Theme 1-12-Water use and sustainable development of commercial forestry in South Africa

Abstract

Commercial forestry is an economic force in the South African economy, generating income and employment for many people. For example, in 1999, the industry’s net exports totaled to the value of R3.3 billion, it employed some 75 thousand people directly and about half a million indirectly in the forest products based industries, and some 2.1 million people were dependent on commercial forestry for their survival (Based on data from the Forest Owners Association, 2000). The long term economic prospects of the industry are assessed to be excellent as the annual wood demand facing the industry is expected to double by 2005 from the current consumption of 19 cubic meters. There are also strong income incentives for downstream wood processing industries to integrate backwards so as to plant more to earn more. Futhermore, being a world leader in the pulp and paper technology, South Africa has a strategic competitive advantage which she can harness to her advantage (Kaplan et.al, 1995). However, this contemplated success depends almost entirely on the use of water --- a very scarce resource in South Africa.