<Chapter 1> Forest policy making in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and opportunities for climate change and globalization

Abstract

This paper offers broad forest policy options for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in the face of new realities under climate change and globalization. The analytical framework starts with background information and trends for the region before examining the challenges and opportunities presented by climate change and globalization. The paper points out that SSA, home to 800 million people, has17% of the world’s total forests and 20% of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. In recent years SSA has experienced some encouraging annual economic growth rates reaching 7% in 2007. Despite this progress, Africa has 22 of the world’s 25 poorest countries, and the number of people living in extreme poverty has been increasing. With forests gaining a new prominence due to their significant contribution to global carbon emissions, the paper analyzes the policy challenges presented by the evolving global carbon markets, concluding that REDD will not benefit all forests and countries equally. The impacts of climate change will affect SSA more than any other region because its people largely lack the means to adapt. Globalization is not new, but its pace and scope has accelerated, and it has created winners and losers. The paper highlights how under globalization, impacts affecting forests are driven by decisions in far away places and often outside the sector. The pace and complexity of globalization demands new national policy capacities, nimbleness and a transformation of forestry and related institutions. The paper briefly looks at how globalization is also driving biofuel development in SSA. The paper concludes with six key policy challenges that will confront SSA and how countries might respond.