By Sharon Atieno
Africa, through the 2020-2030 Sustainable Forest Management Framework, seeks to enhance the sustainable stewardship of the continent’s 624 million hectares of forests. Its primary goal is to reverse forest loss through protection, restoration, afforestation and sustainable management practices while enhancing its benefits for local communities.
In line with this initiative, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and its partner countries and institutions have embarked on an ambitious collaborative venture, dubbed the Zamba Heritage Initiative.
Its sole purpose is to support Africa’s Member States in their quest for sustainable forest management by facilitating additional funding flows to the forest sector.
According to Dr. Peter Alele, Executive Director, FSC Africa, the initiative is a 10-year plan led by Africans to bring 30 million hectares of forest under sustainable management and restore five million hectares of degraded land.
He was speaking during the inaugural Zamba Heritage Initiative Congress held in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, from 10th to 12th February, 2026.
“Our mission is clear: to protect and benefit from our forests, to restore landscapes, and to position Africa’s forests at the heart of global climate change and to unlock investments,” Dr. Alele said.
The initiative focuses on two critical biomes, namely the tropical rainforests of the Congo Basin and West Africa, and the dry forests of Eastern and Southern Africa.
The Congo Basin traverses nine countries, with a forest cover spanning 248 million hectares. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) alone holds over 145 million hectares (60%) of Central Africa’s lowland forests.
The forests of Eastern Africa cover an estimated 225 million hectares, while the Southern Africa forests and woodlands cover about 394 million hectares.
At the event, Dr. Subhra Bhattacharjee, Director General, FSC International, said the initiative is FSC’s call and commitment to action.
“Action to stand in solidarity with countries, with people who care for forests and to place responsible forest management at the center of development initiatives and climate action across the global south,” she said.
Dr. Bhattacharjee stressed that for Africa’s forests to thrive- be healthy and resilient- the economic models supporting responsible forest management must be effective. This includes aligning forest management directly to the development aspirations of African people and the need for economic viability.
“While we say Africa’s forests are a global public good essential for global climate action to protect the world in the face of a climate crisis. We also need to recognize that at stake is the development aspirations of the 1.6 billion people in Africa,” she said.
“If Africa is to protect its forest, we have to mobilize across the world, across governments and the private sector to make responsible forest management work for communities, for business, for workers and for the indigenous people.”
Through a process of co-creation with partner countries and agreeing on the implementation of forest solutions, Zamba will help scale out sustainable land management with a focus on the restoration of degraded forest landscapes.
In the Eastern and Southern Africa region, for instance, the initiative targets at least three million hectares of degraded landscapes restored and approximately 10 million hectares of forests certified.
Green enterprises will be developed to halt unsustainable forest management practices and enhance household incomes and livelihoods. This will target at least one million households directly and indirectly in 12 countries in the region.
The initiative will also work with different stakeholders to promote and support the transformation of forest products businesses, sustainable management of forested areas and forest product value-chain targets.
This will be achieved through the implementation of innovative business models, mainstreaming sustainable practices in forest-based businesses, certification of non-timber forest products, market uptake of ecosystem services and integrating indigenous knowledge and securing rights, among others.
