Policy and institutional issues around secondary forests in Anglophone African countries
A thematic
paper
Written by
Patrick
Mushove
ERMAL Natural Resources Consultancy
P/L,
P.O. Box UA 526, Union
Avenue
Harare, Zimbabwe
E-mail: [email protected]
FOR THE
FAO/EC
LNV/GTZ
WORKSHOP ON TROPICAL SECONDARY FOREST MANAGEMENT IN AFRICA:
Reality and
perspectives
In collaboration with ICRAF and
CIFOR
Nairobi, Kenya, 9-13 December 2002
I would like to thank Froylán Castañeda (FAO - Rome) who, through consultations with Dr. Patrick Matakala (ICRAF - Maputo) selected me for the assignment of writing the paper relative to Theme Number 3 of this workshop. Dr. Nagmeldin Goutbi Elhassan (Higher Council for Environment and Natural resources Climate Change Unit, Khartoum) helped me with literature on the Sudan. Dr. Michel Laverdière and Ms Patricia Chiurai (FAO - Harare) helped with administrative chores. I retain full responsibility for the contents of this paper
Patrick Mushove
Forest cover and the quantity and quality of forest products and services are declining significantly. These adverse changes are mostly due to a lack of both streamlined and democratic institutional arrangements and the political will on the part of nation states. Despite external pressure from the more powerful international stakeholders, nation states need to concentrate on what is more practical and relevant in improving the livelihoods of national citizens, especially the disadvantaged rural poor who depend mostly on environmental resources. To achieve this, nation states need to take bold political decisions that enable them to develop new civil society institutions to improve governance and accountability regarding forest use.
