CHAPTER THREE: FORESTRY AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
3.2 THE LINK BETWEEN FORESTRY AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
3.2.2 Employment
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The discussions above and in the rest of the chapter demonstrate a few key factors at play in the context of this study. Poverty and inequality continue to deny South Africa’s rural poor inclusion and participation in the productive commercial forestry industry.
Forestry development represents untapped economic potential and can play a major role in the employment of the rural population. Furthermore, it offers opportunities for job creation and plays an important role in the further industrialisation of the forestry value chains. The promotion of small-scale communal forestry can lead to community participation that allows community members to have control over their land and forest resources (Clarke, 2018). In this regard, tenure security through land reform is central to providing access to and control over these resources and in developing efficient, equitable and sustainable mechanisms for land distribution. Equitable redistribution can contribute towards sustainable economic benefits for the small-scale growers in the rural and semi-rural areas. The development of small-scale community grower schemes can, in turn, contribute to addressing the timber availability outlook. The sections below serve to demonstrate this context in that they deal with employment and security of tenure.
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(-33 000), agriculture (-21 000), transport (-17 000), manufacturing (-15 000), construction (-7 000), and utilities (-4 000). The expanded definition of unemployment, including people who have stopped looking for a work, was at 39.7% ─, up from 38.7%
in the previous period.
Figure 3.3: South Africa: unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2020 Source: Stats SA (2020)
According to Chetty (2016), unemployment is fuelled by the country’s poorly performing education sector, which is plagued by many school system dropouts. Less than half of all school learners complete Grade 12 and less than 10% complete some form of higher education. Therefore, the formal skills base in the country is very low, and most of the people find that they are unemployable, especially as far as the the rural poor are concerned. The second major factor is that the economy is divided unequally as the affluent minority continue to move into higher skilled jobs whilst the poorer majority, the unemployed and the semi-skilled, remain either unemployed or feed into low paying jobs within the economy. This cycle repeats across the generations and the majority rarely move out of the poverty trap (Chetty, 2016). These high levels of inequality can be seen in the country’s rate of dependency and unemployment.
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Unemployment is more prevalent among the youth and is rooted in the lack of access to means of production (such as land), as well as the limited access to a good education and training (Chetty, 2016). Of the estimated 58.8 million people in South Africa, 29% of them are below the age of 15 and about 5.3 million (9% of people) are over the age of 60 (Stats SA, 2020) (Figure 3.4). This basically means that the dependency ratio in the country is substantially high, given that fewer people are employed, and less tax can be collected because of that. South African citizens are thus dependent on a smaller number of employees and on the state for survival.
Figure 3.4: South African population distribution and unemployment by age structure in 2020
Source: Stats SA (2020)
According to Lewis et al. (2005), the creation of employment and business opportunities within the forestry areas is probably the most significant contribution that forestry could make towards the reduction of poverty. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) develops human resources through forestry sector skills development initiatives and promotes employment through commercial forestry
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activities, such as afforestation and downstream activities (GCIS, 2018). Clarke (2018) indicates that a significant number of job opportunities lie in the further industrialisation of the forestry products. In South Africa, for example, the forestry sector provides jobs
─ both directly and indirectly. The forestry sector employs around 158 400 workers, with the forestry sub-sector providing about 60 200 direct jobs and 28 000 indirect jobs. Forestry provides livelihood support to 692 000 of the country’s rural population.
The pulp and paper industry provides about 13 200 direct and 10 800 indirect employment opportunities. In sawmilling, some 20 000 direct workers are employed, and 8 000 indirect workers are employed ─; 6 000 in the timber board and 2 200 in the mining timber industries, while a further 10 000 workers are employed in miscellaneous jobs in forestry (Clarke, 2018; GCIS, 2018).
Based on the discussion above, commercial forests in South Africa contribute to the alleviation of poverty in that they offer employment opportunities in the spheres of growing trees, processing local wood, and harvesting and processing the other products of the forest. People with limited educational skills and other resources can find their employment niche through the employment opportunities offered by commercial plantations since more advanced skills levels and/financial backing might not necessarily be required. As such, this sector offers the poor, and mainly rural people, the opportunity to become involved in economic activities through initiatives such as the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ (DAFF) Participatory Forestry Management (PFM) programme and the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Charter. The BBBEE Charter supports equity goals in respect of the growing of trees and other areas across the value chain. Since it was gazetted in 2008, DAFF works in partnership with Forestry South Africa (FSA), as well as contractors’ associations and the sector as a whole, to achieve these goals. However, DAFF (2015) has noted the slow pace in the realisation of the goals of the Transformation Charter.
The discussion above on the economics of forestry development in South Africa clearly indicates that forestry is an important foreign exchange earner. Moreover, it is important in employment creation and has been described by van Staden (1996) as a
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‘slumbering economic giant’, which has great potential. Edwards (1994) indicated that forestry also has the potential to play a major role in the employment of the rural population. It was further indicated that through the extensive facilities provided by the forestry industry, people are empowered through training and education, which enables them to become part of the economic system. According to Edwards (1994), the availability of wood from forestry projects promotes the development of other small-scale industries such as craftwork, with benefits accruing directly to the local people. Furthermore, Edwards (1994) concluded that the promotion of small-scale communal forestry jobs leads to community participation in the forestry industry. This allows community members to have control over their land and forest resources.