Zambia has an estimated population of 9.3 million people with an annual growth rate of 3.5% which is considered to be very high and has an effect on the forest resources.
The overall objective of the country is to reduce poverty through economic growth, investment in human resource development and protection of the environment. The forest sector objective is to enhance the quantitative and qualitative contribution of the forest sector towards the national socioeconomic development.
Mining dominates the Zambian economy, followed by the agriculture sector. Forestry contribution to GDP is less than 1%. However, the forest sector has a lot of potential to the socio- economic development of the country if managed properly.
Forest resources although not assessed for the last four decades cover 60% of the total land area. Most of the forests are located in the customary areas, which are administered by the traditional leaders.
Apart from the forest resources, the country is endowed with substantial water and wildlife resources, which are vital to the rural communities and the nation as a whole.
The forest growing stock is estimated at 3.5 billion cubic metres as merchantable standing volume and 2.2 billion cubic metres is considered as commercial value timber.
Sawmilling is considered as a well-developed forestry industry in the country. About 400,000 cubic metres of saw logs per annum is the estimated demand for the sawmilling industry. The woodbased industry is steadily growing under the private sector. Pit-sawing has a lot of potential to support the informal sector.
Fuel-wood and charcoal have remained the major primary source of energy in most households. Figures available indicate that 95% of rural people depend on fuel-wood and 90% of urban households depend on charcoal. The demand for fuel-wood will continue to increase as the population continues to expand.
In order to improve forestry contribution to the national development, the country’s forestry policy and legislation have been revised based on the principles of participatory approaches and employing broad-based approaches of management and utilisation of the forestry resources.
The Government has also developed a national framework for managing forest resources on a sustainable basis. The framework covers economic, social and ecological issues and it also addresses the institutional framework. The priority areas for interventions in the forestry sector are divided into the primary and supportive development programmes.