The Contribution of the Forestry Sector to African Economies1

SUMMARY This paper presents information about three main indicators of the economic importance of the forestry sector in Africa (employment, value-added in production and the value of exports) for the period 1990 to 2000. This information is presented as absolute amounts and as proportions of total employment, gross domestic product (GDP) and merchandise exports. It also presents partial information about the contribution of forest charges to government revenue and the value of informal production in the sector. For the year 2000, the sector employed 0.16 percent of the total African workforce and accounted for 1.5 percent of GDP and 2.2 percent of merchandise exports. Over the decade, the absolute amount of all three variables increased, but the contribution to employment decreased, contribution to GDP increased and the contribution to trade remained roughly the same. There is considerable variation in these indicators between African countries, which is largely due to their different levels of populatio...