PART IV - FORESTRY IN REGIONAL ECONOMIC GROUPS

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)

MEMBERS

Angola, Burundi, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, the Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

DESCRIPTION OF THE FOREST SECTOR

COMESA contains 8 percent of the world's forests. While nearly one-fourth of the region's land area is in forest, forest cover varies considerably by country. Countries with high forest cover include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Zambia, the United Republic of Tanzania and Malawi. The others have low to moderate cover. An additional 20 percent of the region's land is in "other wooded land" and some countries have considerable cover of "trees outside the forest", both of which are important sources of wood and non-wood forest products. Over 90 percent of the wood produced in the COMESA region is used as fuelwood and charcoal. COMESA accounts for only a minor share of world imports and exports of wood products.

^a Thousand m³.
^b Thousand tonnes.