Deforestation and Social Forestry in Developing Countries

The progressive clearing of forests, woodland, and bushland has become a serious problem for developing countries, especially for those in the semi-arid tropics and mountainous regions of Asia and Africa.

Deforestation diminishes commercial forest products and wood fuels—the main source of household energy in developing countries—and the intensive search by rural households for fuelwood has environmental consequences that quicken the process of deforestation. As local fuelwood supplies are exhausted, crop residues and dung—both valuable fertilizers—become staple household fuels and the combined loss of cover and nutrients leads to soil erosion, the loss of soil fertility, sedimentation, and flooding.

A recent World Bank report estimates that forests in developing countries are being consumed at an annual rate of 1.3 percent of total forest area, a loss of 10 to 15 million hectares per year. The economic and environmental problems are serious enough that international donor agencies have reforestation programs in various stages of completion: the World Bank is committing some $100 million annually to forestry lending, of which 60 percent will finance rural forestry projects.

Deforestation has diverse causes, including population pressures on limited agricultural land, climate, poverty, rising fuel prices, and range and livestock management.

Growing populations increase the demand for food and farmland and push agriculture into previously forested regions. Between 1900 and 1965 half the forested area in developing countries was cleared for agriculture. Between 1950 and 1970 the rural population in India alone expanded by 136 million, and cultivated land increased by 22 million hectares. During the same period forest reserves in India declined by 3.4 million hectares.

In Africa and parts of Latin America the deforestation problem is complicated by a transition from shifting cultivation to sedentary agriculture. Slash and burn farming, which was appropriate as long as the people-to-land ratio was low, now contributes to progressive deforestation as rotations are shortened and forest regeneration is prevented. Recent droughts in Africa have accelerated this process, especially in the Sahel.

While the developed world has dramatically decreased its use of wood fuels—from 57 percent of total fuel consumption in the United States in 1900 to only 2.6 percent in 1979—developing countries still rely heavily on traditional fuels. Poverty in rural and urban squatter areas of developing countries limits the rate at which high-cost commercial energy can be substituted for wood, charcoal, and dung. For instance, noncommercial fuels have been declining in importance within India during the last twenty years, but in 1977 they still made up 45 percent of its total fuel consumption. In Korea, the heavy reliance on wood fuels for home heating stripped the hillsides of trees during the 1950s and 1960s. In Tanzania and Zambia, at least 90 percent of the population relies on traditional fuels for all but transportation needs, and this percentage is growing as the price of oil continues to rise faster than general prices or the cost of collecting wood fuels.

High household consumption of wood fuels results in villages and surrounding areas being scoured clean of wood; in some cases people—and they almost always are women—must walk a full day to collect only several days' supply of fuelwood. Wood fuels consumption by such village industries as bakeries, breweries, and brick kilns make every aspect of the problem worse, as do agricultural activities such as tobacco curing, tea and coffee drying, and fish smoking.

When animal-to-pastureland ratios rise to the point that cows, goats, sheep, and other animals eat tree seedlings, the formerly reasonable custom of allowing livestock to graze freely on village common lands becomes decidedly unreasonable. The growth of trees and shrubs is stunted or eliminated altogether before they yield useful wood and fodder.

Human settlement schemes which concentrate formerly dispersed populations also may increase the severity of local deforestation.

If present trends continue, enormous reforestation efforts will be required to meet future wood demand in developing countries. Planning for these future needs—tree planting in Africa must increase fifteen times its present rate by the year 2000—has led to a reevaluation of forestry policy in the affected developing countries.

Rural "social forestry" programs have been started in several countries to counteract the problems of local wood fuel supply and environmental degradation. This new approach to reforestation stresses the involvement of local communities and individuals in planting and protecting their own trees. Traditionally, foresters have managed state and national forest reserves for commercial, environmental, and recreational purposes, and the foresters have been perceived by the public as policemen who enforce regulations.

In social forestry, the role of the forester changes from policeman to extension agent—a source of information, expertise, and technical assistance for individuals and communities. In most cases, community approaches to forestry are not intended to replace traditional responsibilities of the forestry departments, but rather aim to add a sensitivity to rural development issues.

Social forestry projects vary widely according to climate and cultural conditions. In South Korea, volunteers have been organized by communities to plant trees on mountain watersheds, and hundreds of thousands of hectares have been planted. In India, communities provide land to the state forestry department for tree planting and, in exchange for their land and labor, villagers are contractually assured a percentage of the profits from the woodlots. The Gujarat state community forestry program already has planted over 35,000 hectares. In Tanzania, the forestry administration provides free seedlings to newly formed ujamaa villages and encourages the establishment of woodlots for local fuelwood and forest product requirements, while bolstering tree-planting programs with a mass media campaign.

Although many early attempts at social forestry have been hampered by organizational and technical difficulties, recent projects have been successful enough to suggest that the approach can be effective. In the regions most affected by deforestation, social forestry may be the only practical measure to maintain tolerable living conditions and combat progressive environmental deterioration.