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Commonwealth
Forests | | |
 ADMINISTRATION
A few Commonwealth countries include “forestry” in the title of the responsible Ministry; they
include Cameroon (Ministry of the Environment and Forest Resources), and Ghana (Ministry of
Lands, Forestry and Mines), With the reduced importance of production functions and the
increased importance of the service and environmental functions, several other countries have
established or have recently moved their forest services from “production” to “service”
Ministries: Kenya (Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources), Malawi (Ministry of Mines,
Natural Resources & Environment), Namibia (Ministry of Environment & Tourism), Nigeria
(Ministry of the Environment), Seychelles (Ministry of Environment & Transport), Uganda
(Ministry of Water & Environment). Sierra Leone has both production and service functions
in
the title of the Ministry – Agriculture, Forestry and Environment. In the UK the Ministry of
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is responsible for forestry in England as well as for
international affairs and plant health, for example, while a Scottish Minister has responsibility
for forestry in Scotland and the Welsh Assembly Government has responsibility for forestry in
Wales. Malaysia, on the other hand, has divided responsibility for forestry at federal level
between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Plantation
Industries and Commodities – which presents a challenge in coordination. In some other
countries forestry has a subordinate role: South Africa, for example, emphasises water
supplies, and the forest section is part of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry while in
Swaziland it is a section of the Department of Agriculture & Cooperatives. In many of the
Commonwealth SIDS of the Caribbean forestry is a small section of another Ministry
Whatever the formal title of the Ministry, the development of land-use policies and legislation
that do not cause conflict between sectors, and the promotion of cooperation continue to be
major challenges.
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