The White Paper on Sustainable Forest Development in South Africa recognizes the contribution made by research development to the industrial forest sector and to the improved management of natural forests and woodlands. However, it identifies a lack of focus on community forestry and the interface between people and resources, as well as a failure to develop synergies between research and existing indigenous technical knowledge.
The White Paper on Science and Technology calls for demand led research, effective transfer and implementation of technology by the users, the formation of alliances to achieve focus and critical mass, the broadening of the research system to include formerly disadvantaged people, and the consolidation of research and technology development into sectoral systems of innovation. There has been extensive research on natural forests, through DWAF and its predecessors, and through universities and other institutions. For instance, research in the forests of the George Knysna region began at the turn of the century and has continued to this day, focussing on forest biology, ecology and silviculture and recently on community forestry.
There has also been an extensive focus on research into community forestry over the last two years, funded mainly by the DWAF, which has also encouraged research on forest and woodland types and the development of a GIS supported national forestry inventory.
Research on the natural woodlands has tended to focus on its agricultural and wildlife values, but the Savannah Biome Programme, funded by the government and managed through the National Research Foundation, assembled a multi-disciplinary team from diverse organizations in a concerted programme of ecological research which contributed importantly to our understanding of this resource.
