Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
-
Book (stand-alone)Sustainable management of Miombo woodlands
Food security, nutrition and wood energy
2018Also available in:
No results found.The Miombo woodland is a vast African dryland forest ecosystem covering close to 2.7 million km2 across southern Africa (Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe). The woodlands are characterized by the dominance of Brachystegia species, either alone or in association with Julbernardia and Isoberlinia species. It is estimated that the woodlands – through their numerous goods and services which include various non-wood forest products (NWFPs) (e.g. insects, mushrooms, fruits, tubers, medicine, fodder, honey, seeds) and woodfuels, which, for simplicity, will be referred to as non-timber forest products, or NTFPs, throughout the publication – sustain the livelihoods of more than 100 million rural poor and 50 million urban people. The charcoal sector alone employs vast numbers of rural people and offers additional income to many poor rural families. Communities moreover rely directly on the woodlands for food and nutrition. NWFPs add vital micro- and macronutrients to local diets and contribute to diversified food systems, while woodfuel is essential for cooking and sterilizing, thus ensuring proper nutrient absorption and providing clean water for drinking. Forests and trees, if managed sustainably, are an important source of resilience for rural people in the Miombo woodlands, supporting households to absorb and recover from climatic or economic calamities and contributing to resolving the underlying causes of food insecurity, undernutrition and poverty by providing nutritious edible products and woodfuel for cooking in addition to conserving biodiversity and water resources, buffering extreme weather conditions and preventing land degradation and desertification. Generally speaking, it is now accepted that forests managed for both timber and NTFPs retain more biodiversity and resilience than forests managed solely for one aspect, e.g. timber and exotic timber plantations. However, a growing population in high need of agricultural land and unsustainable use and overharvesting of natural resources in parts of the Miombo woodlands, combined with climate change impacts (e.g. drought, fires), leave insufficient time for many trees and associated species to regenerate naturally, posing a serious threat to the products and services of the woodlands, and to the livelihoods depending on them. Compounding the problem and hindering development of the Miombo ecosystem, are: i) lack of an enabling policy environment; ii) unsustainable management; iii) limited willingness and ability to pay for and access to energy-efficiency technologies; iv) inadequate awareness and information, including technical capacity; v) high poverty levels; and vi) limited access to microcredit facilities. With the Committee on World Food Security’s endorsement of the recommendations presented in the High Level Panel of Experts Report on Sustainable Forestry for Food Security and Nutrition in late 2017 – which include promoting multifunctional landscapes, integrated food-forestry systems, and research on associated linkages, among other things – forests and trees are expected to play a greater role in future land-use decisions and related policies. This paper provides an overview of these linkages in the context of the Miombo woodlands, in the hope that future land use, policy decisions and financial investments are shaped to support the contributions of forests and trees to the health and livelihoods of communities in the ecoregion. The following key messages were formulated: • Forests and trees, if managed sustainably, are an important source of resilience for rural people in the Miombo woodlands, supporting households to absorb and recover from climatic or economic calamities and contributing to resolving the underlying causes of food insecurity, undernutrition and poverty by providing nutritious edible products and woodfuel for cooking in addition to conserving biodiversity and water resources, buffering extreme weather conditions and preventing land degradation and desertification. • Current data bases referring to the value of the Miombo must be analysed and used as evidence to improve policy-making. • Miombo woodlands may be dominant (spatially), but they have not been addressed as a single unit but as part of the region’s forests. They form part of the overall forestry strategies and no specific mention in the conventions does not suggest that their importance is underplayed. • The management of Miombo will require some changes in management structures, especially in providing benefits emerging from trade in forest products to local managers. • Local forest managers should play a greater role in allocating resources for feedstock for charcoal production. -
Book (stand-alone)Rapid woodfuel assessment 2017 baseline for the area around the city of Goré, Chad
Woodfuel supply/demand, associated multi-sectoral challenges and recommendations for a peaceful management of natural resources
2018Also available in:
The two waves of refugees from the Central African Republic has provoked one of the most severe humanitarian crises in Central Africa and in the South of Chad. The different camps around the city of Goré host a population of more than 90 000 individuals of which 35% are refugees, 21% are repatriates and 44% are autochthones. This population is dependent on woodfuel for cooking, heating and lighting. This has increased pressure on the environment due to tree felling, wood collection and the conversion of forestland to agricultural land. FAO and UNHCR initiated a joint rapid woodfuel assessment in May 2017 to determine the supply and demand of woodfuel resources in the area. The assessment had four components: 1) an assessment of the woodfuel demand for cooking, heating and economic activities 2) an identification of current technologies and practices in use for cooking and potential bioenergy feedstocks in the area of interest 3) an assessment of the potential woodfuel supply in the area of interest 4) and the establishment of recommendations for planning interventions to improve clean energy access, promote sustainable forest management, support afforestation and reforestation measures and contribute to building resilience of affected populations in the area around the city of Goré. -
ArticlePromoting Terminalia brownii as a commercial indigenous tree species in drylands, East Africa
XV World Forestry Congress, 2-6 May 2022
2022Also available in:
No results found.Kenya’s forest cover is estimated at 7.4% of the land mass cover. Forests are important in ensuring biodiversity conservation and providing ecosystem goods and services, improving community livelihoods and national GDP. There is need to enhance afforestation and reforestation programmes to achieve the envisioned 10% tree cover target. However, this effort is constrained by climate change issues arising from unsustainable exploitation of wood for charcoal and firewood leading to the depletion of important tree species such as T. brownii. The domestication of T. brownii under agroforestry systems and other tree planting programmes are constrained by lack of adequate supply of superior and high quality seeds and seedlings, poor silvi-cultural management techniques, low rates of integration into smallholder agroforestry programs, limited knowledge on crop-tree interactions and lack of allometric models to estimate biomass yield and carbon stock. A multidisciplinary research project funded by the National Research Fund (NRF) is ongoing and is geared towards promoting the propagation and regeneration of T. brownii under agroforestry systems in the drylands of Kenya to mitigate climate change. A number of preliminary findings have been reported, such are; (1) Terminalia brownii fruits have mechanical dormancy imposed by the hard samara fruit and that extracted T. brownii seeds record a high percentage of above 80% under warm conditions; (2) germination of T. brownii fruits and seeds are significantly affected by fungal pathogens and insect pests; (3) five variables significantly influence the decision to domesticate T. brownii these are; education level of household head, importance of farm to the household income, access to credit, dependency ratio and intercropping; (4) studies on the spatial distribution and occurrence and development of allometric equation for estimating above and below-ground biomass of T. brownii in the drylands of Kenya are ongoing. Further assessment on growth performance have shown that T. brownii is generally fast growing; can attain an increase in height of (~1.0 m) and DGL (3.0 cm) annually, with significance difference in growth within and between provenances and that the it can withstand many other growth challenges despite the harsh weather conditions. These findings suggest that T. brownii is a promising tree species in agroforestry systems and afforestation in drylands and that there exist genetic variability among the available provenances thus the need to involve more stakeholders in seedling production and to embark on...... Key words: T. brownii, Commercial tree, growth performance, drylands of Kenya ID: 3623166
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
No results found.