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Abstract:
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"One of the primary causes of environmental degradation and loss of natural forest cover in Africa is the lack of forest management plans and the means to implement such plans. This is largely a result of the fact that past efforts have focused on plantation forestry to introduce fast-growing exotic species rather than managing existing forests. Official (i.e. government) forest management in the past has often involved uprooting existing 'useless brush' to make space for industrial plantations or village woodlots. Many of these efforts have failed for a variety of reasons: plantation costs were underestimated; production was overestimated; and perhaps most importantly, the projects did not involve local people (or even local technicians) in the design phase. The end result of this approach has been a wealth of research and information regarding the growth and silvicultural practices related to exotic species, and relatively little experience with the management of natural forests. Moreover, traditional management systems have been discouraged by governments who continue to maintain authority over vast forest areas, which are grazed and cut haphazardly with little control by forest agents (who attempt to apply laws in the absence of a forest management plan). Land-use planning and natural forest management must be made an immediate priority if the remaining forest resources of arid and semiarid Africa are not to be further diminished or even entirely lost."
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