Huge Yields of Green Belts? Mega and Micro Plantation Forestry Cases from Indonesia, Ghana and Zimbabwe

Abstract

Globally the area of forest plantations has increased by about 2.8 million ha (10,000 mi2) per year from 2000 to 2005. However, it is rather uncertain what the social and environmental impacts of tropical forest plantations are, especially in deforested areas. In this chapter the cases from Indonesia (industrial tree plantations), Zimbabwe (small scale woodlots), and Ghana (agroforestry in modified taungya system) are selected to provide additional information particularly on the impacts of forest plantations on people's livelihood. The results suggest that all three types of plantations can make positive impacts on rural livelihoods. Even though they cannot provide many non-wood forest products and benefits in the same way as natural forests do, their integration into traditional local livelihoods is indeed possible, as long as sufficient areas are left out of the tree plantation scheme. In addition, the species diversity measurement from three countries suggests that in heavily deforested areas, forest plantations may even contribute to the richness of tree species and other flora.