FORESTRY DATA ON ANGOLA

by
Alfonso Zola
Senior Forestry Officer
Institute of Forestry Development
Luanda - Angola

PRELIMINARY COUNTRY DATA (ANGOLA)

Total land area (ha) 124,670 000 Natural forest area 1990 (ha) /% of the total land 23,074,000 / 19% Annual deforestation 1980-1990 (ha) / rate 174,000 / 0.75% Annual allowable cut ( m3 ) 320.000 Reported plantation area 1990 (ha) 140,000 Annual reforestaion 1990 (ha) 100 Protected area (ha) 81,060 / 6.5% Other wooded lands 1990 (ha) 50,700, 000 /40.7% Population 1996 / annual growth% 12,278,000 / 2.6% Density per Km2 9.8 Urban / rural population 46% / 54% GNP (per capita) 1990 US $ 800 Inflation rate%: annual (1995) 37.05 Accummulated (1995) 824.30

1. CONTEXT

1.1. Background

Angola has total land area of 1,246,700 km², situated between latitudes 4^o41' and 18^o02'S and longitudes 11^o41'and 24^o05E. The population was estimated at 12,278,000 inhabitants in 1996 and average growth is 2.6% with 9.8 inhabitants per square kilometre density. Reportedly around 60% of the population is living to the urban area. This figure is high compared to other countries in the region. Some of the rural population have abandoned their original land area for security purposes.

The country is administratively divided into 18 provinces, bordered on the north and northeast by The Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia on the east and Namibia to the south. The country has 1,600 km of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean.

The country consists of plateau generally between 1,000 and 1,200m covering threefold of its territory. The highest mountain is Serra Moco with an altitude of 2,620m.

The climate is generally tropical and moderated by the sea altitude, with more 1,800 mm of rainfall in the nothern part of the country, and 100mm in the southern, mainly in Namibe province, influenced by the Kalahari desert. The rainfall is at about 1,500 mm in the high plateau, especially in the provinces of Uige, Huambo and Lunda.

1.2. Economy and economic policy

The government relies heavily on external support from international institutions like the World Bank, IMF, United Nations, and bilateral agreements on extraction of mineral resources, particularly oil and diamonds. Little or no emphasis is placed on promoting basic production sectors, such as agriculture, fishery and others equally important to Angola's development.

1.3. Political situation

Currently Angola faces a critical political situation. In 1975 the country gained independence from Portugal by the nationalist military. The military lead the country into a prolonged civil war. This has affected current and future resource operations in Angola.

The civil war has ended, but the trend to return to war is increasingly likely. The political situation is still fragile and in the extensive interior, government control is not fully implemented and most significantly, the area is dangerous to access for field work due to the extensive presence of land mines. Acording to UN information sources, 11,000,000 different types of mines were disseminated in the country. Removal operations have not been successful.

1.4. Social and human context for forestry

Despite the low rank of forests in the Angolan economy (due to the immense natural resources of the country, such as oil, diamonds and other important minerals and fisheries) forests and forestry play a very important role for the survival of a significant part of the population. Some reports state that more than 80% of the inhabitants of the country live in the rural area and their dependence on forestry is very high. The forest is an important resource of their lives. They extract almost all their basic products such as wood for energy purposes, poles for construction, plants for medicinal purposes, hunting and trapping, watershed protection, game and wildlife conservation and biodiversity maintenance.

Although the country is rich in mineral and agricultural resources, but it is still far away from satisfying the demands of the population. The government must locate within the economic hierarchy, a place for this very important sector particularly because most of its inhabitants are largely dependent on the forest and forest products.

2. FOREST RESOURCES

2.1. land ownership

After independence the country's constitution stated that all land and forest in Angola belonged to the state. Therefore, the Land Policy defining possession rights and conditions for its use was established. Land as well as forest permits were issued under limited regulations.

The Constitution of 1992 approved the Law 21-C/92: the Law of Concessions, or so-called Land Law. There is a clearly stated principle that local community land rights will be protected ( in the preamble of the Land Law), it recognises different forms of land access, including rights acquired by previous owners. These aspects are positive, however this law is based on old concepts, and reflects old ideas of the Government following central planning principles.

Pratically it is not a Land Law, but a law for issuing licences for approved economic activities on specific areas. The Land Law does not define the land rights of different users competinng for resources and relationships between them. This law does not cover all national territory. Public domain areas such as National Parks and Forestry reserves, urban areas, airports, coastline, military and other public areas are excluded. The law fails to cover any systems that regulate land access and rights for at least 95% of all land use units in the country.

2.2. Land use

The country posesses imense land and forest resources and conflicts for land use are practically non-existent. Territorial surface is relatively larger compared to total population and during a large period, land and forest were in very few proportion submitted to work production. This tendency does not seem to take long. New policy on Land Law has been formulated and the rights of land concession are completely different, with some relevant constraints.

Conflict between different interest groups is inevitable in the future unless an appropriate framework can be found to accommodate them. Angola is very large, but the best land will quickly disappear as it acquires new value as a productive asset after a secure political settlement.

2.3. Land use potential

Land-use classes	Area, ha	Percentage,%
Arable land Forest land Permanent pasture land Mountain and shrubland Others TOTAL LAND AREA	8,000,000 50,700,000 33,000,000 28,000,000 4,900,000 24,670,000	6.4 40.7 26.5 22.5 3.9 100.0

3. NATURAL FOREST RESOURCES

3.1. Area, and change of area volume over time

Angola is divided into 12 biomass classes. The standing biomass of the different vegetation types is slightly less important in this classification than the phenology and productivity. The floristic composition is relatively unimportant. Consequently, some biomass classes incorporate a variety of vegetation types which are related in terms of phenology, productivity and biomass, as distinct from floristic units. These biomass classes are more appropriate for the appraisal of fuelwood resources than the previously defined floristic-mapping units.

Standing biomass reserves are very high over much of the country. Four of the twelve biomass classes identified and described below are dominated by forest and woodland and have high fuelwood and timber potential. They also account for 61.6% of the country. This is substantially higher than 40% closed forest and savannah-woodland cover calculated by Lanly (1981) even if his deforestation rate of 40,000 ha year is taken into account. One of the discrepancies of this study was the inclusion of the wooded savannahs and cleared areas in the north of the country in the four forest woodland biomass classes. Nevertheless, it is still difficult to arrive at Lanly's estimate and it appears Angola has considerably more forest and woodland than previously suggested. In addition some of the dry-savannah biomass classes have high standing woody biomass as well. Three classes - coastal and desert vegetation and two grassland classes - are characterised by very low reserves (5.61% of the country by area). Biomass classes dominated by savannah vegetation have intermediate fuelwood reserves and they account for 29.5% of the country by area. The wide variation in vegetation types, and therefore fuelwood potential, is due to the fact that much of northern Angola is transitional with the rain forest zone, and the Southwest is in the arid zone. Despite this extreme range of vegetation types, much of the country is covered by Miombo woodland, varying from Dense, High Miombo Woodland to Dry, Open, Deciduous Miombo Savannah. The strongest controls on distribution in Angola appear to be vegetation disturbance, rainfall amount and seasonality, depth of soil, and altitude.

Despite the very healthy national biomass picture, there are a number of areas that have obvious problems with fuelwood supply. The provinces most affected, in terms of the area extent of moderately and highly productive fuelwood sources are Bengo, Namibe and Luanda. These areas have been identified previously. Trees in Bengo and Luanda provinces have been cleared for agriculture, grazing and fuelwood at an increasing rate over the past 15-20 years and the situation in these provinces is now critical. The Namibe province suffers from a natural shortage of productive biomass reserves and the problems of fuelwood supply to the main towns. Estimates have shown that the cutting of vegetation exceeds annual growth in Namibe province. There is evidence that the Dry Deciduous Savannah in Huila province, along the Lubango-Huambo Road and the Lubango-Namibe Railway, is being exploited to meet the fuelwood demands in Namibe. In addition, more localised shortfalls in production can be recognised from the biomass-class maps and productivity date for the following provinces: Benguela - along the coastal and inland as far as Bocoio and Cantangue; Cabinda - along the coastal plain; Cunene - around Ngiva City; Kwanza Norte - in the western half of the district; Kwanza Sul - along the coast and inland as far as Gabela and around Kibala; Moxico - along the Luena Valley; and Zaire - along the coastal plain.

Summary of growing stock and data

Biomass class	Area		Growing stock		MAI
	100 ha	(% of country)	(mil. ton.)	(% of total)	(mil. ton.)	(% of t.)
Transitional Rain Forest/Miombo Woodland	159,600	13	1,137	24	40	25
Dense High Miombo woodland	111,281	9	793	17	25	17
Dense Medium-Height Miombo/woodland	221,164	18	1,575	33	50	35
Seasonal Miombo, Woodland and Wooded Savannah	306,946	25	609	13	15	10
Dry Deciduous Savannah	229,657	18	386	8	11	8
Dry Coastal Savan. Arid Coastal Thicket	48,484	4	57	1	2	2
Dry Inland Savannah	26,263	2	31	1	1	1
Degrad. Rain Forest, Miombo Woodland	33,220	3	31	1	1	1
Degraded Dry Deciduos Savannah	34.987	9	82	2	3	2
Bushy Arid Shrubland	15,748	1	11	1	1	0
Chanas da Borracha Grassland	37,251	3	0	0	0	0
Montane Grassland	833	0	0	0	0	0
Coastal and Desert Vegetation	21,184	2	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	1,246,698		4,713		141

3.2. Area of established plantations

Plantations in Angola were established during the colonial era, during 1960 and 1970. Most planted areas are located in the Central plateau of the country, created by the Railway Company of Benguela, CFB and by the Paper Board Company of Alto Catumbela with the purpose of supplying the energy for the train between Lobito Horbord and the extreme part of the eastern country and the supply of raw material to the Paper Board Company.

There are also some public woodlots established for different purposes such as firewood supply and protective purposes. Most of species used are Eucalyptus spp. They represent approximately 80%, the Pinus spp., the Cupressus lusitanica estimated at about 7,400 ha. Since independence these plantations have been abandoned. No management took place on the Paper Board Company plantations for many years. The situation is the same on the other plantations owned by the state and private enterprises.

Areas Of Industrial Plantations (Estimated, 1985)

Province	CFB	CFL	PBC	Ministry	Private	Total
Benguela Huambo Bié Moxico Malange Huila Outhers TOTAL	3,373 14,978 10,948 5,027 - - - 34,326	- - - - 580 - - 580	53,166 11,390 - - - - - 64,556	- 25,900 400 - - 2,504 1,105 29,909	- 3,234 800 - - - 1,232 5,266	56,539 55,502 12,148 5,027 580 2,504 2,337 134,637

The planted area in the framework of National Afforestation Programme in the Coastal Zone, from 1993 to 1998 on its first phase.

No	Province	Project	Area, ha	No. of plants	Density/ha	Species
1	Namibe	Tombwa	174	87,100	500	1, 3, 10
		Umpata Catete	45	12,510	278	1, 3
2	Benguela	Baia Farta	42	13,650	325	1, 2, 5, 11
		S. António	6	1,350	225	1, 2, 11
		Aeroporto	27	16,875	625	1, 2, 11
3	Luanda	Benfica	15	3,200	213	1, 2, 4, 5, 9,12
		Ilha de Luanda	23	14,375	625	1, 2
4	Sumbe	Balela	32	26,666	833	1, 2, 4, 5, 9,12
		Dois Morros	28	10,000	357
		Comunidades	13	10,833	833
5	Cabinda	Dingo	8	9,720	1164
		N'Goio	2	2,837	1146
			5	5,076	1025
			1	214	305
	TOTAL		423	215,491

1. Prospsis juliflora; 2. Azadirachta indica 3. Casuarina equisetifolia

4. Trichilia spp 5. Leucaenea leucocephala 6. Eucaliptus spp.

7. Pinus spp. 8. Cupresus lusitanica 9. Euforbiacea

10. Euforbiacea 11. Acacia rubra 12. Terminalia catata

4. FOREST PRODUCTS PRODUCTION, TRADE AND CONSUMPTION

Roundwood, industrial, sawnwood, and other products

	1995 Value, NKz		1996 Value, NKz		1997 Value, NKz
Rondwood, m3	96,011	46,329,364.00	170,745	2,000,000.00	39,735	36,063,384.00
Sawnwood, m3	na	na	na	na	117	90,000,000.00
Firewood, st.	85,818	2,013,461.00	125,625	3,987,500.00	35,427	577,958,000.00
Charcoal, ton	43,498	5,562,017.00	15,000	na	21,051	3,082,597.00
Other products		1,783,878.00		25,271,376.00		1,702,761.00

Figures above reflect the weakness of the forestry sector. It has been dificult to ascertain data related to many products largely used in the country. The sector is poorly equiped in means and skilled personnel. Data on trading and consumption of forestry resources is limited. This situation is also extended to other sectors directly or indirectly linked to the forestry sector, whereby others are considered as potential sources of data and information. Data regarding sawnwood is scarce to obtain, the few sawnmills operating are resistant to supply data.

It is the same when it comes to information on firewood and charcoal. Forest products are largely used to satisfy the basic population demands. The data above are the results of permits issued by the forestry sector. It has been impossible to account for these products in the rural areas due to sector weakness and inability to set control in those areas.

Other product aspects are not quantified because it includes a range of products and is the same as previous cases, control is only possible around the main cities. The Paper and Paperboard Company closed in 1985 due to military confrontations in the area.

5. OTHER FORESTRY PRODUCTS AND ROLES

5.1. Woodfuels and wood energy

Firewood and charcoal are and will remain the most important secondary product to satisfy the basic needs of a large number of the inhabitants in Angola, except a in the main cities. The figures for commercial production of firewood and charcoal, however, are expected to be much higher than those quoted. Those figures are derived from royalties collected on the two commodities.

The estimated firewood and charcoal production in 1997 was 35,427 steres and 21,051 tons respectively. Very far from the 6,000,000 m³ required annually for energy purposes. Logging for charcoal production is done by private agents usually directed to areas set for agricultural clearing. but in many cases also to zones inside forest reserves. Licences are also issued by the Institute of Forestry Development for firewood production purposes.

Production in the northern region is relatively satistactory due to the abundance of forest resources, but the situation in the central and southern region is different due to the climate.

Energy Statistics

CONSUMPTION ENERGY FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES Firewood: 61% Charcoal: 31.6% Others (electricity, GLP, Kerosene and diesel): 7.4% FIREWOOD CONSUMPTION 7% for industrial and 93% for domestic purposes CONSUMPTION OF CHARCOAL 100% of domestic purposes ENERGY CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA Oil produts: 4484 MJ (very less comparing to Botswana, Namibe and Swaziland) Electricity: 301 MJ Charcoal and firewood: 6345 MJ

Energy Balance

	Firewood & charcoal	GLP	Oil	Hydro-electricity	Electricity	By-oil	Total
Total production Available offer* Real offer Final consumption %	87 87 49 49 56*	143 136 - - -	590 62.6 - - -	7 7 - - -	- - 2 2 2	- - 48 37 42	826 292 99 88 100

*this figure is currently estimated at about 60%

Source: SADC National Survey activities

5.2. Wood supplies from non-forest areas

Angola has vast forest resources, but their distribution is unequal. The scarcity of forest products is acute in the major concentration of the population, as is in Luanda and other main cities, mainly in the coastal zone where the majority of population lives.

Forest products in these areas are supplied by other areas classified as forestry productive zones, especially roundwood, industrial wood, and fuelwood as well.

5.3. Non-wood forest products

Non-wood forest products play a role of paramount importance for the basic needs of the population, particulary in the rural area, where industrialisation is almost non existent.

These non-forest products are well known, unfortunately it has been very difficult for the responsible sector to quantify and include them their statistics.

5.4. Recreation and tourism

Recerational and touristic areas are under the Ministry of Tourism, and these are located in free and protected areas. The six protected areas have been established for 30 years. In 1970 campaigns began sensitising the population for the protection of wildlife. This process was interrupted by the civil war.

After independence the parks and game reserves were pratically abandoned and according to information and data from the sector, there are actually 13 protected areas in the country, representing a total area of 8,106,000 ha, i.e. 6.5% of the total land area.

Protected Areas

Protected area	Province	Biome	Category	Area, ha
Iona Kameia Kisama Bicuari Mupa Kangandala Luando Namibe Chimalavela Other reserves (4) TOTAL	Namibe Moxico Bengo Huila Cunene Malange Malange Namibe Namibe	Karoo-Namib Zambeziaco Karoo-Namib Karoo-Namib Karoo-Namib Zambeziaco Zambeziaco Karoo-Namib Karoo-Namib	National Park National Park National Park National Park National Park National Park Game reserve Game reserve Regional Park Game reserve	1,592,000 1,400,000 996,000 790000 660,000 60,000 828,000 468,000 16,000 1,296,000 8,106,000

6. FORESTRY POLICIES, LEGISLATION, AND INSTITUTIONS

6.1. Forest management law and policy

Private and public sectors

Forest access and management is essentially a socio-economic issue, regulated by a legal framework reflecting the relations between different socio-economic groups in the society, and between these and the State. Although good forest management in a country is a sine qua non for a prosperous agricultural economy, forest access and management are not simply a forest issue, to be managed by the MoA.

Attention given to land issues should be the same for foresty resources since there is a strong interaction between land and forest, therefore, other institutions and agencies have an important role to play within the MoA, if forest management is understood in its administrative sense. The involment of all these sectors, political parties, wider civil society and local community representatives and different levels of Government is mandatory for an effective solution. Only then will the legal-administrative framework genuinely reflect social reality, and have the support of interest groups seeking forest resources for the future.

The administration of forest resources is under the MoA, the Institute of Forest Development is the implementing agent, while the Directorate of Agriculture and Forest acts as a policy planner.

Despite the 6.5% of the protected area, there is not a management plan the areas. The lack of forest policy in the country is one of the negative aspects for the development of the Forestry sector as a whole. There is still in use the colonial Forestry regulations of 1962 and the National Park Regulations of 1972. Both have already been submitted to revision but, some aspects such as management, silvicultural treatments and training, were disregarded.

6.2. Investments in forestry and forest products

During the past 15 years the state was the only investor in all sectors, due to the socialist orientation of the economic and political system. At the beginning of 1990 the state decided to change this policy and economic system to a free-market system. The interest shown by domestic and foreign investors rose dramatically. However, the government must assure peace in Angola and review investment policy.

6.3. Institutional strengthening and capacity building

The forestry sector has a good structure, but it is inflexible. The sector is represented in the 18 provinces of the country, but weakly equiped in terms of skilled personnel. Very few foresters have formal degrees. A number of institutions are interested in becoming involved in the management of the environment. These institutions will play key roles in the sustainable development of natural resources if strong links among the institutions are established. Enlargement and integration among social groups and NGOs is needed so Angola can have strong institutional capacity building.

6.4. Sustainable forest management

As mentioned above, there is no forest management in the country, however, this need has been identified within the framework of several forestry sector programmes. In order to improve the management of forest and natural resources in Angola, attention should be paid to the following aspects:

Management of production and distribution of firewood and charcoal;

Management of forest resources in pasture areas;

Management of productive forests and plantations;

Management of protected areas; and

Forest and natural resource planning.

6.5. Biodiversity and ecosystem sustainability

Angola has great biodiversity. Its imense territory and variability of physioclimatic zones offer the country a large variety of plants and wildlife spp. According to IUCN estimates there are 8,000 plant spp., of which 1,260 are classified as endemic; 275 mammals of which 20 are endemic and 900 birds.

To ensure Ecosystem sustainability of Angola's biodiversity the following strategic actions sould be implemented:

Conservation of biodiversity & protection of habitats in critical ecological areas;

Conservation of endangered phytogenetic resources;

Control of exploitation of forest resources and degradation of forestry areas;

Management of soil fertility and erosion control;

Roundwood and wood energy supply; and

Decreasing of environmental impacts in fragile ecologic zones.

Based on an IUCN Study in 1992, there is a need to enlarge Angola's protected area by creating 10 integrated forest reserves, 6 regional parks and 10 natural monuments.

It is interesting to note that only Biome of Karoo-Namibe and Zambezi are represented as protected areas, while the Guinea-Congolese representing the Rain forest in the northern part of the country, where large mammals are predominant, such as gorillas, retain non-protected areas status.

6.6. Soil and water conservation

Information on soil and water conservation and the level of degradation is scarce. However, there are indications of the level of degradation of soil in the central zone becasue the area is has high agriculture potential. Intensive soil use, wild fire for clearing and growing crop, pasture and other activities contribute to high soil erosion in the region. These problems are also becoming common in the eastern part of the country, where hundreds of hectares are being degradated, as well in the coastal zone of the country, according to an 1992 IUCN Report. There are no efficient measures being taken to minimise the problem, however, to guarantee soil productivities, farmers are constructing terraces. Water degradation is high and no management plan to reverse the water resource situation exists.

6.7. Taxation

The Government has created a national taxation system for almost all resources, but its implementation is still in review. Many agents exercising different kinds of activities can escape taxation easily and corruption is another negative contributing.

Inflation is very high due to the Government's inability update its taxation system on a timely basis. This envolves other institutions, including Parliament, for approval. These procedures require a lot of time and the Government moves slowly in solving issues related to taxation.

6.8. Indigenous people's issues

Currently there are a range of problems presented by the society as a whole, and the capacity of adressing to these problems is a very serious limitation of the Government, considerating the political state of the country.

Indeed, the Government should prioritise the basic needs of the majority of the population of country, mainly those who are living in the rural areas, where enormous problems related to their survival continue without solutions.

The problems indigenous people face are as follow:

Threatened food security, once production shortfalls are translated into shortages in consumption;

Shortage of fuelwood supply, since most families in certain rural areas cannot have three basic daily meals;

Shortage of wood for multiple use;

Land scarcity for growing crops, associated with the lack of fertilizer especially in the Central part of the country.

Lack of incentives;

Weak support from Government institutions responsible for adressing indigenous people issues;

After highly destuctive civil war, rural smallholders are now in a situation of descapitalisation;

Displacement and ressetlement of most rural people; and

The political instability affecting the larger part of the population.

7. THE OUTLOOK FOR FOREST RESOURCES

7.1. Projected demand

The forestry sector is operating under its capacity and this is due to many factors, i.e. the lack of skilled personnel at all levels, enabling the planning of forest resources to assess the real quantity of forest products consumed, and lack forest inventory. Projected demand can be made based on available data considered as standard for the country having similarities in terms of forest resources like Angola, such as Zambia and probably The Democratic Republic of Congo.

7.2. Projected supply under various scenarios and assumptions

This aspect is linked to the previous in that the results expected from the sector are possible only by conducting an assessment study. A study was done in this context, almost ten years ago. It is evident that the situation at that particular time was very different and it has not been possible to conduct a field study to have a clear picture of projected demand and supply.

Some Indicators Forest Data (projections)

Province	WP M3	AAC M3	Consump. M3	C. p.cap. M3	Ind. PC. M3	Excedent M3	Deficit M3
Bengo Benguela Bié Cabinda Cunene Huambo Huila Kuando Kubango Kwanza Norte Kwanza Sul Luanda Lunda Norte Lunda Sul Malange Moxico Namibe Uige Zaire TOTAL	10,250 750 3,000 112,250 4,000 0 3,250 5,250 26,750 8,000 0 31,750 10,250 12,000 16,000 0 70,250 12,250 326,000	10,411 846 3,113 112,309 4,102 638 3,497 5,416 26,964 8,133 0 31,909 16,090 12,149 3,113 431 70,112 12,346 329,128	4,275 23,145 23,410 32,620 3,905 331,800 22,135 4,175 15,480 23,540 57,785 7,415 8,900 20,595 9,240 2,535 19,680 1,930 312,565	0.04 0.04 0.03 0.05 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.04 0.04 0.05 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.04 0.03 0.04 0.04 0.044	17 3 12 429 16 0 13 21 86 32 110 127 41 48 64 0 227 28 1,304	5,975 79,730 1,075 11,270 24,385 1,350 6,780 50,570 10,320 191,380	22,395 20,410 3,166 31,800 18,885 15,540 57,785 8,595 2,585 177,947

WP: Roundwood production, AAC: Annual Allowable Cut, C.p.cap: Consumption per capita, Ind. P.C: Industry ProcessingCapacity

8. CONCLUSIONS

Angola is one of the countries in Africa, perhaps the only country, where a forest policy is not established. The sector has been operating with colonial forestry and wildlife regulations in various government domains. Even in some updated cases, like forestry, the country's real needs are not reflected in policy establishment because relevant aspects are not taken into consideration. The lack of participation of other sectors related to forestry and natural resources is another crucial aspect of the lacking forest policy of Angola.

The national forestry sector is still weak in terms of resources of all types to develop. The fact that a large sector like forestry is under the MoA and is always in last position of ranking within the institution in terms of priorities makes it evident that the governmnet does not consider forestry an important sector for sustainable development.

There is no possible development in Angola when there is no planning and no planning is possible when the sector cannot quantify the forest resources. The lack of forest inventory, associated with the lack of resources, mainly the skilled personnel in management and administration of forest resources to conduct relevant studies in collection, processing, storage and dissemination of data is and will remain the primary cause of the problem.

The sector has not developed an appropriate network of data collection within the forestry sector itself and in the country. The mechanisms used are very weak and inconsitent. As a result, data availability continues to be a major constraint.

Another fact is that there are no operational links between the sector and other institutions, i.e. government, private, NGOs and the society, direct or indirectly considered as potential users of forest resources and data.

REFERENCES

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European Union. 1996. Guidelines for Forest Sector Devolpment Co-operation. Forest in Sustainable Development. Volume 1. Strategic approach. Luxemburg.

FAO. 1985. Plan d'Action Forestier Tropical. Comité de la Mise en Valeur des Forêts dans les Tropiques. 182 pp. Rome.

FAO. 1995. Programmes d'Action Forestiers Nationaux. PAFAN. Actualisation. 32.

FAO. 1981. Tropical Forest Resources Assessment Project (in the frawork of GEMS). Forest Resources of Tropical Africa. Part II. Country Briefs. Rome.

Instituto de Desenvolvimento Florestal. 1992. Plano Nacional de Investigacão Florestal. 46 pp.

Instituto de Desenvolvimento Florestal. 1994. Banco Mundial Prege. Informe de la Mission de Consultoria para el Sector Florestal. 72 pp. Luanda.

Instituto de Desenvolvimento Florestal. 1994. Lineamento generales sobre una Política y Estrategia para el Sector florestal. Workshop sobre a Revitalizacão do Sector florestal e sua contribuicão ao Desenvolvimento nacional. Documento de trabalho. Luanda.

Mellington A. and Townsend J. 1989. Biomass Assessment. Woody Biomass in the SADC region. A study commissioned by the SADC Energy Secretariat and carried out by ETC Foundation. ( Consultants foe Development). London.

MINADER. 1996. Agricultural Recovery and Deveolpment Options Review. Volumes II, III and IV of V: Working papers. Contribucão do Sector Florestal no Desenvolvimento rural.

Scot Conseil. 1996. Final report. Regional Vegetation Project. SADC Appraisal mission for mapping. Commission of the European Communities Delegation in the Republic of Malawi. Study contract n^o ET57.

Zola, A., 1998. European Commission/Angola Forest Sector Cooperation Strategy. 57 pp. Geneva.