The miombo woodlands cover 2.4 million km2 in Southern Africa, stretching from Angola to Mozambique. They are the most extensive tropical seasonal woodland and dry forest in Africa.

This study identified four necessary components of reform: 1) Policies and institutions must embrace decentralization and devolution; 2) To encourage good management, governments must foster markets for the local products and services that good management can produce; 3) Forestry organizations must switch their emphasis from regulation of use to delivery of services, empowering local people to become better woodland users and managers; 4) Planners must keep in mind the cost of deforestation and degradation to rural populations.