Africa^1,2

¹ Included in the region are all countries listed in the following sub-regions: west Sahelian Africa, east Sahelian Africa, west moist Africa, Central Africa, tropical southern Africa, Insular East Africa, North Africa, non-tropical southern Africa. See Table 1 of Annex 3 for country listings of sub-regions.

² Unless otherwise stated, all data on forest cover and forest products cited are from FAO databases; Forest Resources Assessment and the FAO Yearbook of Forest Products.

Forest resources

Forests cover an area of 520 million ha, or about one-third of the land area of Africa (see Table 1). They consist of dry tropical forests located in the Sahel and in eastern and southern Africa; humid tropical forests in West and Central Africa, and various subtropical forest and woodland formations in North Africa and in the southern tip of the continent. Land-use changes, particularly over the last 20-30 years, have been largely responsible for the extent and condition of the forests today.

The dry tropical forests, including woodlands, savannah and steppe formations, are located in areas dominated by subsistence agriculture and rangelands which support large numbers of livestock. Pressure on these forests due to agricultural expansion, and increased fuelwood collection and livestock grazing is heavy in many places. Drought and fire are major causes of degradation.

Much of the West African tropical humid forests, located mainly in lowlands and accessible to the coast, have already undergone substantial commercial harvesting. In many areas, these forests have been converted to agricultural use. Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire are cases in point. Most of the primary forests of these countries had been heavily logged by the 1970s. Expansion of agriculture onto forest lands has occurred in both countries: in the more densely populated Nigeria, clearing for subsistence agriculture has predominated, while in Cote d'Ivoire, large areas of forest have been replaced with agricultural plantation crops.

Table 1
Total land area, population and forest cover, 1995

	land area thousand ha	population million	forest area thousand ha	forest cover percent
west Sahelian Africa	527 959	49.8	39 827	7.5
east Sahelian Africa	469 666	124.8	57 542	12.3
west moist Africa	203 498	167.2	46 324	22.8
Central Africa	423 341	100.5	204 677	48.3
southern Africa - tropical	552 903	91.6	141 311	25.6
insular East Africa	58 875	17.3	15 220	25.9
tropical Africa	2 236 242	551.2	504 901	22.6
North Africa	573 839	132.2	6 685	1.2
southern Africa - non-tropical	126 859	44.4	8 651	6.8
non-tropical Africa	700 698	176.6	15 336	2.2
TOTAL AFRICA	2 936 940	727.7	520 237	17.7

Table 2
Change in forest cover, 1990-95

	land area	forest area	annual change
sub-region	thousand ha	thousand ha	thousand ha	percent
west Sahelian Africa	527 959	39 827	-295	-0.7
east Sahelian Africa	469 666	57 542	-420	-0.7
west moist Africa	203 498	46 324	-492	-1,0
Central Africa	423 341	204 677	-1 201	-0.6
tropical southern Africa	552 903	141 311	-1 158	-0.8
insular East Africa	58 875	15 220	-131	-0.8
total tropical Africa	2 236 242	504 901	-3 695	-0.7
North Africa	573 839	6 685	-38	-0.6
non-tropical southern Africa	126 859	8 651	-15	-0.2
total non-tropical Africa	700 698	15 336	-53	-0.3
TOTAL AFRICA	2 936 940	520 237	-3 748	-0.7

The forests of Central Africa, with the exception of Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon are landlocked and are not easily accessible. The forests of the huge Congo-Zaire basin are relatively intact, although strong pressures are developing on its margins.

The dry subtropical (Mediterranean-type) forests in the countries of North Africa have been degraded for many years due to livestock husbandry, extensification of agriculture, and strong dependence on the forest by local people for various products.

Information on forest area is provided in Tables 1 and 2, of which the latter shows the rates of change of forest cover between 1990 and 1995. The annual rate of deforestation in the region was estimated at 0.7 percent, with the highest rate (1.0 percent) in west moist Africa, and the lowest (0.2 percent) in non-tropical southern Africa. Afforestation efforts are unable to keep ahead of the loss of natural forests.

Forest resources development and conservation

Planting efforts in the dry areas of the region have been focused on meeting wood energy needs and controlling desertification. Dryland forest resources in the two Sahelian sub-regions continue to be exploited extensively to meet the energy needs of growing populations. In spite of the tremendous efforts in the 1970s and 1980s by countries to increase fuelwood production and reduce consumption (i.e., through improved wood stoves), the results were not as successful as had been hoped. Lessons from past experience indicate that the most successful means of increasing fuelwood production are through locally-based, sustainable management of natural forests, well-designed and managed plantations, and agroforestry practices. These approaches are now quite widely adopted and are likely to continue in future efforts to manage forests for fuelwood and other wood products for local use.

Statistics show that both rural and urban demand for wood energy has increased, and it is expected that it will continue to increase due to growing populations and macro-economic changes. Use of fuelwood has increased as an indirect result of Structural Adjustment Programmes under which all kinds of subsidies have been removed. Since most of the programmes on alternatives to wood energy were based on subsidized prices of the substitutes, much of the progress made in reducing pressure on the natural forests has been reversed. The SAPs have also resulted in the devaluation of currencies, the erosion of purchasing power, and impoverishment of segments of the population. Many people have been forced to revert to wood energy for their domestic needs.

Planting in the Maghreb countries has been carried out for the following purposes: sand dune stabilization (e.g., Morocco); rehabilitation of degraded steppe areas (e.g., Algeria); range rehabilitation and improvement; watershed management (e.g., Morocco, Tunisia); and protection of irrigated areas (e.g., Libya, Egypt, Morocco).

Plantations are becoming a more significant component of forest resources in the continent. In the non-tropical North and southern Africa (including Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland), plantations already account for almost the entire industrial forest estate and, even in countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe in the tropical belt, plantations are the major sources of timber. The total area of plantation in the continent is estimated at more than 6 million ha of which 1.5 million ha is in North Africa, 1.2 million ha is in South Africa and the rest is in tropical Africa. Since 1990, most new plantations have been established by communities, though private companies are also active in some countries (e.g., South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe). Most governments, lacking the financial resources for such long-term ventures, are no longer establishing plantations themselves but are encouraging the private sector to invest. Plantations use mostly exotic species like eucalyptus, pinus and cypress but, with the emergence of rural community forestry programmes, more attention has been paid to local multipurpose tree species, especially in west Sahelian Africa.

Agroforestry plays an important role in the region. A variety of traditional systems are practised, including the parklands system, homegardens, windbreaks and shade trees over plantation crops. In countries where forest resources are limited (e.g., Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi), incorporation of trees into the farming system may be the most feasible means for farm households to meet their needs for wood and non-wood forest products, and may provide additional income. In many areas where natural forest cover is limited and small-scale agriculture predominates, there is a positive correlation between population density and tree cover on farm (i.e., agroforestry). Trees in agroforestry systems can also provide important protection against soil erosion and contribute to soil fertility. Promising work in improved fallows in shifting cultivation, or bush fallow agricultural systems, indicate that trees can be effective in accelerating the recovery of soils after cropping.

Natural forest management in dry areas of the region has only recently received significant attention, and improvements in forest management for timber production in the moist zones have been limited. National economic policies and needs, some heightened under structural adjustment programmes, have resulted in intensified commercial harvesting in some of the region's moist tropical forests. Harvesting in some West African forests has intensified. Many of the forests in the sub-region, however, have already been extensively logged in the past, so timber companies from West Africa are now operating in Central Africa, which contains more than 90 percent of the rainforest formations of the region.

Africa has important biological diversity. The wildlife resources of East Africa, southern Africa, Central Africa and Madagascar are particularly rich. Despite the fact that some countries have well-established parks and protected area systems, some forest ecosystems are not well represented; and weak management and local economic pressures are threatening habitats and certain plants and animals. Recent efforts have been made to involve local people directly in the management of parks and protected areas and wildlife resources (e.g., in Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Burkina Faso). Various efforts are also being made to domesticate wildlife species for food, especially small rodents, antelopes and birds.

Forest products

In terms of forest products, Africa is a significant producer only of fuelwood, representing more than one-quarter of the production of fuelwood worldwide. Africa's population, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, is relying more than ever on fuelwood to meet its domestic energy needs. Eighty-eight percent of the almost 570 million m³ of roundwood produced in 1994 in the region was used as fuelwood. This is a 2 percent increase from the 1981 level. In west Sahelian Africa, this has led to the promotion of participatory management of natural forests for woodfuel production, and creation of rural woodfuel markets. In Niger, rural markets sold 16 million tonnes of woodfuel in 1994, representing 10 to 15 percent of the wood coming into Niamey, the capital city. The market value was approximately 60 million CFA of which about 50 million benefited village woodcutters directly.

Africa produces only a small proportion of the world's total industrial roundwood and is a net importer of industrial wood products. Its only exports are logs and small volumes of primary processed forest products. The main importing countries are those of North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia), which accounted for more than 60 percent of the continent's imports in 1994. However, except for Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, all the countries in sub-Saharan Africa import essentially all of their paper requirements. South Africa alone produces 73 percent of the continent's production of wood pulp. Trade in forest products represents 2 percent of Africa's total trade in terms of value, but for some countries, it represents 15-48 percent.

The dependency of African populations on non-wood forest products (NWFPs) is high. For instance, medicinal products from forests are extremely important, particularly to rural people. Even though these products carry low monetary value in the local trade, they play a fundamental role in the rural production system. Forest products, both plant and animal, play a crucial role in food security in Africa. For example, the jumping rabbit of the Kalahari desert, is a major source of protein for the people of Botswana and, during the rainy season, the mushroom consumption per person in Zimbabwe reaches 1.8 kg. Fodder from trees and shrubs in the rangelands of arid and semi-arid areas is extremely important to livestock, particularly in the dry season. This is most important to pastoral communities where milk is one of the most important staple foods.

Many programmes have been developed to include sustainable production of NWFPs in management plans of forests and to ensure their rational utilization. Some governments are making efforts to develop the traditional forest-based medicines by organizing traditional healers and setting up research institutions on medicinal plants.

Forest policies and institutions

Forest legislation has been in place in most countries since the beginning of the twentieth century, even though forest policies as such did not exist. However, weaknesses in the forest laws and lack of enforcement have limited their effectiveness in protecting forests and wildlife resources. In both Central Africa and west moist Africa, forest legislation focuses mainly on closed forests, and does not give adequate attention to forests in the savannah zones or to degraded forests. Although forest legislation in west Sahelian Africa is more comprehensive, revision may be needed in some countries to allow for community forestry needs.

During the mid-1980s, the Tropical Forests Action Programme (TFAP) was adopted throughout the continent as a means of improving forest sector planning (see 'Trends in national forest planning' in Part 2). Twenty countries have prepared a National Forest Action Programme (NFAP). In many countries (e.g., Cameroon, Guinea, Benin, Togo) this process led to policy, institutional and legal reforms. One of the major positive impacts of these reforms has been a shift from purely forestry-oriented and production-driven forestry to a more integrated approach to forest management, including what is called 'village land management' ('amènagement des terroirs'). Village land management involves decentralized and integrated management of village lands with broader participation of all interest groups. In Cameroon, Benin and Togo, the reforms introduced by the NFAP permitted better coordination of national institutions dealing with forestry and with wildlife.

Community forestry is most developed in the Sahelian west, Sahelian east and southern African sub-regions. Countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Senegal in the western Sahel, Kenya in the eastern Sahel and Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Zambia in the southern Sahelian sub-regions have played pioneering roles in rural forestry and participatory management of natural forests, woodlots and/or wildlife management.

The concept of village land management is being developed successfully in west Sahelian Africa, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Senegal where it is officially adopted as the main strategy for community forestry development. The major constraints to adoption in these countries remain insecurity of land and resource tenure, weaknesses in land legislation, and inadequate policies related to agroforestry.

The countries in moist West Africa have recently embarked on a similar approach. Interesting work is being carried out by Sociéte de Développement Forestier (SODEFOR) in Cote d'Ivoire within the 'Commission Paysans - Forêt' Programme. In Cameroon, pilot programmes were started under the framework of the NFAP implementation: in Mbalmayo by the Overseas Development Agency (UK) and in Dimako by Fonds d'Aide et de Coopération (France).

Community forestry is less developed in Central Africa due to the low population of most of the countries (Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Principe), combined with the high level of urbanization (40-50 percent).

Four specialized intergovernmental organizations exist in Africa, together covering almost all countries except Benin, Togo, Guinea, Sierra Leone and insular East African countries (see Table 3). These organizations offer a forum for coordination among member countries.

New Initiatives

African countries rely heavily (70-75 percent) on external resources for the funding of their forestry sector. Essentially all internal financing comes from the public sector. The Tenth Session of the African Forestry and Wildlife Commission held in Sanbonani, South Africa, 27 November to 1 December 1996, concluded that self-financing would be the best guarantee for sustainable funding (see 'Forestry funding' in Part 2). This might be done through generation of revenues in the various stages of I exploitation, processing and trading of forest products. Many countries have already established 'national forest development funds'. Other sources of funding include the private sector and other partners i.e., rural communities. Efforts are still required to reform land ownership and tenure systems, bank lending systems and other policy aspects. Political guarantees may even be needed before increased private investments, particularly foreign, in forest management operations becomes significant.

Table 3
Specialized intergovernmental organizations

organization	member countries	main area of concern
Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Headquarters: Djibouti	east Sahelian countries: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia.	combating desertification and food security
Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) Headquarters: Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)	west Sahelian countries: Cape Verde, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad.	combating desertification; water resources and food security
African Timber Organization (ATO/OAB) Headquarters: Libreville (Gabon)	Central Africa and west moist Africa: Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, São Tomé and Principe, Tanzania, Zaire.	timber production and market forest management; forest based industries; measurement and standardization; criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management
Southern African Development Community/Forestry Sector Technical Coordinating Unit SADC/FSTCU Headquarters: Lilongwe (Malawi)	southern Africa: Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe	forestry development and environmental protection

The disengagement of the state as a general policy has compelled forestry authorities to design new policies. The various recommendations and agreements adopted by UNCED have served as a good framework for policy, strategy and structural review exercises and institutional strengthening of forestry development.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification was the brainchild of African delegations at UNCED and has been supported strongly by African nations throughout its negotiation process. The permanent Inter-State Committee for Combating Drought in the Sahel (CILSS) is playing a dynamic role in the implementation of the CCD in west Sahelian Africa.

Various intergovernmental organizations, including the African Timber Organization (ATO), SADC, IGAD, the Organization of African States, and even the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) are making valuable efforts to develop criteria and indicators for the sustainable management of Africa's tropical forests (see Part 3 for a discussion of the development of criteria and indicators).