Globally, 1.6 billion people rely on forests for their livelihoods, many of whom are the world’s poorest. Forests provide US$ 75–100 billion per year in goods and services such as clean water and healthy soils essential for food production. In addition, forests play an essential role in protecting water sources, protecting watersheds, and in regulating rainfall patterns. Forests are also one of the most important solutions to addressing the effects of climate change. Approximately 2.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, one-third of the CO2 released from burning fossil fuels, is absorbed by forests every year. Forests play an integral role not only in supporting the carbon cycle but supplying goods and services that can drive sustainable growth. Commercial trade in timber and non timber forest products is a billion dollar industry.
Regardless of the endless benefits forests offer to humanity, forests have sadly come under threat with the rate of deforestation globally estimated at 10 million hectares per year between 2015 and 2020. Zambia today has the 5th highest rate of deforestation globally and takes number 1 spot in Africa. Losing forests at these rates means losing the whole range of health and economic benefits we derive from healthy forests for good.
Thanks to Covid19, the year 2020 brought about the grave realisation that nature is the backbone of our health as individuals and as a society. Nature basically provides the essentials needed to live, work, and be in good health. It’s our first line of defense when our health is threatened. As Covid19 took its toll, a range of natural medicines and foods from nature were recommended to help
address symptoms of the deadly flu. For some rural communities, forests are the only pharmacy they have and a means of important livelihoods. Simple water and oxygen are the two most crucial tools in the fight against Covid19 also supplied by a healthy natural environment. The spread of COVID-19 has implied further strain we want, as humanity are putting on natural systems both on a small and large scale.
Why are we losing forests so fast!
In a 2021 report issued by the World Wide Fund for Nature, WWF, agriculture has been cited as the leading cause of deforestation globally. A growing global population and increased food consumption have led to the conversion of many forests into farms. The type of agriculture varies but mainly consists of subsistence and smallholder commercial farming in sub-Saharan Africa, commercial agriculture and vast plantations in Southeast Asia and commercial agriculture, smallholder farming and cattle ranching in Latin America. As the global population grows, the choice is not between forests and food, but between unsustainable agriculture that contributes the most to
forest loss and sustainable agriculture, where agriculture productivity can be improved through a series of sustainable agriculture approaches that do not require extensive clearing of this important resource – called Forests.
The report further states that deforestation is also driven by logging, human migration and population increases, extractive industries such as mining, oil and gas, transport and infrastructure projects and expanding towns and cities. The exact causes of deforestation change over time and vary from region to region. These regional differences highlight the need for place-based solutions that take
specific local contexts into account. In Zambia, horizontal expansion of the various forms of agriculture (i.e., shifting cultivation and commercial farming) and infrastructure development together remain by far the most critical direct factors leading to heavy deforestation and forest degradation.
The country undertook a land cover mapping exercise on land cover changes to address national interest issues, mainly to generate information on deforestation and forest degradation. Based on this land cover mapping using satellite imagery data from 1990, 2000, and 2005, the rate of deforestation in Zambia is estimated at 284,000 hectares per annum or 0.62% of the country’s current forest land. Considering the population density and resource accessibility, Zambia is losing between 250,000 and 300,000 hectares of forest cover per year. Much is known about the drivers of deforestation, including agriculture, plantations, development, and extractive activities. However, the shifting influence of these drivers over time is less well understood. These drivers tend to change depending on the global market and investment trends, national political shifts, and local political economies.
In Zambia, following the observation of land cover changes between 2000 to 2015, it was concluded that agriculture expansion accounts for 60.78% of forest cover loss, settlement expansion accounts for 36.05% of forest cover loss, and mining development accounts for 2.28% of forest cover loss, while the increase in wetland (water developments) accounts for 0.89% of forest cover loss. One common threat is the steady development of roads associated with mining and logging, which is often followed by commercial agriculture. Conversion to agriculture is also linked to changing climatological and topographic conditions, market logistics and land speculation that persist in frontier areas.
Deforestation can also be influenced by several other factors, including local behaviors, values and beliefs, power relations, and governance. They are also affected by a range of social and policy responses. Stopping the rapid loss of benefits from forests is thus an imperative for everyone. To maximise the climate benefits of forests, we must keep more forest landscapes intact, monitor
what’s used and manage them more sustainably. According to the UN, Halting the loss and degradation of natural systems and promoting their restoration have the potential to contribute over one-third of the total climate change mitigation by 2030. Restoring 350 million hectares of degraded land in line with the Bonn Challenge could sequester up to 1.7 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually. Among other goals, WWF Zambia is calling for an end to the loss of natural spaces like forests, prioritisation of large roads over urban trees and to put in place measures that will halve the unsustainable production and consumption patterns that negative impacts. The consequences of Lusaka cutting down trees and building houses and hotels over ground water recharge points formerly protected by forests will make this and future generations pay heavily through increased water shortages and insecurities.
Zambia still has an opportunity to address this dire situation by reviewing its agriculture, infrastructure, urban development and mining policies, approaches and standards, and promote directly more sustainable production methods accountable to direct forest losses and also the secondary climate change impacts. To address the scale of the problem, focus on tree planting only in Zambia will not help stop and reverse the accelerated rates of forest loss. So we need a new deal in Zambia for forests and people. One that focuses on forest restoration as one of the sure pillars to put nature and livelihoods on a true sustainable recovery path by 2030. Setting up the nation the path to achieve real sustainable development, and a carbon-neutral, nature positive, equitable society. We’re calling for the government to prioritise implementation of its forest restoration commitments in Zambia as part of its Afr100 (#AFR100 https://afr100.org/) and Bonn Challenge (https://www.bonnchallenge.org/) commitments.
