SUGGESTIONS FOR MODIFICATIONS TO THE LICENSING AND FOREST REVENUE SYSTEM

This section discusses how the Forestry Department might modify the licensing and forest revenue system to encourage sustainable forest management, increase revenue collection and facilitate revenue sharing. It then presents some ideas about how transparency and accountability might be increased and some specific proposals for licences and charges.

In order to encourage sustainable forest management, the focus of the licensing and forest revenue system should move away from the current emphasis on volume of production towards placing more emphasis on the area of forests used for production. Area control should start with a strategic approach to identifying and awarding licences, followed by more detailed planning and control at the level of the individual forest concession. The Forestry Department may already be moving in this direction and such efforts should be encouraged and continued.

Development of an overall strategy for identifying and awarding licences

It is important that the Forestry Department should develop an overall strategy for identifying forest areas that will be used for wood production. Firstly, it would be useful to develop some overall guidelines describing what each type of forest can be used for and how they will be licensed and managed (for an example, see Annex 5). These can be used to help staff explain policy to stakeholders and to ensure that all provinces and districts are following the same procedures.

The next task is then to identify areas that actually contain forest (which will probably not overlap with land use designations – see footnote) and to divide or combine these areas into rational forest management units. These units should be fully stocked (i.e. they should not include large areas without tree cover) and they should not include any protected forest areas. These units would form the areas that will be issued under licences and managed for sustainable production.

Each licence area may cover several different types of forest (e.g. one unit might include some National Forest, some Local Forest and some open forest areas), but it is more important that they actually contain forest rather than that they follow any artificial land use designations. It is also important that adequate areas of forest are identified and set aside for fuelwood and charcoal production as part of this process.

Because these units should be based on forest cover, they are likely to differ in size, so the forest licensing system should be more flexible to allow for this. Big square 10,000 ha blocks rarely make any sense from a forest management point of view. Different sized units will also mean different levels of production, so the allowable cut for each licence area should also vary.

Forest concession licences should be awarded by the Forestry Department offering pieces of forest for production to the private-sector rather than by the private-sector coming to the Government to ask for some forest. This is already starting to happen in Zambia. A transparent process for judging or negotiating who should get a licence should be developed.

Once a forest concession is awarded it should be stressed that it should be used for maximum sustainable yield (and what this means should be explained to concessionaires). Currently, the maximum allowable size of a forest concession (10,000 ha) is probably too small for sustainable production at a commercial level. Yet, on the other hand, 10,000 ha is far more than can be harvested in five years given the current levels of technology used in Zambia. It is likely therefore, that licence areas would have to be renewed several times before they are completely utilised and that several licence areas would have to be harvested in rotation under a sustained yield approach. The Forestry Department should consider this as they develop a long-term plan for awarding licence areas.

Controlling production at the level of the individual licence area

Once licence areas have been identified, the licensing and revenue system should encourage maximum sustained yield at the level of the forest compartment. Currently, forest concessionaires are allowed to be far too selective in their harvesting. They take a small number of trees from very large areas. Eventually, when all of the best trees are gone they will want to come back for the next most valuable large trees. Repeated re-entry into the forest is likely to cause more damage and gradual degradation over time than if the forest was harvested intensively once and left to regenerate for an adequate period of time. More intensive harvesting would also reduce the desire to re-enter the forest to cut logs and may assist with the protection of the forest in the medium-term.

Increasing the intensity of harvesting can be encouraged in two ways. Firstly, by the introduction of an area-based charge and secondly by increasing the difference in charges between the most highly valued species and the lowest value species. It is suggested here that both of these modifications should be made to the forest revenue system.

Because of the variability in stocking levels, it is suggested that the area charge should be calculated on the basis of the area cut and should be paid in advance each time a new forest compartment is opened (i.e. on a "pay as you go" basis). It is also suggested that it should be set at a level roughly equal to half of the stumpage rate that would be charged on six commercial trees per hectare. The conveyance fee should be increased to include the remaining proportion of the current per tree charge and would, in effect, become the only volume based production charge. As already noted, the production charge should introduce much more variation between low and high value species.

In the case of licences used for the production of poles, fuelwood and charcoal, these should also specify more clearly the area that should be used for production and should be organised so that forest areas with the potential to produce logs are not wasted on the production of less valuable forest products.

All of these changes will require the Forestry Department to pay much more attention to the area of forest being used rather than the volume of production. However, this should result in significant cost savings because area is easier to measure and monitor than volume of production.

Record keeping and other follow-up activities

During all of this process, it is very important that the Forestry Department should keep proper records of where production is taking place and how much production has come from each area harvested. Monitoring, reporting and record keeping such as this is essential not only to record revenue collection, but also for policy analysis, planning and the development of better forest management practices.

This will require investment in facilities and training at the local level. In particular, the current lack of almost any maps at the local level should be rectified. It may be easier to implement a system of record keeping on paper first, before trying to computerise production records and maps.

In addition to improving record keeping, it will also be important for the Forestry Department to check areas once production has finished. Measures should be taken to try to protect the harvested area from further incursion. If the licensee has left some commercial trees, the Forestry Department may wish to consider selling them standing before finally closing the coupe. In the case of fuelwood and charcoal production, the Forestry Department could replant such areas or encourage the licensee to replant them by giving them some sort of incentive.

These sorts of ideas will need to be considered further by the Forestry Department. At the moment, it appears that there are almost no follow-up activities to try to guarantee that areas, once harvested, will be protected for sustainable production in the future.

Production in Joint Forest Management Areas

Awarding, monitoring and controlling licences in Joint Forest Management Areas should be arranged in consultation with local communities. In particular, they should be involved in determining which areas of their forest should be used for different types of production. They may also wish to set specific conditions or restrictions on licences to reflect local circumstances and needs. The Forestry Department should provide technical guidance to Joint Forest Management Committees as part of this process.

In order to improve the efficiency of revenue collection and reduce the impact of harvesting on the forest resource, the Forestry Department should concentrate its efforts on activities with the highest ratio of benefits to costs. Thus, the Forestry Department should focus its efforts in National Forests and Local Forests.

In order to lower the costs of revenue collection and monitoring, it is suggested that forest charges should be structured as follows:

For commercial timber production – an area based fee paid by the hectare in advance and based on the area in the harvesting coupe plus a conveyance fee based on the volume of logs taken out of the forest. A forest concession licence should be used for commercial timber production and could be awarded for five years and for any area between 2,000 ha and 20,000 ha (as noted above, the area awarded would be based on what is a rational forest management unit). Post harvesting inspections should be used to assess any penalties for damage and for waste left in the forest (i.e. licensees should pay for what they cut or otherwise destroy and not only for what they take to the roadside).

For commercial pole production – poles may be produced as by-products of log production, in which case a conveyance fee would be paid. Where an area is to be used only for the production of poles, an area-based fee should be paid in advance (based on the area that will be cut) plus a conveyance fee based on the volume of poles taken out of the forest. A modified casual licence could be used for this purpose.

For commercial charcoal production – a kiln levy (payable monthly, quarterly or yearly) plus a conveyance fee.

For commercial fuelwood production – an area based fee based on the area that will be cut by the licensee (and assuming a minimum level of stocking of fuelwood). A modified casual licence could be used for this purpose.

For commercial NWFP production – currently, there are no charges for commercial NWFP production except for bamboo – if production is charged in the future, the most efficient way to do this would be using a permit to collect NWFPs from a specified area.

In order to increase efficiency it will also be necessary for the Forestry Department to spend less time and resources on measurement (this should actually be done by the forest concessionaire) and more time on checking and monitoring. Some ideas about what might be more useful for the Forestry Department to monitor in forest concessions are given below.

Monitoring production areas and assessing charges in forest concessions

In terms of monitoring the areas used for production, the Forestry Department should concentrate on the following specific activities:

checking harvested areas before closing them, in order to assess any penalties that should be paid (e.g. for broken trees, high stumps, waste logs) and, if appropriate, arranging for the sale of any remaining commercial trees (e.g. by competitive standing sale);

measuring and demarcating areas that will be harvested next (felling coupes) and calculating the area based fee for these areas;

checking on other closed coupes to make sure that they have not been re-entered;

giving guidance about harvesting practices, the layout of extraction routes and planning felling and extraction; and

checking a sample (e.g. 25%) of the measurements of roundwood production submitted by forest concessionaires to the Forestry Department each time that they apply for a conveyance licence.

The Forestry Department may already perform some of these activities at the moment. It is suggested here that greater attention should be given to these more general monitoring activities at the expense of spending a lot of time measuring timber production.

Monitoring and assessing area charges in other areas

Outside forest concessions, the Forestry Department should mainly check that producers working under other types of licences (with an area-based charge) are staying within their agreed boundaries and following any rules or other conditions attached to their licences.

Monitoring production and calculating charges for logs and poles

In terms of monitoring production volumes (for the conveyance fee), a number of improvements to the current system could be tried. These are as follows:

For timber logs and poles, the conveyance fee should be based on the volume of roundwood cut in the forest. This should be estimated by measuring the volume of roundwood removed to the roadside. The difference between this and what was actually cut should be captured by penalty fees, which would be assessed during site visits and would include the volume of any damaged trees and waste left in the forest (e.g. waste logs and high stumps) found during inspections.

In order to reduce costs, the licensee should measure and number all logs and poles and take them to agreed collection points. When there is sufficient stock at these points, the Forestry Department can be invited to come and check the measurements, collect the conveyance fee, issue the conveyance licence and put their official mark on the products. This should only take 1-2 days every 1-2 weeks in a large forest concession and would significantly reduce costs from the level that would be required to keep a forest guard permanently on-site (as is the case at the moment). When the concessionaire moves the products from the roadside to the market or sawmill, they should also be required to take with them a copy of the itemised list of logs and/or poles (including measurements of each numbered log/pole and the official stamp of the inspecting Forestry Officer).

By moving from a situation where the Forestry Department constantly monitors production to one where it checks production, it will be necessary to enforce strict rules (with high penalties for transgression) about exactly where logs and poles can be taken before they become liable for the conveyance fee. It is suggested here that such points should be at specific log landings or along extraction routes, agreed by the forest concessionaire and Forestry Department in advance. Under no circumstances should a sawmiller be allowed to take unmarked logs to their sawmill in the forest.

Monitoring production and calculating charges for commercial charcoal production

For commercial charcoal production, a system of labelling would be more efficient to operate than the current system and, probably, more effective at controlling production and revenue collection. A label could be designed that includes: the Forest District name; a serial number; and explicit instructions that the label has to be put on the bag of charcoal and remain there from as soon as it leaves the kiln site until it is finally sold in the market.

Illegal charcoal would be any charcoal found more than 10 metres away from a kiln that:

has no label at all;

has a label on it from another forest district; or

has a label on it that is more than two weeks old (excluding labelled bags in the market).

Replacing the current conveyance system for charcoal with a labelling system would have the following advantages:

labels are easy to see and the Forestry Department could easily and clearly identify illegal products for confiscation or assessing penalty fees;

"I don’t have my licence with me" would no longer be an excuse;

labels would require a lot of effort to take-off and put back on other bags (much more effort than the current system, where a trader can keep using the licence for two weeks relatively easily);

labels would, anyhow, have to stay on bags until their contents are finally sold in the market (i.e. traders should not be allowed to store large volumes of loose charcoal in the market);

labels could be sold at any point and would not require the Forestry Department to actually count the number of bags being conveyed;

labels would be difficult and expensive to forge (i.e. it wouldn’t be worth the effort) – it should also be an offence to be in possession of used labels not on bags; and

the serial numbers would make it easier to monitor how many bags of charcoal are legally being produced and reduce the possibility of fraud.

Overall, such a system would give the Forestry Department a much more practical way of identifying and monitoring legal and illegal production. By more clearly identifying illegal production, it would also give the Forestry Department a much stronger legal basis on which to take action against illegal producers.

Spot-checking

The Forestry Department already appears to perform random checks on production in the forest, on the road and, in the case of charcoal, in the market. For example, the Copperbelt Provincial Forestry Office appears to take a systematic approach to checking production at a number of places in the province every few months. Spot-checks are a very useful way of double-checking legal production and finding and capturing illegal production and such checks should be continued.

However, the effectiveness of the current system is reduced by the very simple measures that the Forestry Department takes to identify legal production. The effectiveness of spot-checking could be improved if producers were required to keep a copy of the list of log/pole measurements (checked and approved by the Forestry Department) with those products while they are transported. In the case of charcoal production, a system of labels with serial numbers would, as already n oted, also help to identify legal production.

Increasing revenues

Revenues can be increased in two main ways:

increasing the proportion of total forest production that is captured within the revenue system; and

increasing the overall level of charges.

The measures suggested in Section 5.2 above should help to achieve the first objective, along with the proposals for greater involvement of local communities in the management of the forest resource. A general suggestion of what the new charge levels might be was given in Section 4.3.1 and more specific proposals are presented in Section 5.5 below.

Revenue sharing

Any system of revenue sharing with local communities that is developed should be relatively easy to understand and implement. For the main types of forest products produced in Zambia (logs, poles and charcoal) it is suggested above that the conveyance fees (based on volume of output) should be combined with area-based fees (or a kiln levy in the case of charcoal production). Because of their relative simplicity, one easy way to share the revenues from production would be to allow communities to keep the area-based fees and kiln levies, while the Forestry Department would keep the conveyance fees.

With the level and structure of charges outlined in this report, this would result in the Forestry Department taking about three-quarters of the total charges levied on charcoal production and at least half of the charges levied on pole and log production. (The exact proportion would depend upon the harvesting intensity in forest concessions – at a harvesting intensity of greater than six trees per hectare, the Forestry Department would get a greater share of the total charges collected).

A more radical proposal would be to allow communities to set their own level of area charges and/or kiln levies. This would have the advantage of giving communities even greater control over the benefits from the resource and encouraging them to protect it. However, there is the risk that, given their relative bargaining strength, they may not be able to negotiate reasonable levels of charges with producers. Thus, if such an approach were attempted, it would be sensible to insist that any locally negotiated charges should be at least as high as the area-based fees and kiln levies used in National Forests and Local Forests.

One problem that may arise with the current proposals for revenue sharing is that, in a number of communities, it appears that many local people are also producers of forest products. For example, in many cases, villagers can only produce agricultural crops for part of the year and rely on charcoal production to generate income for the rest of the year. In such cases, it may be difficult to implement revenue sharing because, in effect, the current proposals would be like asking communities to tax themselves. Thus, careful attention should be given to the implementation of Joint Forest Management, to ensure that it is only attempted in situations where it makes sense. It may not be easy to implement Joint Forest Management (at least with the current emphasis on increased revenue collection) in areas where a significant proportion of local income is generated from the production of forest products.

Currently, there seems to be some variability in the way that rules about charging are interpreted across Zambia and uncertainty about a number of other aspects of the charging and licensing system. This is probably tolerated at the moment because charges are very low and the Forestry Department does not have sufficient resources to effectively monitor production. However, if charges and monitoring activities are increased, such uncertainty may lead to problems. Consequently, any attempt to increase revenue collection should be accompanied by measures to increase transparency and accountability.

Materials that might be produced to increase transparency and accountability are as follows:

Guidelines on what concessions are for and how they will be awarded and managed. See Annex 5 for one suggestion for forest concessions in National Forests – similar material could be developed for other types of licence and other types of forest. In particular, the rules for charges and licensing in forest plantations or for products from other planted tress should be clarified.

Guidelines on measurement and personal use. Materials could be developed to explain clearly and exactly at what point in the production process a licence is required. Rules for the measurement of volume and the calculation of volume based charges should be developed. Guidance on what is considered personal use could also be specified. (For example, the customs regulations for travellers entering Zambia are very clear about what can be brought in duty-free. Similar clear guidelines could be developed and made publicly available to explain what is considered personal use by the Forestry Department (e.g. one head-load of fuelwood; one bag of charcoal, etc.).

Package of rules and regulations. Anyone who applies for a forest concession or any other type of licence should be given a package of rules and regulations that they should follow. Such a package should bring together all of the different rules, regulations, guidelines and working practices that are currently used to control the production of forest products.

Such materials should be developed further by the National Consultant working on the project, in consultation with the Forestry Department.

Based on the intentions implied in the 1999 Forests Act, a system of licences and charges has been devised that hopefully more accurately reflects all of the different objectives that the Forestry Department is trying to meet. The main features proposed are summarised here for further consideration by the Forestry Department.

Main features of the suggested licensing and charging system

Licences and charges would be of essentially three types: a licence/charge for production; a licence/charge for conveyance; and a licence/charge to operate processing equipment.

For log and pole production, the production charge would account for roughly half of total charges, for charcoal production it would account for one-quarter and for fuelwood, it would account for all charges. Conveyance charges would account for the remainder of the total charge.

Production charges would only be levied on wood production from natural forests and from forest plantations in National Forests and Local Forests.

Conveyance charges would only be levied on the conveyance of commercial quantities of logs and poles from natural forest species, plus commercial quantities of charcoal and bamboo.

Production of NWFPs in National Forests and Local Forests would require a permit, but this would be issued for free.

The main purpose of licences to operate processing equipment would be to monitor the number and location of facilities and charges would be nominal.

The overall balance of charges should be shifted more towards the conveyance charge (which would incorporate the current charges levied per tree).

Production of roundwood would be controlled by four types of licence: Forest Concession Licence; Standing Sales Licence; Fuelwood Production Licence; and Charcoal Production Licence.

A Forest Concession Licence could be of a variable size and could cover any type of natural forest. The charges for production under such a licence would be based on the area cut and would allow the licence holder to produce logs (plus poles and fuelwood as by-products) from this area.

A Standing Sales Licence could be awarded in any type of forest and would be used for pole production and very small-scale log production in the natural forest and production from forest plantations in National Forests and Local Forests. The charges under such a licence would be set competitively (with reserve prices based on the charges fixed under other types of licences). A Standing Sales Licence would also allow the licence holder to produce poles and fuelwood as by-products.

A Fuelwood Production Licence could be awarded in any type of natural forest (except National Forests) and in forest plantations in National Forests and Local Forests. The licence would specify the area where production could take place. A fixed charge would be levied per month, quarter or year.

A Charcoal Production Licence could be awarded in any type of natural forest (except National Forests) and in forest plantations in National Forests and Local Forests. The licence would specify the area where production could take place. A fixed charge would be levied per month, quarter or year.

A conveyance licence would be needed to transport all logs and poles from natural tree species and charcoal.

The conveyance charge would be based on the volume of logs and poles conveyed or per standard grain bag of charcoal.

The Forestry Department hammer mark and labels on bags (in the case of charcoal) would be the main means of control.

Where sawmills are located in the forest, conveyance fees must be paid before roundwood is taken to the processing area. Conveyance fees on processed products would be abolished.

Revenue from production charges from natural forests in Joint Forest Management Areas would accrue to Joint Forest Management Committees for sharing with the local community.

Revenue from all other charges would accrue to the Forestry Department.

Forest plantations established in Joint Forest Management Areas would be treated as private forest plantations and charges in such areas would be determined by Joint Forest Management Committees.

Production licences and charges

The requirements for production licences under the suggested system are summarised in Table 12. This table shows when a licence would be required by type of product and type of forest. It also shows which type of licence would be required.

The level of production charges suggested here is presented in Table 13. This shows the types of licences that might be issued in each of the different types of forest in Zambia, the permission that would be granted under each of these licences, the charges that would be paid and the distribution of revenues from such charges.

Following sections briefly give some more specific details about each of the proposed licences. These should be discussed further and clarified by the National Consultant in consultation with the Forestry Department and other stakeholders.

Table 13 An overall proposal for the structure of forest charges to be applied in national and local forests in Zambia

Table 13 An overall proposal for the structure of forest charges to be applied in national and local forests in Zambia

Forest plantations outside National Forests and Local Forests would be recognised as private property and, as such, the Forestry Department would not set charges or require licences for production from such areas.

Forest Concession Licence

Purpose: The Forest Concession Licence should be the main type of licence used for the commercial production of logs from the natural forest.

Scope and duration: A Forest Concession Licence should be awarded for an area determined by the Forestry Department. This area could include any type of natural forest (e.g. National Forest, Local Forest or natural forest on other types of land) and should be determined on the basis that it forms a rational management area. The area could be from 2,000 ha to 20,000 ha. The duration of the licence should be for 5 years, with the possibility of extension for further periods (until the licence area is completely harvested).

Implementation: The Forest Concession Licence would give the licence holder permission to enter the forest, to cut logs (butt diameter > 30 cm) from an agreed area (i.e. a compartment) and to take such logs to agreed log landings. It would also allow the licence holder to produce poles (< 30 cm butt diameter) and fuelwood from logging waste and areas cleared to make roads, skid trails and landings and to take such products to an agreed point in the forest. The licence would specify the area of forest that will be used along with any other felling regulations or conditions that might apply to the felling area. The main method of control would be to ensure that licence holders are only cutting within the compartment boundaries agreed between them and the Forestry Department and that they are not moving products beyond the agreed collection points in the forest.

Charges: Charges would be paid in advance on an area basis as new compartments are cut. The suggested rate is 1,500 Fee Units per hectare cut (approximately half of the average stumpage value assuming six commercial trees per hectare). The revenue from charges would accrue to the Forestry Department, except in Joint Forest Management Areas where they would accrue to the Joint Forest Management Committee for sharing with the local community.

Standing Sales Licence

Purpose: The Standing Sales Licence should be the main type of licence used for the commercial production of poles (or, possibly, the very small scale production of logs) in the natural forest and the commercial production of poles and logs in forest plantations (in National Forests and Local Forests). It would serve the purpose currently fulfilled by the casual licence.

Scope and duration: A Standing Sales Licence should be awarded for an area determined by the Forestry Department. This area could include any type of natural forest (e.g. National Forest, Local Forest or natural forest on other types of land) or forest plantations in National Forests and Local Forests. The duration of the licence would be short (e.g. 3 months).

Implementation: The Standing Sales Licence would give the licence holder permission to enter the forest, to clear fell the area (forest plantations only) or to cut logs and poles marked by the Forestry Department and to take such products to agreed collection points. It would also allow the licence holder to produce poles and fuelwood as by-products from these operations and to take such products to an agreed point in the forest. The licence would specify the area of forest that will be used along with any other felling regulations or conditions that might apply to the felling area. The main method of control would be to ensure that licence holders are only cutting marked trees (or clear felling) within the agreed boundaries and that they are not moving products beyond the agreed collection points in the forest.

Charges: Charges would be paid in advance and would be determined by competitive means (e.g. auction, tender or negotiation). Reserve prices would be based on estimated standing volume and set at a level comparable to what would be obtained under a Forest Concession Licence. Thus, for logs and poles from natural species, this would be equal to volume multiplied by the conveyance charges, for forest plantations it would be equal to volume multiplied by twice the conveyance charges. The revenue from charges would accrue to the Forestry Department, except in Joint Forest Management Areas where they would accrue to the Joint Forest Management Committee for sharing with the local community.

Charcoal Production Licence

Purpose: The Charcoal Production Licence should be the main type of licence used for commercial charcoal production.

Scope and duration: A Charcoal Production Licence should be awarded for an area determined by the Forestry Department. This area could include any type of forest except National Forest. The duration of the licence would be specified in the licence.

Implementation: The Charcoal Production Licence would give the licence holder permission to enter the forest, to clear fell the area or to cut logs and poles marked by the Forestry Department and to take such products to an agreed kiln site. It would also allow the licence holder to operate one standard sized charcoal kiln. The licence would specify the area of forest that will be used along with any other felling regulations or conditions that might apply to the felling area. The main method of control would be to ensure that licence holders are only cutting marked trees (or clear felling) within the agreed boundaries and that they are not moving charcoal away from the agreed kiln site.

Charges: Charges would be paid in advance and would be set at a level of 200 Fee Units per month; or 500 Fee Units per quarter; or 1,500 Fee Units per year (this scale offers a discount to encourage producers to take a longer licence). The revenue from charges would accrue to the Forestry Department, except in Joint Forest Management Areas where they would accrue to the Joint Forest Management Committee for sharing with the local community.

Fuelwood Production Licence

Purpose: The Fuelwood Production Licence should be the main type of licence used for commercial fuelwood production.

Scope and duration: A Fuelwood Production Licence should be awarded for an area determined by the Forestry Department. T his area could include any type of forest except National Forest. The duration of the licence would be specified in the licence.

Implementation: The Fuelwood Production Licence would give the licence holder permission to enter the forest, to clear fell the area or to cut logs and poles marked by the Forestry Department and to remove fuelwood from the forest. The licence would specify the area of forest that will be used along with any other felling regulations or conditions that might apply to the felling area. The main method of control would be to ensure that licence holders are only cutting marked trees (or clear felling) within the agreed boundaries.

Charges: Charges would be paid in advance and would be set at a level of 200 Fee Units per month; or 500 Fee Units per quarter; or 1,500 Fee Units per year (this scale offers a discount to encourage producers to take a longer licence). The revenue from charges would accrue to the Forestry Department, except in Joint Forest Management Areas where they would accrue to the Joint Forest Management Committee for sharing with the local community.

Non-Wood Forest Products Permit

Purpose: A Non-Wood Forest Products Permit should be used to allow people to enter national Forests and Local Forests to collect NWFPs.

Scope and duration: A Non-Wood Forest Products Permit should be awarded for an area determined by the Forestry Department. A Non-Wood Forest Products Permit would only be needed in National Forests and Local Forests. The duration of the licence would be short (e.g. 3 months).

Implementation: The Non-Wood Forest Products Permit would give the licence holder permission to enter the forest, to collect and remove NWFPs from the forest. The licence would specify the area of forest that will be used along with any other regulations or conditions that might apply to use of the area. The main method of control would be to ensure that licence holders are not harvesting anything that is not included in the licence or damaging the forest in any way.

Charges: This permit would be issued free of charge. (A variation of this sort of permit could be used to allow other uses of the forest in return for a charge – e.g. top soil removal, sites for huts, forest clearance for specified reasons. In this way, it would also fulfil the role currently met by the use of the casual licence where it is used for such products).

Conveyance Licence

Purpose: The Conveyance Licence would be used to allow people to transport logs and poles (from the natural forest) from the forest to the sawmill and charcoal from the forest to the market.

Scope and duration: A Conveyance Licence would be awarded to transport a specified volume within a period of two weeks. Volume would be measured in cubic metres (in the case of logs and poles) or in terms of numbers of standard grain bags (in the case of charcoal). A conveyance licence would not be needed for the following:

small amounts of forest products harvested for personal use;

fuelwood;

NWFPs (excluding bamboo); and

roundwood of plantation species.

Implementation: The Conveyance Licence would give the licence holder permission to remove logs and poles from an agreed landing or collection point, to remove charcoal from an agreed kiln site or to transport bamboo. The licence would specify where the product has come from and the total volume that may be transported. For logs and poles, the logs must be numbered and marked with the official hammer mark of the Forestry Department. The licence holder must also keep a list of log/pole measurements with the products when they are transported. Official labels will be used to identify that conveyance charges have been paid for bags of charcoal. The main method of control will be spot-checks to ensure that all products being transported have been measured correctly and have hammer marks or labels.

Charges: Charges would be paid in advance and would be set at the levels shown in Table 14. The revenue from conveyance charges would accrue to the Forestry Department.

Sawmill and Pitsawing licences

Purpose: The purpose of a Sawmilling or Pitsawing Licence would be to collect statistics for monitoring the location of sawmills and the status of the forest industry in Zambia.

Scope and duration: A Sawmilling or Pitsawing Licence would be awarded for the location of a sawmill or pitsaw in an area determined by the Forestry Department. The duration of the licence would be one year.

Implementation: The Sawmilling or Pitsawing Licence would give the licence holder permission to operate a sawmill or pitsaw in an agreed location. This location could change during the duration of the licence with the permission of the Forestry Department. The licence would also allow the licence holder to sell sawmill residues or produce charcoal from sawmill residues. The licence would specify any other regulations or conditions that might apply to the operation of the sawmill or pitsaw. The main method of control would be to ensure that licence holders are not using unmarked logs or poles in their sawmill or pitsaw.

Charges: This licence would be issued for a nominal charge. (If raising revenues is a priority, it may also be desirable to consider extending such a licence to include chainsaws).