Countries

Resources
South Africa is lightly forested, with 8.9 million hectares of forests (7 percent of the country¿s area) and 29.3 hectares (24 percent) other wooded land. Most of the forest occurs in the humid areas of the country, but in arid regions some are found on the banks of rivers or within protected kloofs.

These forests are scattered eastwards from the Cape Peninsula through the Outeniqua and Tsitsikamma Mountains and the coastal platform of the southern Cape, through the midlands of the Eastern Cape, and into KwaZulu-Natal. Northwards, forests are distributed along the Drakensberg Mountains of KwaZulu-Natal, the eastern Free State, and the escarpment of Mpumalanga and into the Limpopo Province, where the northern-most forests are located in the Soutpansberg Mountains. Lowland forests extend along the coast from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape through KwaZulu-Natal to Mozambique. These forests of the subtropical coastal zone have a discontinuous distribution in the south, but are nearly continuous in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Lowland forests are usually associated with dunes, rivers, ravines and wetlands near or on the coast. These are primarily broadleaved evergreen forests with common species including Olea capensis, Xymalos monospora and Podocarpus spp. South Africa has extensive areas of ¿bushveld¿ savannah, particularly in the north and east. Arid savannah, characterized by thorny Acacia species, occurs in the Northern Cape province and the fringes of the Kalahari. In the north-eastern provinces, moist savannah dominates, characterized by baobab (Adansonia digitata) and the candelabra tree (Euphorbia ingens). Of the estimated 5 780 plant species occurring in South African woodland, 43 percent are endemic.

The country has a large network of more than 400 protected areas, including around 18 national parks. Around 54 percent of natural forests are included in protected areas, and 17 percent of the actual woodlands are protected. Only 5 percent of the actual total woodland area occurs on communal lands.

Plantations
South Africa ranks in the top ten of developing countries in terms of forest plantation development, with 1.35 million hectares of plantations (almost all industrial plantations), predominantly Pinus and Eucalyptus species. Yields are good, varying from an average of 15 m3 per hectare per annum for softwood to 20 m3 per hectare per annum for eucalyptus and 9 m3 per hectare per annum for wattle. The production from plantations in 2001/02 amounted to approximately 16.6 million cubic metres. In addition, more than 20 000 tons of fuelwood is cut annually from commercial plantations.

Forest plantations are highly important for wood supply, but the available area is limited since South Africa is acutely aware that forest plantations on watersheds may in certain circumstance reduce groundwater. (Note that the government authority for forests is combined with that for water.)

The government has progressed substantially in restructuring its holdings in industrial forests, which are among the best of their kind in the world. These consist of the plantations held by SAFCOL, the State forestry company, and those held by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, together constituting about 30 percent of the plantation forests in the country. This is one of the largest single privatization of plantations in the world and constitutes a fundamental restructuring of the sector. Government hopes in this way to mobilize private-sector investment in sustainable forestry, while addressing its objectives of local economic development, employment creation, skill development and equitable redress of past discrimination.

Forest industry
The forest industry is nevertheless based on plantations. The South African forest products sector is a major contributor to the national economy, generating 1.3 percent of GDP In 2002. It employs more than 135 000 people both in primary production and primary wood processing operations. The government estimates that over 2 million rural people are dependent on the industry.

The industry produces a full range of wood and paper products. South Africa is Africa¿s largest producer of industrial roundwood. In 2002, the country produced 16.6 cubic metres of roundwood, including 220 000 cubic metres of fuelwood and charcoal. Forest products exports in 2002 amounted to about US$1.6 billion, predominantly paper (almost 38 percent) and solid wood (33 percent). The country imported more than US$700 million of forests products during the same period.

About 35 percent of paper used in South Africa is recycled, and this provides about 24 percent of the furnish for paper manufacturing (the deficit arises from exports). South African companies have developed innovative ways to support emergent entrepreneurs in paper recycling.

Rural dependence on forests
Important non-wood forest products are medicinal plants, ornamentals, fodder, wild fruits, nuts, vegetables and bushmeat. Some 9.2 million rural households depend to some degree on forest goods such as fuelwood and supplementary medicine and food supplies for their well being.

Where local communities have access to forest resources, e.g. for medicinal purposes or fuelwood, arrangements and agreements between the nature conservation agency and local communities have been structured to ensure that the use is sustainable. However, in many districts, local population growth and migration of customary resource management systems, together with overexploitation to meet the needs of poor households, have led to the degradation of forest resources.

Wood supply for rural areas is scarce in many places. Alternatives to the use of wood fuel are therefore being investigated and promoted. Industrial forestry, non-wood forest products from plantation forests and increasingly ecotourism in natural woodlands offer employment as the escape from poverty.

Last updated: February 2004