Forestry South Africa (FSA) is South Africa’s largest forestry organisation representing growers of timber in South Africa.
Membership includes 13 corporate forestry companies, approximately 1,100 commercial timber farmers and some 20,000 small-scale growers who between them own or control no less than 93% of the total plantation area in the country.
South Africa’s timber plantations cover 1.2 million hectares, located in five of the nine provinces: Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape. There are two dominant commercial tree types (genera) – pine (49%) and Eucalyptus (43%) with a small amount of wattle (7%). It is from these three genera – which include many species and many more hybrids and clones – that literally hundreds of products are produced. The forestry value chain – from seed to saw and beyond – provides employment for more than 150 000 people and contributes R64 billion to our country’s economy each year.
The commercial Forestry Industry is the foundation of a R64 billion value chain. Its various challenges are not limited to the Forestry Industry but shared with other primary producers. To this end, FSA forges strong cross-sector collaborations with stakeholders along the forest and forest products value chain as well as associated primary producers. This ensures a coordinated and complementary approach towards environmental, social and economic sustainability. It also secures a sustained supply of raw material – wood and fibre – to support the downstream processing.
A multi-tiered organisation, FSA is steered by a dedicated team of people based at our Johannesburg and Pietermaritzburg offices. The Association is also supported by a network of specialist consultants and sector experts. There are five operational units within the FSA structure: Business Development, Operations, Protection, Research and Environment. Each of these units are overseen by a member of the FSA internal team and have clearly defined areas of focus which are further divided into working groups or committees.
Contact information
Johannesburg Offices
Head Office
Suite 205, 2nd Floor
South Block, Thrupps Centre
204 Oxford Road
Illovo, Johannesburg
GPS coordinates
26* 7’ 44.82” S
28* 2’ 58.03” E
Telephone: 0027 11 268 1104
Staff members:
Michael Peter – Executive Director – mike@forestrysouthafrica.co.za
Ronald Heath – Research and Protection Director – ronald@forestrysouthafrica.co.za
Suzanne Blows – Financial Manager – suzanne@forestrysouthafrica.co.za
Precious Singo – Office Assistant – precious@forestrysouthafrica.co.za
Pietermaritzburg Offices
Regional Office
ICFR Building
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Pietermaritzburg
GPS coordinates
29* 37’ 35.20” S
30* 24’ 18.60” E
Telephone: 0027 33 346 0344
Staff members:
Norman Dlamini – Business Development Director – norman@forestrysouthafrica.co.za
Nathi Ndlela – Development Manager – nathi@forestrysouthafrica.co.za
Francois Oberholzer – Operations Manager – francois@forestrysouthafrica.co.za
Judy Dowsett – Office Manager – judy@forestrysouthafrica.co.za
Website: www.forestrysouthafrica.co.za
Website email: website@forestrysouthafrica.co.za
Social media Instagram: @forestry_explained