EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Forestry plantations, western Swaziland

Explanation:   In June of 2000, I found myself flying over the tiny Kingdom of Swaziland in southern Africa.  Below were landscapes of rugged mountains and forests.  Toward the center of the country, however, the forests gave way to extensive slopes of bare ground and plantations of exotic tree species.  

This looks like a terribly eroded and denuded landscape, and so some of it is.  But the forestry plantations of Swaziland also provide a remarkably unique opportunity to study long-term effects of exotic forestry on forest productivity.  Some 180 long-term productivity plots have been situated across 70,000 ha of pine pulpwood plantations, and research has continued for over 34 years or over four forest rotations.  Research results suggest that productivity has actually increased with each rotation because of increasing silvicultural practices and genetic improvement of the planted stock.  

Along with subsistence agriculture and other resources such as sugar, coal, and quarry stone, Swaziland depends in part on exporting wood pulp for its economy, particularly to bordering South Africa.  The forestry plantations in Swaziland are run by private companies.  

Swaziland is a tiny, landlocked country sandwiched between South Africa and Mozambique.  Although it is party to numerous international agreements on conservation of biodiversity, and staving off climate change and desertification, and protection of endangered species, and its forestry plantations are productive, its biodiversity and wildlife are largely depleted due to hunting and habitat loss.   

Swaziland is  facing an uncertain future with much of its lands overgrazed and its soils depleted and eroded.  Drought, flooding, and food shortages are increasing threats.  There is 40 percent unemployment, and 69 percent of the population is below the poverty line.  But perhaps worst of all is the heart-wrenching fact that nearly 40 percent of its adult population is infected with HIV/AIDs.