This chapter of the book uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE)
approach to capture the different interactions and their influence on the consequent impact of policy reforms on the economy and deforestation in Namibia.
The 1990s in Zimbabwe can be described as the era of economic reforms. Since 1991 the Government has pursued a market-oriented strategy aimed at economic growth and poverty reduction. The first phase of this strategy (1991-1996) was implemented under the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP). The second phase (1996-2000) is currently being implemented following the policy framework enunciated in the Zimbabwe Programme for Economic and Social Transformation (ZIMPREST). The benefits of structural reforms, in particular, have been many, but combined with initially adverse external shocks (bad weather and sluggish world growth) and poor policy sequencing, these policy shifts had significant effects on output growth, poverty and income distribution, with environmental and political repercussions that are still working themselves out.
Adjustment is usually seen as merely a macroeconomic problem because of its strong link tostabilisation, which deals with the full restoration of internal as well as external equilibriumof the economy. But the aim of economic reforms is larger: it is meant to place the economyon a new efficient path. Unprecedented concern over the effects of the economic crisis hassomewhat obscured its truly disturbing consequences: the increased exploitation of fragilenatural resources hence leading to environmental degradation in Zimbabwe. It is estimatedthat the country is losing 0.6 per cent of its forest area of about 23 million hectares annually.Land clearance for agricultural purposes accounts for more deforestation than all other agentsput together. According to Campbell and Whitlow (1989) some 52 000 ha of woodland wereconverted to cropped land annually between 1963 and 1977. During this time both large scalecommercial farmers and small scale farmers were responsible for clearing. However, sinceindependence in 1980, small scale/rural farmers have mainly been responsible for landclearing for agriculture. The estimated amount of deforestation has since then been estimatedto be 70 000 ha of land per year. Evidence of this is found in the sharp increases in areasunder various crops over the years. For instance, the area for maize has increased from 649000 ha in 1970-72 to 966 000 ha in 1987-89. Currently some communal areas no longer haveany natural forests and have become a market for wood sales from resettlement and commercial farming areas. It is estimated that about 1.5 million hectares out of the total of1.8 million hectares of eroded land is in the communal areas and about half is crop-land andhalf non-cropland.
Economic reforms affect deforestation in several ways. First, reforms make shifts towardstradeables and exports particularly attractive. In agriculture, a shift towards export crops andprocessed forest products can lead to a degradation of such natural resources as forests.Industrialisation and production of manufactured goods for export can have a similar effectnot only on agricultural resources but also on urban environment, thus polluting air andwater. Secondly, if export crops cause more soil erosion and land degradation than foodcrops, the effect of reforms on deforestation can be adverse. Thirdly, indirectly bycontributing to greater poverty at least in the short run (through an increase in food prices forexample) economic reforms can accelerate environmental degradation. Reforms canexacerbate social polarisation as the costs and benefits of reforms accumulate differentially tosocial groups. This takes place through relative price and income distributional shifts.Environmental pressures intensify due to a combination of factors resulting from the skewedincome redistribution. By favouring the rich, this may enhance their capacity to degrade,leading to unregulated resource exploitation by elites. The poor, on the other hand, intensifypressure on the environment as a survival tactic. Fourthly, to reduce political pressure, thegovernment has decided to subsidise the poor with natural assets in the form of a sweepingland reform, which if done without complementary measures (such as access to agroeconomytechnology and credit systems) can have further aggravated environmental stress,especially in the so-called resettled areas.To capture these different interactions and their influence on the consequent impact of policyreforms on the economy and deforestation, a computable general equilibrium (CGE)approach was used. Although not directly aimed at the forestry sector, economy-wide policieshave an impact upon deforestation and forest degradation. In fact, a study by the World Bankconcludes that policy spillovers are among the major causes of global deforestation.Following this argument, the main response to deforestation lies with measures that operateoutside the forest. CGE models are an appropriate tool to comprehensively analyse such policy spillovers (Devarajan 1990). They simulate for the entire economy the interactionsbetween production and consumption simultaneously.
