Governance: Linchpin of Dryland Natural Resource Management

The policy brief examines the critical role of dryland forests in Africa, which cover 61% of the continent and support 60% of its population. It argues that these ecosystems are chronically undervalued in national economic planning and suffer from a history of centralized management that alienated rural communities. The author contends that sustainable management requires devolving rights and responsibilities to the local level, legally entrenching community tenure, and investing in the real economic value of non-timber forest products to ensure conservation is more profitable than degradation.

• Dryland forests in Africa are vital for risk management, environmental resilience, and adaptation, yet they are often undervalued or ignored in national economic and forestry decision-making in favor of other sectors like agriculture.
• Centralized management systems have historically alienated rural populations from their forests, leading to increased degradation and encroachment because enforcement alone was insufficient.
• Sustainable forest management is only economically viable for communities if the benefits of conservation outweigh the opportunity costs of degradation.
• Forests provide significant economic value through non-timber products; for example, the gum arabic trade in Sudan was valued at $80 million in 2011, and Shea butter in the Sahel generates annual revenues between $90 million and $200 million.
• In Shinyanga, Tanzania, the restoration of over 300,000 hectares of Miombo and Acacia woodland by Sukuma agro-pastoralists since 1985 has yielded an economic value 1.4 times higher than agriculture.
• Secure local forest tenure and legally entrenched rights are the most powerful tools for ensuring community-led sustainable management, though current devolution often provides responsibilities without corresponding rights.
• Climate change is a major threat to dryland forests, but land use changes and the removal of community rights may be more insidious.

APA

Barrow, E. (2014). Governance: Linchpin of Dryland Natural Resource Management. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Policy-Briefing-92.pdf

Chicago

Barrow, Edmund. Governance: Linchpin of Dryland Natural Resource Management. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2014. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Policy-Briefing-92.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Barrow |first1=Edmund |title=Governance: Linchpin of Dryland Natural Resource Management |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=May 2014 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Policy-Briefing-92.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{barrow2014governance, author = {Barrow, Edmund}, title = {{Governance: Linchpin of Dryland Natural Resource Management}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2014}, month = may, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Policy-Briefing-92.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }