What follows is a brief outline of some important guidelines for harvesting in a relatively sustainable way. For more details on this, the booklet: “Forestry and Environmental Authorisation Process for Bush Harvesting Projects”, is again
very useful.
- All bush thinning activities should leave trees and shrubs of all sizes and all species (including some of the encroaching
ones).
- Leave some dead trees.
- Leave some patches of thickets (patch mosaic approach).
- Leave some of the wood (fines and larger branches) and, if possible,
lay out as bush filters. - Try to harvest along contours (see CONTOUR HARVESTING on the next page).
- Do not harvest within 100m of a river course.
- Avoid harvesting of protected species.
- Do not chop or remove any individual with a stem diameter of >18 cm.
- Minimise soil disturbance as much as possible.
- In the case of charcoal production, follow the guidelines for reducing the risk of unwanted uncontrolled fires. (See
Fire Prevention for charcoal burners report, downloadable from NAU website: http://www.agrinamibia.com.na).