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ENVIRONMENT-NAMIBIA: Ten Dollars for a 200-Year-Old Tree

Servaas van den Bosch

Mile 20, NAMIBIA, Mar 18 2009 (IPS) - Despite the investment of millions of donor dollars, the permit system in Namibia’s Community Forests has failed dismally, say biodiversity experts. Illegal logging in the inland Kavango is more alive than ever.

Namibia is a pioneer in community-based natural resource management. These projects see communities managing wildlife, natural resources and tourism in their areas.

Over 50 Community Conservancies have been gazetted, covering 120,000 square kilometres and involving 220,000 people. In addition 16 Community Forests were established in the Kavango and Caprivi Regions.

Hailed as a benchmark in African conservation and supported by dozens of NGOs and government departments, they are the cornerstone of Namibia’s rural development, wildlife, and nature conservation. But while some conservancies generate a substantial return – mainly through agreements with private operators – many others are failing.

Last year the 16 Community Forests together earned about 30,000 U.S. dollars, down from $47,000 in 2007. As much as 25 percent goes to the Traditional Authority. The remainder is spread over the 40,000 or more beneficiaries, mostly through Forest Management Committees and Village Development Funds. This translates to just over 50 cents per person, per year.

This return is a mere trickle compared to the massive amounts that donors have poured into the Community Forestry in North-Eastern Namibia project. Critics point out that Community Forests and their bigger cousins, the Community Conservancies, are a money pit and will collapse as soon as donors pull out.

Still, it is not the question of livelihoods that worries scientists most. Despite the Forestry Act of 2001 which saw the establishment of Community Forests, illegal logging has continued.

Community Forests are supposed to calculate extraction rates based on the available trees. They then get a block permit from the Ministry, which they sell on to companies or harvest themselves.

But because of high demand, in 90 percent of the cases the loggers exceed the permit. As a consequence many undersized trees are cut down, argues Michael Pröpper, a scientist with the Biodiversity Transect Analysis (BIOTA) project who researched the ongoing deforestation in the Kavango. Worse, the highly inefficient – and illegal – practice of illegal pit-sawing leaves large parts of the tree to rot in the forest.

Since trees can take 200 years to reach harvestable size, these practices severely affect the regeneration of the forests.

Jamba Joseph, from Ncumcara Community Forest, affirms the observations of the scientists. “We have to be there to keep an eye on the loggers. Otherwise they will just start hammering away and take out twice as much.”

But even with community members monitoring, offtake numbers from Ncumcara – some 300 trees in 2008 – are still much higher than is sustainable. According to Pröpper, in a soon to be published article on Kavango timber, only 30 trees should have been taken from Joseph’s Community Forest.

This not only threatens biodiversity but also potential opportunities under international carbon trading agreements, such as the Kyoto Clean Development Mechanisms.

Developing nations are holding their breath as the integration of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) mechanisms into global carbon markets is being hotly debated. Recently the scientific journal Nature published a study that puts African forests on par with the Amazon rainforest as a potential carbon sink.

A drawback of the REDD proposals is that unless the rights of indigenous people are protected, forest communities are believed to suffer under the scheme. If accepted into the global carbon trading regime, REDDs could arguably assist to alleviate poverty in the communities. A condition, however, is that legal requirements for logging are strictly enforced.

Pröpper argues that currently the major part of the harvesting happens illegally due to a ‘leaky’ permit system.

According to him, the Department of Forestry is unable to patrol the region, which measures 43,418 square kilometres – roughly the size of Switzerland. Outside the Community Forests there is no effective control, but even within the reserves “it is very questionable trees will remain untouched, considering the current attitude towards timber values”, he states.

Robert Mukuya is a Biota field worker and narrator of Wiza Wetu! (Our Forest), a documentary that aims to create awareness among forest users. He explains how illegal timber gets mixed with ‘permitted’ timber and sold on.

“The operators get the timber from as far as Angola where there is no real law enforcement. Once loaded on the truck it is very hard for forestry officials to estimate if the size of the shipment corresponds with the paperwork.”

Three quarters of the wood is exported, explains Pröpper. “Though the profits are made at the end of the supply chain, the harvesters bear the risks, relying on minimal short-term cash income, earned by hard labour.” While a full-grown tree is chopped down for as little as $10 by the loggers, at the other end of the market high quality timber can fetch up to $800 per cubic meter.

“The most the illegal loggers will get paid is $40 for a week of hard labour, but often it is way less,” says Mukuya. “Many of them get paid in foodstuffs, for instance a large bag of mealie meal and 10 kilogrammes of fish.”

Because of the dynamics in the timber market, corruption is widespread and involves Traditional Authorities and headmen. “The idea that loss of biodiversity has long lasting impacts is not grounded in people’s understanding”, experiences Robert Mukuya, as he travels around the area to show his documentary.

Although the Forest Act aims to stimulate local ownership and sustainable use of resources, Clever Mapaure, who has researched the legal difficulties surrounding forest conservation, signals a possible conflict between the different parties. The beneficiaries in the Community Forest, the Traditional Authorities that own the land and the State, responsible for conservation and law-enforcement, have different priorities.

“This uneasy relationship creates a silent conflict between the state and communities, with communities sometimes back-pedalling on government policies”, comments Mapaure.

For the forest communities in the Kavango to make a living at $10 a tree requires enormous amounts of timber.

“But a monetary value for the tree, measured according to market prices, is only one part of the story”, says Pröpper. “In a system where nobody values irreplaceable resources yet – and neighbouring countries literally throw them away for peanuts – it doesn’t mirror the real ecological value and the rising costs once the ecological function is destroyed.”