Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)

Climate Change Initiative

COMESA Region: Forest situation, value, prospects and strategy for its development

COMESA Secretariat

PO Box 30051

Lusaka Zambia

Email:

October 2011

1.  Background, Objectives and Rationale

1.1.  The COMESA Treaty and Membership

1.  The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional organization of 19 sovereign African member States including Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

2.  COMESA was established in 1994 to replace the Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern Africa (PTA), which had been in existence since 1981. The COMESA member States have agreed to promote regional integration through trade development and to cooperate in the development of their natural and human resources for the benefit of all their citizens.

1.2  Key Characteristics of COMESA Member states

3.  The COMESA region is estimated to be home to more than 400 million people. The population is increasing at an average rate of 3% per annum. The 19 COMESA member States have a total land area of some 12 million square km (equivalent to 40% of Africa’s land mass), the largest geographical coverage of any Regional Economic Community in Africa.

4.  Forty-two percent (42%) of the area is arable land, while 60% is endowed with rivers and lakes that could be jointly exploited for irrigation, fisheries, hydropower and water transport development. Agriculture is a priority sector, as it accounts for more than 32% of COMESA’s gross domestic product and 65% of foreign exchange earnings, provides a livelihood to about 80% of the region’s labour force and contributes more than 50% of raw materials to the industrial sector.

5.  Trade in timber and non-timber forest products is an important contributor to economic development through the revenue it generates for government and the income it provides to rural households. In select eco-regions, forestry is the highest income earning sector for rural households. While currently a largely uncaptured opportunity, trade in forest ecosystem services (carbon, water, biodiversity) has the potential to add new value to the sector. The impetus to expand trade and investment within the sector and growing contribution of extra-sectoral investments to deforestation highlights the need for appropriate policies for ensuring the sustainable utilisation of forest products and services. This is particularly true given that growth in trade in forestry and other sectors that affect forests can bring substantial social and environmental costs, which require the concerted attention of government.

6.  Trade in a range of forest products from the COMESA region is already globally significant. Member countries are among the leading African exporters of timber and non-timber forest products. For example, the Democratic Republic of Congo is the fifth largest exporter of tropical logs, while Sudan’s share of global supplies of gum Arabic has exceeded 80%. Other member States are leading exporters in a number of high-value flavours and fragrances, medicinal plants, processed wood products and agroforestry crops.

1.3  COMESA Objectives, Mission and Vision

7.  The COMESA Treaty, which sets the agenda for COMESA, covers a large number of sectors and activities. However, the fulfillment of the complete COMESA mandate is regarded as a long-term objective and for COMESA to become more effective as an institution, it has defined its medium-term priority as the Promotion of Regional Integration through Trade and Investment. Key areas targeted for investment and development in the COMESA treaty are agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

8.  Article 3 of the Treaty specifies the following aims and objectives for COMESA:

(a)  To attain sustainable growth and development of the member States by promoting a more balanced and harmonious development of its production and marketing structures;

(b)  To promote joint development in all fields of economic activity and the joint adoption of macro-economic policies and programmes;

(c)  To raise the standard of living of its peoples and to foster closer relations among its member States;

(d)  To co-operate in the creation of an enabling environment for foreign, cross-border and domestic investment, including the joint promotion of research and adaptation of science and technology for development;

(e)  To co-operate in the promotion of peace, security and stability among Member States in order to enhance economic development in the region;

(f)  To co-operate in strengthening the relations between the Common Market and the rest of the world and the adoption of common positions in international fora; and

(g)  To contribute towards the establishment, progress and the realization of the objectives of the African Economic Community.

9.  COMESA’s vision is to create a fully integrated and internationally competitive and unified region in which people, goods, services and capital move freely. This is to be achieved progressively in stages through (a) the creation of a free trade area (FTA), followed by (b) a customs union with a common external tariff (CET), (c) a common market in which there is free movement between Member States of labour and capital as well as goods and services, and, finally, (d) an economic community with a single currency, common monetary and fiscal policies, and free movement of people including the right of establishment and the right of residence. The target is to complete this process by 2025.

10.  The ultimate mission of COMESA is to endeavour to achieve over the long-term sustainable economic and social progress in Member States through increased cooperation and integration in all fields of development, particularly in trade, customs and monetary affairs, transport, communication and information, technology, industry and energy, gender, agriculture, environment and natural resources. This mission is consistent with and will contribute towards the long-term economic integration of African States set as a target in 1980 in the Lagos Plan of Action and Final Act of Lagos, and in the subsequent 1991 Treaty establishing the African Economic Community.

1.4  COMESA Mandate on Natural Resource Development

11.  The role of the COMESA Secretariat is to take the lead in facilitating regional development and assist Member States to make the adjustments necessary for them to become part of the global economy.

12.  Under Article 123 of the Treaty, COMESA Member States have agreed to cooperate in the management of natural resources in the following ways:

(i)  Take concerted measures to foster cooperation in the joint and efficient management and sustainable utilization of natural resources within the Common Market for the mutual benefit of the member states through taking necessary measures to conserve their natural resources; management of their natural resources for the preservation of eco-systems and arrest environmental degradation; and adoption of common regulations for the preservation of shared land, marine and forestry resources.

(ii)  Adopt common policies for the conservation and management of natural forests, industrial plantations and natural reserves; exchange information on natural forests and industrial plantations development and management; joint promotion of a common forestry practice within the Common Market; joint utilization of the forestry training and research facilities; adoption of common regulations for the preservation and management of catchment forests and the establishment of uniform regulations for the utilization of forestry resources in order to reduce the depletion of natural forests and avoid desertification.

13.  In order to raise the competitiveness of the region’s agricultural and natural resources sector, COMESA has put in place a number of initiatives at different stages of implementation. These initiatives are in line with the aspirations of the COMESA Treaty, which seeks to promote cooperation and coordination of regional agricultural and natural resources policies, research and development, and resource exploitation.

1.5  The Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme and Environmental Action Plan

14.  COMESA’s forestry activities are being implemented under two continental frameworks, namely, the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) and the Environmental Action Plan (EAP) of the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AU/NEPAD). The overall goal of CAADP is to “Help African countries reach a higher path of economic growth through agriculturally-led development, which eliminates hunger, reduces poverty and food insecurity, and enables expansion of exports.”

15.  CAADP is a growth-oriented agricultural development agenda, aimed at increasing agricultural growth rates by 6% per year and to create the wealth needed for rural communities and households in Africa to prosper. To achieve this goal, CAADP focuses its interventions in four key pillars to achieve measurable outcomes:

·  Pillar 1: Extending the area under sustainable land management and reliable water control systems;

·  Pillar 2: Improving rural infrastructure and trade-related capacities for market access;

·  Pillar 3: Increasing food supply, reducing hunger, and improving responses to food emergency crises; and

·  Pillar 4: Improving agriculture research, technology dissemination and adoption.

16.  The overall objective of the EAP is to contribute to the improvement of environmental conditions in Africa for the achievement of economic growth and poverty eradication in the region.

2.  Forestry Development in the Region: Importance and Constraints

2.1  Importance of the Forestry Sector

17.  Agriculture, often referred to as including crops and livestock production, fisheries and forestry – is the major economic activity in most COMESA member countries, as it accounts for 32%of the COMESA region’s GDP, employs 80% of its labor force, and provides 50% of the raw materials for domestic industry. For most Member States, exports of agricultural commodities and products also comprise the main source of export earnings and as such the agricultural sector subsumes the economic contribution of forestry.

18.  Trade in timber from forests, woodlands and plantations provide income and employment, as well as revenue. Other, less-recognized forest values, however, often make more significant contributions to local livelihoods and the economy. As many as 300 million people in the COMESA region, most of them very poor, depend substantially on non-timber forest products for their subsistence and survival. Forests and woodlands supply medicinal plants, game, and specialty foods with high nutritional, economic and cultural value (honey, fruits, mushrooms, edible insects). At least 70-90% of household energy needs and construction materials for low-cost housing come from forests, and woodlands. Forests also provide a host of ecosystem services critical to urban and rural households, industry and the global community. Fresh water from forested catchments, for example, supports hydro-electric power generation and sustains human health.

2.2  Trade in Forest Products

19.  Trade in a range of forest products from the COMESA region is already globally significant. In terms of timber production, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the major tropical log exporter within COMESA and one of the top five exporters globally (after Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Gabon and Myanmar)[1], with China a major importer and re-exporter. The COMESA region is also a key supplier of non-timber forest products. For example, Sudan provides more than half of the global supplies of gum Arabic, with France the major importer and re-exporter. Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Kenya are leading exporters in a number of valuable flavours and fragrances (frankinsense, opopanax, myrrh). Sudan and Ethiopia are the world’s largest producers of Olabanum resins.

20.  The COMESA region is also a significant exporter of “pygeum” medicinal bark from Prunus africana, harvested from mountain forests in Madagascar, Kenya, Burundi and DRC (with unmonitored trade starting in Ethiopia) to France and Italy. In addition, the COMESA region has coffee and tea as major agro forestry crops; and is a global leader in the production of vanilla (dominated by Madagascar) and ylang-ylang for perfumes (dominated by Comoros). Several COMESA members, notably Kenya and to a lesser extent Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe; are significant producers of woodcarvings. Until recently, few forestry policymakers were aware of the scale or economic value of this trade, which in Kenya involves 50,000-60,000 carvers generating around US$20 million per year[2]. Domestic markets for wood fuels (firewood and charcoal) provide an affordable source of energy for Africa’s poor while creating employment opportunities near urban centers.

2.2.1  Timber

21.  Within the COMESA region there are four different country categories in terms of timber trade. Countries can be grouped by those that:

i.  Export globally significant timber resources from the world’s second largest area of closed moist tropical forest and also have the largest area of miombo woodland in Africa, but where the forest industries are poorly developed and hampered by low levels of employment creation in the forest sector[3], low productivity, illegal logging, conflict and few forest management plans (less than half of concessions surveyed). ( e.g. the Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of Congo);

ii.  Are Islands in the Indian Ocean, (Comoros, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar all of which are COMESA Member States); where most of the remaining forest has been cleared for agriculture or agro forestry and the remainder is globally significant, generating significant international funding support for forest conservation and restoration? As the world’s fourth largest island, Madagascar is an “outlier” in this group, not only due to its global conservation significance, but also as it continues to export some specialty timbers such as Blackwood (from endemic Dalbergia species), several of which are overexploited.

iii.  Have only small areas of natural forest, often designated as Protection Forests (for their catchment values), Forest Reserves or national parks (due to their biodiversity values), remaining. Most occur within densely populated highlands (or in the case of Kenya, coastal lowlands). Forest stocks have been depleted by illegal logging and where there is extensive development of plantations (e.g. Eucalyptus). Most plantation timber is used nationally rather than for export. The above situation is predominant in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Swaziland, Malawi, and Rwanda.

iv.  Have few closed canopy forests, but significant areas of miombo woodland such as is the case in Zambia and Zimbabwe . Stocks of valuable hardwoods such as Pterocarpus angolensis are dwindling, illegal logging is widespread and support for forest management needs to be strengthened through training and, as well the provision of financial and technical resources for the national forest administrations.

22.  In all the four categories, it is notable that forest management plans are not adequately developed or implemented.