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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History
Page 2 | See
also 
Forestry
Sector 
