Governing Southern Africa’s Forests: The Case of REDD+

The case study examines the implementation of REDD+ within the SADC region, highlighting the tension between global carbon sequestration goals and regional needs for sustainable development. It details the SADC FANR Directorate's efforts to provide a 'regional value add' through a support programme, specifically focusing on a measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) project funded by GIZ. The analysis emphasizes that while carbon is the primary global driver, local and regional benefits—such as hydrological services and non-timber forest products—are often more critical to the region's population. The document concludes that SADC's approach to REDD+ pilots balances carbon effectiveness with regional equity to avoid marginalizing countries with lower forest cover.

• Forests in the SADC region provide a range of goods and services across local, regional, and global scales. While carbon storage and sequestration are identified as a "global public good", other services like the "Regulation of regional rainfall" and "Flood and water yield regulation" provide regional benefits, and products such as timber and fuelwood provide local benefits.
• REDD+ is described as a partnership between developed and developing nations designed to "create an incentive structure that turns around the economic and political logic that currently hinders sustainable development" by paying developing countries to preserve forests.
• Southern Africa faces severe deforestation challenges, with the region having the "highest rate of deforestation in Africa". Countries such as Zimbabwe and Zambia are noted for having some of the highest deforestation rates globally, driven by agricultural expansion and extraction of timber, fuelwood, and charcoal.
• The forestry sector in SADC is often marginalised, evidenced by "small budgetary allocations" and a lack of integrated planning where decision-makers rarely consider the implications of converting forest land to mining, agriculture, or industrial use.
• The SADC regional support programme for REDD+, approved in May 2011, aims to provide a 'regional value add' by increasing bargaining power in international negotiations, achieving economies of scale, and addressing "regional leakage" where deforestation shifts to neighbouring countries.
• The only funded component of the SADC REDD+ support programme to date is a project to develop integrated measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems. This three-year project, running until February 2015 with a budget of EUR 3.365 million, is implemented jointly by the FANR Directorate and GIZ.
• To balance carbon effectiveness with regional equity, SADC selected three representative pilot sites for the MRV project: Mozambique (Mopane), Botswana (Baikiea), and a transboundary site in Malawi–Zambia (Miombo).

APA

du Preez, M.-L. (2013). Governing Southern Africa’s Forests: The Case of REDD+. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/REV_SAIIA_perisa_pg_CS2_du-preez_20131212.pdf

Chicago

du Preez, Mari-Lise. Governing Southern Africa’s Forests: The Case of REDD+. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2013. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/REV_SAIIA_perisa_pg_CS2_du-preez_20131212.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=du Preez |first1=Mari-Lise |title=Governing Southern Africa’s Forests: The Case of REDD+ |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=August 2013 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/REV_SAIIA_perisa_pg_CS2_du-preez_20131212.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{dupreez2013governing, author = {du Preez, Mari-Lise}, title = {{Governing Southern Africa’s Forests: The Case of REDD+}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2013}, month = aug, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/REV_SAIIA_perisa_pg_CS2_du-preez_20131212.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }