3. LINKAGES TO OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES AND CONCERNS

All the areas the project will work on are very much linked to broader societal issues of relevance to the welfare of the African people and the environment they live in. The AFF will, both in general and in specific activities, connect with issues of poverty alleviation, energy, gender equity and forest/tree and land tenure. Through this programme proposed for funding by Sida, as well as through other activities and programmes with other partners, AFF will identify areas of further work so as to provide information that will contribute to the resolution of issues that characterise these four areas.

Below are some brief notes on how AFF intends to deal with these issues, specifically within the confines of the activities in this programme.

3.1 On poverty linkages

The Mission of the AFF, as appearing in its Constitution, states:  “The AFF seeks to contribute to the improvement of the livelihood of the people of Africa and the environment they live in through sustainable management and use of tree and forest resources on the African continent”. AFF is therefore committed to poverty reduction on the continent.

The proposed activities in this project proposal seek to contribute to this mission as follows:

1.    Good Forest Governance: This activity seeks to improve the governance of tree and forest resources in ways that involve all stakeholders, including local communities and poor people, whose needs can be addressed through good management and use of these resources. Local communities depend on these resources for essential products like fuel-wood, medicines, foods, fodder for their animals and the environmental services that contribute to their livelihoods like sustained provision of water.

2.    Climate Change and Forest and Water relations:  These two activities are central to human survival and stability of the environment. Africa will be the worst affected in terms of climate change. This project will contribute to the understanding of the effects of climate change on agriculture and livestock husbandry that form the mainstay of many rural people in Africa. In addition, the project will also highlight how climate change affects tree and forest resources and their capacity to support livelihoods of the rural poor through provision of basic goods and services like fuelwood, water, fodder, foods and medicines.

3.    Strengthening Dialogues in Forestry: Experience shows that Africa has been weak on regional and international dialogues on forestry, especially on key issues like climate change that hold potential to adversely affect the majority of the rural poor and the environment they live in. The project seeks to strengthen the African forestry sector in taking up such important issues and advancing their goals in national plans so that issues of social and economic importance, like poverty reduction, are addressed holistically.

4.    Rehabilitation of Public Forest Plantations: There is an emerging scarcity of industrial wood in many countries in Africa. One of the approaches to contain this problem is the establishment of forest plantations. This project seeks to draw on lessons on public forest plantation development to advance a case for increased local communities’ engagement in outgrower schemes that would eventually expand their sources of income, increase employment and supply of affordable forest and tree products. All these will contribute to the reduction of the level of poverty in rural communities and among poor urban consumers.
 
5.    Improved Information Generation Sharing:  The countries in Africa are at different stages of managing and using their forest resources. For example, community-based and joint forest management are more advanced in the woodlands and dry forests as compared to closed forest or rainforest countries. Exchange of information and experiences between countries through this project will make it possible to upscale best practices in forestry that improve the livelihoods of the rural poor.

The project also will draw on lessons from Swedish long experience in forestry that could be of use to African forestry in addressing poverty.

3.2 On tenure of land, forests and trees

The AFF is fully aware of the importance and complexity of land, forest and tree tenure on the continent, and how tenure interrelates with other essential issues, such as income generation, biodiversity conservation, investments in forestry and tree growing, climate, and gender. Actually, many of the AFF Governing Council (GC) members are very actively involved with these issues in their various professional capacities. In some of the projects developed during SFM I and II, which are not part of this proposal, tenure issues feature very prominently, e.g. in proposals related to community forest management, rainforest logging concessions, and the use of non-wood forest products. Also in many of the projects in this proposal, tenure will be an important consideration, e.g. in the forest law enforcement and governance project and the plantation project.

At the third AFF GC meeting it was decided that a paper highlighting the key issues of tenure and how they affect forestry in the different regions of Africa should be commissioned when implementing this project. The paper should make recommendations which AFF could consider at a seminar/workshop where the position of AFF would be clearly defined. Based on this and the experience coming out of all relevant activities that AFF is or will become involved with, a long term measure will be to formulate a strategy on how to advise regional bodies and governments on how to tackle tenure issues relating to forestry. A panel of experts on land tenure will be established that continuously advise AFF on land tenure issues and trends in the region. These activities will be handled within the currently requested budget for the Secretariat.

3.3 On gender in the work of AFF

Women play major roles in the management and use of forest and tree resources in Africa. Their roles as harvesters and managers of trees at local level are well researched. Their opportunities for gainful economic involvement have been limited to minor forest products and subsistence consumption. With the enactment of new forest laws that encourage inclusive forest resource governance, such opportunities can be enhanced and new ones found.

At professional level, women have had limited influence on forest policy and management for many reasons, including lack of gender-focused programmes, invisibility, few women in the forestry and natural resources fields, policies and governance regimes.   

A recent desk study by FAO on gender and forestry in Africa shows that whereas there is a positive move towards improving governance of forest resources exhibited by institutional and legislative reforms, policy and legislative provisions on gender have not resulted in equity and equality. Hence, whereas policy statements appear to incorporate gender concerns, specific strategies and action plans that can translate policy intent into practical outcomes are lacking; yet, the key role played by women as managers and users of forest resources is recognised.

The AFF will address gender issues as they relate to the seven areas the project will address. The AFF will also assess how to increase gender representation within its administrative structures including the organs of AFF like the Governing Council. A gender perspective component, in collaboration with Swedish gender experts, could be included in the studies and workshops planned under the Swedish-African collaboration project to be implemented in the first two years.

In the long term the AFF should devise programmes that address gender concerns at all levels of forest production, training, research and management and use of tree and forest resources. The AFF should be able to provide guidance on how to articulate the needs of resource-poor women as well as those of women professionals. Actually, a concept note for a project on “Forestry in Eastern Africa: Mainstreaming gender in institutional policies, programmes and strategies” is under development between the Kenya Forest Research Institute and AFF. Lessons from this project will provide guidance on gender mainstreaming in forestry in the  other sub-regions of the continent.