Forestry policies, institutions and programmes

Administration
The first forest administration, active at central, regional and local levels, was set up in 1883 and today it has a technical staff consisting of 100 foresters and 400 technicians.

Three generations of forest management systems can be discerned. The first (1964-1986) was established by Tunisian foresters influenced by their education at French universities. It established management goals and principles, as well as regulations governing harvesting. The second generation (1987-1993) was used for 20 years to formulate silvopastoral plans, revising previous ones. The third generation (1995 to the present) introduced the concept of integrating socio-economic, environmental, agricultural and pastoral aspects, and also consideration of wood and non-wood products and forest services.

Policies
A national forestry programme has been put in place to meet the population¿s needs, given their scant forest resources, and to ensure the conservation and sustainability of these resources. The sector has benefited greatly from this programme and the revised policy, particularly political recognition of the sector¿s role and the increased allocation of funds. Some of the results are as follows:
  • A national reforestation strategy and a plan to combat desertification were adopted in 1990.
  • A national plan of action to combat desert creep was drawn up between 1990 and 1992.
  • An inventory of forest and pastoral resources was carried out on areas of 40 000 and 120 000 km2 and the results enabled the forest administration to establish a forest and pastoral information system.
  • Strategic studies on fuelwood, industrial wood and non-wood forest products are under way.
  • Ten integrated development pilot projects have been launched since 1995, in close association with non-governmental organizations.
  • Forest development projects have supported a research programme on forestry, agroforestry, natural resource conservation and evaluation of forest products.
However, a comprehensive evaluation of the national forestry programme highlighted some shortcomings:
  • There is an absence of integrated strategic management in rural areas and a lack of supervision of the technical and social management of agricultural, forest and pastoral resources, giving rise to some inconsistencies and clashes between the programmes and their development components.
  • The forest population is insufficiently involved in activities aimed at developing resources and preserving the environment.
  • The methods and tools for management planning and regular evaluation, as well as the institutional and legal resources, are unable to meet the demands of the new sustainable development policy.
  • There is insufficient participation of the private sector in reforestation, extraction and processing activities and in the enhancement of forest products, for lack of technological resources.
Nevertheless, the present political and institutional framework seems in general favourable to the forestry sector. Current initiatives encompass a decentralization and privatization policy and research into the population¿s participation in land management programmes.

A Tunisian forestry action plan is needed in order to establish integrated management and local multisectoral planning, extend the use of planning methods and tools, develop indicators concerning the sustainable management of pastoral and forest resources, and improve human capacities and the mechanisms for exchanging experiences.

The first draft of a national plan to develop forest and pastoral resources has been drawn up. The objective of such development is to help combat the various types of forest degradation and contribute to the conservation and sustainable management of the country¿s forest resources and the enhancement of their many products and services in support of rural development and food security.

Forest fires
The prevention of forest fires is one of the priorities of Tunisian forestry policy. Thus the national forest and pastoral master plan prepared by the Directorate General of Forests in 1996 stressed the fact that forest fires are one of the major scourges afflicting forest resources. In 1992 the Directorate General of Forests had drawn up a national plan to protect forests against fire, which was then revised in 1996. The objectives of the plan are as follows:
  • protection of about 1 million hectares of natural and planted forests and natural areas;
  • reduction in the area burned per fire to less than 1 ha, and in the annual average area burned from 1 400 ha to only 100 ha;
  • promotion of research on forest fire phenomena;
  • training of forest technicians in preventing and fighting fires.
Investment in protecting forests against fire focuses primarily on strengthening the forest infrastructure and purchasing the equipment needed to reach the protection standards current in Mediterranean forests. These activities have had the support of a regional cooperation project implemented by FAO and also of the research network of the Committee for Mediterranean Forestry Questions, Silva Mediterranea.

Other institutions
Research on forestry issues is carried out by the National Institute for Research in Rural Engineering, Water and Forests, and on issues concerned with the environment and combating desertification by the Institute for Arid Regions.

Last updated: October 2002
last updated: Monday, November 23, 2009