A strengthened bio-economy is a major need for all African countries including South Africa (SA) which is already the furthest advanced in this regard. Apart from being a key factor for achieving stronger, more diversified and sophisticated economies, it is important for green bio-spheres in a sustainable world, countering climate change and protecting bio-diversity. In this context it seems imperative for SA to better use its existing great successes in commercial forestry in particular for yet further growth in this sector as well as to promote the entire bio-economic sector both inside SA as well as in Africa generally.
Commercial forestry in SA provides a success story well suited to inspire and lead the up-scaling of African bio-economies. The challenges of the intertwined relationship between commercial forestry and natural forests helps also to promote appreciation of, and support for, the critically important broader needs of a balanced relationship between a sustainable natural bio-sphere and commercial activities.
The 2024 UN Biodiversity summit COP 16 show-cased that 38% of the world’s trees are threatened with extinction. This is globally relevant. More than 25% of global populations depend in some way on forests for their livelihood with tangential impacts from forests affecting the entire global eco-system including agriculture/food supply, health, energy and weather.
Increased actions by SA to strengthen its forestry sector can simultaneously enhance a variety of related supportive frameworks, with opportunities for SA leadership being many. A broad range of issues need to be addressed and taken into consideration.
Firstly, there is a need for relevant policy formulation and implementation to be more holistic in approach. Comprehensive, inclusive and innovative commercial forestry policies should have linkages to other relevant sectors and the use of forestry products, especially fibre, in a broader diversified bio-economy as well as the sustainable bio-sphere. In the latter context the protection of natural forests and restoration of degraded landscapes should be promoted in parallel with diversified planted forests.
Improved regulatory contexts should include increased attention to health, given the often unappreciated important linkages between an improved bio-economy driven by forestry and improved national health, as well as the more obvious conditions related to food security. Holistic policies are needed in both urban as well as rural areas inter alia utilizing corridors of sustainable development for improved integration between all of them.
Strengthening the integration of the commercial forestry sector with innovative R&D activities as well as supportive funding mechanisms for both is of special importance. In all of this increased attention to improving supportive infrastructure, both physical and digital, along with improving trade and investment opportunities for forestry to best play its role in the economy as well as driving an enhanced bio-economy, are of central importance.
All these actions should also be underpinned by better aligning the management of agriculture and forestry sectors, something of special importance given their close relationship and their central relevance to the bio-economy.
The building of close partnerships between stakeholders remains of particular relevance for an improved forestry sector. Close functional collaboration between government and business is critically important and its ongoing weakness in Africa in particular needs urgently to be addressed. Such public-private partnerships could well have improved specific targets for attention with these ranging from issues to project roll-out.
An expanded inclusion of SMEs in the forestry sector and its broader context with facilitated cooperation between them and larger corporations, offers immense opportunities for capacity building alongside other benefits for all. Improving such an integration of forestry in its SA context, and certainly in a broader international context, also needs greater attention to harmonizing standards being used.
In the international context SA diplomacy should better promote its forestry sector as well as those of Africa with trade having special relevance. The current roll-out of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) offers extraordinary new opportunities to be explored and utilized.
Improved utilization of partnership opportunities with the European Union (EU) is particularly relevant for SA given that it is a key economic partner as well as a world leader in both the bio-economy and commercial forestry. Forest products from the EU, with forest coverage being about 25% of Africa’s, were valued almost 17 times higher than Africa’s, ie some $100bn compared with $6bn.
New EU policies nevertheless negatively impact African trade. These include the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the European Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR), largely impacting forestry, with numerous compliance requirements all costly and often almost impossible for African exporters to meet. Designed to promote improved environmental conditions, often relating to climate change, they impose substantial hurdles for African trade with negative impacts on local capacities to build sustainable economies.
The fact that the EU has now been willing to delay full implementation of the EUDR and CBAM implementation for a year gives opportunities for urgent diplomacy especially given that the European Parliament and the Council must be convinced to approve further ways to simplify and facilitate the intended systems for importers and exporters alike, especially to help exporters in the developing countries with Africa being among those of special relevance needing a facilitated regulatory framework. SA must help lead a concerted diplomatic push by Africa and others in the Global South to get the EU to better take their interests into account while aligning with international objectives for a sustainable global eco-system. A solution satisfactory to all must be found especially as EU policies often influence similar ones in other countries given the EUs leading position in these matters.
Stronger SA leadership in such matters would ia strengthen SA’s reputation in bio-economic/ environmental diplomacy. Such actions are especially currently relevant for SA’s G20 Presidency in 2025 ia given that they relate directly to the bio-economy initiative launched by Brazil in 2024 which SA has pledged to continue. The critically important need for enhanced business-government cooperation is something where SA is particularly well-suited to lead. Opportunities currently offered must not be wasted.
Dr Maré, a former SA diplomat, is an adviser on international public affairs and diplomacy. John Maré: jhemare@worldonline.co.za
