| European
Tropical Forest Research Network |
BOTANY ONLINE
THE "AUBLET2 " FRENCH GUYANA DATA BASE ONLINE
The Guyana Herbarium is placing its AUBLET2 database collections on line. AUBLET2 contains standardised information on herbarium specimens collected on the plateaux of the Guianas, especially French Guyana, and stored in the Guyana Herbarium (CAY).
For more information:
http://www.cayenne.ird.fr/aublet2/
CULTURED TREES: TRANSFORMATIONS IN AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS
Diane Russell from ICRAF and Stefanie Klappa are organising a panel on agroforestry systems at the Ninth International Congress of the International Society for Ethnobotany to be held in Kent, United Kingdom next year. They welcome ideas for contributions.
Agroforestry is the cultivation and nurturing of trees on farms and in landscapes. On the one hand, it is central to some ancient forms of land use. On the other, it is a key element of scientific approaches to integrated natural resource management. The former, often termed indigenous agroforestry, and the latter, labeled as scientific agroforestry, both feature trees as essential components. Both combine typically a high degree of vegetal cover with high utility for humans, which makes them prime candidates for Conservation and Development approaches. Both tend to differ, though, in terms of their underlying principles; indigenous agroforestry itself forms a highly heterogeneous category. Both indigenous and scientific agroforestry are experiencing transformations, sometimes indeed through transfer of knowledge and technology between each other. Apprehending the characteristics of the various forms of agroforestry, the dynamics of their transformations, and the socio-economic and environmental effects of change is crucial for assessing their potential to contribute to sustainable development and biodiversity conservation in the present and future. Anthropologists, human ecologists, human geographers, and ethnobotanists have been instrumental in identifying indigenous agroforestry systems, the principles that govern them and the way they are changing in the modern world. Anthropological studies have also looked at the consequences of introduction of certain agroforestry practices within government and NGO projects. Conversely, they have provided information about locally established agroforestry practices for the enhancement of such projects. The tentative papers in this session provide a wealth of ethnographic insight into transformations of agroforestry systems. The geographic range of cases spans Amazonia, middle and north America, central and east Africa, and New Guinea. The thematic range reaches from adaptations of ancient agroforestry systems to meet the market economy to the evolution of systems within the context of ?modern? concepts of agroforestry. Examples of enduring systems are presented, which lead to an understanding of management principles that can inform scientists and policymakers working in agroforestry. Emerging issues such as carbon trading, niche markets, the role of non-timber forest products, agroforestry around protected areas, and the very definition of agroforestry systems are addressed. The session highlights the importance of a holistic approach incorporating cultural and historic aspects in understanding and ?improving? agroforestry systems. Contributions to this session are so far provisional and we encourage those with suggestions pertinent to our theme to get in contact.
For more information please
see the conference website:
http://www.kent.ac.uk/anthropology/ice2004/
Stefanie Klappa
cand. PhD Environmental Anthropology
Department of Anthropology, Eliot Extension
University of Kent at Canterbury
CT2 7NS, G.B.
Email: ask2@ukc.ac.uk
Phone: +44 - (0)1227 - 827935
Fax: +44 - (0)1227 - 827289
QUERY ON VANILLA GROWING AND BIODIVERSITY
Charlotte Stanton writes: I am with Conservation International's Conservation Enterprise Department and am looking into the benefits to biodiversity of vanilla growing for a small-enterprise project. Do you know of any relevant studies on vanilla and biodiversity? If not, can you suggest a person or organization that may know of such studies?
Charlotte Stanton
Conservation Enterprise Department
Conservation International
1919 M Street NW, Suite 600
Washington DC 20036
tel. (direct) 202 912 1430
e.mail. c.stanton@conservation.org
fax. 202 912 0765