Private-sector community forestry partnerships in the Eastern Cape – Overview report

Abstract

This investigation into private sector-community forestry partnerships in the Eastern Cape is one component a broader investigation into community – private sector forestry partnerships in South Africa. It contributes to one of the three major research themes of a wider national research project referred to as ‘Instruments for Sustainable Private Sector Forestry in South Africa.’ This national investigation is co-ordinated by the CSIR, in collaboration with DFID and IIED. It’s aim is to understand how the private sector is involved in forestry in South Africa, how it is changing and how it can help to achieve sustainable forest management in the future. The three themes include: redistribution of forest assets, impacts of certification, and company-community forestry partnerships. Forestry partnerships between communities, government and companies have existed in South Africa in various forms, the most visible of which to date have been the commercially-focused outgrower schemes operating in KwaZulu-Natal, followed more recently by state-sponsored efforts towards building joint forest management relationships around managing state forest resources in the Eastern Cape and elsewhere. Private companies have recently started to explore new forms of partnerships in collaboration with communities. The State is also exploring a new brokerage role in facilitating partnerships between communities and other actors in developing small-scale enterprises. Thinking around different types of partnerships has been recently spurred to some extent by potential opportunities afforded through the state forest restructuring process. The broad objectives of new individual partnerships may vary. The objectives of the various participant actors are also likely to differ and these differences need to be understood and accommodated in order to ensure success