This issue of Unasylva looks at various aspects of the overall financing situation in forestry and highlights areas where additional progress could and should be made. The issue draws heavily on material prepared for the June 1996 Workshop on Financial Mechanisms and Sources of Finance for Sustainable Forestry, held in Pretoria, South Africa.

Ce numro d'Unasylva se penche sur divers aspects de la situation globale du financement de la foresterie et met en lumire certains secteurs qui pourraient - ou devraient - se mobiliser davantage. Il s'appuie en partie sur le matriel prsent l'Atelier de Pretoria (Afrique du Sud) de juin 1996 sur les mcanismes financiers et les sources de financement en faveur d'une foresterie durable.

Map of cover in 1985

Working Paper No: APFSOS/WP/08
Forest Department, Ministry of Forestry, Myanmar

This Act provides for the management and conservation of forestry resources in Malawi.

The National Policy on Forests developed by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry is a nation-wide sectoral document for designating the complex of actions shaping relations between humankind and forests, with the aim of preserving the conditions for the indefinite maintenance of the multi-functionality of forests, their multi-faceted utility and protection and their role in the shaping of the natural environment, in line with the present and future expectations of society.

The Law provides rules on different types of protection zones, protected areas, and protection strips, which are specified in laws and other regulatory enactments. Its purpose is to determine the types of protection zones and the functions thereof; the basic principles for the establishment of protection zones; the procedures for the maintenance and control of the condition of protection zones; and restrictions of economic activity in protection zones.

Forests potentially contribute to global climate change through their influence on the global carbon (C) cycle. They store large quantities of C in vegetation and soil, exchange C with the atmosphere through photosynthesis and respiration, are sources of atmospheric C when they are disturbed, become atmospheric C sinks during abandonment and regrowth after disturbance, and can be managed to alter their role in the C cycle. The world's forest contain about 830 Pg C (1015 g) in their vegetation and soil, with about 1.5 times as much in soil as in vegetation.

A recent eighteen-month economic study of the benefits of alternative uses of forest and in Ratanakiri province recommends the exclusion of customary forest land from current and future commercial concessions. The study compares the economic benefits of using forest land in Ratanakiri for the traditional collection of non-timber forest products by ethnic communities, with the benefits of commercial timber harvesting. The main conclusions of the study are that non-timber forest products (NTFP) are worth a lot, much more than previously thought.

The overall aim of the National Land Policy is to promote and ensure a secure land tenure system, to encourage the optimal use of land resources, and to facilitate broad-based social and economic development without upsetting or endangering the ecological balance of the environment. The specific objectives of this National Land Policy are to: promote an equitable distribution of and access to land by all citizens; ensure that existing rights in land especially customary rights of smallholders (i.e.