Managing the Miombo Woodlands of Southern Africa - PROFOR

4
SOLUTIONS: HOW CAN THE MANAGEMENT OF MIOMBO
BE IMPROVED
4.1 TACKLING POVERTY TRAPS AND ENHANCING SAFETY NETS
Before moving to solutions, we examine a fundamental problem in the miombo region: widespread
and persistent poverty. In Section 1 of this paper, we considered Collier’s (2007) formulation of
how various poverty traps can sometimes make it really diffi cult for poor people to improve their
condition, particularly in areas affected by armed confl ict, weak governance, and mismanaged
dependencies on natural resources, and when facts of geography (in particular being landlocked,
and surrounded by poor neighbors) limit access to external markets. Most miombo countries are
caught in at least one of these traps: (a) armed confl ict, at least in the recent past, in Angola, DRC,
and Mozambique; 19 (b) mismanaged dependencies on natural resources in Angola and DRC, with
Zimbabwe also participating in resource extraction in the DRC; (c) weak governance throughout
the region, with particular problems in, Angola, DRC, and Zimbabwe; and (d) Malawi, Zambia, and
Zimbabwe all landlocked, as is much of the DRC.
Two trends are likely to intensify the problem of poverty in the region: HIV/AIDS and climate change.
The former is already affl icting millions of households, while the latter is likely to signifi cantly affect
agricultural production and water availability.
At the micro-level, poverty traps like these have particular relevance for people living in and around
miombo woodlands: local confl ict can make it diffi cult to resolve rights of use and ownership
over woodland resources; elite capture and local corruption limit the extent to which households
and communities can benefi t from improved management; a bias toward timber production can
undermine local and more important local management strategies; and miombo-dependent
communities often live far from markets and have limited access to transport and communication
infrastructure (Mutamba, technical annex 1). Under these circumstances, it is tough to add value to
miombo products locally and to increase incomes.
One thing that has come out of the household studies described in technical annexes 2, 4, and 5
has been not that poor rural households are becoming rich by tapping into markets for miombo
products (or have much potential for doing so), but that poor rural households are vitally dependent
on miombo woodlands because of their role as a safety net. Among these households, miombo
is providing a substantial proportion of total household consumption. This proportion increases
signifi cantly among households that encounter serious income shocks because of illness or
environmental stress. These studies show, perhaps for the fi rst time in a rigorous and statistically
19 Collier’s (2007) discussion explores the long-term problem of growth in post-confl ict economies. The confl ict may be
over, but the trap created as a result of the confl ict tends to persist. Civil war reduces growth by around 2.3 percent
per year, so a seven-year war leaves a country about 15 percent poorer than it would have been. DRC will need 50
years of peace, at its current growth rate, to achieve 1960s income levels. The chances that a poor country that has
had a confl ict will have another confl ict are much greater among the “bottom billion” countries than among others.
POLICIES, INCENTIVES, AND OPTIONS FOR THE RURAL POOR
51