Abstract:

This paper has been prepared as input to a forthcoming Seminar on Plantation Forests being
sponsored by government of Uganda. Uganda's Saw Log Production Grant Scheme ( SPGS)
which is being supported by the European Union ,by Government of Norway and by private
sector investors, is successfully involving many small holders and local communities in planting
fast growing pines, eucalypts and other timber species.
The purpose of the paper is briefly to summarise world wide experiences of plantation based
commercial forestry, lessons from which could be of relevance both to future development of
Uganda's SPGS and also to other countries that are investing in intensively managed plantation
forests .
Recent FAO studies of the world's "Planted Forests" 3 estimate that in total they cover about 270
million hectares of which about 110 million ha are classified as "Production " Forests . A recent
report by The Forests Dialogue (TFD) 4 reviewed the current status of Intensively Managed
Planted Forests ( IMPF) covering about 25 million ha of that total.. Although they cover less
than 1 % of the global forest area those 25 million ha already contribute about 40 % of global
industrial roundwood (IRW) supply.