Participatory forest management in Africa: lessons not learned

SUMMARY

A workshop held in Tanzania in early 2002 brought practitioners of Participatory Forest Management (PFM) from 25 African countries together with donors and other interested organizations. One objective was to search for ways forward to improve and streamline implementing PFM. It was agreed that forest legislation permitting PFM is currently widespread and that many countries are somewhere on the path of implementation. It was also agreed that more needs to be done to further the definition and sharing of benefits from PFM forests in order for the practice to be successful and sustainable. The alarming rate of deforestation in many countries has not been sufficiently monitored or addressed by PFM.

Lessons not yet learned from at least 30 years of experience include how to write satisfactory management plans and conduct inventories that would help define PFM benefits and monitoring aspects. This paper suggests ways to improve on these aspects of PFM planning. It also proposes a greater emphasis on inclusion of pitsawyer organization as a key component in sustaining forests for a longer time.

Keywords:

• Africa
• participatory forest management
• inventory
• pitsawyer
• management plan
• mapping