The countries of Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi are all undergoing rapid change (now conventionally called "transition) to market economies, in large part at the instigation of the IMF. Although the aim is the same in all countries, the starting points are very different. In the years after independence, Malawi was a dictatorship with centralised economic planning, Zambia was a one part state basing its economy on "African Socialism", and majority rule came to Zimbabwe only recently after a prolonged period of trade isolation and internally generated economic growth. Zimbabwe also has a problem of inequality in land distribution.

All three countries have forest plantations (of pine and eucalyptus) where rainfall and farming patterns permit, together with extensive areas of natural miombo woodland. Rapidly expanding human populations, transmigration, agricultural activities, and the rising aspirations of the population are putting considerable strain on these forest resources. Until recently the forest policy, laws, and administrative arrangements throughout the region had not been changed much from those enacted by the colonial administrations in the 1940s. Now all these countries are in the process of revising forest legislation, trying to find ways through the apparently irreconcilable demands of privatisation, economic development, nature conservation, site protection, the changing needs of local people, trade, tourism, etc.

The study aims to gain an understanding of what forces (domestic and international) have instigated the changes in the policy approach to woodlands in southern Africa, and how this is likely to impact on forest resources and interested parties. It will also consider the institutional changes needed to allow the new policy to be implemented.

The study will reveal the dynamics of the policy process and explain the policy outcome in terms of the relationships between the different groups involved in its formulation. It will examine whether the objectives identified by the Forestry Departments are appropriate and correctly prioritised, and where the outcome differs from the desired result reasons for this will be given.

• A study of multi-sectoral effects on forest policy and the people who use forest resources.
• A determination of the forces that have brought about the change in government policy regarding woodlands and people who use them.
• An identification of institutional and policy bottlenecks preventing the creation or implementation of appropriate policy objectives (examples of this are the existing land tenure regimes).