South Africa

Produced by IUCN's Eastern Africa Programme, this publication aims to investigate the extent to which communities have been provided with economic incentives to become involved in sustainable forest management in Eastern and Southern Africa, and how far perverse incentives and disincentives encouraging forest degradation and loss have been overcome. This study concludes that there is an urgent need to provide economic incentives, and it highlights a number of policy recommendations.

The way in which forest land is owned directly influences the status of the forest, its condition and the way in which it is managed. The greater the security of local forest tenure, the stronger the interest and will of the community towards its security.

The project "Enhancing land reform strategies for sustainable livelihoods in southern Africa" has two main components: a land reform review and a questionnaire survey in a selected district. It was implemented in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa.

The document presents the results of a survey and proposes a generic programme of action for wetlands conservation which could be adapted for implementation in SADC member states. It gives an overview of wetland types in southern Africa, highlighting key characteristics and important attributes.

The African elephant is the largest living land mammal. It once inhabited most of the continent, from the Mediterranean coast down to its south tip. This picture of elephant range today is one of scattered, fragmented populations south of the Sahara Desert. Estimates suggested that elephant populations had more than halved in several areas between 1981-87.