Forests and woodlands cover vast areas of Africa, representing a substantial percentage of global forest cover. Tropical moist forests in Central and parts of West Africa and woodlands in Southern Africa are the dominant formations. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Angola, Zambia, and Mozambique contain the majority of Africa's forest areas. Africa also has widespread areas extending over hundreds of millions of hectares classified as 'other wooded land', such as the savannas of Eastern Africa and the Sudano-Sahelian region. Together with the fertile highlands of Eastern and Southern Africa Forests and woodlands cover vast areas of Africa, representing a substantial percentage of global forest cover. Tropical moist forests in Central and parts of West Africa and woodlands in Southern Africa are the dominant formations. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Angola, Zambia, and Mozambique contain the majority of Africa’s forest areas. Africa also has widespread areas extending over hundreds of millions of hectares classified as ‘other wooded land’, such as the savannas of Eastern Africa and the Sudano-Sahelian region. Together with the fertile highlands of Eastern and Southern Africa, these are the same agroecological zones where much of Africa’s agriculture, human and animal population concentrations are found Montane forests are ecologically and hydrologically vitally important, and found around mountains and highlands in Eastern Africa. Mangrove forests along the African coast, and riverine forests along water courses, are also part of the natural forest formations in Africa. Man-made plantations cover only limited parts of Africa’s total forest area, with South Africa, Sudan, Nigeria and Morocco contributing substantially to this kind of forest cover. Large scale commercial forest operations are found in the plantation-based forest industry in the South, and in the concession-based timber extraction and saw milling industry in Central and Western African. Small quantities of plantation and naturally grown timber constitute the basis for small scale forest industry across the continent. Africa's share of the global value of wood removals remains significantly lower than its potential. Firewood and charcoal are by far the most significant components of these removals, but cottage industry produced furniture, local construction material, woodcraft, utility goods, and a variety of non-wood products including fruits, medicines, fodder and honey, also originate from various forest types. There is a growing volume of timber traded directly from farms and community managed forests to the primary forest industry, creating links between the informal and formal sectors. More than half a million people in Africa are involved in the primary production of goods in forests. Employment varies considerably, and there is a scarcity of information on this issue. A significant proportion of wood production and processing takes place in the informal sector and has not been adequately reported on Deforestation and degradation are accelerating at alarming rates in many parts of Africa, mainly caused by the transfer of forest land into agriculture and other uses.Some deforestation can also be attributed to non-sustainable exploitation of wood for fuel, timber and other products, leading to a situation where forest management and utilization are increasingly seen as causing negative impacts on forest-dependent people, climate, biodiversity and water. The enormous economic, food security and environmental benefits to be derived from an increasing and sustainably managed forest and tree estate are underestimated, often as a result of inadequate information and appreciation of the potential value of well managed trees and forests. This problem derives partially from national forest institutions which, with some notable exceptions, are weak and have limited influence on policy and investment decisions. Likewise, forest expertise is weak in most regional and sub-regional institutions which are increasingly shaping the development agenda. The international discourse on how Africa should manage its natural resources has not focused on forestry issues, with a tendency to highlight environmental problems rather than social and economic opportunities associated with forest/tree management.

Capacity building in forestry in all its forms is a central work area for the African Forest Forum (AFF). It was on this basis that AFF organized a workshop on capacity building and skills development in forestbased climate change adaptation and mitigation in Nairobi, Kenya on November 12-16, 2012, that drew 54 participants from selected academic, research and civil society institutions, as well as from the private sector and youth. The participants came from 22 countries, namely Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Zambia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It was also attended by staff from FAO and ICRAF. The workshop identified the training needs on addressing the relationship between forests and climate change for educational and related forestry based training institutions at professional and technical levels, as well as for informal groups that are mainly made up of civil society organizations and local communities. Training needs and modules to guide training were developed based on agro-ecological regions of Sub-Sahara Africa. These are arid and semi-arid regions, including Sahelian belt; the savannas and woodlands of West, Eastern and Southern Africa; and the rainforests of West and Central Africa. Separate analyses were done for Anglophone and Lusophone countries as a block, and for Francophone countries as another block, given the different educational systems in these two language blocks. These training modules therefore fill the gaps observed by the training institutions. In order to carry this work forward AFF organized, in 2013, four subregional workshops to first improve on the needs and contents of the modules as well as validating the same. The workshops also served as avenues to better orient/ retool staff from academic, research, extension and civil society organizations in key areas of science and practice of climate change as it relates to forests, and basing such training on these modules. A total of 111 people from academia, research, public sector, private sector, youth and civil society in Sub-Sahara Africa have been involved in the development and validation of the needs and the training modules. In 2013, AFF conducted country training using the modules in Ethiopia, Niger and Zambia; more countries will be covered in the near future. AFF first developed the teaching materials that will later be developed into specific compendiums. It would appear that there are no other institutions that are preparing such teaching materials for forestry training in Sub-Sahara Africa and on the same scope. AFF seeks to use, to the extent possible, XIV Training modules on forest based climate change adaptation, mitigation, carbon trading, and payment for other environmental services the capacity in the continent to develop local solutions to forestry problems; and teaching materials is one area where AFF will continue to engage the expertise on the continent to develop them. We welcome interested individuals and institutions to make full and free use of these training modules in their work.

Professional associations are needful for effective coordination of professional activities to enable them achieve the aims and objectives of setting the up. Such associations abound for most professions in Europe, America and Asia. They are gradually finding relevance in Africa. The prevalence of professional forestry associations in West Africa was investigated. The study covered Benin, Cameroon, the Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Indices examined include mission, governance, effectiveness, efficiency relevance, financial viability, leadership, strategic and programme planning, programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation as well as networking/partnership/linkages. Of the eight countries studied, Benin and the Gambia did not have professional forestry associations. By far, the most established and active of the six associations examined in the sub-region is the Forestry Association of Nigeria (FAN) founded in October, 1970, followed by Forestry Association of Ghana (FAG) and The National Forestry and Wildlife Association (NFWA) of Sierra Leone. Though all the associations have governance structures, the relative strength of each of them determines their effectiveness, efficiency and financial viability. All the associations are resource-poor and need to be strengthened in terms of administration and funding to enable them accomplish their missions better. An umbrella forestry association is recommended for Africa, with nodes in sub-regions. The African Forest Forum is most suited to facilitate this.

National Plans and Programmes related to People, Forests and Climate Change in West Africa were reviewed in a desk study, in order to improve understanding of how forests and trees, and the people who depend on them, respond to climate change and variability. The study focused on National Adaptation Plans/Programmes of Action (NAPAs), National Climate Change Strategies, Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) and National Communications to the UNFCCC, and sought to identify gaps and factors influencing their implementation, and how these could be filled through forestry and forestry-related interventions. The study also examined the profiles and capacities of public forest administrations in the studied West African countries, in terms of human, financial and physical capacities for effective monitoring, reporting and verification in the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements related to forestry and climate change, as well as the extent of participation of women, youth and vulnerable groups in forest based climate change response actions and how these could be enhanced. All countries in West Africa are parties to the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. All, except Liberia, have submitted their Initial/First National Communication and 11 of them have submitted the Second National Communication. All 15 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the sub-region have submitted NAPAs and two of the non-LDCs have elaborated national adaptation strategies with implementation plans. Only six of the countries have responded to the Copenhagen Accord requirement for submission of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs). Common constraints to implementation of the plans are shortage of funds and human resources, poor knowledge base and institutional bottlenecks. For many countries the involvement of forestry is not explicitly highlighted in their climate change response plans. Along with harnessing external support to improve financial and technical capacity, and applying the funds gained to building human (by education and training), research and institutional capacities, recognition of the role of forestry, and investment to strengthen this role will have a widespread positive influence in achieving the goals of many of the listed climate change response measures in the sub-region. Only Burkina Faso and Senegal have good forest inventory capacity. Niger has some, but the rest of the countries have limited or very low forest inventory capacities Also, the majority (12 out of 18) of the countries studied have very low forest area monitoring capacities, as judged by shortcomings in consistency, transparency, comparability, completeness and accuracy of reports they have returned to bodies such as FAO, UNFCCC and the World Bank. Most (11) of the countries with low forest area monitoring capacity are among the LDCs. It is suggested that the low capacities observed partly reflect a long tradition of neglect of inventory, monitoring and reporting in forest practice in most African countries, including the West African countries studied. The capacity building required to overcome this is not just in terms of skills, tools and facilities, but also in terms of national re-orientation, and particularly of the forestry services. Except in countries where cultural norms restrict women from taking part in field activities, women, youth and the poor traditionally participate actively in forestry activities, including those done in response to climate change, e.g. nursery work, planting tree seedlings, watering and tending seedlings as well as monitoring agroforestry practices and protecting naturally regenerated seedlings. Women and youth also dominate in collecting, processing and marketing non-timber forest products (NTFPs). To increase the roles and benefits to women, youth and vulnerable groups in forest-based climate change response programmes, emphasis should be given to developing NTFP-based enterprises into a viable commercial industry sector that can take advantage of international market opportunities. Designing the emerging REDD+ mechanism to accommodate such a development, accompanied with policy reforms to address constraints to women's participation in forestry, such as restricted land and tree tenure rights, poor representation of women in important decision-making structures and poor access to information, will help to sustain the increase in participation and benefits to women from forest-based responses to climate change. Arising from the findings of this study, critical areas for further attention by AFF would be: to conduct a more detailed assessment than was feasible in the present study, to identify specific forestry interventions, and how to implement them, in the priority NAPA projects and climate change response strategies and actions developed by West African countries, with a view to recommending such interventions to the relevant countries; to organise a programme of sensitisation, re-orientation and training of West African countries on the importance of forest inventory, monitoring, reporting and verification of forest cover changes in implementing sustainable forest management and forest-based responses to climate change; and, to initiate and promote research into the development of NTFP-based enterprises into a viable commercial industry sector dominated by women and youth and linked with the implementation of forest-based climate change responses such as the REDD mechanism or in NAMAs in West Africa countries.

Summary Global warming has heightened the need to substitute fossil fuels with biomass-based energy sources. Some West African countries have recorded appreciable progress in this regard though with inadequate documentation. This study documents the extent of production and use of different biofuels and incentives for sustainability in the sub-region. Field visits were conducted in Benin, Ghana, Niger and Nigeria with the aid of structured questionnaire and focus group discussions; and literature search in Mali, Niger and Senegal to assess current scenarios. Biofuel crop production (jatropha, cassava and sugarcane) is on the rise, howbeit, with foreign investments. That cassava and sugarcane are important staples in the sub-region constitutes a possible hindrance to their adoption, arising from food crisis currently being experienced there. Jatropha appears the most appropriate potential species. There is the need for enabling policies to enhance the optimum production and utilization of Jatropha for biofuel production in the sub-region. Keywords: global warming, biofuel, biofuel crops, Jatropha, fossil fuel Initiatives en biocarburants dans l’Afrique de l’ouest et dans le Sahel: succès potentiels L. POPOOLA, M. LARWANOU et S.O. JIMOH L’effet serre a rendu plus pressant le besoin de substituer des sources d’énergie basées sur la biomasse aux combustibles fossiles. Certains pays de l’Afrique de l’ouest ont enregistré des progrès notables à cet égard, bien que la documentation en soit inadéquate. Cette étude documente l’étendue de la production et de l’utilisation de différents biocarburants, et des mesures incitatives à leur durabilité dans la région inférieure. Des visites sur le terrain ont été effectuées au Bénin, au Ghana, au Niger et au Nigéria, avec l’assistance d’un questionnaire structuré et de groupes de discussion, ainsi qu’avec une recherche dans la littérature du Mali, du Niger et du Sénégal, pour évaluer les scénarios actuels. La récolte de biocarburants (jatropha, cassave et canne à sucre) est en augmentation, mais, il faut le noter, avec l’aide d’investissements étrangers. Le fait que la cassave et la canne à sucre soient des denrées vitales importantes dans la région inférieure est un facteur restreignant leur adoption, du fait de la crise alimentaire actuellement vécue dans cette région. Des politiques de facilitation sont nécessaires pour améliorer l’utilisation et une production optimale de la jatropha en tant que génératrice de biocarburant dans la région inférieure de l’Afrique de l’ouest. Iniciativas de biocombustibles en África Occidental y el Sahel: potencial de éxito L. POPOOLA, M. LARWANOU y. S.O. JIMOH El calentamiento global ha aumentado la necesidad de sustituir los combustibles fósiles por fuentes de energía procedentes de la biomasa. Algunos países de África Occidental han registrado progresos notables en este sentido, aunque inadecuadamente documentados. Este estudio documenta la magnitud de la producción y el uso de varios biocombustibles e incentivos para la sostenibilidad de la subregión. Se realizaron visitas de campo en Benín, Ghana, Níger y Nigeria, apoyadas por encuestas estructuradas y discusiones de grupos focales y una búsqueda bibliográfica en Malí, Níger y Senegal para evaluar los escenarios actuales. La producción de cultivos para biocombustible (jatropha, yuca y caña de azúcar) está en aumento, aunque debido a inversiones extranjeras. El hecho de que la yuca y la caña de azúcar sean alimentos básicos importantes en la subregión constituye un posible obstáculo para su adopción, a raíz de la crisis alimentaria que se vive allí en la actualidad. Jatropha parece ser la especie potencialmente más apropiada. Existe una necesidad de políticas favorables para la mejora de la producción y la utilización óptima de Jatropha con fines de producción de biocombustibles en la subregión.

The study on which this policy brief is based attempted to examine the wood based industry for the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, due to the lack of sufficient and reliable data on the wood processing industries in many SSA countries, the study concentrated on developments in the main tropical timber producing countries in Central and West Africa.

The African continent remains the most vulnerable region in the world to the impact of climate change, mainly due to weak resilience and adaptive capacity. There is limited knowledge on the relationship between forests and climate change in Africa; and especially on adaptation and mitigation to the adverse effects of climate change, as well as capitalizing on the opportunities that climate change and variability offer the continent.  Understanding, strengthening and further developing the relationship between forest and climate is therefore key issue to Africa’s future development. This is because of the key roles forests and trees outside forests play in the lives of people and animals on the continent, as well as on the economies of African countries and the environment in which the people, livestock and wildlife live in.  However, the nature of this relationship and its impact is greatly influenced by how international forest and climate change and related agreements are incorporated into national policies and practices. With respect to the Africa, it is important to understand how individual African countries are  implementing ideas and recommendations that come from international conventions, agreements, protocols, and other initiatives (all of them are in this text referred to as international agreements) that have a bearing on how climate change and variation could affect forests and vice versa. This could facilitate positioning the forest sector better to contain the adverse effects of climate change as well as take advantage of opportunities that come with the same. It would also make it easier to profile Africa and its sub-regions both at regional and international levels. This could lead to enhanced collaboration and support from institutions and other players that support the implementation of these international agreements, and especially during this era when forests are increasingly seen as contributing not only to international public goods but to international services like carbon sequestration that has global implications. The study whose results are reported in this document was commissioned by the African Forest Forum with the  several objectives, namely: to assess how individual African countries are implementing the forest, climate change and related international conventions; how these international conventions are adding value to their national forestry sector policies and programmes; and to develop an approach on how Africa can to monitor and report on compliance to international processes related to forests and climate. The study was conducted in eight African countries, namely: Cameroon, Rwanda, Gabon, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Niger and Tanzania.

Tropical moist forests (TMFs) occur in humid tropical areas, usually with 1,500 mm or more of precipitation and a dry season (or seasons) of three to four months or less. There is an interrupted belt of TMFs along the West African coast characterized by dense mass of evergreens and oil palms. The Upper Guinean TMFs extend from Guinea and Sierra Leone in the west through Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana all the way to Nigeria and a few hundred kilometers inland from the Atlantic coast. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) designated the Upper Guinean forests, which it calls the Guinean moist forests, as one of its Global 200 critical regions for conservation. The WWF divides the Upper Guinean forests into three eco-regions, including the Western Guinean lowland forests that extend from Guinea and Sierra Leone through Liberia and southeastern Côte d'Ivoire as far as the Sassandra River, Guinean montane forests found at higher elevations in the highlands of central Guinea, northern Sierra Leone, and eastern Côte d'Ivoire, and the eastern Guinean forests that extend east from the Sassandra River through Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana to western Togo, with a few isolated enclaves further inland in the highlands of central Togo and Benin. The TMFs and climate change have significant impacts on national economies and social systems. Customary law often gives residents the right to use trees for firewood, fell trees for construction, collect forest products and rights for hunting and grazing or clearing of forests for agriculture. There are also ‘protected forests’, where uncontrolled clearings and unauthorized logging are forbidden. However, with the current developmental dilemma facing West Africa, degradation of the TMF appears imminent unless developers start to work ‘outside the box’ to find innovative green solutions to identified problems. Loss of TMFs occurred greatly in countries with higher population growth. Rapid and uncontrolled population accentuates social, economic as well as environmental problems. Actual rate of deforestation varies from one country to another. In Guinea, Liberia and the Ivory Coast, there is almost no primary forest cover left unscathed. In Ghana and Nigeria, the situation is much worse, and nearly all the rainforests are cut down. At the present trend of deforestation, experts estimate that the rainforests of West Africa may disappear by the year 2020. Moist forests and woodlands are declining primarily as a result of increased wood fuel collection, clearing of forests for agriculture, illegal and poorly regulated timber extraction, land tenure conflicts, increasing urbanization and industrialization. In the face of the rapidly diminishing forest and biodiversity, REDD+ represents an opportunity for partnership between developing and industrialized countries for the benefit of the global climate system. Developing countries would participate by undertaking REDD+ actions while industrialized countries participate by sharing the costs associated with the Climate change mitigation activities in the Tropical Moist Forests of West Africa actions. REDD+ can also lead to direct social benefits, such as jobs, livelihoods, land tenure clarification, carbon payments, enhanced participation in decision-making and improved governance. For all these benefits, complementary stand of the African Forest Forum (AFF) to assist African nations willing to embark on REDD+ is a vital and welcome agenda. Forest-based Plan Vivo-accredited project in the West African TMFs is currently lacking. REDD+ readiness activities in the TMFs of Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria were, therefore, discussed, with information provided on Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone to the extent available. The objective was to integrate all information on the West African humid forests to catalyze initiatives at national, regional and international levels, which may foster the adoption of REDD+ principles throughout the eco-region. As resources dwindle and the agricultural frontier expands, pressure to convert the TMFs will increase. Thus, the forest situation in tropical West Africa presents enormous challenges, reflecting the larger constraints of low income, weak policies and inadequately developed institutions. Successful implementation of REDD+ in the sub-region is, however, linked to the reliability of historical forest database, programmes aimed at restoring the fragile ecosystem, the indigenous peoples experience, institutional capacity and economic potential that improve the well-being of local communities. It may be useful for AFF to evolve programmes aimed at periodically compiling and publishing data on national forest budget allocations and disbursements for comparative evaluation and encouragement to do better. Greater leverage through REDD+ is achievable through improved forest and environmental education, clear definition of local project needs and priorities that are sensitive to the landscape and implementation that ensures long-term confidence in the demand for REDD+ units while avoiding leakages or displaced pressures. AFF could inject momentum in REDD+ demonstration and awareness raising by helping to generate videos, mimeos and documentaries on threatened ecosystems and the degraded habitats, and the reasons for their protection and restoration. Climate change mitigation using REDD+ can be triggered through motivational apparatus following map-based analysis of the degraded eco-zones, consultations to identify country needs and priorities as well as identification of opportunities and multiple benefits. The concept could be enhanced through funding and cash incentives, better fire control and management, clean and lean development technologies and agro-forestry. The sustainability indices include equity, value addition forestry, policy reforms and setting up networks of protected areas in contiguous countries. AFF should get involved in negotiations that make Carbon Revenue from REDD+ projects equal or greater than Opportunity Cost of other land use options. This is because if REDD payments do not match or surpass the lost opportunity cost of competing uses, the Climate change mitigation activities in the Tropical Moist Forests of West Africa associated activities may not be justified. However, a one-size-fits-all approach to monitoring biodiversity in REDD+ projects would not only be difficult to develop, but would likely fail given vast differences in forest ecology and threats across West Africa. Instead, local sites should be encouraged to develop monitoring programs based on a generally approved roadmap. The main benefits of REDD+ are embedded in its capacity to: (i) enhance economic potential of stakeholders; (ii) draw on indigenous peoples experience in evolving best practices; (iii) enhance map-based identification of the threatened moist forest habitats in each country; (iv) secure tree and forest tenure and rights to the use of timber and other forest resources; (v) improve information and knowledge of forest resource assessment; and (vi) equip institutions responsible for forest resources to implement REDD+ projects effectively. Strong potential for up- and out-scaling REDD+ in the TMFs of West Africa are found in: (i) environmental education - forest and environmental education must be enhanced because development and sustainability are at stake; (ii) broad policy reforms that raise the profile of climate change for capacity development; (iii) clear understanding of environmental services to be paid for; (iv) eco-labelling to sustain forest management practices; (v) stakeholder involvement and participation that calls for consensus and cross-sectorial coordination; and (vi) making Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) on on-going processes, rather than a single event, and adequate time allowed for their careful management. AFF could also look into operational and organizational barriers to further development of community-based Forest Groups and suggest remedies while injecting motion required for promoting forest regeneration concessions. It is also desirable to strengthen institutions (e.g. Forestry Departments and Commissions) established to manage West African TMFs to develop advance deforestation tracking system. In the future, how large emission reductions from REDD+ would be depends on a significant number of assumptions. One critical variable is the amount of funding available for REDD+. The other critical variable is the possibility of international leakage, i.e. how reduced deforestation in one country or site might lead to increased emission in non-participating areas. As a matter of fact, REDD+ design, objectives and promotion deserve careful attention to avoid risk of displaced pressure and secure increased implementation. AFF could help to develop minimum standards in the readiness phase of REDD+ in Africa to safeguard and ensure stakeholders’ agreement on the mode of monitoring and measuring carbon pools. This will build market confidence in the long-term sustainability and demand for REDD+ units. AFF could also help to establish reliable baselines and robust monitoring approaches for advancing REDD in the West African sub-region, including the need for investment in Climate change mitigation activities in the Tropical Moist Forests of West Africa inventory and ground truthing capacity as well as remote sensing. Communities can be empowered if they have the means to monitor carbon stocks and make decisions. Accounting for benefit from REDD+ would relate to the emission reductions of the project minus leakage. Credits will be awarded if emissions from deforestation can be kept below the historical baseline reference emission rate. Thus, in areas where local land tenure rights are recognized, projects can result in clear benefits to local communities. REDD+ funds could be used to finance a multitude of different policies and measures, such as forest protection policies, improved enforcement of protected areas, expansion and better implementation of participatory forest management, and land reform processes like tenure reform surrounding the issue of landlords and tenant farmers. Finally, exploiters of forest products must commit to responsible and sound practices, and assume more of the costs of their impacts. With these practices, and if stakeholders work in concerted efforts, the TMFs may continue to yield biological, economic and social benefits well into the future. It is desirable that AFF should inaugurate recognition awards to model West African countries doing well in promoting the sustainability of TMFs.

Balancing forest regeneration and meeting food and fibre needs of Nigeria’s ever-increasing population challenges is imperative to her sustainable development. Two methods of artificial forest regeneration practiced in Oyo State, Nigeria to meet these challenges are direct planting and taungya systems. This paper reports the performance of the taungya system of forest regeneration in Osho Forest Reserve, Oyo State, Nigeria with a view to harnessing information for informed and effective policy decision on sustainable forestry development. Four out of seven taungya centres within and around the reserve were purposively studied using questionnaire administration, oral interviews and direct field measurement. Direct field measurement was undertaken in 10 temporary sampling plots, each measuring 25 m × 25 m. The data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics at P = 0.05. The taungya farmers in the study area were male and a majority (76.0%) had no formal education. More than half of the farmers (56.0%) had knowledge about taungya and silvicultural operations, while 82.0% of them had no other farm outside the taungya farm. The observed survival of trees planted on the farms was high. Significant variation was observed in the circumference at breast height (Cbh) of species under the direct planting and taungya systems with Gmelina arborea contributing to most of the variation and the differences in stand age. The survival percentage of tree species under taungya was higher (52.0% ha

A number of factors persist to constrain the non-timber forest products (NTFPs) market and, by extension, its potential to contribute meaningfully to livelihood development and poverty reduction objectives. To better utilise the potential of NTFPs, it is important to have a better understanding of the key factors governing the success and failure of NTFPs trade. This paper reports on the market constraints and socio-economic factors that influence trade in five top-priority NTFPs within the tropical lowland rainforests of south-west Nigeria. The NTFPs investigated were bush mango (Irvingia gabonensis), African walnut (Plukenetia conophora), chew-stick (Massularia acuminata), fever bark (Annickia chlorantha) and bush pepper (Piper guineense). Field data were collected in 10 villages located within and around Omo and Shasha forest reserves using a household questionnaire survey. The results showed that seasonality, poor transport, lack of storage facilities and market information were the four main constraints influencing marketing and trade in the NTFPs. In addition, the level of education, gender (sex), household income, ethnicity, distance to the market and access to roads significantly influenced market knowledge and information among households involved in the trade of NTFPs. There is need to improve on the limited source of NTFPs information, enhance skills for product transformation, build innovative storage facilities, and develop the process of domestication and integration in traditional land-use systems.