Change Facilitation

In order to cope with the numerous challenges involved in developing the Forestry sector to year 2020, the following critical factors, amongst others, need to be sincerely addressed:

Capacity Building and empowerment of the Forestry Division; Farmers Associations; Community organizations; Environmentally oriented NGOs and stakeholder line ministries.

Community forestry development to ensure the sustainable joint management of communal forests, which form the bulk of productive forests particularly for medicines, snack foods and other non wood forest products.

Encouraging the floating of indigenous and reputable logging and sawmilling companies to ensure the judicious management of the nation’s meager forest resources and to also absorb or put the notorious individual powersaw operators out of business due to their relatively high production costs.

Rehabilitation of Kasewe Sawmill and the establishment of three other mobile sawmills (one sawmill per province) aimed at enhancing the production segment of the sector, in order to generate revenue for the cleaning of forest boundaries, replanting programmes, etc.

Collaboration with and the involvement of all stakeholder institutions in resource protection and management in order to make management more effective. Structures such as the Landuse Committee, should be replicated nationwide in order to promote sustainable resource management in all seven agricultural regions of the country.

Semi- autonomy or full autonomy of the Forestry Sector leading to the attainment of a Commission status will do justice to this sector, which is in custody of tremendous resources, but with insignificant support from government. An autonomous status could mean better remuneration for staff; realistic logistical support for operations and above all the capacity to expand in time with increasing responsibilities.

Policy and institutional changes addressing the crucial areas highlighted in (a- f) above should be effected to put all stakeholders in the right gear for developing the sector and other allied sectors.

Stakeholder workshops highlighting the potentials of non-wood forest products (NWFP) targeting the following specific areas of investment will be held in collaboration with Sierra Leone Export Development and Investment Cooperation (SLEDIC) and appropriate institutions:

Commercial mushroom production for local consumption and possibly for export.

Commercial production of highly productive animals such as the cane rats for supplying hotels and restaurants and possibly for future export.

The potentials of the carving industry in promoting the tourist industry and in minimising wood waste from the logging industry.

The potential of the rattan furniture industry and its possible contribution to the conservation of the mahoganies currently targeted by individual power saw operators

The establishment of Funtumia africana plantations to provide raw material for the match industry and also for the tourist industry in the provision of carving materials.

The establishment of Anisophyllea laurina and other suitable pole species to supply scaffolding, ladder and fencing material for building construction

Enhancing Log Recovery

In order to improve upon log recovery, the current obsolete sawmilling equipment need to be replaced by more efficient and modern machines to ensure a log recovery of 55 – 60 % compared to the current pre-war recovery of 45%.

For logging in hilly and difficult working terrains, mobile sawmills will be recommended. This will avoid all the ills of road construction in forests located at high attitudes, thereby conserving biodiversity and the edaphic environment.

Enhancing Watering of Nursery Seedlings

In the drier northern and central districts, the use of water pumps for watering nursery tree seedlings, will be introduced particularly for the many mobile nurseries that will be required for the "Herculean" tree planting programmes awaiting the sector.

Fertilizer application to boost up nursery productivity

Forest tree seedling production had not involved the application of appropriate doses of fertilizer to boost up seedling growth, in the past. However, the large quantity of timely seedling production envisaged, could necessitate the application of fertilizer to nursery seedlings.

Wood Stove Programme Dissemination

In view of the gross inefficiency of the traditional 3-stones cooking method (8% efficient), the introduction of 40% energy – efficient mud stoves could reduce the actual demand on firewood for purely cooking and boiling purposes. These stoves will be promoted in the drier northern and central districts. Their virtually zero production cost and their ease of production and maintenance by trainees could further enhance their dissemination and adoption process.

Plantation establishment by the " Taungya " method.

Land clearing costs normally take a big chunk of plantation establishment costs but where farmers are willing to clear for the usual upland rice cultivation and allow the planting of forest tree seedlings at ploughing time, the final plantation establishment and initial maintenance costs could be reduced drastically. This opportunity will be explored as much as possible particularly on communal land.

Introduction of energy-efficient charcoal kilms.

Traditional charcoal production methods encourage a lot of wastage and could be more time consuming. Efficient aluminium charcoal kilms could reduce wood waste and possibly maximise profit.

The feasibility of the perceived changes will generally depend on the total involvement and cooperation of all major stakeholders who should be consulted at every stage in the planning and development process.

The willingness of the community heads to jointly manage communal forests with the Forestry sector is crucial to the forest expansion process. The realization of short-term and tangible benefits particularly through the development of the NWFP segment could enhance peoples’ involvement and eventual participation.

An upward review of fees and royalties and the general maximization of tangible benefit to forest-dependent communities, could further enhance their perception and valuation of forests which are currently undervalued.

Government should take the lead in sincerely and effectively involving all stakeholders in the process. Development projects should be needs driven before the land-owner communities could appreciate any impacts of such projects on their communities.

Private sector involvement in particularly the development of NWFPs will fuel development in other segments and enhance community involvement. NGOs should continue to augment government efforts through advocacy, public sensitisation, logistical support and dialogue with donors and other partners in development.

Civil society support as far as it influences grassroot organizations, local communities to get fully involved, is essential.