Mnagament and conservation of forests

• Natural forest managment in low forest cover countries

• Role of plantation in low forest cover countries(LFCC)

• Forest conservation in particular unique types of forests

Forests in the so-called low forest cover countries include a variety of forest formations of different composition, structure and appearance. They include formations responding to the strict definition of forests, many categories of woodlands where the tree cover is complemented by an important component of grass cover, sparse shrubs and formations of scattered trees. The management of such formations includes equal concern for the single tree and for the forest component as well as the grass component. In most low forest cover countries the use of the natural forest, the woodlands and steppes and the single tree is integral to management, embracing a huge variety of uses ranging from food, health, leisure and spirituality.

Indeed, in these countries, the definition of forests should be understood senso lato as all natural vegetation in which the woody component is dominant but not exclusive, mixed with an important portion of grass cover. These types of formations have a strong socio-economic role in countries of low forest cover. Most of the LFCC are situated in dry land regions, which gives very specific utilisation models of forest and tree cover. The dominant utilisation models include wood energy, pasture, and the provision of a host of non-timber products and services, including timber of special value, often a precious commodity for handicrafts.

The management of forest resources in LFCC thus has to meet the challenge of serving and responding to demands of a varied and often competing nature. The various layers of the forest have to be integrated and dealt with in the management options, so as to optimise the capacity of the forest and to help as many stakeholders as possible. Such management options will draw on the potential opportunities from the various components of the forest, trees, shrubs and grass cover, while maintaining the resources healthy, productive and sustained for the future. The socio-economic dimension of the management of forests in countries with low forest covers is in consequence very high.

Natural forest management in low forest cover countries has also to contribute to a number of services relating to the environment and the conservation of resources. The most salient areas for urgent action relate now to the control of desertification, and the conservation of biological diversity in countries where habitat for wildlife is scanty or highly disturbed. Management of natural forests should then support desertification control and the restoration of lost or endangered biological resources. Management of natural forests in dry land, inasmuch as it may create employment and contribute to increasing income for poor rural populations, has an important social function. It, however, faces a number of new challenges that comprise the normal difficulties of all forest management operations: combating desertification; conserving biological diversity under often very harsh conditions; providing relief from food insecurity; improving people's livelihoods; and producing a growing number of non-material services.

The management of forests in LFCC has been gaining higher recognition as the environmental and other services of forests have been more recognised at world-wide and national levels. A number of regional or sub-regional groups have in some cases developed special expertise in the management of forests in LFCC such as in the Sahel, in East Africa, in the highlands of Latin America and in dryland Asia.

Dialogue between all who depend on the forests and woodlands, and concerted action, are all the more necessary as the resources are scarce and needs and expectations are high. Hence the management of natural forests in low forest cover countries, as it will try to accommodate many needs, is thus bound to seek people’s agreement on all decisions. The involvement of people and communities is essential in forest management under all conditions. In countries where forest resources are inadequate under the various definitions of low forest cover, full participation of all concerned has a vital significance and relevance as differing needs and motivations compete for limited resources. The costs and benefits of managing the resources must be shared in a transparent and equitable manner.

This documentonly raises issues regarding the following in particular:

the need to revisit the definition of low forest cover and to consider its relevance and implications for natural forest management;

the major objectives of natural forest management in LFCC and their peculiarities;

the foundations, constraints and options on both the biological and socio-economic bases of natural forest management in LFCC;

major criteria and indicators for natural forest management in LFCC

major challenges and considerations for the future.

2. OPTIONS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL FORESTS IN THE VARIOUS CONDITIONS AND DEFINITIONS OF LOW FOREST COVER

Forest management is a multidisciplinary decision-making process that involves a series of analysis and decision taking process that contribute to setting objectives, priorities and plan for action regarding the overall management of the resource including its use, improvement and regeneration. The overall process and resulting forest operation prescriptions should secure the sustainability of the resource and the optimum satisfaction of the needs which many communities around the forest (at national, regional and local levels) have from the specific resource concerned.

The relative value of the notion of low forest cover has been discussed elsewhere. It has been shown that there is no universal acceptance of the parameters to be taken into account. A number of them have been considered and major issues concerning them will be discussed in this paper. Indeed, under each dominant parameter, the policy and objectives guiding management options will vary as well as the major issues to consider. Among the cases to consider are i) low physical forest cover; ii) low ratio of forest area per caput; iii) present situation as compared to potential or historic forest cover; iv) low access to forest resources; v) insufficient marketing and economic use of forest resources. Depending on the actual situation, the series of analyses, the policy options and the priorities will vary as well as the major issues to be considered.

Land cover is the physical occupation of the land of any country by various land use forms; hence the most straightforward definition of low forest cover¹ is the one in which forest formations physically occupy a relatively low percentage of the land. This means that the settled land uses have been given precedence to a number of other land utilisation types. In such cases the forest cover may be critically small and often fragmented. The management of remaining forests will have to face a number of limitations that will affect options but also the efficiency of any option taken.

The forest formations may be so critically small as to defeat any meaningful approach to management for productive objectives. In many of such cases forest resources may be put under strict degrees of protection where they have unique features or represent samples of natural vegetation that may not exist in large expanses any longer. Management of such formations will have conservation functions related to maintaining plant genetic resources and elements of the biological diversity. However for both objectives, two constraints are important which may defeat the objectives:

small tracts of forests and woodlands may not have captured all the original genetic diversity and its range, thus the basis on which selection programmes are made may later yield a narrowly based gene pool;

small patches of forests and woodlands are not ideal habitat for wildlife populations.

 

The resulting options will have to address the need to select strategically situated remains for the protection of forest or woodland blocks. These would try to capture the former gene pool or constitute not too distant blocks in a position to cater for the protection of wildlife populations offering them cover, shelter and food.

In the cases of productive forestry options it may well be a situation in which local communities may be more easily involved in forest block management, addressing small scattered woodlots that are close to them and whose adequate management could meet local needs of wood, fuel and medicine.

At the national level, the strategies for resource management in the case of low forest cover when inadequate areas are concerned should include a number of options that would help close the gaps. These options should consider the following essential needs for information:

reasons of inadequate physical forest cover;

habitat and food production, whether the optimum presence of forests and trees been achieved;

scope and technical options for regeneration and/or afforestation to reduce low forest cover.

This ratio by itself may carry various messages relating to the linkages between population and availability of forest resources. The ratio could be low due to extremely high population density. Highly industrialised and urbanised countries exemplify this when other human settlements have exerted strong pressure on natural forests. It may also be the case of countries for which real forest cover is very low while land available is high. Many arid countries relate to this category.

In both cases the management options may aim at:

Securing optimum use of the resources and their management to meet major specific needs. Most will relate to management for leisure to increase adaptability and access of natural formations to more people. Options for urban forests will be forthcoming or any other option that authorises the conservation of blocks of natural forest among modern human settlements and high population concentration areas;

Increasing areas of forest through artificial forest establishment. In such cases, the ratio of natural forests to plantation will tend to diminish. This type of option has been usually made in dryland countries in which the major moves have been to increase plantations in particular of introduced species.

Low fForest cCover due to insufficient use of land potential or degradation of original forests

The assumption under this category when management is considered is that a higher forest cover could be achieved through better management and conservation efforts. A number of countries have been identified under this category in which the original forests and woodlands have decreased very rapidly. Dryland areas and island countries are often affected. The land degradation processes have caused forest depletion while basically natural conditions and good management would have permitted the permanence of a relatively higher land cover. Management options would favour conservation of remaining tracts of forests and regenerative activities like protection of land and monitoring, protection and management of natural regeneration. This process is often possible without resorting to plantations, provided the target species for stand regeneration are still present with sufficient vitality in the remaining gene pool.

Low Access to Forest Resources:

The reasons for low access to forest resources are often of physical nature. It may be the results of the combination of the various other factors leading to the situation of low forest cover. Resources may have been over-used, which may have resulted in a receding forest front. Conversely, human settlements may have also pushed forward to the detriment of the forests. Management options will have then to address outreach and transportation issues to access the supply. This is not an artificial supposition. In many highly forested countries, inadequacy of supply may well have been caused by lack of access to resources. In other countries for example in Sudano-sahelian Africa, countries have found themselves in a cycle of overexploitation of forest close to cities for fuelwood and charcoal. Resources have been gradually receding farther and farther from the most populated areas where the intensive use of forest products for energy is happening. This phenomenon has often triggered forest management drive in which energy has been the major objective.

Difficulty ofor access may also affect unique types of forests such as marshland and other wetland forests, including mangroves. The specific issues for the management of such forests are resolving the access problem and finding the basis and models for the actual management of such forests.

The model of the mangrove forests is well known in which issues of accessibility, conditions of work, multiplicity of products, services and stakeholders, and the specific approach to regeneration, must be carefully considered. In countries where forest cover is definitely limited, access to these forests is essential and often utilisation models are surprising. In Djibouti, residual mangrove forests are providing fodder for camels and in other countries they are essential for fuelwood supply, which there are no better alternatives.

In this last example management options may not offer many alternatives. But lack of or insufficient assessment of resources may be the cause of insufficient development of opportunities. Closely related to this, is the lack or insufficient use of selected management options. It may also be that those options do not promote all the products that could be potentially obtained from the resources. This of course affects the commercial promotion of such products. It should be noted that this situation often happens when countries with low forest cover ignore management options that promote non-timber products. In Sudano-sahelian and semi-arid and arid southern and Eastern Africa, a number of non timber products with high commercial value - at times far higher than wood – need to be considered when managing the resource. Management systems developed by local populations and improved by technical institutions have addressed this issue and have succeeded in promoting agricultural and forest production (e.g. Arabic gum production; incense production, etc).

3. CONSIDERING CRITERIA AND INDICATORS OF SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT IN LFCC

A number of exercises have considered the development and implementation of establishment of criteria and indicators for of sustainable forest management in many regions including dry countries in Africa, Near East and Mediterranean countries. The South and South East Asian countries with dry forests will be meeting soon in December in India to consider these issues. Small island countries should also be implementing these forest management tools.have been considered. Most of these countries have relatively low forest cover under whatever criteria this may be defined.

At national level, " criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management are meant to help guide countrywide policies, regulations and legislation. They are intended to help countries monitor and report on overall trends over time in forest management and its quality. Positive trends in sustainability will be demonstrated by an aggregate in trends of the identified criteria, that is: the trends in all criteria must show a positive development over time. Based on information on status and trends at national level and on forecasts for the future based on these, policy and decision making can be rationalised and improved. The ultimate aim of the process is to promote improved forest management practices over time, and to further the development of a gradually healthier and more productive forest estate, which can meet the social, economic and environmental needs of countries concerned, now and in the future."

Examining the major criteria and indicators that have been defined in past these many meetings and workshops exercises, and especially borrowing from the work done in dryland Africa, it has been possible to identify a set of highly significant criteria applicable to for countries of low forest cover. The following are deemed very relevant to conditions in these countries.

Maintenance and Iimprovement of Forest Resources: the various indicators under this criterion are meant to quantify here the physical existence of the forest resource ais an important element and along with it, the efforts for plantation establishment to increase forest cover;

Maintenance of Forest Ecosystem Health, Vitality and Integrity: this criteriona is very relevant to the special situation of countries of low forest cover. Indicators relating to damaged forests, presence or absence of regeneration, bush or other non tree species (or even alien species) encroachment, trends in productivity, are important elements especially in cases where the forest estate is fragmented and in relatively small blocks.

Maintenance and Iimprovement of Pprotective Ffunctions of Fforests: the role of forests for protection in low forest cover countries may be central to forest management: they will contribute to maintaining the land resource base, conserving water resources, conserving biological diversity and beautifying landscapes. Positive indicators of progress in these sectors are likely to satisfy the aims of most forest policies in LFCC.

Maintenance and Eenhancement of Ssocio-Eeconomic Bbenefits: Economic benefits such as non-wood forest products and services such as ecotourism and, biomass energy have often been given precedence, including participation of local communities in the benefits generated by forests.

Existence of Llegal Iinstitutional and Ppolicy Fframework: The forestry sector is often marginalised in countries having low forest cover even though while it has been recognised seen that it plays a very important economic and ecological role. It is important that forest management, and prior to the establishment of formal management, the existence of forests and the recognition of their part in land use, be supported by a legal and institutional framework.

The latest efforts in the international processes have been to associate, in the development and implementation of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, those countries that are have not as yet participatinged in any on-going international, regional or sub-regional initiatives these exercises including countries in dry areas in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Small island countries should will certainly be further involved in the process. Although there has been no special plan to promote an initiative specific to Low Forest Cover Countries Process, they latter should be incorporated in the various special efforts for dry areas and probably in the future in small island countries. It is important that all LFCCs be involved in on-going initiativesthese processes. Tthe exercises of developing, defining and implementing criteria and indicators for forest management promotes awareness of the need forof forest management and leads to a systematic effort to assess and monitor trends in and the sustainability of management activities over time. forests.

4. DETERMINING FACTORS, CONSTRAINTS AND OPTIONS FOR NATURAL FOREST MANAGEMENT IN LFCC

The determining factors that lead to low forest cover must be taken into account in any preliminary consideration for forest management in the countries under review, as was seen in previous section of this paper. But it also important to revisit all the basic factors and conditions that influence forest management, including biological, sociological and economic factors.

Many of the conditions that may have created the situation of low forest cover may have affected the vitality and main biological functions of the plant formations and in particular the remaining forests. In general, the following factors should be carefully considered for the management of forests.

Deforestation and fragmentation of forests may have reduced the forest massifs to small and scattered units that may be difficult to submit to any management regime. The ecological conditions of the forest milieu that affect the basis of forest regeneration may have been altered. To this should be added the issues of land ownership and land use that complicate further the conditions of the forest management.

In many cases, the local conditions may not permit the conditions for natural regeneration and the following situations may exist:

Parent trees too old with limited vitality or facing many constraints in the flowering and fruiting cycle;

Trees of interesting species in limited numbers, giving a very narrow genetic base;

Pressure on seed production too heavy to allow regeneration. This is the case when the forest is used as pasture land; likewise trampling may have compacted the soil to prevent any penetration of seed in the soil;

Other soil related processes may prevent regeneration: e.g. water erosion, wind erosion, fire, etc;

Vegetative regeneration constrained by browsing or harsher new environmental conditions (e.g. more severe exposure to wind, absence of real in-forest conditions that would have favoured this type of regeneration).

The socio-economic conditions that affect forest management should be considered under all circumstances of forest cover; however, in the case of countries with low forest cover, the related constraints are far more severe and should be all the more carefully examined.

It is most likely that lands on which forests are remaining in low forest cover countries are either of high value and thus intensely competed for, or hardly accessible. Land use options as forest are important and should be strengthened if forests are to be maintained. The sustainability of land use is not often guaranteed and lands under forests or woodlands may be strongly coveted for transfer to other land uses. The same pressures either for agricultural land or for the establishment of human settlements are common threats to sustainable forest management. In most LFCC, the allocation of land to forest use is often weakly supported and may be easily changed.

When options are assessed for forest management, a number of resource use models are often selected and privileged. Under the conditions of forest of low forest cover, alternatives are not always available. In a number of cases, livestock is a major element in land use and grazing needs are important and often more pressing, and of higher social priority than wood production. Other needs such as fuelwood, timber of small dimension for household implements and construction are also highly appreciated and are satisfied under unsophisticated local management arrangements. These locally important uses must of course be considered. Populations’ dependency on the forest resources may also be all the stronger when alternatives are not available. While some strong objective reasons may advocate management options that point to conservation, realism may lead to the adoption of silvopastoral approaches, in most of cases with close partnership, involvement or empowerment of local communities. All the trends in forest management in many low forest cover countries have carefully to pay attention to the needs of populations and their participation in the management of resources. Forest management is then guided by local needs and local populations participate in the decision making process throughout the management operations. A growing number of cases in West Africa and in Southern Africa have shown practical and effective cases of participatory forest resource management in which LFCC have taken the lead.

When forest resources are limited, the forest economy is dependent on other domains, socio-economically more significant to people and decision makers. The livestock economy, subsistence agriculture, fisheries and tourism dominate the economy in a number of countries with low forest resources; small island countries are examples in point. Forest management should then be integrated in those types of economies and play a complementary role, producing commodities that may easily be valorised under the related conditions. In many cases the production of handicraft items, environmental services and landscape beautification may be the responses and contribution of forest management to local needs and aspirations. This type of integration may be the only way of conserving relevance to forest activities and justifying the allocation of land to the forests and woodlands.

Competition for land is strong in all areas in which population pressure is high and in many countries with low forest cover. Even in the case of dryland countries grazing is strongly competing with forests. Forest management options should be such that they help lessen the pressures on forestland or serve strong economic demands. Integration, as mentioned above, may help in this. Special products of high value, often yielding unique commodities may often be the only alternative that may protect the forests. In Sahelian countries for example, the particular "niche" played by Arabic gum, and/or the particular needs of the hard wood of Dalbergia melanoxylon for special handicraft production were the only incentives for maintaining forest formations and woodlands including these species. Forest management options in these regions have thus aimed at rationalising and making sustainable the production of these items. A number of similar examples exist in the Mediterranean countries in which forest management options have aimed at maintaining the production of some precious non-timber items such as cork and other typical Mediterranean products. Forest management has the challenge in such cases to devise models that secure the sustainable production of these items while minimising constraints to other forms of forest utilisation.

5. ISSUES RELATED TO FUTURE MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL FORESTS IN LFCC AND PROPOSALS

 

Is sustainable forest management possible in countries of low forest cover? As shown above, the management of natural forests in low forest country is constrained by a number of factors of both biological and socio-economic nature. These constraints are the same as in any country but the special conditions that lead to the state of low forest cover offer a limited set of alternatives. Management options must then be carefully prepared and should include the greatest practicable number of expectations from the resource. Often, specialised products expected from the types of forests which may be rare constitute good assets for the promotion of which forest management options could be based.

The management of forests in countries with low forest cover most likely has to face several most of the constraints and difficulties in order to manage the resource properly of forest management in any low forest cover country. In conditions of low forest cover, the relative political and institutional importance of the sector, severe competition from other sectors, lack of the political and institutional framework make it more difficult to embark on forest management activities which are sustainable. It is however important and indispensable to do so, as managing these forests will raise the status of forest resources and forestry and will heighten institutional, national and international support to the sector.

The biological, socio-economic and institutional background of forest management must be carefully examined in these countries as the in consequenceof the above. Biological conditions are normally harsher than in countries with higher forest cover, political backing may be lower and policy guidance absent. One The strong basis of forest management should be to secure institutional, land use and policy support. Pparticipating in the international processes on criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management to support forest resources conservation, management and sustainable development would be helpful, specially at national level, to set the minimal conditions referred to above.

On the basis of the analysis of issues made in this document a number of recommendations and suggestions are proposed for future action for the sustainable management of forest resources in Low Forest Cover Countries:

Institutional and Policy Aspects

Forestry should be clearly taken in consideration in the institutional set up in countries of low forest cover given the important economic, social and especially environmental functions that forests they play;

Legislation supporting the management of forest and tree resources and the participation of populations therein should be promoted and developed;

Given severe competition from other sectors, there should be a deliberate move to strengthen forestry policy and affirm the importance of forest management in LFFC economic development and the livelihood of their communities;

Planning and especially the development of national forest programmes will be essential in promoting the development of forest and tree resources in these countriesLFCC;.

The many constraints to forest development in LFCC and more specifically the management of resources are manifold but also technical; development in support of supporting forestry research to better understand and overcome constraints should be encouraged and made real developed if sustainable forest management is to be achieveddeveloped; research should include socio-economic issues and people’s participation;

Aspects relating to the special environmental services of forests in LFCC such as watershed protection, water resources conservation, biodiversity conservation and landscape beautification should be researched for better integration in forest management.

The integration of LFCC in regional partnerships and international cooperation should be further encouraged. In particular all efforts initiatives that promote the integration of Low Forest Cover Countries in specific initiatives and/or processes for the developmentdefinition and implementation application of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management should be supported.

I Introduction

II Background

III The present situation of forest plantations in LFCC

IV Main constraints, issues and challenges for reforestation, afforestation and restoration of degraded lands through tree planting

V Proposals and options for action

VI Possibilities for international cooperation

VII Conclusions

 The decrease of woodland and tree vegetation in and around rural and human settlements in Low Forest Cover Countries (LFCC) has raised concerns among the countries concerned and the international community. The loss of these resources impacts directly on the poor communities, which rely on trees and wooded formations to maintain their quality of life. To confront this situation, the planting of trees will become more and more frequent in order to create more wooded areas. To make these plantations sustainable, careful consideration must be given to their position in the overall land use patterns, and this paper draws attention to the role of trees planted both within and outside the areas formally classified as forest.

Low forest cover raises various issues for which plantations, tree growing and the encouragement of regeneration have been identified as vital activities in order to:

Replace the loss of natural forest and planted forest cover (reforestation);

Introduce forest to sites that have never supported forest, or have not had non forest cover for a long period (afforestation);

Improve degraded natural forest ecosystems;

Expand tree cover on non-forest areas, rehabilitate degraded lands, restore soil fertility and control soil erosion;

Provide services and goods that natural forests may no longer be able to meet, including the provision of fuelwood, fodder and non-wood forest products;

Provide industrial wood and fuelwood;

Ease human and animal pressure on limited natural forest areas;

Improve the land and natural resource base, including water conservation, and

Contribute to global ecological benefits such as the conservation of biological diversity and carbon sequestration.

 

Future global, regional and national needs in term of products and other sorts of services rendered by trees and forests are not yet fully understood or definedstill unknown;. theA set of regional outlook studies presently being undertaken by FAO, together with the analysis and projections of the state and productivity of these formations, will give indications thatwhich will enable better the predictions of requirements for the needs of forest formations.

Ideally, these new plantations will be achieved with a clear vision of their economic, ecological, environmental and landscape related roles. This issues paper examines the role of planted forests and trees in the particular case of Low Forest Cover CountriesLFCCs, and analyses the needs for afforestation, reforestation and restoration of degraded lands and fragile ecosystems.

 In the framework of the UNCED, Chapter 11 of Agenda 21: ‘Combating desertification’ and Chapter 13: ‘Managing fragile ecosystems: sustainable mountain development’, an integrated approach to addressing the physical biological and socio-economic aspects of the processes of desertification, drought and watershed degradation has been adopted.

The Intergovernmental Panel of Forests (IPF), established in 1995 under the UNCED to assist progress in the implementation of actions towards sustainable management, made a number of proposals for action relating to forest plantations. These are documented in the final report of the IPF: Report E/CN.17/1997/12.

The Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) succeeded the IPF in 1997. Part of the mandate of the Forum is to promote and facilitate the implementation of the proposals for action made by the IPF, and to make further recommendations on a number of pending issues needing further clarification. Several issues on the agenda of the IFF are related to forest plantations.

The second session of IFF (Geneva, 24 August to 4 September 1998) reviewed progress in implementing IPF’s proposals for action, including those related to fragile ecosystems affected by desertification and drought and those regarding countries with low forest cover. Strong recommendations have been made to coordinate UNCCD implementation and recommendations of IPF regarding the restoration of degraded forests and initiatives in LFCCs.

Although the important role that forest plantations play in sustainable forest management was recognized by UNCED, the IPF and the IFF, the matter has not been addressed comprehensively within the framework of the intergovernmental dialogue on forests. In order to fill this gap, the Governments of Chile, Denmark, India, New Zealand and Portugal sponsored an Expert Meeting on the Role of Planted Forests in Sustainable Forest Management in Santiago, Chile, from 6 to10 April 1999.

That meeting specifically addressed underlying causes of deforestation, needs and requirements of countries with low forest cover (LFCC), future supply and demands for wood and non-wood forest products, rehabilitation of degraded forest lands and other relevant issues. During the expert meeting, it was recognized that a number of important issues relating to planted forests were not adequately addressed in the agenda of the IFF.

Most participants considered that a substantial increase in the area of forest plantations, in the order of 100 million hectares, would be needed over the next 50 years to meet the needs of the increase in population assuming that the current per capita levels of consumption will remain unchanged. It should be noted, however, that some participants argued that increased planting was not required. These participants y considered that stronger efforts should be made to reduce wood consumption and to look for alternate energy sources, allowing the environmentally safe substitution of wood products. This view may reflect a belief that plantations can cause environmental damage and socio-economic harm, which outweigh the benefits derived from planted forests.

(a) Forest plantations

The world’s natural forests are under pressure to cannot meet the present and increasing future demands of humanity for goods (e.g. industrial wood, fuelwood and non-wood products), and a wide range of services requirement. Planted trees and forests are seen by many as one of the economically viable and environmentally safe means of meeting these requirements.

Future increases in global supply of wood will be largely from plantations. One estimate of iIndustrial wood supply from plantations is for an estimated to increase ofby 67%, from 624 million cubic meters in 2000 to 1043 cubic meters by 2040. Plantations are estimated to meet 35% of estimated global demand for industrial wood by 2000. This is estimated to increase to 44% by 2020 and 46% by 2040. For all regions this would require a significant increase in plantation area and substantial gains in plantation productivity (Commonwealth of AustraliaFAO, 1999).

Planted forests are an important means of increasing forest area in countries with low forest cover. They are able to Planted forests enhance the provision of a wide range of goods and services including production of wood and non-wood products, conservation, carbon sequestration, erosion control, reduction of pressure on native forests and rehabilitation of degraded lands. Wheren planted forests are established, all practicable steps should be taken to avoid replacing natural ecosystems of high ecological and cultural value.

The following goods and services can be provided by forest plantations and by trees and other tree-based systems on non-forest areas:

Industrial wood production,

Fuelwood, animal fodder and non-wood forest products,

Erosion control,

Ecological stability through the use of suitable silvicultural practices, research and biosecurity,

Combating desertification,

Rehabilitation of degraded lands,

Recreational and amenity facilities. 

In addition to the production of wood and poles, fodder and fuelwood, trees in plantations and on non-forest areas in LFCC provide many services and functions in erosion control, soil fertility restoration, maintenance of good agriculture conditions, cultural produce tion (fruits, medicines raw material for handicrafts), mitigation of the micro-climate variations, shade for the cattle, fixation of sand dunes, protection of villages, cities and fields against sand and dust invasion, and regulation of the water cycle. In short, they provide a diversified income generation opportunities for rural people, and are an essential element of sustainable agriculture.

Significance of trees, shrubs and woodlots in LFC countries

Many trees, shrubs and woodlots are planted outside the formal area of forest plantations. They provide a wide, but often unquantified and unacknowledged, range of specific benefits to LFCCs.

Contribution to land rehabilitation, erosion control and soil fertility improvement: Trees structure the landscape of rural areas. They mitigate micro-climatic variations (temperature, wind and humidity). They protect arable land from water erosion and regulate the water cycle, improve infiltration and limit runoff, and thus recharge the water table. Line plantings (hedgerows, windbreaks, shelterbelts) protect crop lands from straying cattle (and from wind erosion) while plantations fix shifting sand dunes and protect fertile lands from sand encroachment. Moreover trees provide shelter for animals, includingcattle, which add fertility through their manure. Moreover, aAlthough it is much ignored or underestimated, trees maintain and even restore land fertility through their deep root systems which recycle nutrients. Particularly in arid zones, winds may sweep these nutrients may be swept away withfrom the topsoil on bare lands by the wind. Trees play an important protective role in this regard and, in addition, fix these fine particles to the topsoil. Moreover trees shelter a number of animals, and among them cattle which add fertility through their manure. This role is particularly even more important with nitrogen fixing tree species (such as Faidherbia albida), and these species, and their ecological role, are generally well-known to farmers know very well these species. Farmers plant or protect natural regenerations of such trees in their fields and natural loss can be reduced by sowing, planting or protecting nitrogen fixing trees.

 Improvement of pastoral lands and fodder production: Many LFCCs countries are characterized by the importance of subsistance and commercial livestock production and extensive pastoral areas. The multi-purpose contribution of trees and forage tree to the productivity of extensive pastoral areas and other of farming systems is widely recognized through traditional uses of indigenous species species (on-farm, agroforestry parklands). The development of new opportunities with exotic species enlarge the choice of the alternatives availableoffered to farmers and herders.

 Trees in the urban and peri-urban environment: The increase of tree cover through urban parks, homegardens, roadside trees, windbreaks and peri-urban agroforestry systems improve local the climates, and reduce air pollution, and provide amenity and recreation opportunities. The functions of trees and forests for food production, soil conservation and soil fertility improvement, water conservation and reuse are critical for poor urban dwellers and for urban agriculture. The production of wood, food, fuel and other NWFP in the vicinity of the city are source of income generation and employment. Greenbelts and windbreaks around human settlements protect urban agricultural areas and building infrastructures from dune encroachment.

 Human needs for a healthy habitat in a rural or an urban context will more and more require single tree planting or plantation establishment whether it is to make the city more salubrious through reforestation of under-used spaces, or to adapt to emerging urban patterns (open areas between densely populated neighbourhoods and suburbs, towns or satellite cities, consolidated immigrant neighbourhoods, ecological refuges in suburbs).

 Revegeitation in arid zones: In arid zones, plant formations which cover arid lands, except where there is strong human pressures and over grazing, are liable to protect the a primary source of land protection and help to lands and create soils relatively rich in organic matter brought by gramineae(except where there is strong human pressures and over grazing) in areas where rainfall is between 1,000 and 200 mm. Natural The woody formations of these zones can constitute quite stable natural ecosystems, which are rich in leguminous and grass species, and are a basis for excellent grazing land. The wood produced generally has a medium to high density and can provides the a renewable fuelwoodirewood supply, providing the essential source of energy for populations in these areas. including the rapidly growing cities;

 These formations are also the habitat of diversified fauna which, in Africa, include the greatest concentrations of wild bovids in Africa. These animals live in famous are mainly protected in national parks which are centres of tourism and provide an essential source of income for a number of countries.

 Trees and shrub species and a number of perennial herbaceous species are very resistant and resilient to drought;. their mMany adaptive abilities make these speciesm resistant to browsing, trampling of cattle, storms and sand, tearing and cutting by water flow during violent rains; their deep or fragmented root systems and their capacity to mainretain moisture makes them able to recover from fire. Because of all Tthese qualities they are tools which are extremely useful for land restoration, and make these valuable precious species forto use infor plantations in arid zone plantations.

 These preliminary considerations for dry areas aim to underline the ecological and economic importance of arid zones, the utility of the plant material they contain and the essential role they can play in the restoration of degraded areas and the establishment of multiple purpose plantations. For this reaseon, it is indispensable to get better acquainted with them and use them in the most favourable growth conditions, limiting the various constraints to the many ways they can be used in the management, conservation and development of natural resources of arid lands and in the restoration of degraded lands. In spite of the numerous and serious constraints, there are many advantages which, in coherent frameworks, can facilitate arid land restoration greatly.

III PRESENT SITUATION IN LFCC

The definition of LFC includes seventy-one countries from all continents, from developed to developing countries. Eighteen countries are classified known as non-forested countries. Most of the LFCCs countries are in arid and semi-arid zones. The total land area of these countries is about 4,000 million hectares. The total forest area of LFCCs is estimated to be about 140 million hectares, which comprises made about 3.5% of total land area in LFCCs.average. The total area of natural forest area in these countries is estimated to be 71,000 million hectares; this is means about 52% of total forest area. In other words the rest The remainder of forested lands should be considered under other forest cover cases, such as comprise forest plantations, trees planted traditionally on farms, etc. It should be mentioned, however, that some data and information are not available or not applicable.

The area of forest plantations in the world, especially in LFCCs, has been increasing for the past two decades, and this trend is expected to continue. Many countries have large areas of planted forests, and the area is still expanding. Almost 75% of developing country forest plantations are located in the Asia and the Pacific region (including 21,000 million hectares in China), while 10% are in Africa.

Over 60% of the plantations in Asia and Africa have been assessed as unsuitable for commercial wood production because of low productivity, poor management and poor species selection. Some of these have been planted for fuel or environmental benefits.

Plantation establishment for fuelwood began on a large scale in the late 1970s, largely in Asia and Africa. Plantation wood from these regions now supplies around 10% of the global fuelwood demand. Almost 90% of fuelwood is consumed by developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America. An estimated 57% of the plantation area is planted with hardwoods, mainly with Eucalyptus, and 43% with softwoods, mainly with various species of pines. Table 1 shows the regional totals derived from a recent FAO review of the literature of forest plantations established for wood supply.

Table 1. Reported Forest Plantation Areas and Annual Establishment Rate in Developing Countries in 1995 in thousand ha (FAO, 1999)

Current estimates of No global figures are available for current global output of timber from forest plantations are in the range of 25-35 percent of total industrial roundwood production., but tThe potential annual growth of industrial wood from planted forests in developing countries has been estimated at about 5% of the increment of natural forests in 1995. Assuming today’s rate of deforestation and afforestation, it has been estimated that by 2010 the potential increment from forest plantations will be about 40% of that from natural forests in Asia, Oceania and Latin America and about 15% in Africa (FAO, 1999).

Source: FAO (1997)

 It can be noted from the above table that both tropical and non-tropical developing LFC countries have made considerable efforts in forest plantation development between 19990 and 1995, the former in particular.

Some common factors affecting the forest resources of countries with LFC

The following are some of the factors, shared with many other developing countries, which affect the forest resource and the forestry sector of LFCC:

Population growth,

Clearing of forest lands for agriculture,

Over-harvesting of natural forests,

Urbanization,

Decreasing commodity prices,

Outdated or inappropriate regulations impacting on land use decisions in most countries,

Lack of land use planning.

To these should be added those factors peculiar to many LFC countries:

Low rainfall, slow growth,

Low returns on investment;

Degraded natural forests and eroded sites,

Lack of public funds,

Grazing pressure on natural regeneration,

High fuelwood demand.

All of these factors have led to the adoption of tree planting programmes to meet present and future demands for forest goods and services in LFC countries. 

IV MAIN ISSUES, Constraints AND CHALLENGES TO reFORESTATION, AFFORESTATION AND restoration of degraded lands through tree planting

Plantations are hindered by a number of constraints thatwhich will continue to increase in a number of countries. Plantations will be establishedcarried out under increasingly competitive land use conditions; they will be less and less accepted when they have to substitute natural formations because of the growing value of original indigenous natural areas. Conditions for their technical implementation are constantly iimproving, but there are many problems linked to the use of improved plant material that can justifycause increasing establishment costs. 

The following lists the main issues, constraints and challenges to reforestation, afforestation and restoration of degraded lands through tree planting: 

Institutional and management issues;

Need to integrate plantation and restoration activities in national policies and in land use programmes;

Planning should be a means of promoting plantations and rehabilitation activities;

Tree planting and ecological and landscape related constraints;

Technical constraints;

Marketing and econom