Forestry Dependency

There is an abundance anecdotal evidence that savannah woodlands are sources of a diversity of products which are of vital importance to the welfare of a large portion of the populations of south-central Africa. There is at present little quantified information on the extent or nature of this dependence, or on the external factors that influence the ability of people to benefit from woodland products. This information is essential to enable governments to formulate policies which will enable benefits to be sustained or enhanced.

It is proposed to undertake a series of case studies in different countries of the region and in the different situations within countries to quantify woodland benefits and identify key issues influencing sustainability and productivity. The implications of woodland – dependent people of the expansion of competing land use will be given particular attention.

Devolution of Woodland Management

All of the countries of the region have experimented to some extent with programmes to devolve management of woodlands from the government departments to communities, private individuals or corporations. There have been also been experiments with shared or joint management. These attempts at developing some local institutional arrangements to give people a greater stake in the management of woodlands have shown potential for success, but have also revealed problems of sustainability and equity of benefit sharing.

It is proposed to carry out case studies in different countries, of the diversity of tenure/access arrangements being used to examine the questions of sustainability and equity of distribution of benefits. These case studies should yield general conclusions of the types of the institutional arrangements that are appropriate in different conditions and for various objectives.

Sustainable Use of Forests

A plan for sustainable harvesting of dry forests is needed because recruitment appears to be rare or episodic, and growth rates are slow. Furthermore, dispersability appears to be low thus rates of colonization are likely to be low. Loss of areas of dry forest appears to be less revisable than in the situation for wet forests. A model for sustainability of use f dry forests needs to be developed. I must incorporate information of regeneration patterns of component species, growth rates and dispersability, together with the quantity and quality of resources used and their effet on component species.

Sustainable Development and Natural Resource Management in Southern Africa.

IES through it’s research associate Dr B Makamuri, will assist CESVI and the Biodiversity Foundation for Africa in this new project that aims to improve livelihoods of the people and the status of the natural resources in the Limpopo Sage drainage basins. For IES the work currently involves institutional analysis and socio-economic surveys in Chiredzi and the Beit Bridge District areas.

Agroforestry Southern Africa: Travel Opportunities

Persons wishing to travel to Canada, (University of Alberta) to assist in meeting the objectives of the AFSA project should contact IES for further details.

Agroforestry Southern Africa

We congratulate three persons for their award of CAD8000 each to conduct research within the above programme, administered by IES:

O.A.Chivhinge: Manipulation of Allelopathic polyphenolic compounds.
P.Mapfumo: Constraints of Agroforestry adoption
A.Mushaka: Eucalyptus water use studies

They join Mashongahande (work on termites) and Kundhande and Luckert (Household decision making) as research grantees on the Agroforestry: Southern Africa Programme.

Short Course on Writing Research Proposals

The Environmental Research Coordinating Committee (ERCC) inconjunction with the Institute of Environmental Studies (IES) and the Miombo Network organized and held a three-day course on writing research proposals. The objectives of the course were:

To equip research practitioners with proposal writing skills which will enhance their capacity to source funding for their own institutions.
To share with participants the problems and successes encountered in proposal writing, so as to consolidate their skills in structuring proposals which meet donor expectations.
To expose researchers and postgraduate students to the use of concept notes and logic frameworks as key tools in proposal formulation and development.

Owing to the enthusiastic feedback received from participants, this course will be held again next year.

Forthcoming IES Acticity

The study of the Marketing of Tree Bark Products workshop for students and practitioners will be held in Harare and Hot Springs from the 17^th to the 30^th of May 1999. Contact IES for further details.

List of some IES publications for 1998

1. Ayling R, Campbells B, Frost P Goebel A, Gunda W, Mukamuri B, Murray E, and Veeman M (1998). Valuing the woodland resources of savanna regions: a conceptual model of woodland use and change. In: Mushove P, Mubaiwa M, Mukwekwerere F, and Pfukwa C (eds) Forestry in the challenging political environment: Challenges for the 21^st century. Proceedings of the 15^th Commonwealth Forestry Conference. Forestry Commission, Harare

2. Campbell D.M, Swift M.J, Frost P.G.H and Kirchmann H (1998) Comparative ecosystem characteristics of a miombo woodland and an adjacent agricultural fies (Zimbabwe) p201-226. In Bergstrom L and Kirchmann H (eds) Carbon and nutrient dynamics in natural agricultural tropical ecosystems. CAB International, U.K

3. Chivaura-Mususa C, Jarvis N.J and Campbell B.M (1998) The influence of scattered Parinari curatellifolia and Acacia sieberana trees on soil nutrients in a grassland pasture and in arable fields p191-200. In Bergstrom L and Kirchman H (eds) Carbon nutrient dynamics in natural and agricultural tropical ecosystems. CAB International, UK

4. Chuma E, Chiduza C and Utete D (1998) A micro-economics primer for agroforestry-related issues in developing countries. IES, Harare

5. Dosman D, and Luckert .K (1998) A micro-economics primer for agroforestry-related issues in developing countries. IES, Harare