The Impacts of COVID-19 on the Sustainable Management of the Forestry Sector in Southern Africa

HIGHLIGHTS COVID-19 had an 80% impact on forest management operations. Community forests (53%) and nature parks (96%) were the most affected. The COVID-19 pandemic had a moderate to severe impact on forest conversion to agriculture land. The pandemic resulted in serious levels of illegal logging. From the forest production perspective, the impact of COVID-19 on production, supply, demand and price of timber was low. SUMMARY The objective of the study was to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sustainable forest management in southern Africa. The study employed a targeted approach, also referred to as purposive sampling, to select respondents from the various sectors. The results show that COVID-19 had an 80% impact on forest management operations. The COVID-19 pandemic did not have a significant effect on the conversion of land from forest to other land uses. However, there was severe illegal logging and moderate to severe fires. The COVID-19 pandemic also had a severe impact on the agriculture, environment and ecotourism sectors, with nature reserves completely closed. From the forest production perspective, the impact of COVID-19 on production, supply, demand and the price of timber was generally low due to the commercial nature of the forestry sector in South Africa; the largest economy in SADC being classified as an essential sector.