Dry forests cover over half of Africa, home to 500 million people, many living in poverty. CIFOR's work in dry forests began focused in Southern Africa and expanded to West and East Africa, initially driven by individual interests rather than strategy. CIFOR developed several dry forest strategies between 2002-2012 but funding reductions made implementation difficult. Products of CIFOR's dry forest research include publications on miombo woodlands and livelihoods in Africa as well as honey production providing income to rural households. Moving forward, CIFOR is working to integrate strategies from other regions to develop a global forest strategy, and seeks to address constraints to moving from strategy to implementation.

1. Dry forest research at CIFOR:
From strategy to implementation?
CIFOR Annual Meeting, October 1st 2012

2. Global dry forests

3. Dry forests of Africa
§ Cover 54% of the continent
§ Home to ca 500 million people
§ High incidence of rural poverty
§ Provide up to 25% of rural
income
§ Important safety nets for many
households
§ Major source of ecosystem
services and carbon
sequestration

4. CIFOR’s work in dry forests
§ Early focus on Southern Africa, then expanded to West and East
Africa
§ Initially driven by staff skills and professional interests, rather
than a strategy per se
§ First CIFOR strategy for dry forests prepared by Gill Sheppard in
2002
§ Second “strategy consultation” in 2005
§ 2009 CCER recommended that CIFOR should focus on greater
engagement with dry forest research
§ BoT concurred and mandated the institution to increase
investment in dry forests, and investigate expanded global
strategy
§ A further strategy framework was then prepared
§ But this period coincided with reduced funding for the dry forest
regions (e.g. Zambia, Burkina Faso) following ending of
restricted projects (SIDA)

5. Products of dry forest research
C e n t e r f o r I n t e r n a t i o n a l F o r e s t r y R e s e a r c h
Forest
June 2004
Number 3
Livelihood Briefs
Making dry forests work for the poor in
Africa - building on success
Lessons learned
Eradicating poverty is arguably the greatest global challenge facing the world today and is a necessary
precondition for sustainable development. To reach the poverty-reduction goals, bold action is
required. In this Livelihood Brief we highlight some success stories, showing how sustainable
management of forest resources has led to positive livelihood impacts. Four main lessons can be
learned from these.
• Forest products can enhance peoples' livelihoods, but creating value requires changing the form or
location of the products or the timing of their delivery to markets.
• Entrepreneurship is important. The people who succeeded had the confidence to seize the
initiative when opportunities arose.
• Organisation matters; where people can organise themselves they benefit from opportunities to
exchange information, learn from each other's experiences, share resources, and undertake joint
The Miombo in Transition:
activities. They have more voice.
• External assistance can make a difference, by helping people improve the quality of their products,
gain access to technology and markets, or overcome other barriers to entry.
Woodlands and Welfare Liquid gold - building livelihoods and the Zambian economy
in Africa "It is the second honey flow" said Pious Makeche
as he scooped comb honey from the bucket in
front of the buyer's scales, "and it is pure,
Over the last decade, when economic
conditions have worsened for most rural folks
in this remote part of Zambia, honey is one of
liquid gold that will buy my son a bicycle to go the positive developments. Sales bring income
Edited by Bruceschool."March and May, when the tall
to Campbell second honey flow occurs
between
The to poor households. A kilo of raw honey earns a
household about 40 US cents - almost half the
mutondo trees of North-Western Province, average daily income. Demand is growing. New
Zambia, burst into flower at the end of the production technologies, such as the top bar
rainy season. The mutondo, one of the hive, are encouraging thousands of women to
commonest trees of the vast miombo become producers in their own right.
woodlands of Central Africa, yields high-quality Discerning buyers are gradually promoting
nectar that African bees turn into a fragrant, more sustainable harvesting practices, e.g. by
light amber honey. The producers harvest not buying the watery honey taken from the
beehives hanging from branches throughout the wild.
forest. Comb honey is packed in buckets and
sold to producer cooperatives and private But much remains to be done to extend the
companies for refining and export to Europe. benefits to more rural households. Producers
Large tracts of land in the miombo are certified and extension workers need to know how to
organic - assuring the consumer of a natural, increase yields and quality. Buyers need lower
clean product and guaranteeing the producer a financial borrowing rates. The marketing and
CIFOR
CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY RESEARCH
good market. processing infrastructure requires urgent

6. Attempts to re-engage post CCER

7. Moving ahead
§ Recommendations from Durban workshop have been summarised
and provide a useful structure for completion of Africa strategy
§ Currently working on integrating dry forest issues from Latin
America and South Asia for a global forest strategy

8. Before we have another strategy on
the shelf…..
§ What have been the constraints to moving from strategy to
implementation in dry forests?
§ What can those based in the regions do more/better to ensure a
more strategic and integrated approach to work in dry forests?
§ What can be done better at HQ to support the dry forest team?