Rural economy and livelihoods from the non-timber forest products trade. Compromising sustainability in southern Africa?

The role of non-timber forest products in sustaining rural economies of the southern African region has been underestimated because of inadequate policy recognition. As a result, factors affecting the sustainability of these important resources are being undermined. The aim of the paper is to examine trade in two selected NTFPs and implications for sustaining the resource base in Zimbabwe and South Africa. In eastern Zimbabwe, baobab (Adansonia digitata) bark is harvested for craft purposes, but in danger of destruction in the short term as a result of harvesting and trade arrangements. Unless appropriate harvesting and marketing mechanisms including harvesting cycles and adaptive management are adopted, the baobabs and livelihoods of humans will be threatened in the next decade. For wood products from communal woodlands in the South African study, uncontrolled trade poses danger to sustaining the natural woodlands. In both case studies, the role of non-resident NTFP dealers is a source of inevitable threat in promoting sustainable harvesting and trade. Market forces of demand and supply factors are identified as opportunities or threats and presented in a conceptualised framework. Additionally, the NTFP sector management will need to include opportunistic improvement of small-scale agropastoralism.