Forming part of the South African region, the landlocked republic of Zambia is a country of incredible beauty and rawness, depicted by the variety of wildlife in its national parks and expressed in the might of the Victoria Falls.

However, it also has a population of around 11.3 million people, of which 86% are living in poverty, and an unemployment rate of around 50%. Agriculture – including forestry – is often the only source of income. An extensive programme to privatise state-owned enterprises, such as sawmills, has begun, but economic growth remains below the 5-7% needed to reduce poverty significantly. The forest products industry has the potential to alleviate the situation, but the pursuit of sustainable forest management and, ultimately, certification, is crucial.

Zambia is relatively well endowed with forest resources, with nearly 50% forest cover. The forest reserves include both national forests and local forests, both of which fall under the jurisdiction of the Forestry Department. They have been gazetted to serve a variety of uses, including the production of timber and non-wood forest products, as well as for protection of watersheds, landscape, national monuments and biological diversity. About half of Zambia’s forest area falls within game management areas and national parks, which share many of the protective purposes of forest reserves, but are not the responsibility of the Forest Department.

Zambia’s 35 million ha of natural forest play a key role in supplying the subsistence needs of its rural population. Only half of the gross annual timber yield is used and government policy emphasises sustainable management of indigenous forests, especially for increased production of non-wood forest products such as honey.

The country also has about 75,000ha of plantations, mainly pine and eucalyptus, with a total standing volume in excess of 8 million m3. The government is seeking private sector investment for developing an expanded plantation-based timber industry with promising opportunities for increasing timber exports to South Africa, the main export market for most of Zambia’s timber production. A Forest Industry Credit Facility, targeted at the poor, provides US$500,000 each year for plantations.

Sawmilling is well developed and annual output is about 400,000m3 of saw logs. Pit-sawing has a great deal of potential and the wood-based industry is steadily growing under the private sector.

Certification is high on the agenda of the Forestry Department but, with inadequate funding, progress is painfully slow. However, the work of a relatively new organisation, the Lumber Millers Association of Zambia (LUMAZ), is moving the industry in the right direction.

LUMAZ, whose members specialise in sawn timber and products using Rhodesian rosewood, teak and mahogany, is participating in the EU Zambian Export Development Programme 2. While several members have their own concessions, logs are also outsourced to concession owners operating under Forestry Department licences. All materials are logged and managed sustainably in line with the Zambian Forestry Act. Under this all timber is harvested to a management plan and all logs are inspected, certified and tracked by forestry officers.

LUMAZ members are aware of the impact of logging on the environment and have already received EU assistance to develop their business to a level where they can process timber to internationally acceptable standards.

LUMAZ recognises it is a fledgling association and cannot drive or sustain the initiatives required for certification on its own. Consequently, it is looking to establish a joint initiative leading to the implementation of verifiable forest certification and chain of custody. Essentially it is hoping to link with companies or organisations which can act as business and certification mentors and:

  • establish a business ‘trading relationship’ with the association’s members thus providing a conduit to the EU export market;
  • establish a framework to monitor the protocols for certification during accreditation and guide the association through the certification process with commercial advice on a step-by-step process;
  • the volume of business established during the accreditation period would be contractual and linked to the progress achieved towards certification. It would also help to ensure growth and viability for the association’s members and open new markets for buyers during the implementation process.

Engagement with EU/UK companies could be the catalyst that leads the way to certification not just in Zambia but in other countries in the region. The fact that a small African economy such as Zambia is seen to try to embrace certification is, without doubt, an example to other African economies and needs to be supported.

Peter Haddock of forest industry consultants Bengough Haddock International is undertaking the marketing of EU/Zambia EDP2.