Trees for Construction Materials Sammy Carsan, Daniel Nyamai, Esther Karanja and Jamnadass Ramni Local trees are primary sources of construction materials in the drylands of Eastern Africa. While the actual demand for construction wood is difficult to quantify as most of them are sourced informally it appears that the vast majority of the demand is for the construction of traditional huts (Figure 1), livestock kraals and fences around crop-fields. The rest may be used for building lodges, hotels and housing in urban centers and also for export. For instance, a dryland species like Delbagia melanoxylon that provide high quality wood for carvings and furniture is over exploited around east Africa. There is a growing market for sawnwood timber and wood carving. These materials are mainly sourced from forests located in more humid zones. For construction wood, demand for species such as neem (Azadirachta indica), date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is very high as they are known to resist insect attack and decay (Baumer, 1990). Figure 1. Right: processing of Melia wood; left: view from the door of a pastoral hut towards the fence of a livestock kraal consisting of branches of locally sourced tree species. The supply of construction wood is under pressure and climate variability and change may further impact on the distribution of trees in the drylands (UNDP, 2009). Opportunities to supply construction wood from dryland forestry and agroforestry are significant given the availability of inexpensive land and of suitable tree species. In some areas where wood is in short supply users especially in urban centres turn to Eucalyptus spp. as a substitute as it is widely available. Melia volkensii, (Figure 1) is a promising tree for cultivation in the arid and semi-arid zones of east Africa as it coppices well and is used for construction and furniture making (Kimondo et al. 2008). Screening of indigenous timber species and developing technologies for domestication is therefore an important research and development activity that can support production of some important timber species already over-exploited around east Africa’s drylands. Other than considerations for wood, choice of species can be guided by their adaptability to local soil conditions, drought resistance, tolerance to salinity, ease of planting, rapid growth, production of forage among others. Already, research has generated some knowledge on utilization of some of the species and their wood characteristics as shown in Table 1.