1. INTRODUCTION

The following country paper on the conservation, management, sustainable utilization and enhancement of forest genetic resources encompasses a review of the institutional, legal and socio-economic aspects of forest genetic resources in Swaziland. The objective is to review the status as well as the current and potential utilization of the main forest tree species. A number of recent publications on the subject, representing the views on the different types of values attributed to forest trees in the country, sourced from a number of the country’s stakeholders, have been consulted.

1.1. SWAZILAND

Swaziland has a total land area of about 17 360 km² and is historically divided into four distinct physiographic zones, running from North to South: Highveld, Middleveld, Lowveld and Lubombo Plateau (table 1). Rainfall is highest in the Highveld and lowest in the Lowveld and most of the rain (about 85 percent) falls in summer. These regions have characteristic plant distribution patterns and this serves as a very useful basis for understanding the distribution of forest genetic resources in Swaziland. A recent study by Sweet and Khumalo (1994) has refined these classifications and recognizes a number of vegetation types based on climatic, topographic and soil characteristics as well as soil composition (table 2).

TABLE 1: PHYSIOGRAPHIC ZONES OF SWAZILAND WITH MAJOR LANDFORMS, GEOLOGY AND VEGETATION

Source: Sweet and Khumalo (1994)

TABLE 2: MAIN LAND USE TYPES IN 1994

Source: MTEC, 1999

1.2. FOREST RESOURCES

In this paper, forest means areas with a crown cover of more than 10 percent, thus it includes both commercial plantation forests (made of exotic species) and indigenous forests. A forest resource inventory, carried out by Hess et al. in 1990, indicated that the total forest area was about 36 percent of the country of which 463 000 hectares were indigenous and 108 000 hectares were commercial forests.

Thus forest forms a crucial sub-sector in Swaziland and contributes about 25 percent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings. Further, an analysis of forest genetic resources in Swaziland indicates that a large number of trees have a variety of useful products of socio-economic importance which are valuable to the Swazi populace (see appendix 2).

1.3. LAND USES, TENURE AND VEGETATION UTILIZATION

Forest genetic resources are usually utilized alongside other agricultural products. Since utilization of indigenous forest products has only recently started getting attention, it is often ignored in official statistics. Even though the 1990 Forest Inventory indicated that it makes up 27 percent of the total land area, indigenous forest is not considered as a main land use.

Land tenure is an important factor in the role of land management, thus it has a significant influence in the utilization and conservation of forest genetic resources in Swaziland. There are two main types of land tenure systems: the Swazi Nation Land (about 74 percent) and the Title Deed Land (about 25 percent). Their distribution is summarized in table 3 (NPDP, 1996).

Title Deed Land is privately owned and access to the land and its resources is regulated by the owner, hence its resources can be more easily managed. Contrarily, under the Swazi Nation Land, holdings are allocated by the King through the chiefs to individuals for farming and homesteads. Land is held communally and community members have free access to land and other resources. Thus, open access to forest genetic resources poses a serious threat to their sustainable utilization and conservation. However, it should be noted that community rules exist at a grassroots level for regulating the management of plant genetic resources. For example, dates and techniques for harvesting certain plants are prescribed and enforced.

TABLE 3: LAND TENURE TYPES AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION, 1994

Source: modified from MTEC, 1999
* Swaziland National Trust Commission

1.4. CURRENT STATUS OF FOREST GENETIC RESOURCES IN SWAZILAND

The knowledge of the country’s biological diversity is still at a developmental stage. Existing knowledge indicates that the country has some 3 400 species of higher plants (Kenene and Nkosi, 1998). This represents about 14 percent of Southern Africa’s plants, yet the country makes up less than one percent of the region’s land area, which is very rich in terms of biodiversity. There are 39 plant species in Swaziland which are endemic and/or have a global conservation status (MTEC, 1999).

Red Data Lists for Swaziland’s plants are in a preparatory phase. Formal studies of threats highlighting causes, impacts and possible measures to curb the effects are still missing. As a result, baseline information on the following factors, which are worthy of serious consideration for purposes of conservation and sustainable utilization of forest genetic resources, is often missing:

- distribution of species within physiographic zones;

- plant community population dynamics;

- the conservation status of species;

- level of utilization for species, and ultimately vegetation units;

- data on economic values of biodiversity, but recently attempts have been made by Ogle (1982) and Mander (1998).

However, the following threats are recognized, though they are not formally documented:

• destruction or alteration of habitats by:
  • sugar cane field expansion
  • infrastructure development (National development Strategy, NDS)
  • vegetation clearing for:
    • horticultural crops (fruits and vegetables)
    • food crops (maize, sorghum and beans)
    • other cash crops (cotton and tobacco)
• over-exploitation of trees for wood carving, fuelwood, timber and medicines;
• impact of invading exotic species e.g. Lantana camara and Sesbania punicea;
• impact of cultivated exotic species e.g Acacia mearnsii, Psidium guajava, Pinus spp. and Eucalyptus spp.:
  • displacement of indigenous species
  • landscape alteration
• human settlements due to population expansion;
• free access to indigenous forests in Swazi Nation Land.

1.5. LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR EXISTING POLICIES

There is no proper forest policy at present, but a new forest policy and legislation for Swaziland is in preparation. The preparation of the forest policy seeks to bring on board the concerns related to forestry development at sub-regional and global levels. Most of the international agreements to which Swaziland is a signatory, are useful though their impact is occasionally reduced by the fact that enforcement is usually weak and that they often deal indirectly with forestry. The new policy attempts to address these handicaps.

Swaziland is a signatory to a number of regional and international policies such as the United Nations (UN) Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Ramsar Convention for the Protection of Wetlands of International Importance, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora, the Convention concerning the protection of world cultural and natural heritage, the development of sound harmonized principles regarding trade in timber and other forest products - GATT/WTO (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization), the Rio declaration of non-legally binding forest principles and the Agenda 21 adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

In addition, the policy is being formulated in the context of a number of other National Policies which affect the sustainable use and conservation of forest genetic resources in Swaziland, including the national agricultural land use policy in 1994, the national development plan in 1996, the Swaziland Environmental Action Plan in 1997 (SEAP, 1997a and 1997b), the National Action Plan under the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), the National Land Policy in 1998 (GOS, 1998) and the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. It is noteworthy that all these policies are very recent; many are draft policies, hence may be subjected to significant changes in the preparation process.