Forest resources need better planning - PMRC
By BUSINESS REPORTER GOVERNMENT must protect forests against depletion and take stock of the resource availability for better planning, says the Policy Monitoring and Research Centre (PMRC)
PMRC Executive Director Bernadette Deka said the stock assessment of the timber resources should be conducted on a regular basis to ensure the country had accurate stock information.
“Given the challenges that threaten the existence of Zambia’s forests and tree species such as the Mukula, there is need to improve the capacity of local forestry departments which are poorly staffed, leaving vast areas of forest in different parts of the country open to illegal activities such as deforestation,” Ms Deka said in a statement.
She said there was urgent need to encourage members of the local community to protect tree species such as the Mukula.
Ms Deka said it was important to guarantee participation of communities, traditional authorities and Non-Governmental Organisations in the management of forests.
“Government needs to constantly assess and implement measures included in the Forests Act of 2015, including community, joint and private forest management to achieve diversification, wealth creation and attract investment in the forest/ timber processing sectors,” Ms Deka said.
Zambia’s forests are endowed with some of the most valuable timber resources that include the Mukula tree, scientifically called “Pterocarpus erinaceus” which takes about 80 to 90 years to fully mature.
Dubbed as Zambia’s Forest Gold Resource, the Mukula tree has the potential to increase Zambia’s resource mobilisation efforts and contribute to the country’s earnings through export of finished timber products.