The annual rate of deforestation in the SADC region is between 0.75-2.2 percent, with Angola and Malawi having the lowest and highest rates respectively.

Between 1972 and 1990, Malawi’s total forest cover declined by 41 percent, representing an average loss of 2.3 percent annually. The rate of deforestation in Zambia ranges between 250,000 and 300,000 hectares per year, according to the Provincial Forestry Action Plan 1998, while other sources use a higher figure.

Clearance of woodlands for agriculture as well as the increasing demand for building materials and fuelwood for cooking and heating is contributing to deforestation. Some communal areas are completely denuded of woodland cover, exposing soils to both water and wind erosion. Excessive exploitation of forests also reduces the region’s capacity to curb climate change since forests absorb carbon dioxide, acting as "sinks".

Deforestation causes soil erosion, sedimentation and siltation as well as siltation-induced flooding within the Basin, at points far away from deforested areas and ultimately land degradation. Other major threats to forestry conservation in the Basin include overexploitation, dams and modification of hydrology, introduction of exotic species, fire and pollution.

Overexploitation occurs when humans use a particular species or group of species beyond the point where that species can replace itself. It is usually localised when viewed on a basin level, but has been severe and more widespread in some cases. Examples include extraction of valued timber such as Mukwa, African ebony and Zambezi teak. If however small populations of the exploited species remain, the effects of overexploitation are reversible given time and protection.

Where human settlements expand and require more land for urban development or arable agriculture, land clearance becomes a major concern. Some agricultural activities result in readily erodible soils and the process is usually irreversible over human time scales of 20-50 years. Even when the field reverts to bush fallow the vegetation does not regress to the former structure and species composition. In many parts of the Basin the vegetation is in stable state, but probably not what it originally was – as can be seen in some of the woodlands of the Zambezi Valley, in the sugar plantations of the Zambezi delta, and some of the grasslands of Barotseland in Zambia.

Exotic Species introduction is a major concern as some exotic species could drive native species into extinction or modify the ecology of an area. Examples include the invasion of pines and wattle trees into the mountain grasslands of Nyanga in Zimbabwe and Mt Mulanje in Malawi.

Fire has modified vegetation structure and species composition in parts of the Basin. Large areas of Barotseland are burnt regularly, as are the grasslands of the Zambezi delta. This has resulted in an increase in soil erosion while some plant and animal species that cannot escape the veldt fires are reduced in both distribution and abundance.