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.5 .
In addition to meeting world demands for IRW , planted forests including woodlots and plantations
being established as components of agro forestry farming systems, are also making a significant
contribution to the fuelwood, building pole, and non traditional forest products needs of low
income communities. Those benefits of planted forests are of special relevance to the goals of
the World Bank and IFC to address poverty alleviation and to harness the potential of forest
resources to contribute to income generation ,to sustainable agriculture to economic growth.
and to protection of forest environmental services
Given mounting global concerns about global warming ,much effort is being directed in Uganda
and in many other countries to the potential of plantation forests to sequester carbon . Such
plantations are creating an alternative source of wood supply that will help to take the pressure
off natural forests and to reduce the rate of tropical deforestation currently running at 13 million
ha a year .The fact that deforestation contributes approximately 20 % of global carbon
emissions has triggered intensive interest in mobilizing substantial both public and private sector
financing of plantations as one component of an emerging global strategy for reducing
deforestation and degradation (REDO).