Function and needs of industrial forestry research to optimise land management in South Africa

Abstract

The pressure on land use and efficient land management is growing rapidly with increasing human population and the desire to improve the standards of living. When rural poverty deepens or industrial profits are derived from land abuse, natural resources are usually exploited beyond their regenerative capacity. Therefore, foresters and land managers must acquire the necessary knowledge and skills, and strengthen scientific and technological capacity to remain custodians of forest lands. South African forestry research has lost the necessary momentum to meet the challenges of the reformed society and new trends in natural resource management. The damaging impact of low funding has been substantially worsened by insufficient custodian efforts (‘low research culture’). It is of strategic importance for the country to reactivate effective forestry research. The priorities for restitution of industrial forestry research are proposed as follows: (i) review new trends in forestry and increase the scope for indust...