Drylands cover approximately 12.5 million km2 (61%) of the African continent and 60% of Africa’s people live in them. Forests and woodlands underpin sustainable land management and livelihoods in dryland regions. They are important for risk management and adaptation, and in emergency and contingency planning. Traditional governance systems demonstrate why dryland forest management is so important and why good governance with legally entrenched rights is necessary for sustainable resource management. Most of Africa’s drylands suffer from low investment and low added value on forest products. The economic value of forests is not fully reflected in economic, forestry, and conservation decision making. Although climate change may be the greatest threat to Africa’s dryland forests, land use changes and the removal of rights of forest-dependent communities may prove more insidious. Governments need to implement policy incentives for devolving forest management to communities and local stakeholders, supporting different institutions and facilitating the most representative mixes.

This briefing makes the following policy recommendations:

local governance arrangements need to be understood and respected as central to dryland forest management. Appropriate local institutions to support ownership must be in place and should not further marginalise users

there must be investment (public or private) in the real value of dryland forests, their management, and the market chains for the goods and services important at the local level, and for marketable products

policy needs to foster sustainable natural resource management, which goes beyond forests. It requires secure rights and responsibilities for forest-dependent communities as well as management and market incentives. Many countries already have good policies in place but they need to be properly implemented