In recognizing the critical importance of sustainable rural economies, vibrant forestry activity will be the corner stone of rural development. To realize this goal the mandate of my department has expanded to include agriculture, forestry and fisheries. This approach is shared through Africa where agriculture is declared a prime sector to turn around the economic fortunes of our continent
Programme Director, I was told that yesterday delegates to this indaba were already hard at work with discussions and recommendations on how to shape the future of the forestry sector in the country. The department and the ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries believe that this gathering provides a good platform where stakeholders in the sector can discuss issues of mutual interest and to ensure the transformation and growth of the sector. There are a couple of issues that I would like to highlight this morning which I believe will contribute to the discussions that were held yesterday and the deliberations for today. Forestry plays a major part in the lives of South Africans and is anchored in both the first and second economy. . In the first economy, forestry is well developed, highly capital intensive and internationally recognised. This sector employs close to 170 000 people and contributes more than R12 billion annually to the South African economy. Forestry as a rural - based activity contributes to rural development through employment and provision of economic opportunities in these areas.
The sector, like any other economic sector has been affected by the global economic crisis. The dynamics in the world economy surely resulted in consequences for the South African forestry sector. To date, the economic crisis has led to a worldwide decrease in demand and prices of products, while foreign direct investment has been reduced and capital repatriation and dividend remittance increased. My officials informed me that there were deliberation on the impact of the economic crisis yesterday and recommendations were made. We will continue engaging stakeholders on the best possible solutions.
Programme Director, the participatory forest management approach provides a platform for the communities to access basic resources such as fuel wood and medicinal plants for subsistence use. Furthermore, in order to contribute to government's agenda of reducing poverty and creating employment, the sector has to grow. However, the context of the growth must be different. We need to expand the commercial sector and continue to create more job opportunities, promote the participation of small scale farmers into the market and provide a safety net for the poorest of the poor. Greater emphasis has to be placed on the second area of focus, i.e. promoting new entrants into the market.
There is a realisation that this sector is facing a number of challenges including access to land, financial resources inputs and lack of dedicated extension support services. Some of the forested land in this country is under claim, whereas new land that has been identified as having the potential for afforestation is mainly found in communal areas. The result is that a significant portion of forested land in this country could fall into the category of small scale farmers to the market or emerging forestry entrepreneurs.
To keep forestry production levels at the optimum level, these new role players will have to be supported financially, capacity wise and with dedicated extension support services. These are some of the key issues that we hope that this indaba would be able to deliberate on and present government with clear recommendations for a long-term strategy for the forestry sector. This includes concrete ideas of how to deal with the transfer of assets and the land reform process, which present great opportunities for government and the sector to realise the key objectives of the sector, such as ownership, management and control and capacity building. In addition, the charter provides for preferential procurement, which will favour the participation of small and emerging contractors in the sector.
While we are encouraging the growth and transformation of the sector, we face the challenge of timber shortages in the country. The timber resource base (in terms of hectares) has remained static over the past 25 years. It has only been as a result of constant yield improvements in the processing of the timber that the forestry sector was able to increase the harvest from 10 million cubic metres in the early 1980s to more 22 million cubic metres in 2008.
The demand for timber is expected to increase over the next year; however, unless we find new improvements in technology the yield gains will be very marginal. There is therefore an urgent need to increase the forest base by planting more trees to ensure that the current processing plants can function optimally. For this reason, my department is promoting the afforestation programme which refers to the establishment of new plantations for growth and development purposes. In this regard most of the land that has the potential for afforestation is found in the communal areas of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape . This presents excellent opportunities for communities to be future owners of forestry businesses.
Programme Director, ladies and gentlemen; although we are promoting afforestation, the process is not without challenges, as usually the land that is suitable for afforestation, is also fit for other land uses. We should also note that South Africa is a water scarce country and a licence is required for afforestation as it is regarded as a stream flow reduction activity. Applying for afforestation licences has caused some considerable delays to afforestation, and the process requires streamlining so that delays are minimised.
To support this initiative, the department has started a process of identifying new areas with the potential for afforestation. It is in this respect that I am happy to announce that the studies to assess afforestation potential in Limpopo , Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape have been completed and the results will be shared with key stakeholders and role players in the near future.
It is hoped that the results of these studies will assist with better planning and streamlining of the afforestation licensing process. The department is engaging with the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs on the synchronisation of requirements and conditions for issuing afforestation licensing. I also wish to announce that the Memorandum of Agreement between the two authorising departments will be concluded in due course.
Programme Director, having identified the key issues that have to be addressed in the sector such as climate change, the global economic recession, support to a thriving small medium and micro enterprise (SMME) sector, extension support services and implementation of the Forest Sector Transformation Charter, the department initiated the development of the Forestry 2030 Roadmap. This has been a consultative process into which comments and stakeholder ideas have been incorporated.
I believe the final draft was presented to the indaba by department yesterday. The roadmap is meant to assist the sector in realising its potential contribution to job and wealth creation as well as conservation of biological diversity. It also reflects all contemporary trends of global forestry while at the same time puts forward ways and means to address challenges facing the forestry sector in South Africa in relation to the new demands, as well as achievement of sustainable forest development.
The department recognises that this roadmap is not static and will therefore update and modify it on a regular basis, as determined by ongoing research and review of local and international information on the effects of sustainable management and use of these resources. As the roadmap is updated, stakeholder participation will also be continuous.
Programme Director, government is serious about ensuring the growth and sustainability of the forest sector. For this reason, we would like to ensure that plantations are protected from fires, pests and diseases. To initiate this process, we are developing an Integrated Forest Protection strategy that will focus on fires, pests and diseases. That is why today‘s programme will focus mainly on issues of veld and forest fires.
We acknowledge that fires are necessary for the maintenance of healthy ecosystems and biodiversity, however, if fires are not properly managed, they have the ability to cause unnecessary deaths, destroy livestock and crops, grazing land, plantations and homes. The uncontrolled fires were witnessed here in the Eastern Cape at the beginning of this month where people lost their lives; homes were destroyed as well as loss of grazing land and livestock.
Programme Director, let me pause here and take this opportunity to convey the department's deepest condolences to the bereaved families and commend the role played by both the District and the Local Municipalities in dealing with the recent spate of fires.
From these uncontrolled fires we have learnt that our people were not prepared and ready to fight fires and were not fire wise around their homes, i.e. not enough was done to ensure that their homes are protected. The fuel load, lack of equipment and lack of firebreaks around the homesteads perpetuated the fire that could have been stopped. As a result of this fire outbreak, the Municipality and the department have committed to commence a process of establishing a fire protection association in the area. The department will provide support in terms of training these communities to be firewise to avoid such situations in the future.
I would like to reiterate that the implementation of the Fire Act cannot be possible without the partnerships that we form with our stakeholders. This is why officials of the department always encourage landowners to register and be members of fire protection associations (FPAs). At present 169 FPAs have been established countrywide covering an area of about 39 million ha. |
