Forest destruction throughout the world poses significant risks. Not only are forests a source of valuable timber and non-timber proudcts, but they also provide important environmental services that help sustain life on earth.

To get anywhere in forestry these days you have to play politics. Forestry can and should improve people’s livelihoods as well as looking after trees – and this means chaning the political environment for the better. Malawi’s National Forestry Programme seeks to address this challenge. It is different to many other national forest sector strategies and programmes which exist only as fat documents and list of projects for which donors cannot be found. It seeks to make the most of existing knowledge and do something with it, to get stake-holders of all kinds negotiating, to focus on a few agreed priority areas, to hit them hard and achieve major change. it’s a big challenge and results to date have been mixed. This study tells the story of Malawi’s NFP so far – it draws out lessons from the process, identifies challenges ahead and identifies a range of practical tactics for national forest programmes which may be useful in others countries.

Malawi’s forests and trees can and should be used to contribute to poverty eradication, a thriving economy and good environmental management. The National Forestry Programme aims to help make this a reality. It consists of a set of agreed priorities-written down in this document-and an ongoing process for achieving them. Major problems stand in the way: forest degradation, excessive demands on existing fuelwood resources, and forest institutions poorly equipped for today’s policies and pressures. But the National Forestry Programme had mapped out the strategies and actions, agreed through a wide participatory process, for takcling these problems. Central government, local government, the private sector, civil socity and the international community should draw on this document to develop specific initiatives and provide the inspiration and dedication to improve forestry and livelihoods in Malawi.

Forestry is a good, if risky, business in South Africa. A handful of private companies, together with government, have dominated a commercial forestry sector based on plantations. Today, world market trends are causing companies to focus on what they do best, and to outsource everything else. Government is privatising its plantations and is pursuing policies aimed at empowering formerly marginalised people. This means that forestry is changing fast. Forest certification is one response to change, and is helping some companies who were already practicing reasonable management, to make further improvements and consolidate their reputations. Another response is to run outgrower schemes. These have been quite good for company business, and have also improved community livelihood assets, but have not yet pulled poor people out of poverty.This report is based on the findings of some 20 sub-studies and widespread consultation in South Africa. It argues that current trends in South African forestry will not miraculously combine to produce a balance of economic efficiency, environmental sustainability and social empowerment. For such a balance to be achieved, a strong vision needs to be generated and spread – involving a new pattern of ownership with an increase in the numbers of medium and small-scale players.

The increase in private capital flows to the South over the last decade has stimulated an intense debate about the impacts on the development process. Whilst there is particular concern about the negative social and environmental consequences of foreign investment in resource-based sectors such as forestry, the potential contribution that private capital flows could make to sustainable development is being increasingly recognised. This discussion paper examines the issues involved in harnessing a particular type of capital flow, namely portfolio equity, to achieve sustainable development objectives. It reviews recent thinking on this issue, drawing on a case study of the forest products industry with a particular focus on companies registered in Malaysia. The case study tracks the magnitude and sources of portfolio equity flows to the forest products sector in Malaysia, discussing whether any links can be made between such flows and environmental and social performance in the sector. It then considers the justification for, and practicalities of, using portfolio investment as a form of leverage to promote best practice in the forest products sector and to discourage operations with adverse social and environmental impact.

Inequitable land distribution and anachronistic policies combine to provide the wealthy with incentives for forest land management while the poor are ensnared in a web of contradictory regulations. The state’s control of forestry is now under challenge from alliances in the private sector and civil society. This report describes the initiatives and coalitions that have begun to generate a more widely shared vision of the role of forests and woodlands in Zimbabwe’s development, and sets out the ways in which vision can be turned into reality.