Background:
 At around 1900
most of the Gambia's land area was still blanketed by dense, almost
impenetrable forests although areas of land had already been cleared
of trees for the purpose of growing crops. At that time the forests
were rich in wildlife as they constituted the habitat for a variety of
large mammals which are nowadays rare (such as hippopotamus,
waterbuck, roan, serval, caracal, etc.) or locally extinct (such as buffalo,
giraffe, elephant, lion, etc.).
The
Department of
Forestry & the Environment
was created in 1976. Its origins go back to 1938 when the first real
steps in forestry management were taken
through the appointment of a Forest Committee under the
Colonial
Office in Bathurst which was supposed to deal with forestry related
matters in the Protectorate of The Gambia.
However, due to the
outbreak of World War Two the committee remained more or less inactive
until 1950 with the appointment of a forestry adviser to the
protectorate administration. He was to head the first forestry section
within the Department of Development and Agriculture.
Between
1950 to 1954 he identified and demarcated 66
forest parks designated
for conservation and forest production such as timber for the
construction industry, bamboo and rhun palms. The colonial
administration recognised that the slash and burn activities of local
people was causing massive destruction however, they also realised
that it would be impractical to attempt total protection for all the
parks under its jurisdiction.
1959 saw the planting of Gmelina
arborea, a medium-sized deciduous tree, within the naturally
occurring forests by the forestry service. The aim was to meet The
Gambia's wood requirements for the present and future generations.
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Post Colonial:
After independence in 1965, the public sector intensified its
involvement in forestry in 1976. The forestry was reorganized
and upgraded to become one of eight departments within the
Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources. In 1981, the FD
was transferred to the Ministry of Water Resources, Fisheries
and Forestry, which was later renamed into Ministry of Natural
Resources.
The creation of an independent Department of Forestry in 1976
paved the way for the expansion of forestry activities in the
country. The FD initially concentrated its efforts on the
continued establishment and management of plantations.
The new department benefited from a few externally funded
projects (e.g. USAID,
FAO / BADEA, EEC) that resulted in the
expansion of forest activities in the country and the training
of forestry staff. In 1979 the Federal Republic of Germany
initiated the Gambian - German Forestry Project (GGFP) which
still provides technical assistance to the FD. This project
introduced natural forest management in forest parks and started
with Community Forestry in the two divisions of Western Division
and Lower River Division. In 1996 a second German funded project
was initiated, the Central River Division Forestry Project (CRDFP),
which implements participatory forest management in the Central
River Division. Between 1997 and 2001, the EC funded Upper River
Division Forestry Project (URDFP) implemented participatory
forest management in the Upper River Division.
Forest Management References:
In the late 80s, when more knowledge and experience was made in
natural forest management, it became clear that the
government
would not be in the position to protect and manage the country's
forest resources without the assistance and support of forest
adjacent communities. This was the time when a community
forestry pilot scheme was launched.
Based on the experiences gained in the testing of state and
community forest management models, the GFMC was developed, a
national forestry action plan was drafted, forestry policy and
legislation were reviewed, and the organisational set-up of the
FD was restructured.
Forest Act & Forest Regulations:
The
Department of
Forestry's operational mandate is embodied in
the Forest Regulation, which was enacted in 1978.
The Forest Act (1998) and Regulations involve the
communities in forest management and protection by legally
requiring them to participate in fire prevention and
participative forest management activities.
Gambian Forest Management Concept (GFMC)
The GFMC is an approach to conserve and improve the forest
resources of The Gambia in order to supply as much as possible
of the country's demand for forest products through the
sustainable management of its forest resources.
The GFMC has been developed by the Gambian-German Forest
Project in joint cooperation with the Forestry Department since
1980.
Forest management in The Gambia is characterized by extensive
state involvement which started with the state owned forest park
concepts in the 50s. Government ownership of all naturally grown
trees became statutory law with the enactment of the forest
legislation in 1977 and the FD was entrusted with the overall
management responsibility.
Although the FD was entrusted the mandate of forest protection
it was unable to accomplish the task due to the tense
relationship with the population and also because of lack of
human and material resources. In the late 80s when more
knowledge and experience was made in natural forest management,
it became clear that the government will never be in the
position to protect and manage the country’s forest resources
with-out the assistance and support of forest adjacent
communities. This was the time when the community forest
management concept was developed. Community forestry was finally
introduced in 1991.
Both the state and the community forest management model were
merged into one concept, called the Gambian Forest Management
Concept (GFMC). This concept is actually being implemented in
four of the five divisions with assistance provided by the
Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) which assists the forestry
sector since 1979 and the European Union (EU).
The government fully supports the involvement of local
communities and the private sector in the management of the
country’s forest resources which is expressed by passing a new
forest policy and legislation in 1996 and 1998, respectively.
Since budgetary allocations were and are insufficient to
implement forestry activities, the FD through the new forest
policy succeeded in establishing a National Forest Fund (NFF) in
1996.
Over the past several decades, forest management
in The Gambia was illustrated by wide range state involvement
which started with the state owned forest park concepts in the
50s. Government ownership of all naturally grown trees became
statutory law with the enactment of the forest legislation in
1977 and the Forestry Department (FD) was entrusted with the
overall management responsibility. However, the FD was unable to
accomplish the task due to the tense relationship with the
population and also because of lack of human and material
resources. In the late 80s when more knowledge and experience
was made in natural forest management, it became clear that the
government will never be in the position to protect and manage
the country’s forest resources without the assistance and
support of forest adjacent communities. This was the time when a
community forestry pilot scheme was launched.
Based on the experience gained in the testing of state and
community forest management models, the Gambian Forest
Management Concept (GFMC) was developed, a national forestry
action plan was drafted, forest policy and legislation were
reviewed, and the organizational set-up of the FD was
restructured. At present the GFMC is implemented in four of the
five divisions with technical and financial assistance provided
by the Federal Republic of Germany and the
European Union up to
the year 2000.
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