Socio-economic cultural policy issues impacts on community development

South Africa is not well-endowed with indigenous forests and those that remain are known to be degraded and declining at an alarming rate. This constitutes a direct threat to the quality of life of the resource-poor rural households which are directly dependent on the resources indigenous forests offer. It recognizes that the declining tree resources, particularly the indigenous tree species of high value, are increasingly threatened by a number of growing subsistence demands. This emphasizes the need to establish, cultivate and conserve high-value tree species. Community forestry mainly focuses on tree resources that form an integral part of or contribute to rural people's livelihoods. This includes small-scale growers (woodlots), woodlands and indigenous forests. Community forestry can be defined as tree growing and managed by the people for the people. This encompasses activities such as agroforestry, woodlots and tree planting in urban and peri-urban areas and city park. Objective of out-grower schemes is to encourage rural communities to plant trees on their own lands for the economic, social and environmental benefits trees offer. Timber Is be sold to forestry companie