The National Government, as the public trustee of the nation’s forestry resources, acting through the Minister, must ensure that these resources, together with the land and related ecosystems which they inhabit, are protected, conserved, developed, regulated, managed, controlled and utilised in a sustainable and equitable manner, for the benefit of all persons and in accordance with the constitutional and developmental mandate of government.

[Section 2A inserted by section 2 of the National Forests Amendment Act, 2022 (Act No. 1 of 2022), Notice No. 1131, GG46650, dated 1 July 2022 - effective 4 December 2024 per Commencement Proclamation 233 of 2024]