China’s investment and trade in Africa’s natural resource sectors have significant implications for Africa’s forests. Many investments are in forest areas. Some directly engage in logging while others, such as mining, infrastructure and agribusiness, affect forests and rural livelihoods. This report provides an overview of trends, evidence and issues related to the impacts on forests of Chinese investments in four African countries: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Uganda.

Mozambique is Africa’s largest exporter of timber to China. Yet multiple published concerns over the sustainability and legality of that timber trade assert the rapid commercial depletion of future timber stocks, the marginalisation of local forest communities, and the loss of revenue to government estimated at US$146 million between 2007 and 2013 alone.

The implementation of the South–South REDD process was made achievable by those who assumed leadership roles (political and technical), facilitated the meetings and the logistics on the ground (especially the consultations and training) and acted as resources people. It would be impossible to name everyone, but in particular we would like to thank the Minister of Environment, Alcinda Abreu, and Vice-Minister, Ana Chichava, who provided the leadership and often challenged the technical experts.

Social Justice in Forestry – as a project of FGLG with funding from the EC – supported the Mozambique Forest Governance Learning Group (FGLG-Mozambique) from January 2009 to December 2013, building on a first phase of EC support from April 2005 to December 2008 and an even earlier phase of work funded by DFID that started in 2003-2004.

This study examines the agricultural policies and strategies that have influenced agricultural development in Mozambique, the support structures that have been put in place, and the realities and challenges of their implementation. It was found that key stakeholders understand the concept of sustainable agriculture, that the most important contributing components are covered in the current policy framework, and that farmers are keen to adopt and adapt to more sustainable and profitable farming practices.

Understanding how land use and its changes affect forest cover and carbon stocks is fundamental to developing sound REDD+ delivery options. A study in Manica Province, a REDD+ pilot area for Mozambique, suggests biomass and forest carbon fell substantially between 2007 and 2010. The study combined radar remote sensing information (to measure changes in biomass and carbon stocks) with field investigations (to establish land use and land cover changes, and their causes). Small-scale agriculture is responsible for nearly half of the loss.

Agriculture is an important engine for economic growth in Africa, but effective agricultural strategies to support rural development and poverty alleviation are scarce. State investment in the small-scale farming sector is minimal and the entrepreneurial family farm sector remains underrepresented. Meanwhile, large-scale land investments are advocated as means to bring capital to rural areas and stimulate development.

For two reasons the miombo woodlands of eastern and southern Africa provide an important opportunity for developing pro-poor payments for avoided deforestation and degradation. Firstly, there is strong scientific evidence that the loss of woodlands is associated with a decline in livelihoods. Secondly, there are two decades of successful community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) in the miombo region.

The FAO-EU FLEGT Programme has committed to a significant contribution to global Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) achievements in 2017 under the Phase III programme. This year’s objectives were to increasingly operationalize the projects that were endorsed under the first two calls for proposals in the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) countries and ensure productive results from these projects that will have a positive effect on the VPA processes.

Mozambique is experiencing increased privatesector investment, to assist in meeting the country’s its development objectives. The government has intensified efforts to attract foreign direct investment, to improve Mozambique’s socioeconomic status and alleviate poverty. However, adequate legal frameworks are necessary to align investments with national priorities and to ensure compliance with environmental and social safeguards.

The Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG) project, MLIKE (Mekong Land Information and Knowledge Exchange),  and the Land Portal co-facilitated an online dialogue on “Responsible Large Scale Agricultural Investments in the Mekong Region” on 09-27 October 2017. The full dialogue can be read here. This report delineates the key messages emerging from the dialogue.

Dry forests play an important role in preventing land degradation and desertification, conserving biodiversity and providing ecosystem goods and services and mitigating and adapting to climate change and the impacts of drought. To make use of the promising potential of forests and agroforestry schemes in arid areas they need to be fully included in the REDD+ mechanism with a special focus on the co-benefits.