The contribution of Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFPs) and services in livelihood support has been reviewed. Quite a number of NWFPs are also important articles of commerce and contribute significantly to the economies of various African countries. The non-consumptive role of forests has been examined in terms of eco-tourism while the social and economic viability of the production of NWFPs and services have been reviewed from subsistence and commercial perspectives. Conditions that enable long-term viability in the management of forests for NWFPs and services have been reviewed. Need for sound ecological data in relation to resource stock and yield were noted as important in determining ecological sustainability. A number of institutional issues important to SFM were noted, including setting up of strong producer organizations, enabling policies and legislative frameworks, and relevant institutions within the government that provide supportive roles. Multiple use management was noted as an important concept towards sustainable forestry and clearly demonstrates how forests can be managed for both wood and NWFPs. From an analysis of lessons learnt from the above, various recommendations were made.

Summary Public Forest Administrations (PFAs) have been transformed from the ‘policing’ type agencies for forest protection and conservation into modern people-centred institutions applying participatory approaches of forest management. This paper presents an overview of the status of capacity of PFAs and their scope of activities on climate change including stakeholder involvement, access and equitable benefit sharing. Findings indicate that there is a critical shortage of trained personnel to handle the new mandates in order to respond effectively to climate change. Furthermore, PFAs are under-funded and, despite recent shifts in their mandate and scope, they are not prioritized highly in national budgets. In addition, lack of sustainable financing for climate change activities from local and national sources has resulted in most of the funding for forest related climate change activities being funded by external agencies. Consequently, national government PFAs budget increases are imperative. Furthermore, there is an urgent need for local, national and regional initiatives on training and capacity building for PFAs and countries need to elevate the national profiles of their PFAs to be commensurate with the crucial roles forests play in national development. Keywords: adaptation, climate change, Mitigation, REDD+, sustainable forest management Brève vue d’ensemble des capacités des administrations des forêts publiques dans les travaux liés au changement climatique dans les pays à forêts humides de l’Afrique sub-saharienne C. DLAMINI, M. Larwanou et P.W. CHIRWA Le travail des Administrations des forêts publiques (PFAs) a évolué de gestion forestière en gestion forestière durable, puis en gestion des forêts et des terres forestières pour les services et les produits de l’écosystème et enfin en atténuation du changement climatique et à une adaptation à ce dernier. L’objectif de cette étude et d’offrir une vue d’ensemble des capacités des PFAs dans les travaux liés au changement climatique. Les résultats montrent que, bien que les PFAs existent encore sous une protection nationale comme du temps de l’ère coloniale, la majorité des pays à forêts humides les ont vu se transformer, passant de la simple mise en exécution d’une protection et d’une conservation forestière à des approches participatives centrées sur le facteur humain. Plusieurs facteurs ont contribués à cette évolution, le principal étant le fait que le secteur forestier actuel inclut un développement durable qui souligne un mouvement vers une utilisation des ressource durable plutôt qu’une conservation »à l’ancienne ». Plus important encore est le fait que les PFAs ne sont pas seulement chargées de s’occuper de la foresterie traditionnelle, mais aussi du travail lié au changement climatique au niveau forestier, en réponse à de nouveaux et à d’émergeants défis environnementaux. Cependant, les PFAs manquent de capacités physiques, humaines et financières pour mettre leur travail en exécution, et ce, dû à un manque de fonds, car ils ne sont pas une priorité importante dans les budgets nationaux, en dépit du changement de vision. De plus, on observe un manque dans la participation des parties prenantes, un accès et un partage équitable des bénéfices vague, une capacité inadéquate d’estimer et de faire des rapports sur les inventaires des gaz de l’effet-serre ( GHG), et une carence d’application du Guide de bonne pratique (GPG) du Panel inter-gouvernemental sur le changement climatique (IPCC). Una revisión de las capacidades de las administraciones forestales públicas para la intervención en actividades sobre el cambio climático en los países con bosque seco del África subsahariana C. DLAMINI, M. Larwanou y P.W. CHIRWA Las Administraciones Forestales Públicas (AFP) han pasado de ser agencias forestales de tipo ‘policial’, con miras a la protección y la conservación, a ser instituciones modernas centradas en las personas, que aplican enfoques participativos de ordenación forestal. Este artículopresenta una visión general del estado de la capacidad de las AFP y el alcance de sus actividades en relación con el cambio climático, como la participación, el acceso y la distribución equitativa de beneficios para las partes interesadas. Los resultados indican que hay una grave escasez de personal capacitado para gestionar los nuevos mandatos con los que dar respuesta de manera efectiva al cambio climático. Por otra parte, las AFP carecen de financiamiento y, a pesar de los cambios recientes en su mandato y su alcance, apenas se priorizan en los presupuestos nacionales. Además, la falta de financiación sostenible para las actividades relacionadas con el cambio climático a partir de fuentes locales y nacionales ha hecho que la mayoría de la financiación de las actividades referentes al cambio climático relacionadas con los bosques estén siendo financiadas por agencias externas. En consecuencia, es imprescindible que los gobiernos nacionales aumenten el presupuesto de las AFP. Asimismo, existe una necesidad urgente de iniciativas locales, nacionales y regionales en materia de formación y desarrollo de capacidades para las AFP y los países deben elevar los perfiles nacionales de sus AFP para que estén en consonancia con las funciones cruciales que desempeñan los bosques en el desarrollo nacional.

Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, plus the role of conservation, SFM, and forest carbon stock enhancement (REDD+) is a policy initiative developed by the international community to counteract the loss of forests and to provide incentives against deforestation in developing countries. With this new international mandate to tackle deforestation and forest degradation, this report was developed for the African Forest Forum (AFF) ‘African forests, people and climate change project’ to evaluate the scope, potential and implementation of mitigation activities in mangrove forests in Eastern and Southern Africa. It was considered important to contribute to the understanding of the role of mangrove carbon credits to the livelihood of local communities and to sustain biodiversity and improve the quality of the environment. This also led to recommendations for furthers studies and formulation of REDD+ policies and programmes aiming at increasing equity and enhancing carbon stock in mangrove forests. The study revealed that REDD+ activities implemented in mangrove forests in Kenya and Tanzania were basically readiness and demonstration. These activities were implemented at all levels and they were not specific to mangrove forests. Various institutional arrangements were established at all levels to provide enabling environments for implementation of REDD+ activities in mangrove forests. Mikoko Pamoja and Hifadhi Misitu ya Asili were the only two active REDD+ pilot projects in mangrove forests in Kenya and Tanzania, respectively. The potential for increasing REDD+ activities in mangrove forests was evaluated based on effectiveness, efficiency, equity and co-benefits of pilot projects in carbon sequestration and in reducing emissions. The REDD+ pilot projects performed fairly well in the area of disseminating information on the REDD+ concept and on climate change in mangrove forests to wider communities. They were also ranked effective on capacity building because they trained village conservation committees on various methods to carry out REDD+ activities effectively. In addition, communities had high expectations on REDD+ pilot projects in providing economic incentives and support livelihood improvements to reduce pressure in mangrove forests. The REDD+ pilot projects were rather efficient in supplementing efforts by the Kenya and Tanzania governments to protect and conserve mangrove forests, including being important in relieving expenditures of the governments in such efforts. It was found that the REDD+ pilot activities were implemented within existing networks of communities engaged in participatory forest management, thereby significantly reducing monitoring, enforcement and other costs. Despite the presence of permit systems, illegal activities in mangrove forests were escalating in the study areas, indicating that monitoring of rules of compliance by the community members was poorly enforced. This contributed to increased deforestation and degradation of mangrove forests. The REDD+ projects are concerned with providing all groups in the communities with incentives for more sustainable forest use, a strategy that is likely to increase a sense of ownership to the mangrove REDD+ projects and therefore contributing to preventing emissions of GHGs in mangrove forests. The evaluation of co-benefits of mangrove REDD+ projects was based on the four dimensions of forest conservation, political change, socio-economic benefits, and adaptation to climate change. Regarding forest conservation, the study showed that mangrove tree planting was done to encourage reforestation, hence enhancing carbon stock. Some mangroves were retained on farms to ensure expansion and regeneration of mangrove resources. However, forest conservation was facing a big challenge as pressure placed on mangrove forests for firewood was high due to the increased population and use of traditional cooking stoves. In the area of political change, communities had low expectations from REDD+ projects to contribute to desired political change as officials and conservation committees were not accountable for forest protection, neither were they transparent and they were weak in applying the rule of law. Some of the pre-conditions for increased implementation of REDD+ activities in mangrove forests were found to be: proper signing of agreements, developing national REDD+ strategies, clear project eligibility, in-depth preparatory studies, knowledge on drivers of deforestation and degradation, leakage prevention activities, capacity building, and establishing carbon baselines for REDD+ projects. Forest restoration was the best REDD+ practice in mangrove forests with regards to its contribution to climate change mitigation as it ranked first with a score of 45. Other climate change mitigation practices were: sustainable forest management, raising community income generation, boundary demarcation and social fencing, strengthening forest land tenure, strengthening community based organizations, avoided deforestation, support exchange visits, establishment of woodlots, and climate change awareness workshops. Agricultural and fishing intensification with a score of 38 was the best activity in mitigating the impacts of climate change in mangrove forest. Other contributing activities were: developing appropriate management plans, participatory management, enforcement of forest law and regulations, opening and closing system, community based eco-tourism, taungya system, enforcement of land use laws and regulations, sacred groves, and international reputation. In conclusion, there was considered to be a high potential for increased implementation of REDD+ activities in mangrove forest to reduce GHG emissions to the atmosphere. Currently, in mainland Tanzania, there are no REDD+ pilot projects per se in mangrove forests. Those found were just research projects for academic purposes. Therefore, REDD+ pilot projects in mangrove forests in mainland Tanzania should be encouraged because communities are willing to benefit from this new funding initiative.

The countries covered under the eastern African region are Burundi, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Issues pertaining to South Sudan being the youngest of the eastern African countries are generally covered under Sudan for the time being. With particular reference to climate change, it is a fact that the importance of the need for action is now well recognized in the region, because of the threats climate change carries to all the countries, and their individual and collective vulnerability to its adverse effects. Countries also recognize their responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that aggravate climate change and its effects, and the crucial need to implement adaptation measures that will help them cope with its vagaries. This paper addresses two climate change initiatives popularly known as Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) and National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs), both of which have their origins in decisions taken at the negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

A pan-African initiative on “Sustainable Forest Management in Africa (SFM)” was implemented between 2003 and 2008, with funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The overall aim of the initiative was to learn from experiences in implementing SFM in Africa and evaluate how to upscale the positive lessons. The initiative was jointly implemented by the African Forest Research Network (AFORNET) at the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, in collaboration with many national and regional institutions in Africa as well as some other international institutions. One of the key findings from this initiative is that Africa continues to have serious problems with generating new information and innovations in forestry, accessing externally available information, as well as with analysing and adopting such information and innovation into practical forest management. There are pockets of information in many institutions, networks and individuals. However, a mechanism to systematically collect, collate, synthesise (where necessary) and share the information is lacking. Such information would not only enrich educational establishments, which mould future foresters, agriculturalists, environmentalists and other stakeholders in forestry, but will also be useful for decision-makers and practitioners in forestry, environmental protection, rural development, and related areas. In this regard the SFM initiative collected a substantial amount of information on Non-Wood Forest Products and Services (NWFPS). It was felt that this information was not available in a way that could facilitate its use by educational and training institutions for technical and professional education in forestry and related areas. A team composed of the following members examined the information and proposed ways of enriching and developing it into a teaching compendium for both technical and professional training: Prof. Daniel N. Sifuna, Dr. James B. Kung’u and Dr. Teresa Aloo (Kenyatta University, Kenya); Dr. Joel Laigong and Dr. Kingiri Senelwa (Moi University, Kenya); Ms. Jane K. Kaaria (Kenya Forestry College, Londiani, Kenya); Dr. Tsegaye Bekele (Wondo Genet College of Forestry, Ethiopia); Dr. Abdalla A. Elfeel (College of Forestry and Range Science, Khartoum, Sudan); Mr. Bennet Mataya (Mzuzu University, Malawi); Prof. John Kaboggoza (Makerere University, Uganda); Mr. Isaya Mnang’wone (Forestry Training Institute, Olmotonyi, Tanzania); Prof. August Temu (World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi, Kenya) and; Ms Agnes Lusweti and Prof. Godwin Kowero (Sustainable Forest Management in Africa Initiative, Nairobi, Kenya). Prof. Sifuna provided the pedagogical guidance in writing the compendium. The initial draft of the compendium was put up by Dr. Kingiri Senelwa (Moi University, Kenya), Mr. Bennet Mataya (Mzuzu University, Malawi) and Dr. Suzana Augustino (Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania). They are collectively responsible for the contents of the compendium. The African Forest Forum (AFF), upon expiry of the SFM initiative, took up the responsibility for moving this process forward. The draft compendium was reviewed by Dr. Phosiso Sola (Southern Alliance for Indigenous Resources), Dr. Jean Lagarde Betti (University of Douala, Cameroon), Prof. Labode Popoola (University of Ibadan), Dr. Julius Chupezi (FAO-Cameroon), Dr. Abasse Tougiani (INRAN/CERRA, Maradi, Niger), Dr. Ben Chikamai (Kenya Forestry Research Institute, Kenya); Dr. Yonas Yemshaw, Dr. Mahamane Larwanou and Prof. Godwin Kowero (African Forest Forum). The final editing, graphics reproduction, layout, and production were done by Dr. Enoch Achigan-Dako (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa-PROTANairobi). This compendium is not written as a paper for scientific journal publication, but as scientific information drawn from various sources and presented in a pedagogical manner to facilitate uptake of the same by students and their instructors. Information dispersed in various writings on the subject has been collated and systematically synthesised into chapters that focus on certain topics and in a sequence that facilitates the understanding of the industry of Non-Wood Forest Products and Services. Hopefully this compendium will provide incentives for others to write books that will address the needs of teachers and students on the same and similar issues. The compendium aims at enabling students and other interested groups including government officials, producers, exporters, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), research institutes and other stakeholders to acquire knowledge, skills, and values in the identification, development, management, utilisation and promotion of opportunities in NWFPS. It will enable the reader to:

Environmental and economic sustainability and human well being are dependent on large, widespread and healthy forests. But current economic policies and conditions mean that forest capital assets are being liquidated for limited private and short-term gains at alarming rates. An alternative economic scenario is being put forward in the shape of the green economy, and forests are at its root. Moving towards a green economy will require investments to reduce carbon emissions, enhance the efficiency of resource use, prevent losses in forest biodiversity and ecosystem goods and services, and reduce social inequality.

In late 2002, the African Academy of Sciences (AAS), the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA) and the Forestry Department of FAO jointly initiated a project entitled “Lessons learnt on Sustainable Forest management in Africa”.  In February 2004, a workshop was held in Nairobi presenting and discussing nine papers on various aspects of forest management, use and conservation in Africa and experiences on these from which lessons could be learnt. The papers had been commissioned to expertise in different institutions and companies on the continent. During the workshop a few additional case studies were also presented. Among them, Mr. Åke Barklund, outgoing Director for Sida’s Regional Land Management Unit (RELMA), suggested three case studies capturing some RELMA experiences over the last years: Ethiopian land and tree tenure. The Vi Agroforestry Programme in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Forest Certification in Africa.

A report prepared for the project “Lessons Learnt on Sustainable Forest Management in Africa”

One objective of the Sustainable Forest Management in Africa (SFM) project has been to identify urgent issues and concerns for Africa to give priority to in international forest processes (IFPs), and to promote an increased African participation in these, based on analyses of previous experiences and lessons learnt.Thus, one of the first studies to be commissioned by the project was entitled "Observations on participation by Africa in international forest processes".