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SOCIAL
FORESTRY AS AN ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY FOR FORESTRY PLANTATION DEVELOPMENT
T Hewage
Forest Sector Development Division, Ministry of Agriculture,
Lands and Forestry
The alarming trend of deforestation and forest degradation has created the
need to adopt alternative strategies for sustainable forest plantation development.
It is widely accepted that planting activities undertaken by the forest
Department (FD) alone are inadequate to create the tree cover necessary
to meet all the wood related needs of the country. Studies conducted for
the preparation of the Forestry Sector Master Plan (FSMP) have revealed
that about 60% of the country's wood supply is derived from non - forest
wood resources and that this trend would continue for the next 25 years.
In these circumstances, ways and means of increasing the role of the rural
population in tree growing have to be found in order to intensify the non-
wood forest resources. In keeping with the government's economic policy,
ways of involving local organised farmers, estate sector, organised communities
and other local private sector groups in forest plantation establishment
and management must be developed and promoted.
The National Forestry Policy ( NFP ) of 1995 , already includes provisions
to give emphasis to the promotion of social forestry under three main policy
statements:
Tree growing on homesteads and other agroforestry will be promoted
as a main strategy to supply wood and other forest products for meeting
household and market needs.
The establishment, management and harvesting of industrial forest plantations
by local people,communities,industries and others in the private sector
will be promoted.
The state will promote tree growing by local people, rural communities,
NGOs and other non - state sector bodies, for the protection of environmentally
sensitive areas.
In order
to give effect to these policies ,several far reaching strategies have been
proposed under the FSMP such as allowing home gardens and other agroforestry
systems on leased degraded or deforested state land, introduction of incentives
to encourage the maintenance of home gardens and conversely to discourage
the conversion of home gardens to other land uses etc. Various types of
institutional support including credit, technical assistance and research
will be provided as required for the development of social forestry by state
agencies who will work with the rural people.
Department of Forestry and Environmental Science,
University
of Sri Jayewardenepura,Sri Lanka. 1999. All rights reserved.
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