The New Idea

Allan has devised a business model that gives residents an alternative to cutting down large numbers of trees for fuel or to clear land for agriculture. Unlike other forest conservation projects, which operate solely from a development framework and depend on financial aid, his approach is funded through private investment. Allan collaborates with residents to take an inventory of resources and create a management plan that balances timber harvesting with re-planting. He employs workers and trains them in sustainable, value-added methods of production that generate income while contributing to the management of the forest.

The project operates as a business, taking into account all of the costs and responsibilities of working in and preserving the forest. It assumes that the capital value of the forest will eventually appreciate because of the resource management approach, in contrast to the value depreciation of normal forestry approaches. All policy and operating decisions are evaluated in terms of both their business and environmental consequences. Project participants receive a minimum wage and a share of the turnover or production bonus.

The Problem

Poverty is the underlying cause of the extensive forest loss in the Miombo region, which extends across northern South Africa, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, northern Botswana, Angola, Zambia, southern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Caprivi, southern Tanzania, and Mozambique. The Miombo's residents, most of whom are poor and uneducated, eke out a living with whatever they find in the forest. As they struggle to meet their basic needs, they cut down the forest, destroying it for themselves and for the wildlife that depends on it. Slash-and-burn agriculture accounts for more than 44 percent of forest destruction, while firewood and charcoal production accounts for a further 33 percent. The average person's need for about two cubic meters of timber for fuel per year means a net loss of over one hundred million trees per year for firewood alone, yet in 1999, only fifteen thousand indigenous trees were planted. At the current rate of deforestation, the World Resources Institute predicts that the Miombo's forests will disappear in less than twenty years.

Deforestation is also a cause of damaging floods. In Mozambique, the Miombo would normally absorb 80 percent of rainfall, releasing it slowly through the soil into local rivers during the drier periods. The rest is runoff. However, with the current state of forests in the southern sector, less than 20 percent of the rain is absorbed by the forest, resulting in 80 percent runoff. Allan warned some years ago that continued deforestation would cause large floods in ten years. The recent floods that devastated this area actually took only six years to happen.

The Strategy

Allan works with forest communities to create products that can be made locally from a sustainable harvest of the trees and other plants. He begins by identifying forests that are still intact and worth preserving, then forms a joint venture in the name of a local partner to secure tenure of the land. He and his staff establish a camp in the forest that provides an operating base and also demonstrates the principles of sustainable living. They plant indigenous trees, using saplings from external sources until an on-site nursery is developed. During the next three to four years, the team and the community conduct an inventory of forest resources and draw up a preliminary management plan. The inventory, which includes all flora and fauna, landscape features, water and soil conditions, and cultural and sacred sites, is regularly updated.

Activity begins with the harvesting of a small number of trees, which are cut into planks in an on-site, mobile sawmill. A small amount is reserved for sale at cost to local craftspeople while the rest is transported to the project's workshop, where woodworkers and apprentices trained by Allan make heirloom-quality furniture. Allan plans eventually to have one workshop for each of the forest camps.

Non-timber forest products are also harvested, all within the sustainable yields calculated in the management plan. These activities include bee-keeping for honey and wax products and harvesting seeds for genetic and commercial use. Sustainable agricultural activities provide food for participants as well as vegetables and fruit trees for sale. Replanting occurs as soon as harvesting begins, and the project also does environmental mitigation such as reforestation and soil protection. The project markets products from both timber and non-timber sources. Allan wants to develop a more sophisticated marketing strategy with overseas distributors, and is eager to respond to the many requests from other parts of the bioregion to start similar projects.

The Person

Allan Schwarz grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, the son of a well-known political activist. Allan thus developed a strong sense of social justice and was himself politically active at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he studied architecture. Before going to university, he learned woodworking and became a skilled carpenter. Allan went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a teaching fellow to learn environmental design, after which he founded his own international architecture company. He traveled internationally, designing eco-friendly buildings and tourist facilities. Through this work, he became increasingly aware of and interested in pressing environmental issues. Allan finally decided that talking about saving the planet was just not enough. He felt he had to get out and actually do it.