Posted by: The People in Opinion, Stephen Ndegwa June 15, 2013 0 301 Views
By Stephen Ndegwa
Within the East Africa Partner States there are several challenges attributable to incoherence of laws and policies both within the forest sector and between relevant sectors. Over the years this has made forest laws both unrealistic and unenforceable and, ultimately, incapable of addressing such important issues as land tenure and use rights. Poor forest governance has plagued Africa for years.
Weak institutions, weak laws and policies, unbalanced power and gender relations, corruption and clientelism have all been regularly implicated in the continuing loss and degradation of the continent’s forests. Between 2000 and 2005, Africa saw a net forest loss of 240,000 sq km, more than half the forest lost globally during this period.
(Africa lost 1.9 million hectares every year between 1990 and 2000 and 3.5 million hectares every year in 2000-2010). Tanzania alone accounted for 10 per cent of this loss. Among the East African Community (EAC) members, only Rwanda saw a net gain in forests cover due to extensive tree planting. The societal costs of poor forest governance, in form of reduced goods and services, lost taxes and royalties, and erosion of rural livelihoods, are substantial.
Illegal logging and evasion of timber taxes, for example, are thought to cost developing countries more than US$15 billion a year. Equivalent details for the EAC are scarce, though Tanzania’s government is estimated to be losing revenues of about US$58 million a year from illegal activities.
The revenue lost by Tanzania is enough to build more than 10,000 secondary school classrooms in the country. Although the impacts of poor governance have not gone unnoticed by African governments, the political response has been slow. However, this is changing. In October 2003, at Yaoundé in Cameroon, ministers from 31 African countries adopted a declaration on improving forest law enforcement and governance (FLEG).
In September 2006, the three original member countries of the EAC held the First EA Consultative Forum on Forests in Arusha, Tanzania. The forum recommended the launching of a regional FLEG process under the auspices of the EAC to implement the Yaoundé declaration. Since then, each country has been assessing its forest governance needs and organising multi-stakeholder consultations to canvass ideas for action.
The EAC member States shared their preliminary results at a regional workshop in October 2008 in Nairobi. This meeting produced an outline of a regional FLEG action plan, together with a road map for its completion and approval. It was felt that the trade component should feature in the process, hence the initiative expanded from FLEG to FLEGT.
As a result, a number of initiatives aimed at spearheading FLEGT process have been going on under the stewardship of Lake Victoria Basin Commission’s Secretariat. The elements of FLEGT are important both at the national and regional levels in East Africa. At national level the elements of good forest governance, forest law enforcement, and trade in forest products and services are vital to national development; in for example meeting basic necessities of life like shelter, as well as supporting other sectors of the economy.
Proper implementation of FLEGT at national level will lead to securing of quality water supplies to support human, animal and plant life. FLEGT will also support key sectors of agriculture, livestock husbandry and wildlife management, which are pillars of livelihoods of the people and economies of EAC countries.
The writer is a communication specialist working with the Kenya Forestry Research Institute. simplyputcol@gmail.com
Courtesy of http://www.thepeople.co.ke
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