THE STATUS OF FORESTRY STATISTICS IN SWAZILAND
by
Mr. Cliff S. DLAMINI
P O Box 162
Mbabane - Swaziland
1. INTRODUCTION
Swaziland is a small land-locked country in South-East Africa surrounded by Mozambique to the east, with South Africa surrounding its other borders. The country lies between latitudes of 31º and 32º south and longitudes 25.5º east. It covers only 17,364 km2 and can be divided into four broad ecological zones, parallel to each other from north to south. There are Highveld, Lowveld and Lubombo. The population is 960,000 according to the 1995 census.
Generally, Swazi economy developed alongside and fashioned after South Africa. Owing to history and proximity the imports and exports manifest 80% and 60% interactions respectively, (SACU and Common Monetary Area).
Commercial forestry accounts for diversity of produce that earns foreign revenue for Swaziland. The major forestry products are:
unbleached kraft-pulp,
sawn timber,
furniture from pine (Pinus patula, Pinus elliotti, Pinus taeda and Pinus kesiya),
mining timber for South Africa's mines (eucalyptus grandis and eucalyptus saligna),
poles for fencing, construction and transmission lines, and
sawn wood for furniture making.
A small market South African for bark from black wattle has existed for a long time. A home market is situated at Matsapha Industrial Site to allow production, packing and export of tannin directly from Swaziland to Europe. Wattle is the main tree of rural communities which provides firewood, fencing and building material, bark (cash crop) and charcoal. Consequently, black wattle helps reducing the rate of deforestation of indigenous species.
Indigenous forests are intermediate between grassland and bush cover. The trees are mostly less than 10 meters in height and with diameters of 10-15 centimetres. This is clearly an indication of savannah vegetation commonly found in lower, drier parts of the Middle and Lowveld. Degradation and deforestation of indigenous forests is occurring at serious but largely unmeasured rate. Exploitation of these forests is mainly for fuel wood, woodcarving and furniture by local people.
2. FOREST RESOURCES
Land Ownership: Land tenure arrangements play an essential role in the management of land and the environment. The issue of land tenure in Swaziland is complicated. There are three main groups of land tenure:
Swazi National Land (SNL) = 75%
Crown Land (CL) = 1%
Private Freehed or Title Deed Land (TDL) = 24%
The SNL is land held in trust by the King for the Swazi nation. Crown land is land owned by Government and the TDL is privately owned. SNL is subdivided into two sub-groups:
SNL Senu Stricto, SNL at independence and
SNL purchased, all free hold land purchased after independence
Land use
Km2 |
% | |
Small scale subsistence crop agriculture (Rainfed annual field cropping) |
2,140 |
12.3 |
Large scale commercial crop agriculture (Irrigated and rain-fed field/tree cropping) |
1,040 |
6.0 |
Extensive Communal grazing |
8,670 |
50.0 |
Ranching |
3,320 |
19.1 |
Plantation Forestry |
1,400 |
8.1 |
Parks, Wildlife management |
670 |
3.9 |
Residential, industry and recreation |
80 |
0.5 |
Water reservoirs |
40 |
0.2 |
TOTAL |
17 360 |
100 |
Source: (Rammelzwaal & Dlamini, 1994 cited in SEAP of 1997).
Natural Forestry Resources: There is a total forest area of 624,000 hectares which is 36% of total land area, reported by the National Forestry Inventory of 1990. Out of this, there are 464,000 hectares of indigenous forest and woodlands. These are classified into:
Ha | |
Montane and Highland (> 1,000 m) |
11,930 |
Riparian |
2,344 |
Moister Savannah |
112,720 |
Acacia Savannah |
150,590 |
Dryer Acacia Savannah |
34,024 |
Bushveld |
151,890 |
Source: (National Indigenous Forest Inventory of 1990)
Planted Forest Resources: Out of the 624,000 ha of forest areas, there are 135,000 ha of commercial forest plantation and 25,000 ha of wattle forest. Commercial forest plantation comprises:
Coniferous (pines)
Saligna/grandis
Other gums
Wattle
Other non-coniferous.
The plantations are owned by five companies, namely:
Usutu Pulp Company, 65, 000 hectares,
Mondi Forest Company, 26 000 hectares,
Shiselweni Forestry Company, 11 000 hectares,
Swaziland Mantantens Company, 4 000 hectares, and
Tonkwane with 2 000 hectares.
They are concentrated on the Highveld whose conditions are favourable for tree growth (National Forest Research Plan 1992). The Forest Sector accounts for 16-18% of Swaziland's formal work force.
3. FOREST PRODUCTS PRODUCTION, TRADE AND CONSUMPTION
Total annual industrial production is about:
174 000 tons wood pulp,
102 000 m3 sawn timber,
70 000 m3 mining timber and panels,
420 tons of dry wattle bark for tannin.
Over 75% of the population in rural areas use firewood for cooking and warming houses.
in million m3
Timber |
Fuel |
Others |
Total | |
|
Indigenous forests Wattle forests TOTAL |
3.93* 0.98 --------- 4.91 |
3.19 0.66 ----------- 3.85 |
1.47 0.01 ----------- 1.48 |
8.59 1.65 ---------- 10.24 |
Source: (Natural Forest Research Plan, 1993, 2003)
Non-wood forest products may include:
Foliage
Medicinal
Honey
Edible fruits and nuts
Mushrooms
Mopane worms etc.
Despite the already considerable income from forest products, there is a great potential to increase this revenue by exploiting the non-wood forest products and to expand the tree species use for different purposes.
Tourism and Recreation: Since the change of the political system in South Africa, the Tourism Industry in Swaziland is only just surviving. The tourism sector has to take renewed interest in the environment to attract tourists.
4. FOREST POLICIES LEGISLATION AND INSTITUTIONS
The revised mandate for Government with respect to forestry is to formulate and implement sound forest policies, plans and programmes towards sustainable development, management and utilisation of all forest resources in the country. Presently, the review of the Swaziland Forest Policy and Legislation is in progress with financial assistance from Denmark through the DANCED Project (1998-2001) - see project document for more details.
Forest policy objectives may be summarised as follows:
To achieve efficient, profitable and sustainable exploitation of forest resources.
To increase the role that forestry plays in environmental protection, conservation of plant and animal genetic resources and rehabilitation of degraded lands.
Institutional Strengthening: Institutional strengthening and capacity building of the Forestry Section is still weak with limited professional and technical staff. The restructuring programme to upgrade the Section into a department by the year 2000 is in progress and highly considered by the Ministry's restructuring process.
Sustainable Forest Management: Environmental issues related to sustainable forest management include: deforestation, inadequate management, habitat destruction and alien spp encroachment, loss of water resources due to excessive evaporation in commercial plantations (which exceed the rate of replacement of ground water), bush fires, and legislation.
Biodiversity: Environmental issues related to biodiversity and ecosystem sustainability: Ignorance about the value of conservation, conflicts with local communities, lack of resources, support from government, alien plant control, indigenous knowledge systems, pollution, resource inventories, ex-situ inventories, levels of protection and outdated, conflicting and fragmented legislation. A lead consultant from the University of Swaziland with the assistance of the National Steering Committee of the Biodiversity Strategy and Action plan is working hard towards the establishment and implementation of an action plan for the conservation of biodiversity in Swaziland.
Environmental issues relates to soil and water conservation: Land degradation, including deforestation, soil depletion, loss of habitat, declining biodiversity, watershed and range degradation, unsuitable land use and land management, loss of arable land to settlements, industry and infrastructure, pollution, water management and water quality (SEAP 1992).
Taxation: Presently there is no system through which users of forest products outside plantation forests and protected areas can be taxed.
4. CONCLUSION
Without an up-to-date National Forest Inventory and a study on the rate of deforestation and utilisation of forest products, it is difficult to make any projections for demand and supply of forestry products.
The forest section in Swaziland is highly imbalanced: there are excellent silviculture and management facilities available in Swaziland, including advanced research operations in the private sector, while, at the same time, there is a serious lack of trained personnel in silviculture and management in the government forestry section. There is therefore a serious need to embark on a recruitment campaign for professional officers, and to define a clear forestry management programme. The new forest policy will hopefully be in place by year 2001-2002.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
National Forestry Research plan (1992).
Swaziland Environment Action Plan (1997).
Document on Review of Forest Policy and Legislation (1997).
National Development Plan (1996/97 - 1998/99).
