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An estimated 40% of privately owned plantations are subject to land claims, and 70% of State-owned plantations are under claim in South Africa. The study therefore identified the settlement models for future engagement of communities in forestry with forest land under claim. In total, 231 households were purposively sampled at Jessievale ( n = 100) and Roburna ( n = 131) where the primary data was collected through questionnaire administered to household heads. In general, 70% of the respondents indicated that they would opt for a settlement model that involves forestry. About 27% chose joint venture model, whereas 19% chose the lease agreement model. The joint venture model was the most preferred due to its ability to transfer the land to the claimants, in addition to opportunities such as transfer of management skills, job creation and empowerment of local communities. Age and possession of forestry skills significantly ( p < 0.01) contribute to the choice of the different models. While communities were interested in getting their land back, they were not fully utilising the small portions of land currently available to them for agriculture. Hence, demand for land may be driven more by other land use options such as land for expanding new homes and grazing. In conclusion, communities were still interested in forestry as a land use option. However, future forestry models should clearly address land ownership and accommodate other land use options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Water resources in many catchments in South Africa (SA) are over committed and water is projected to become scarcer. The impacts of plantation forestry on water resources in SA are well known and legislation limits further afforestation. Nevertheless demands for wood continue to grow. A challenge therefore is to increase the production of forest products within water constraints. This paper presents research into the economic and biophysical efficiencies with which indigenous and introduced tree-production systems in SA use water to produce harvestable biomass. Its purpose is to better inform resource allocations. Key findings are that: introduced plantations are more efficient at using water to produce harvestable biomass than indigenous species; the lower water-use efficiencies of indigenous species are due to slow growth rates and not high water-use rates; and the performance of indigenous forests improves when using the economic return per unit of water used – using the residual imputation approach to value the water – because of their lower production costs and higher product prices. Introduced plantations make up the majority of afforested land and total outputs in SA, however, therefore innovative mechanisms are needed to overcome barriers preventing the financing of indigenous forests. Possible financing mechanisms include the UN CDM and REDD programmes and tax breaks for superannuation funds. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Previous work has focused on HIV prevalence among forestry workers and the impact of HIV/AIDS on the sustainability of forest resources. Following a review of work examining the impacts of HIV/AIDS on the South African economy, this article presents original qualitative research examining the responses of company management to the HIV epidemic across a range of enterprises in the South African forestry industry, including large companies, contractors and cooperatives. At the level of the enterprise, management occupies a critical nexus, at which the intersecting requirements of complex government legislation, the wellbeing of workers and the demands of the business must be met. The research demonstrates that large forestry companies tend to provide only a small fraction of their workforces with HIV/AIDS education, prevention or treatment services, as they have essentially outsourced the requirement through the use of labour-supply contractors who, by and large, provide workers with scant HIV/AIDS-related programmes or benefits. Moreover, the extent to which the different types of forestry enterprises incorporate the management of HIV/AIDS in the workforce with the management of the business is highly variable, and in most instances falls short of legislative requirements that have been in place for over a decade. The implications of this for the forestry industry in South Africa are acute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value of woodland products to rural livelihoods was investigated within six selected villages in the northeast of the Limpopo Province, South Africa. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 180 householders. Amount of woodland products used by villagers was determined by weighed them in a portable mass balance. We also review studies that examine the value of woodland products to rural people wellbeing. Results indicate that villagers obtain basic needs such as fuelwood, construction poles from the surrounding woodland. Eighty percent of respondents use fuelwood as the primary source of energy for cooking and heating. A household of 7 people uses a mean of 2 847 kg of fuelwood for cooking year¹. Some villagers sell fuelwood for RIO per 10 kg at the urban market. A mean volume of 1 .360 m³ poles is used for construction of a hut, 0.436 m³ for a medium granary constructed outside the hut, 7.221 m³ for fencing a homestead and 27.677 m³ for a large cattle kraal. Villagers also harvest medicine, edible insects, mushrooms, thatching grasses, broom grasses and even wild fruits. These products are harvested for household nutrition, health supplements and income generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental accounts bring together economic and environmental information in a common framework to measure the contribution of the environment to the economy and the impact of the economy on the environment. They enable governments to set priorities, monitor economic policies more precisely, enact more effective environmental regulations and resource management strategies, and design more efficient market instruments for environmental policies. This article uses examples from the regional environmental accounting programme in southern Africa to demonstrate the usefulness of environmental accounts to policy-making and natural resource management. The examples address the contribution of natural capital endowments (minerals and fisheries) to sustainable development in Botswana and Namibia; the economic importance of non-market forest goods and services in South Africa; and the socio-economic impact of current water allocation and pricing policies in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. While there are many additional policy applications, these few provide a powerful argument for the use of environmental accounts in all countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]