.
It is expected that the capacity to update the NFP will be markedly improved when the MIS is fully operational and also with the setting up of a fulltime management planning unit which will advice management on issues that we must consider in drawing up management plans of community forest reserves. As the capacity of management improves in policy analysis and strategic thinking a policy review committee will be formed within the Directorate of Forestry to give inputs through a National Forestry Council which is provided for in the new Forest Bill to effect changes at the national level.
With respect to the above two issues, it is necessary that a full review of the strategy is done at least ten years after its implementation to really take stock of achievements and relevance of the current national programme or strategy. This could roughly coincide with the end of NDP2 would come soon after a national testing of the Criteria and Indicator on the whole of the forest sector.
