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8. STAKEHOLDERS AND THEIR PARTICIPATION IN FOREST MANAGEMENT

Stakeholders in the protected KS teak forests are multiple inasmuch as planning, management of forests and forest resources, harvesting and use of forest products, communities within and outside the protected forests and agencies providing public services are being dealt with. While the focus is clearly on the protected forests there is a need to note the linkages with adjoining areas, which include communal lands, resettlement areas, small and large-scale commercial farming areas, and national parks. In addition, the forests are bisected by a variety of communication networks such as railways, state roads and telephone and electricity lines. In practice the key stakeholders that play a major role in the protected forests are limited to a few. But the overall stakeholder framework within which people live and work in and around the forest areas must be understood and appreciated as a whole.

The key stakeholders are the FC, inscribed forest communities, forest-adjacent communities, lessees and concessionaires. These are in direct contact with the forests almost on a daily basis in terms of management and use practices. The FC has the management mandate over the forests and decides who should or should not use them. Protected KS teak forests are considered state property characterised by state ownership and control, under which other stakeholders, depending on use objectives, may or may not be permitted access (Mohamed Katerere, 2000). The FC is the legal owner of the forests according to the provisions of the Forest Act, Chapter 19:05. The forest-adjacent communities obtain forest goods and services from the forests formally or informally for daily subsistence and commercial purposes. The local communities harvest products such as firewood, construction poles, wild fruits, mushrooms, bark fibre, honey, bushmeat, thatch and broom grass, edible caterpillars, wood for curios and cottage furniture making and medicinal plants. Products that are mostly traded locally and in urban centres are firewood, wild fruits, curios, edible caterpillars, thatch and broom grass and bushmeat. Local livestock owners graze their stock in the forests as well. Distant livestock owners use the forests formally or illegally during drought periods. Leases are normally obtained for commercial cattle grazing, eco-tourism activities, commercial services such as general dealers’ shops and grinding mills and carpentry shops (see section 9.2.11). Timber concessions are either private or community owned (section 9.2.2). In a few cases the FC and local communities have entered into agreements to co-manage the forests and share the resources and benefits obtained from forest-based enterprises with some of the stakeholders, e.g. forest-adjacent communities in Mafungabusi and Gwaai forests.

Secondary stakeholders are service providers such as the ministries responsible for the provision of transport networks, telecommunication, water, schools, veterinary services and electricity. There are also distant users of the forest to be considered as relevant stakeholders, i.e. those who temporarily migrate to the forests for the purposes of harvesting forest products for limited periods of time. This group of stakeholders includes curio carvers, firewood vendors and harvesters of thatch grass, mopane worms and wild fruits. The group normally harvests forest products for commercial purposes. While these have no direct influence on the way the protected forests are managed, their activities, for example, result in opening up the forests when constructing infrastructure. In addition roads make it easier for people to encroach into forests for various purposes. Some stakeholders have the social responsibility of providing services such as water and schools irrespective of whether people are settled in the forests legally or not. The Department of National Parks has ultimate responsibility for wildlife in the country. Therefore the FC has to profit from wildlife resources in its forests in consultation with that Department. Respective Rural District Councils (RDCs) are responsible for inscribed communities in terms of political administration; hence the councils liaise with the FC with respect to issues related to these communities. Politicians are an important stakeholder group insofar as the inscribed communities are an important constituency for the politicians. The FC has not been able to evict these illegally settled communities due to political interference.

At most, several of the stakeholders do not actively participate in forest management activities and planning. Meanwhile they have de facto access to the forests and to forest resources and share forest resources with the FC by default. In Mafungabusi, Gwampa and Gwaai forests, where the forest-adjacent communities have entered into formal agreements with the FC, the communities participate in the planning of forest resource harvesting activities, protection of the forest from fire and outsiders and monitoring resource use. Under the arrangements the communities benefit through formal access to a range of mutually agreed forest products.


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