ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT IN THE CASE STUDY COUNTRIES RELATIVE TO NFP FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

This section compares and contrasts between the countries in an attempt to identify factors that result in similarities and differences in the approach to nfp formulation and implementation. The following aspects have been categorized:

The relative economic importance of forest resources and extent of user-dependence.

The relative economic importance of the various forest goods and services and the user-dependence on the forest commodities is linked to the priority a given poor country ascribes to its national forest programme. The percentage of 1991 real GDP derived from forestry was for: Nigeria (16), Sudan (13), Senegal (4) and Gabon (6). There was no data for Namibia (Table 6). Nigeria and Sudan that derived over 10 percent of their GDP from forest sector are already at the implementation stage of the nfp, while Gabon is still in the planning stage. Though Senegal is equally implementing its nfp, this may be attributed to other factors among which are: the level of commitment by the government in development of the sector; as well as the strong donor support Senegal enjoys in the sector. Namibia records as insignificant, the contribution of forestry to its GDP, yet in this relatively young nation state, forestry which is not a major formal industry ( as in Gabon and Nigeria), plays a major role in the livestock industry, tourism and domestic energy supply in addition to construction of shelter. These indirect contribution of the sector to Namibia’s economy have not managed to find a place yet in the accounting system but may have played a key role in encouraging the country to give priority to nfp process. Namibia  is at the implementation stage of its nfp.

 Nigeria with  per Capita GDP of  US$ 954, in 1997  and under US$2000 for Senegal and Sudan, these three countries are in dire need of potential income accruing from forests, it is thus understandable that they are implementing nfp. Senegal and Namibia are both arid zone countries but due to the better economic standing of Namibia, it is able to invest in its nfp even when the forest sector’s contribution to its economy is judged negligible. This is explained by the fact that, the average annual percent real GDP growth (1990-1998) for Namibia is 3.5 but in 1997 its annual growth rate of GDP was 12.4 percent, thus Namibia’s government appears to enjoy some economic well being to enable it take interest in addressing its environmental challenges through nfp  in contrast to Senegal (World Bank and WWF, 2002).

The demographics of forest users and dependent groups

Another factor that results in similarities and differences in the approach to nfp formulation and implementation is the demographics of the users, dependent peoples and stakeholder groups. Nigeria’s population parameters are enormous in all aspects, for example, it has a total population of 109 million in 1999, a population density of 120/km2 in 1999, annual rate of change 2.4 during the period 1995 to 2000; and about 57 percent of its population living in rural area in 1999 (Table 1). When these figures are compared to those of Sudan with a land area more than twice of that of Nigeria or Namibia with a land area slightly less than that of Nigeria, it becomes obvious why Nigeria in 1981 formulated its Rural Forestry development programme, which laid the foundation of participatory forest today.  In contrast, other factors being equal, countries with low population densities such as Namibia (2.1/km2), Gabon (4.6/km2), and Sudan (12.2/km2) have more elbow room to formulate and implement their nfp as the users, households, and stakeholder groups directly dependent on the forest and affected by sector policies are fewer and alternatives are easier to come by. Senegal’s population fundamentals, -  comprising: density (48/km2), an annual rate of change of 2.6 % and 53 % of population living in rural area – do not portray it as exerting much pressure on its natural resources as that of  Nigeria. The same trend, however, is almost discernable. And Senegal’s attitude to its nfp is comparable with that of Nigeria where the government is putting emphasis in participatory forest management and decentralization – the hallmark of nfp formulation and implementation. Gabon’s population is concentrated in the urban areas (54%). This is comparable with the population distribution in Senegal where urban population in 1999 was under 46%. A high urban population may signify poverty in the rural areas and degradation of the natural resource base. Concentration of population in urban areas especially in ecologically fragile ecosystem such as the arid and semi arid cities in Senegal may spell ecological disaster as the carrying capacity of the immediate and surrounding environment is rapidly overstretched. In contrasting the Senegal scenario with those of Sudan and Namibia which are also arid countries, with 65% and 61% respectively of their population in rural areas, it could be deducted that rural based communities should be key stakeholders in nfp processes in these countries.

Forest policy and legislative environment, relative to forestry goals and stakeholder empowerment.

In four of the case study countries forest policy and legislation have undergone changes in favour of holistic and coherent principles on which nfps are based (Table 5). In the case of Sudan,  the 1989 Act of the Forests National Corporation has been amended through a new Forestry Act in 2002 creating the National Corporation for Forests and Range. The Forest Policy of 1986 is being revised through an FAO supported forestry project together with institutional reorganization to accommodate recent action by the Government towards decentralization. The policy and legislative reforms in all the 5 countries have to a certain extent created conducive environment for the actualization of the main forestry goals and the empowerment of stakeholders. Forest policy and legislation are key elements as well as important tools for nfp process and have in the 5 countries served well the nfp process

Table 5   Changes in Legal and Institutional Framework

Importance of agriculture sector and changes relative to other sectors

The impact of the agriculture sector and changes in the relative significance of the different sectors on forestry give credence to the need to view forestry in a holistic manner. The economies of Nigeria, Gabon and Sudan (to a lesser extent) are largely dependent on petroleum with the other sector contributing minimally to the GDP (Table 7). That notwithstanding agricultural cropland is consuming large tracts of land in Nigeria, Sudan and Namibia (Table 6 below). Senegal is spared of this menace as the percentage change in cropland from 1982-1984 to 1992-1994 in the country is only 0.2 even when the  Rural Population Density (people /sq. km of arable land) is high – 212.  Three of the case study countries – Senegal, Nigeria and Sudan are ranked as having low Human Development Index (in terms of life expectancy, education and adjusted real income in 2002, while Namibia and Gabon were classified as having achieved medium human development. These Human Development Index (HDI) ranking, gives an image of the potential difficulties that the nfp process in the five countries are predisposed to, considering that poverty embracing low literacy level, short life expectancy etc will encourage subsistence agriculture with its horizontal expansion. It is quite revealing that Nigeria and Sudan having a strong petroleum sector still lose large tracts of land to agriculture, thus would require strong and effective policies to reverse this trend. A nfp integrating  these intersectoral linkages may be quite slow in both formulation and implementation. Gabon, when compared to the other four case study countries has a fairly good economic standing, low percentage of  real GDP derived from Agriculture and a good percentage of Rural population that is vested in forestry but the nfp process has not advanced. The issue in Gabon, appears to be inadequate technical skills, coupled with the over-dependence in oil revenues.

Table 6. Population, Changes in agriculture sector; Human Development Index, and Economic parameters relative to forestry in Gabon, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan

Source: World Bank and WWF. 2002. Forest Law Assessment in Selected African Countries. SGS Global Trade Solutions (GTS), Geneva, Switzerland.

Political and Institutional environment impacting on nfp in case study countries

The HDI mirrors the weak institutional development of all the five countries (Table 6). The political and institutional environment, notably those relating to the extent of decentralization, democratization, involvement of the private sector, role of NGOs and the civil society organization appears to exert significant influence over the nfp process. To illustrate, Nigeria and Sudan have a long history of forestry institutions and this has some advantages in that better technical capacity and strong forestry traditions have developed. The other side of the coin is that this also has the disadvantages of entrenching resistance to change, as is the case in Sudan where only 6 states out of the 26 federated states accepted to implement joint management of state forest with the central government. In Nigeria, the same phenomenon is manifest, as southern forest rich states are reluctant to re-align their forest legislation to incorporate key contemporary and emerging sector issues. This reluctance to part with traditional way of doing business hampers nfp process. In contrast, Namibia has a very small and young forestry institution and hence there is more willingness to change, and delivery is much faster.

In Senegal and Gabon environmental NGOs are many and are essentially independent contributing significantly to strengthening grassroots institutions, laying solid foundations for nfp to build on.

A strong wave of decentralization in forest administration is being experienced in Senegal and Nigeria. In Senegal, there have been dramatic changes in forestry planning processes. Of the five case study countries, Senegal has explicitly enacted Decree N0. 96-1134 for the application of Law N0. 96-07, aimed at devolution of authority to regions, counties and rural communities.  In Nigeria, the National Forestry Development Committee is the highest advisory body to the central government on forestry matters but the review of the National Forest Policy and the evolving National Forestry Act was carried out in 2002 through a participatory approach in development. It is widely acknowledged that mobilizing the civil society to get involved in policy formulation, policy design and implementation as well as evolution of a law, will command the respect of, and observance by many. This is the basic ingredient for sustainable forest management, a key objective nfp. On the other hand in Namibia and Sudan, decentralization process is still in its infancy. Only a few states in Sudan (six states out of twenty six) opted for a joint administration to manage both federal and state forests. However, the Forest Policy of 1986 is being revised together with institutional reorganization to accommodate recent action by the Government towards decentralization. The preceding have encapsulated in them seeds, possessing traits that have the potentials of making a difference to the process of nfp formulation and implementation.