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15. LESSONS LEARNT AND REASONS FOR SUCCESS

Since the early 1920s management objectives for the protection of the KS teak forests were explicitly elaborated and these have formed the basis for the successful management and protection of these forests to this day. The KS teak forests have a clear legal status, a feature that has prevented their complete loss as a result of national land redistribution processes. The semi-autonomous authority of the FC has enabled it to focus on the development of the forestry sector within the provisions of the national constitution and with little political interference. Until the last decade there was a strong drive in staff development that enabled the FC to be highly competent in the sphere of indigenous forest management and protection in the SADC region. Despite the lack of specialist training for field technical staff, the past and present staff has managed to implement and maintain high standards of forest management approaches including incorporating the latest concepts and initiatives such as participatory management and various forms of biodiversity conservation. One of the most important lessons has been the recognition and acceptance within the FC that it can no longer afford to protect the forests successfully alone without inputs from stakeholders that are dependent on the forests for subsistence.

From the time the forests were gazetted the FC has had a high regard for the concept of holistic management and multiple uses involving timber, wildlife, people and domestic livestock. Compromises have always been made between the mutually conflicting objectives in order to achieve sustainability of the forests. This is a rare attribute of state forestry authorities.

The value of periodic forest resource assessments is evident in that after almost 100 years the indigenous timber industry and protected forest-based tourism in the region are still active players in the economy of the country. This has been achieved through the continuous assessment of the resources, determining appropriate harvesting rates and making adjustments where necessary. These periodic assessments have been achieved as a result of strict adherence to requirements of the forest inventory policy and articles of management plans for each of the protected forests.

A very important lesson learnt is the willingness of some of the traditional technical foresters to change their traditional ways of thinking with respect to forest resource sharing, shared forest management and community timber concession programmes. Letting go of forest resources, relinquishing certain powers and adopting a role as monitor and facilitator of the processes that reduce their direct authority and revenue-generation capacity requires radical reorientation. In these participatory programmes the foresters are required to change their role to one of enabling community participation in forest management. The fact that these technical foresters have managed to work with communities (most of whom are illiterate) through the process of producing community forestry management plans and business plans is commendable. The foresters have garnered considerable willingness to embrace new concepts and acquire new skills in participatory forest management. The FC has supported rather than hindered initiatives of these foresters.

In southern central Africa Zimbabwe is probably the first country to offer community groups the opportunity of logging valuable timber resources as a form of benefit sharing and for income generation. The community timber logging concessions in Gwaai and Gwampa forests are exemplary in this respect. This has been made possible by the FC’s strategic policy of indigenising forest-based enterprises such as timber logging and eco-tourism.


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