IN our days it’s very common to hear people in different forums talking about the need to protect our forests bycurbing deforestationand initiating reforestation and afforestation activities. The question is, why are forests taking a center stage in community discourses in our days and what are the benefits of forests to communities. Wart Hog shades more light on the benefits of forests to our communities.
The benefits of community forestry vary from community to community as they each identify their unique values and priorities. For example, one rural mountain community has identified water protection as their highest priority, while a First Nation community forest sees education and long term employment of band members as their key priorities. The numerous benefits of community forestry include:
•    Long-term community economic development resulting in the increased self-reliance of rural communities.
•    Local employment in rural communities.
•    Local-level decision making that leads to locally appropriate decisions and improves the incentives to consider the long-term benefits of sustainable management.
•    Increased potential to resolve conflicts over timber harvesting in watersheds and other sensitive areas.
•    Protection of drinking watersheds, viewscapes, and other values that are important to communities and to local and regional economic activity.
•    Enhanced opportunities for education and research. Community forests can be laboratories for testing innovative forest practices.
•    Community participation in resource management leads to an improved awareness of forest management among members of the public.
A forest is an area over grown with tall trees and/or little undergrowth that have a uniform aerial cover growing on a piece of land that is more than 0.5 ha in size.  Forests are an important natural resource to any country due to the numerous services and goods they provide to communities. In Zambia approximately 66% of the land area is covered by forests, of which only 9.6% are in protected forest reserves.
There are numerous benefits we derive from forests some of which we cannot quantify in monetary terms such as the oxygen we breathe, carbon sequestration (regulation of the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere), provision of scenic beauty and other benefits that are of cultural importance to our communities. All these benefits are collectively known as Non Wood Forest Products (NWFP). In other words they are intangible and tangible benefits we get from forests.
Forests play an indispensible role in the regulation of climate by being a critical component of the hydrological cycle. A significant amount of water vapour comes from forests in a process called evapotranspiration, thus plants losing moisture through their leaves etc. This is a reason that explains why areas (deserts) with a small population of trees tend to suffer more from recurring droughts and high temperatures than places with large populations of forests.
Forests are important in providing habitat for different living organisms by providing perfect conditions needed for their growth and survival.
You might have realised that there are some living organisms that are not found else were apart from a forest habitat. For example certain creeping species of edible plants that produce root tubers and mushrooms, and truffles are not easily found in open area, but are mostly found in forests.
This is because these types of living organisms need trees for creeping out and rotting log on which they can grow respectfully. A forest provides just those right conditions for them. Fruits make a significant proportion of the goods we derive from the forests and they are a source of important nutrients for our diets. From this we can see that forests provide communities with food such as mushrooms, fruits, and other edible forest products. This is so because the tree cover and rotting organic matter in forests creates a favorable environment for these living organisms to grow.
Living organisms such ashoney bees also benefit from forest habitats in a symbiotic type of interaction, in such a way that honey bees help pollinate tree flowers whereas the trees provide nectar and a place for them to establish their colony. No wonder it’s very common to find or see colonies of honey bees in forests. It’s for this reason that you might have realised that natural unprocessed honey is common in places that are nearer to forests than in towns without forests.
Food for thought, as you are reading this article right now, try to ask yourself, were in the natural environment and where does this paper come from?
It is of common consensus to note that most of the scientific inventions are derived from the design of the natural environment. This can be seen in most medicinal drugs that have been developed, for instance penicillin an anti-bacterial drug that has saved countless lives, is derived from a simple mound species. In the same sense from a traditional perspective, different communities get their medicines and pharmaceutical formulas from forests. This has been an important benefit that communities have derived from forests from time in memorial up to date in some communities.
Forests are also an important source of raw materials such as timber needed for furniture, art, and many other timber based productions. In most rural communities forests provide raw material for building huts and shelters. Forests are also a source of much of the energy that is used for cooking in most Sub Saharan African countries including Zambia. Estimates are very high on firewood and charcoal usage in rural areas. This situation is what has led to loss of most forests throughout Sub Saharan African countries.
Forest degradation through various drivers such as population increase, increasing demand for energy (firewood and charcoal) and the increasing economic activity base that requires space is leading to the disturbance of some of the services and goods forests provide us. For example, the reduction in the number of trees in the globe is leading to the disturbance of natural carbon sequestration process and this is leading to climate change.
This is happening because there is an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide being emitted to the atmosphere whereas there is a reduction in the amount of trees to offset or sequestrate that excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, hence it is accumulating and absorbing infrared radiation from the sun thereby warming up the planet. Such problems clearly show why trees are important and beneficial to communities. This sets the rationale for protecting forests and for us all to have a conservative mind. The earth is the only place we call home and we live in so let’s take care of it.
Wildlife & Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia
P.O. Box 30255, Lusaka, Zambia.
Telefax: 260-211-251630, Cell: 0977-780770
E-mail: wecsz@coppernet.zm