Interest in sustainable forest management in conjunction with socio-economic, ecological and biodiversity conservation has recently increased. A large number of different organisations as well as science and research have emphasised the increasing rate of forest loss through unsustainable use and management practices and have called for more judicious approaches to the management and use of the remaining protected ecosystems in different parts of the world. In particular, protected indigenous forests and their relationship with people have received great attention. The high degree of biodiversity in these forests, the potential of genetic variability, their function as control areas for forest management and the uniqueness of these areas has made the political forum aware of the value of forests. Many examples prove this fact, e.g. the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (Helsinki, Finland, 1992) and the decline of tropical rain and dry forests. On another level, the subsistence use and commercialisation of forest products has given rise to a thesis that sustainable forest management for timber and non-timber forest products should be socially, economically and environmentally sound, encouraging the idea that utilisation and conservation may be pursued jointly.
This case study may be regarded as a summary of background information on subjects concerning the history of Kalahari Sand (KS) teak forests that are confined to the fragile Kalahari sand in Zimbabwe, a description of the forests, management objectives, management and research efforts and the range of stakeholders with interests in these forests. The case study may also be seen as background information on a forthcoming proposal for a transfrontier project for the management of KS teak forests in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In this context the author wishes to express special thanks to Dr Froylán Castañeda (FAO, Rome) for initiating and providing financial assistance for the study, D. Duwa (General Manager Forestry Commission), E. Mufandaedza (Chief Conservator of Forests, Forestry Commission) and to foresters managing the protected forests for granting permission to collect data and information in the forests. Their valuable comments during the review process were much appreciated. Many thanks also go to Peter Lowe for his comments on the draft document and most importantly his encouragement with respect to the proposal for the KS teak forests transfrontier project.
