Role of Forest Uses in
The Ohangwena and Caprivi Regions of Namibia in
Poverty Alleviation; Academy of Finland.
Time: 2007-2010, Budget:150,000 euro
Poverty
reduction is the priority of then Government of
Namibia
.
In
Namibia
differences in income generation are the highest in the world. People
in
communal areas belong to the poorest group. Two poorest regions in
Namibia
are Ohangwena and Caprivi Regions. Both regions have newly made poverty
profiles which give recent information on poverty in regions.
The status of forests in income generation has been only a little
studied in
Namibia
.
The first national-scale accounts on Forestry were calculated in 2005.
However
the Government of
Namibia
has an interest to find out the role of forests in poverty alleviation.
In
general communal area forests belong to the Government, but it is in a
process
of giving rights to communities to use the income generated from
community
forests to the communities themselves.
In the study the role of forest in income generation will be studied
and the
importance of forestry in land uses and poverty alleviation will be
determined.
The study has two phases. In the first phase the data used is from the
time
period when communities did not have rights to use the income generated
from
their own forest resources, in 2003-2005. The hypothesis in this phase
is that
the role of forest is below its potential, even though home consumption
of
forest products is significant. For the poor other land uses are more
important
than forestry, especially crop production.
The study will produce financial and economic budget and cost-benefit
models
and will concentrate on measuring differences between different land
uses. The
study will be conducted in the first phase from literature, unpublished
reports, and published information. In the second phase the models will
be
upgraded using the new empirical information from pilot community
forests. A
risk in this phase is that the implementation of the data
collection
system, done by the Directorate of Forestry in the Ministry of
Agriculture,
Water and Forestry, is delayed.
The study will analyze the profitability of forestry compared to other
land
uses in
Okongo
Community
Forest
in Ohangwena
Region and
Kwando
Community
Community
Forest
and Conservancy in Caprivi Region. The income generated in forestry
will be
compared to the other land uses. Detailed models will be developed for;
1)
small-scale livestock keeping, 2) crop production; millet, sorghum,
maize, 3)
community wildlife use on high quality wildlife land; Kwando, 4)
community
wildlife use on low quality wildlife land; Okongo, 5) use of forests;
firewood,
construction material, fencing material, carpentry material, timber,
grazing
and non-wood products; thatch grass, reed and 6) tourism. These models
can be
adapted and applied later in other regions for evaluating the
importance of
different land uses.
Researcher: Tuulikki Parviainen
Project Responsible: John
Sumelius
Second supervisor: John
Barnes