NAMIBIA

Approximately 9% of Namibia's land area is forested and a further 10% is woodland. Since 1990 Namibia has lost over 12% of its forest cover and the rate of deforestation has increased in recent years; between 2000 and 2005, deforestation occurred at a rate of 0.93% per year. Many people in Namibia are dependent on forests for food and fuelwood and the continuing destruction of forests threatens livelihoods.

In 2006, the government launched a National Forest Programme Facility, funded by the FAO, aimed at promoting the sustainable use of forests. The three-year programme aims to raise awareness and increase participation in forest management, and build links to those involved in agriculture, the environment and wildlife management.

The Forest Act 2001 encouraged the development of community forests. In the three regions where these have been established to date, there has been an improvement in forest resource management and in the livelihoods of local people. The National Development Plan aims to establish 40 community forests by 2012 and to increase the forestry sector's contribution to GDP by 5%.

However, in 2007, 40 cases of illegal logging were reported to the District Forestry Office in one of the three regions, Kavango. This continuing illegal activity led to a ban on issuing timber-harvesting permits, which is still in force. Reforestation efforts ' the government announced a plant to plant at least 1.5 million trees recently ' are proving challenging because of the very limited water resources available.

DOCUMENTS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
01/02/2008	Forest Products Trade between China and Africa: An Analysis of Imports and Exports Recent media coverage of China's efforts to secure access to natural resources in Africa suggests ...	Forest Trends (Kerstin Canby, James Hewitt, Luke Bailey, Eugenia Katsigris, Sun Xiufang)
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NEWS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
13/11/2009	Namibia: Ancient trees cut down illegally Hundreds of African Leadwood trees, illegally harvested four months ago in the Okombahe communal area, ...	allAfrica.com
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18/03/2009	Namibia: ten dollars for a 200-year-old tree Namibia - Despite the investment of millions of donor dollars, the permit system in Namibias Community ...	IPS (Italy)
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14/10/2008	Timber Harvesting Permits In Namibia's Region Still Suspended Rundu, Namibia - The suspension of issuing timber-harvesting permits in communal areas of the Kavango ...	Bernama (Malaysia)
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02/04/2008	Namibia: Timber harvesting permits suspended in Rundu Rundu, Namibia - The Rundu District Forestry office has suspended issuing permits for harvesting timber ...	Namibian (Namibia)
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18/02/2008	Namibia: community forests a boon Community forests last year generated more than N$300 000 for rural communities living in the north-east ...	allAfrica.com
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18/12/2007	Namibia: sustainable use of renewable and non-renewable resources Namibia's fragile environment provides the economy with renewable and non-renewable resources, which ...	allAfrica.com
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08/02/2006	Namibia launches a forest management programme Forest fires and uncontrolled cutting of woods are two of the main problems facing forest-protection ...	The Namibian
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16/08/2004	Securing the future of forests - lessons from Namibia South Africa - Despite the efforts of many conservation and environmental groups, the destruction of ...	id21
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