AFF calls for law reforms to reduce climate change impacts
African Forestry Forum (AFF) calls for forestry law reforms as a way to preserve forest resources and reduce climate change impact.
Climate and Natural Resource Consultant, AFF, Elvis Ngwa said although there are considerable efforts on the ground in some African countries, there is still a need for more efforts to be visibly strengthened through integrated approaches.” Most forest related policy documents pay little attention to climate change and the climate change is not captured in forest subsector policies,” he said. In his research findings on the enhancement of African National forest governance to respond to the Paris Agreement and related global climate change policies and initiatives, Ngwa explained that government efforts in formulating laws and policies to address some of these issues are well appreciated but some of the policies are outdated and implementation is poor. “Therefore there is need for forestry law reforms.” Recently Botswana government issued a statement advising citizens to comply with the agricultural Resources Conservation Regulations Statutory Instrument No8 on the utilisation of veld products. The government expressed concerns about excessive use of fuel wood and felling of live trees by some members of the public which is often done without necessary permits. The penalties for contravening the utilisation of veld products regulations in Botswana is liable to a fine not exceeding P1,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.
AFF Executive Secretary, Godwin Kowero said forest certification is one of the tools that can facilitate achieving sustainable forest management but there are very few certified forests on the continent and the capacity for forest certification is very inadequate. “To ensure that forest products are originating from sustainably managed forests and are procured legally, forest certification has to become an integral component of forest management.”
He also pointed out that African countries have laws but there is no implementation of these laws. “For some few countries, who try to implement these laws, they enforce very low penalties and this is insufficient to curb deforestation”. At the present rate of deforestation, the world is not on track to meet the target of the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests to increase forest area by three percent worldwide by 2030.
Eastern and Southern Africa, -0.62 percent and Western and Central Africa, -0.59 percent accounted for most of the losses of Africa’s forests over the last decades.