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MEASURING THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC VALUE OF NTFPs ON A REGIONAL OR NATIONAL LEVEL: CASE STUDY FOR NORTH-WEST AND SOUTH-WEST CAMEROON
By Mark van Dorp, Rudo Niemeijer and Don Offermans
Introduction
This article stresses
the need for socio-economic valuation of the NTFP sector on a regional or national
level. It presents a recently developed method for NTFP valuation, which has
been extensively field tested in Cameroon. It appeared that for North-West and
South-West provinces of Cameroon, the economic value of NTFPs amounted to US$
19 million in 1998, or around 3% of regional income. Major NTFPs included palm
wine, bushmeat and bush mango (Irvingia gabonensis). It is recommended
to further develop and apply this method for improved decision making in sustainable
forest management and conservation.
The value of NTFP valuation
Imagine a traditional
healer in Cameroon using the fruits of the Ricinodendron heudelotii to
treat a woman with pregnancy problems. If she is cured, the value added of this
transaction can be expressed in two ways: through the market or non-market value
of the goods and services provided at low cost by the ecosystem, and through
the opportunity cost of modern medicines, which would have been necessary had
the forest been destroyed for alternative economic purposes.
This simple example shows the importance of NTFPs to the economy, especially in poor countries. However NTFPs are usually excluded from national statistical databases (contrary to industrial timber) and, consequently, do not feature in the Gross National Product of a country. By assigning a monetary value to the NTFP sector as a major source of food, medicines and income for the poor, the value of maintaining the forest becomes apparent. This presents local communities and policymakers with a strong argument for forest conservation or wise use. Even in the case of overexploited NTFPs, like bushmeat in Central Africa or Brazil nuts in the Amazon, it is important to know the economic value of the resource as a sustainability indicator.
Description of the
NTFP valuation method
Valuation of the
NTFP sector is performed in three steps (Van Dorp et al. 1999):
Spatial analysis methods are used to reduce survey costs and enhance precision, while the scope of the survey and level of detail are adapted to local conditions and the available budget. Ideally, a complete national survey consists of four sampling periods per year to account for seasonal variation. In practice, this can be tackled by using recall methods and field checks. Additional data are gathered on home consumption, gender and socio-cultural aspects of the NTFP sector.
Case study for North-West
and South-West Cameroon
The NTFP valuation
method was field tested in the North-West and South-West provinces of Cameroon
during a six-month period (CERUT and AIDEnvironment 1999). The study zone covers
about 42,000 km2 with a population of around 2 million people.
After a period of intensive training and rapid assessment, two local teams of five people each collected field data during hundreds of interviews with local producers and traders in 86 locations. These locations ranged from villages deep in the forest to large urban markets along the market chain. Data on NTFP collection, processing and trade were recorded and later entered into an NTFP database. On the basis of this database, the results of the survey were analysed and reported.
In the study zone NTFPs make up an essential part of local income and household consumption, especially for women. In 1998 the NTFP sector accounted for US$ 19 million or around 2.8% of regional income for the two provinces covered (excluding the value of agro-industrial plantations and cultivated NTFPs). A total of 140 products harvested in the wild were identified and regrouped into 16 NTFP categories. The most important product categories in terms of value added (in % of total value) are palm wine (26 %), bushmeat (11%) and minor animal products (11%) followed by forest conservation projects (10 %) and diverse plant products, e.g. bush mango, kola nuts, spices, medicines and building materials (4-8 %) (Van Dorp et al. 2000). The gender analysis of the NTFP sector showed remarkable differences between different products: for instance production and processing of palm wine were dominated by men, while the marketing chain for bush mango was predominately in the hands of women (from production to retailing). In general men had a larger share of total income from NTFP production (around 63%), while women had a larger share of total income from NTFP trade (around 54%).
Discussion
NTFP valuation and
marketing have become important aspects of both forest management and local
development programmes. The method presented here offers a standardised method
for NTFP valuation for wide application, including improved monitoring of NTFP
extraction. Future application will enable the method to include both small-scale
surveys of single products and smaller study areas, and large-scale surveys
encompassing whole nations. Further field-testing, developing and applying the
valuation method as described above, will extend the knowledge base about NTFPs,
eventually leading to more balanced decision making. This can be achieved through
training programmes for local policy makers and NGOs. This will finally enable
people to account and compare the wealth of forests world-wide, and to take
accompanying policy measures.
Acknowledgements
The field test in
Cameroon was made possible with the financial support of ICCO (Netherlands)
as the main funding agency, as well as WWF Cameroon and CARPE/BSP (USA), and
own contributions by CERUT and AIDEnvironment.
Mark van Dorp, Rudo Niemeijer
and Don Offermans
AIDEnvironment
Donker Curtiusstraat 7-523
1051 JL Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel. +31 20 6868111, Fax +31 20 6866251
Email: info@aidenvironment.org
Http://www.aidenvironment.org
For the list of references and a list of NTFP product categories in terms of value added please contact the authors.
CREATING INCENTIVES FOR CONSERVATION: NTFPs AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION
By R.J. Fisher
Introduction
An incentives approach
has been advocated to create linkages between conservation and the economic
interests of local people. The theory behind this approach is that generation
of income from local forests can provide a positive incentive for sustainable
use and can thus contribute to conservation. This article will explore some
experiences with this incentives approach, applied to NTFPs, in Asia.
The Incentives Approach
in Asia
The incentives approach
is being applied and supported in various ways in Asia. For a number of years,
the Joint Forest Management programme in India has placed considerable attention
on income generation through NTFP production to encourage rural people to participate
in government forest conservation activities. IUCN, The World Conservation Union,
has NTFP projects in the Lao PDR and Vietnam, which specifically aim to promote
NTFP production and marketing as an incentive to forest conservation. An Asia-wide
NTFP Network coordinated by IUCN in Bangkok has encouraged and facilitated sharing
of experiences in the region. A book on methodologies for NTFP-based income
generation has been published by CIFOR (Wollenberg and Ingles 1998). The Regional
Community Forestry Training Center (RECOFTC) and the Community Forestry Unit
at FAO in Rome have, along with IUCN and other partners, developed a methodological
package called 'Market Analysis and Development (MA&D) for Community-based
tree and forest product enterprises'. The methodology has been tested in various
projects in Nepal, Vietnam and the Lao PDR and a field manual has just been
published (Lecup and Nicholson 2000).
Has the Incentives
Approach Been Effective?
As far as conservation
benefits are concerned, there is so far little clear evidence either way, although
lessons have been learned about conditions under which success can be possible.
One international study (mainly in Asia, but also including other regions) by
the Biodiversity Conservation Network (BCN) was specifically set up to test
the incentives approach, which was field-tested in seven countries, twenty different
projects, thirty-nine sites and forty-eight different community-based projects
over seven years. The BCN report concluded that "an enterprise strategy can
lead to conservation benefits, but only under limited conditions... and never
on its own" (Salafsky et al. 1999: 37). Among these limited conditions are that
the enterprise must be viable and that there must be a linkage between the enterprise
and biodiversity such that declines in biodiversity will affect the viability
of the enterprise.
While 'the jury is out', there is obviously some potential for achieving conservation benefits in some circumstances. However, the verdict on the effectiveness of incentives approaches to NTFP-based income generation seems less promising.
In a review of literature including project reports, I was able to find very little clear evidence of people receiving significant economic benefits from NTFP enterprises associated with outside interventions based on the incentives approach. There was literature predicting positive outcomes for planned or commencing projects, but I could find no example of a detailed cost-benefit analysis of a completed project which demonstrated that project participants had benefitted from interventions overall. Accounts of income from one source, almost invariably ignored loss of other benefits no longer available after interventions. In other words people gain income from collecting one product, but lose because other products are forbidden. Although there was no analysis of the overall economic impacts, there were documented cases of significant income resulting from improved production or marketing of individual products, as in a case of improved bamboo marketing in the Lao PDR, which led to a fourfold increase in family income from bamboo in one village (Foppes and Ketphanh 2000).
There are also examples of community-initiated NTFP production and marketing activities which are clearly dependent on conservation. One example is Pred Nai village in Thailand where villagers collect and sell crabs from a mangrove swamp. The villagers clearly recognise that they need to protect and regenerate mangroves in order to provide food for the crabs. Such cases of indigenous 'sustainable production' systems are quite common throughout Asia, if not always well recognised.
Externally sponsored projects may have been more successful in terms of income generation linked with conservation than has been documented. However, the documented success is certainly not very impressive.
Conclusion: The Potential
of the Incentives Approach applied to NTFPs
There is little doubt
that, on a world scale, a vast quantity of NTFPs are used by forest communities
and that significant cash income is generated. Nevertheless, forest communities
generally remain poor and it may be that both market realities and the 'political
ecology' of the context within which they live is not particularly likely to
be changed by interventions based on the incentives approach.
Income generation from higher value forest products (such as cardamom, yang oil or hemp) is not elastic. Wide promotion of a product is likely to reduce its market value. Consequently, focusing on a particular NTFP may benefit only small numbers of people.
However, the realities in terms of 'political ecology' are perhaps the greatest limitation. As Dove (1993) points out, forest communities tend not to have legal access to valuable forest products. Timber for example, is almost always under the control of forest departments and non-local interests. The collection and sale of NTFPs by Asian communities is often illegal, although collection of low value products is often tolerated. When a product becomes valuable, new restrictions are imposed or existing ones enforced.
The incentives approach attempts to break the poverty-forest degradation cycle by opening new forest-based opportunities for income generation, mainly through NTFPs. It seeks to do this through introduction of marketing and business planning. The problem may be that valuable NTFPs are rarely available to communities.
Note
This paper is based
on a longer paper ('Poverty Alleviation and Forests: Experiences from Asia')
prepared for the Workshop 'Forest ecospaces, biodiversity and environmental
security' at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Amman, Jordan, 4-11 October
2000.
R.J. Fisher
Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific
RECOFTC, Kasetsart University
PO Box 1111
Bangkok 10903, Thailand
Tel: + 662 9405700, Fax: + 662 5614889
Email: ftcrjf@ku.ac.th
Http://www.RECOFTC.org
For the list of references please contact the author
NWFPs IN EAST KALIMANTAN, INDONESIA: AN ANALYSIS OF SILVICULTURAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THEIR SIGNIFICANCE AND DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL FOR THE LOCAL PEOPLE IN A FORESTRY CONCESSION AREA
by Carol M. Grossmann
Background
Expectations that an intensified management of NWFPs will increase the income
of rural people living near forests, as well as encourage conservation of natural
forests, are increasingly being criticised for being based either on insufficiently
tested hypotheses or scientific studies with only unilateral sectoral analyses.
Objectives
Setting
The concession
area of the timber company Limbang Ganeca in central East Kalimantan (Borneo)
and two bordering villages were selected as the research area. The originally
predominant ecosystem is Lowland-Dipterocarp-Forest, including primary and logged-over
forest. The forest cover has been increasingly reduced by other forms of land
use.
Methodology and results
The interdisciplinary
concept covered silvicultural and socio-economic aspects.
The forestry component consisted of a sample inventory with 340 0.4 ha plots. The species, population densities and regeneration of perennial plants producing NWFPs were investigated. A primary and a logged-over forest stand were compared in order to detect the impact of commercial logging on the supply of NWFPs.
58 tree species, 34 rattan species, 8 other palm species and 4 liana species producing NWFPs were identified. On average, they were represented by 0.3 to 19.7 adult individuals per species and hectare. Selective logging had a significant impact on the population of about half of these plant species, some benefiting and some being negatively affected.
The socio-economic aspects of the use of NWFPs by local people were analysed using the following methods - monthly structured and semi-structured interviews, product counts, food diaries, and participatory observation. Thirty-one households provided quantitative data on the contribution of NWFPs to their income and subsistence from July 1995 to June 1996.
Five percent of the average monetary household income was derived from NWFPs. Of this 5%, about half was obtained through the sale of game at the village-level. Together with income made from edible birds' nests and dried reptile skins, over 80% of cash earned from NWFPs was wildlife-related. The remaining 20% of the NWFP-based income was derived from plants, mainly through village-level sales of rattan articles.
Individual households demonstrated broad variations of total cash income and of the respective contribution of NWFPs, ranging from zero to 100%. Differences in commercial use of NWFPs could be connected to the economic status of the household and to the ethnic affiliation and cultural homogeneity of the household members.
The importance of NWFPs for subsistence was analysed by investigating the contribution of NWFPs to nutrition and the value of durable NWFPs in the form of articles of daily use, based on local market-prices. Faunal NWFPs (game) were identified as the second most important source of protein. Vegetative NWFPs were consumed only with 5.2% of the meals. All households owned articles made partly or completely of durable NWFPs. Their replacement value totals five times the amount of money earned by selling NWFPs.
Conjunction of results
An area of 100,000
hectares of naturally managed forest was estimated to be required to continuously
supply the people of the research villages with all plant-derived NWFPs at their
current consumption rate. This figure corresponds with the total management
area (including primary and logged-over forest) of the timber concession company
Limbang Ganeca and surpasses the usual area of forest-related activities by
the village people. To supply the need for most NWFPs, but excluding rare and
sought species, a total area of about 4,000 hectares of naturally managed forest
might suffice.
131 NWFP-producing plant species were identified in the NWFP inventory, of which only 42 species were actually used during the research period; the products of a mere 10 species were traded locally. An under-used market potential could be assumed, in as far as products provided by at least 25 of the locally recorded NWFP-producing species were traded in other regions of Borneo. Several substantial economic and product inherent reasons were identified as to why so many theoretically usable NWFPs were not used at all and why more than 60% of all NWFPs with market prices were not sold commercially.
Conclusions and recommendations
Because of these
limitations, the development of an intensified management of NWFPs in these
natural forests by local people cannot be expected. Consequently, no significant
incentives are being generated for the conservation of natural forests.
Recommendations were formulated with respect to four different development scenarios for the research area. A sectoral promotion of the management of NWFPs in natural forests is not an issue in either of these options. Nonetheless, the data indicate an increasing demand for particular local NWFPs that, in turn, do have some degree of management potential outside of natural forests, above all in improved traditional agroforestry cultivation systems.
The most important feature of this study lies in its interdisciplinary research conceptualisation, combining methods and results of an inventory and of an in depth socio-economic survey. As the study demonstrated, either approach on its own could have led to an overestimation of the management potential of NWFPs in the research area.
Acknowledgements
This piece is based
on a PhD dissertation funded by the BMZ, written at the University of Hamburg,
and hosted by the Indonesian - German Project "Promotion of Sustainable Forest
Management in East Kalimantan"
Reference
Carol M.
Grossmann (2000): Nichtholz-Waldprodukte in Ost-Kalimantan, Indonesien: Analyse
der waldwirtschaftlichen und sozio-oekonomischen Aspekte ihrer Bedeutung und
ihres Entwicklungspotentials für die Lokalbevölkerung in einem Holzkonzessionsgebiet.
Mitteilungen der Bundesforschungsanstalt fuer Forst- und Holzwirtschaft (BFH)
Nr. 199, Hamburg
For further information
please contact:
Dr. C. M. Grossmann
University of Freiburg
Institute for Forest
Policy, Markets and Marketing Section
Bertoldstr. 17
D-79085 Freiburg,
Germany
Tel.: +49 761 203
3726, Fax: +49 761
203 3729
Email: cgrossma@uni-freiburg.de
MOPANE WORMS - A RICH SOURCE OF INCOME IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
By Jaboury Ghazoul
Southern Africa's rural households depend as much on their surrounding forests as they do on their crops. William Cavendish's recent study of Southern African rural livelihoods, 'Empirical Regularities in the Poverty - Environment Relationship of African Rural Households', demonstrates that Zimbabwe's rural families use hundreds of wild plants and animals for food, medicine, fuelwood, building materials, furniture, baskets, livestock fodder, and other uses. Termite mounds and leaf litter provide a major source of fertilizer. Livestock fodder, wild foods, and fuelwood contribute most to household incomes, although, around three quarters of all income comes from a wide range of other natural products. Interestingly, it is the poorest households that most depend on forest products even if, in absolute terms, the richer households consume more forest products.
One of these products, the caterpillar of an emperor moth that feeds almost exclusively on the mopane tree, hence mopane worm, has become the focus of a new 3-year project recently funded by the UK Department for International Development (Forestry Research Programme). Following the initiative of DFID-FRP, Will Cavendish and Jaboury Ghazoul, both of Imperial College, University of London, coordinated a consortium of research organizations, NGOs, CBOs, and private enterprises, to seek ways of enhancing the potential for both stable and sustainable income generation by sale of mopane worm in local and regional markets. Traditionally, the mopane worm has been harvested for domestic use by rural households and has made a significant contribution to rural diets, but more recently its potential for income generation has become clear. The consortium is seeking ways to promote the sustainable production of mopane worm across mopane woodlands in southern Africa. Through a cluster of studies it aims to highlight the most appropriate opportunities available to poor farmers and landless families to increase the returns from the mopane worm harvest while ensuring that demands for other woodland resources are met. The research will examine the role and potential of mopane worm to improve livelihoods through expanding local consumption and increasing returns from local and regional trade, and will lead to practical actions that local communities can take towards assessing mopane worm production, reducing harvesting impact on the mopane woodland resources, improving harvesting and processing techniques and developing marketing networks.
An important goal of the socioeconomic research being carried out by Peter Frost (Institute of Environmental Studies, Zimbabwe), Owen Shumba (Southern Alliance for Indigenous Resources, Zimbabwe) and Andrew Dorward (Imperial College) on mopane woodland products is to put the value of mopane worm use in the context of the broader household economy and to identify the opportunities and constraints arising from interactions between NTFP based activities and other household activities.
Research on community-based mopane worm farming has the potential to ensure regular and controlled harvests even in areas where the mopane worm seldom occur. Community-based commercial production of mopane worm is being investigated by Frank Taylor of Veld Products Research and Development in close collaboration with Kgetsi ya Tsie women's community group in Botswana and Member Mushongahande (Forest Commission, Zimbabwe). Nigel Poole of Imperial College is leading research on the associated market opportunities for, and constraints to, the sale of mopane worm.
Mopane woodland ecology and management will be the focus of research conducted by Dirk Wessels (University of the North, South Africa) and Member Mushongahande with the aim of producing optimal conditions for the semi-domestication of mopane worms while meeting other woodland uses demanded by rural households.
For a free electronic
version of Will Cavendish's paper, write to him at:
william_cavendish@new.labour.org.uk
For further information
about the Mopane Worm project, write to:
Dr Jaboury Ghazoul
Lecturer in Forest
Ecology
Imperial College
Silwood Park
Ascot, Berks. SL5
7PY, UK
Tel:+44 20 7594 2536,
Fax:+44 20 7594 2308
Email:
j.ghazoul@ic.ac.uk
NTFP COMMERCIALISATION IN ZIMBABWE
By Oliver Braedt and Bruce M. Campbell
A study of the woodcraft sector in Zimbabwe was conducted to understand the potential role of NTFP commercialisation in rural household livelihoods. Zimbabwe experienced an upsurge in the marketing of woodcarvings and other craft articles during the 1990s. Possible social and ecological impacts originating from this informal commerce have alarmed environmentalists, governmental and non-governmental institutions, and policy makers. Up to the time of the study no clear policy on the woodcarving sector was apparent, with some institutions promoting it as a means to improving income, while other institutions were involved in trying to halt the sector, using the current legislation to guide their actions.
Markets along the major roads in Zimbabwe were monitored and detailed market and household surveys took place in the communal lands of Chivi District. Institutional arrangements controlling tree use were also identified. Participatory appraisal tools were used with groups, semi-structured interviews were held with groups and individuals, and formal questionnaires were conducted with households and key informants. To assess the natural resource base a forest inventory was carried out.
Results indicate that at the end of the 1990s over 200 craft markets existed in Zimbabwe. Since 1990 there has been a momentous rise in the number of these markets, with 88% of all markets surveyed being established in 1990 or thereafter. Wood is the most common material being found in 75% of the markets. The expansion is in part a result of the increased demand by tourists and the need by rural households to find cash income sources. Since the beginning of the 1990s, tourism in Zimbabwe has steadily risen and the role it plays is reflected in the current spatial pattern of the markets, with markets concentrated on the key tourist routes. One major reason for the increase in tourism is the weakness of the currency, with devaluation proceeding throughout the 1990s. Structural adjustment, with its emphasis on the decontrol of the currency, has thus probably played a key role in driving the upsurge in craft production. During this same period, poverty has increased and a number of cash income sources have been reduced (e.g. remittances from urban areas).
Originally the main tree species used in Chivi District were Afzelia quanzensis and Pterocarpus angolensis. With increasing numbers of woodcarvers and a dwindling resource, carvers shifted to other species and the distances travelled for the collection of trees for carving increased. Tree species prefered by woodcarvers are 'reserved' species, the cutting of which is prohibited by state laws. Traditional rules also prohibit their commercialisation. However, enforcement of both the formal and informal rules is rare. At present an open-access situation prevails and there is a degree of confusion and disorder concerning institutional arrangements controlling forest product use.
Most participants involved in the craft sector are usually only sporadically involved, doing carving or trading in crafts when other livelihood options fail, or in seasons when agricultural activities are low. Results reveal that 16% of households in the study area obtain revenues through the commercialisation of forest products, but the total value was less than 6% of the annual cash revenue in the area. 43% of the participants are women, largely restricted to the final stages of carving production - the finishing and selling of the product. Prior to 1980, women dominated craft production in the study area, largely selling pottery. However, men, who focus on stone sculptures and woodcrafts, currently dominate the sector, and it is particularly young men that are involved. In the past, labour migration to earn money and remit some of it to the rural household was frequent, but this is no longer the case. The dominance of the sector by young men reflects the current economic situation.
There are clear entry points that may help to develop the woodcraft production and trade, such that participants can continue to rely on it for at least part of their income from this source. Addressing the legal contradictions that exist between local and national laws is one option. There is legislation to try and ensure sustainable harvesting of woodland resources in communal areas, but most of it is ineffective, as there are problems in its content, interpretation, and enforcement. The commercialisation of a finished woodcraft is legal, but the possession of a harvested log is generally illegal as almost no harvesters seek the necessary permits. Local traditional rules governing resource use from the commons are also not respected. Enforcement is difficult and local leaders use their positions to their own advantage. Given the problems in the national legislation and in the local rules, it is difficult to envisage how the resource could be managed on a sustainable basis.
The facilitation of alternative woods and wood supplies is another central theme in developing the woodcraft sector. The selective use of tree species for carving in Zimbabwe's communal areas is likely to drive some species to local extinction. Active management of the current tree resources is at present unlikely and experiences from other countries (e.g. Kenya, Malawi, Republic of South Africa) indicate that the most commonly used tree species for woodcarvings are close to extinction and can only be found in areas far away from markets selling craft products.
Nonetheless, as participants in the woodcraft sector are mostly part-time, and as households have a suite of livelihood activities, the variations in tourist numbers will result in households moving in and out of different income providing activities. This is probably the one constant phenomenon related to the woodcraft sector in Zimbabwe. Providing the right support to this commercial use of NTFPs will increase the opportunities for some participants to derive a larger share for a longer period of time.
This research was supported by the German Federal Ministry for Development Cooperation (BMZ) and by CIFOR.
Oliver Braedt
Institute for World
Forestry
Federal Research
Centre for Forestry and Forest Products
Leuschnerstr. 91
21027 Hamburg, Germany
Tel: +49 40 73962
100
Fax: +49 40 73962
480
Email: braedt@t-online.de
Bruce M. Campbell
Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
Bogor, Indonesia
Email: b.campbell@cgiar.org
Http://www.cgiar.org/cifor
NTFP MARKETS AND POTENTIAL DEGRADATION OF FOREST RESOURCES IN CAMEROON: THE CASE OF GARCINIA LUCIDA
By Ousseynou Ndoye, Manuel Ruiz-Perez and Antoine Eyebe
The growing economic and social importance of NTFPs in Cameroon is well documented in the literature (Ndoye et al. 1999; Eyebe et al. 1999; Ruiz-Perez et al. 2000). There is also a growing dependency of rural households on NTFPs due to various factors (Bikié et al. 2000). For example, the devaluation of the CFA Franc in January 1994 increased the price of beer and whisky, and these were substituted by palm wine and local whisky (Odontol), which is made by distilling fermented palm wine. The pressure on NTFPs increased. One particular NTFP in which trade has increased recently is Garcinia lucida bark, which is used to ferment palm wine as well as having medicinal and anti-poison properties. Garcinia lucida fruit are also sold in the market. While the bark provides valuable alternative income-generating opportunities for rural dwellers, harvesting practices are not always sustainable. This is also the case for NTFPs like Gnetum spp., Garcinia kola, Prunus africana, and palm wine from Elaeis guineensis.
According to Guedje (1996), who identified sites with more than 50% dead trees, G. lucida trees cannot recover if the bark is removed over a large surface around the stem. Inventories show that there is a wide variation in available stocks of G. lucida. Ntamag's (1997) survey showed G. lucida only in virgin forests at an average rate of 4 trees per hectare. In an inventory of 11 complete transects in Southern Cameroon, Van Dijk (1995) did not find a single Garcinia lucida tree and suggested that this could be due to high harvesting levels. Guedje (1997) found 6.86 trees per hectare and also found that Garcinia lucida grows in dense populations with a preference for undisturbed forest habitats (Guedje 1996).
She discovered that trees with diameters equal to or greater than 10 cm were exploited (debarked) most and estimates that the average sustainable yield per tree is 2.5 kg (Guedje, pers.comm.).
The number of G. lucida trees debarked increased from 7,003 in 1996 to 24,756 in 1997. This was followed by a dramatic decline to 13,378 in 1998, possibly due to a reduction in availability of mature trees. Over the same period, the selling price of one bag of G. lucida bark (18 kg) rose from 6,200 to 7,100 CFA Francs, while estimates suggest that the area affected by G. lucida debarking doubled.
Garcinia lucida is governed by an open access regime, which makes the trees become more vulnerable to externalities created by the opportunistic behaviour of a few forest dwellers resulting from higher market demands for the bark. In a situation of economic crisis and an active search for alternative income-generating opportunities, private gains can override the sustainable social benefits that are obtained from G. lucida and lead to depletion of forest resources.
The domestication of G. lucida and its cultivation in multi-strata agroforestry systems could be a means to reduce the pressure on forests. However, they are necessary but not sufficient conditions to increase the aggregate production of G. lucida. Other important conditions are improved access to market information and infrastructure, reduced transaction costs, and improved institutional support for forest dwellers and traders.
A reference list can be obtained from the authors:
Ousseynou
Ndoye and Antoine Eyebe
Center
for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
P.O.
Box 2008 Yaounde, Cameroon
Email: cifor.cameroon@iccnet.cm
Manuel
Ruiz Perez
Department
of Ecology
Autonomous
University of Madrid
28049
Madrid, Spain
Email:
manuel.ruiz@uam.es
CROSS-BORDER TRADE OF NTFPs FROM THE KORUP FOREST AREA, SOUTHWEST CAMEROON*
By Ruth Malleson
Introduction
Ethnic and historical links, as well as contrasting environmental, economic
and social conditions, have encouraged trade between Cameroon and Nigeria. Rapid
population increase and forest degradation in Nigeria has meant that the Nigerian
demand for non-timber forest products (NTFPs) outstrips national supplies. NTFPs
from the Korup Forest Area (KFA) in Cameroon are now major items of cross-border
trade. The strength of the CFA Franc compared with the Nigerian Naira and heavy
taxes on imported goods make smuggling profitable and the porous border encourages
it. As a result the majority of the cross-border trade in NTFPs is part of the
'informal' economy.
NTFPs
and the Cross-border Trade
NTFPs commonly harvested in Southwest Cameroon and transported to Nigeria include:
bush mango kernels (Irvingia spp.) used to flavour and add a mucilaginous
consistency to soups; rattan cane (mainly Eremospatha macrocarpa and
Laccosperma secundiflorum); chewstick species Massularia acuminata
and Garcinia mannii, used for dental hygiene; the leaf vegetable eru
(Gnetum spp); bush pepper (Piper guineensis) and afofo,
distilled palm wine.
The extraction and trade of most NTFPs exported to Nigeria are controlled and organised mainly by Nigerian wholesalers. These traders hire people from their home areas to extract NTFPs on their behalf rather than buying them from local people. The exception is bush mango, which is collected by inhabitants of the KFA but sold on to itinerant Nigerian traders.
Being part of the 'informal' economy, it is obviously very difficult to collect reliable quantitative information about profits made from the NTFP cross-border trade. However, my research and other studies elsewhere in Cameroon (Ndoye et al 1998; Shiembo 1999 ) indicate that these enterprises can be very lucrative. But most of the profits benefit wealthy Nigerians rather than local people.
Given the lucrative nature of the cross-border NTFP trade, it is important to explain why locals of the KFA have not tried to enter into it. Economic disadvantages relating to the fact that Nigerians dominate and control this trade deter local people from becoming involved. Most locals in the KFA argue that they are unable to enter into this trade because they commonly encounter at least one of the following disadvantages: lack of capital, high transport costs, language constraints and/or lack of connections with main trading partners.
Cameroonian policies relating to the residency of foreigners, the Bakassi border conflict between Nigeria and Cameroon, and swings in the CFA Franc-Naira exchange rate have all contributed to wide and unpredictable fluctuations in income from the cross-border trade of NTFPs from the KFA. For example, in 1993, few traders came to buy bush mango because of the relatively high value of the Naira against the CFA franc (140 Naira to 1,000 CFA). But in January 1994, the CFA Franc was devalued and the exchange rate dropped to 65 Naira to 1,000 CFA. This led to a rush of buyers from Nigeria.
The volatile economic and political conditions in the region sometimes provide opportunities for relatively poor people from the KFA to profit from the cross-border trade of NTFPs. Much of the afofo produced in the southern end of the KFA is marketed in Nigeria by Nigerians. But in late 1993, and throughout 1994, the Bakassi border conflict prevented Nigerian traders from transporting afofo to Nigerian ports. Instead, local people were able to make a profit by marketing it directly to traders and retailers in KFA.
Implications
for Forest Management
My
research and that of other authors (see for example Ndoye et al 1998;
Sunderland and Tchouto 1999; Yembi 1999; Sunderland and Obama 1999; Shiembo
1999; Lapido 1999) have shown that some NTFPs are important items of cross-border
trade in the humid forest zone of West and Central Africa. With the exception
of a few species such as Prunus africana (an internationally traded
medicinal plant), very little is known about the current harvesting levels of
most commercially valuable NTFPs in the humid forest zone of Cameroon. More
research is needed into this topic and the impact NTFP harvesting is having
on forest conservation.
It is worth noting that many of the protected areas in the humid forest zone of West and Central Africa are located on or near national boundaries (Gartlan 1999: 243), in former boundary wildernesses - areas between states which were purposefully left undeveloped by governments for political-economic reasons and depopulated by war (Richards 1996) or by epidemics, such as sleeping sickness (Sharpe 1998: 80). Until very recently (see Gartlan 1999), biodiversity conservationists have often assumed that such areas are economically remote. But as the case of the KFA illustrates, in reality, the cross-border environment may be very socially dynamic. These are often zones where contrasting ecological, demographic and economic conditions meet and where significant cross-border interactions, such as informal trade and population movements, have been taking place for generations.
Forest conservation and development projects located in these areas have largely failed to acknowledge the importance of this trade or to examine the potential to develop and support cross-border synergies in relation to forest management. Development NGOs are starting to look into the potential to develop cross-border synergies for the benefit of local inhabitants - see Whiteside (1999) for example. Attention needs to be paid to assessing the socio-economic and political trends and official policies that may have considerable impact on local people's livelihoods and specifically on the cross-border trade of NTFPs and other products. If trade in one direction is hindered because of economic, political or strategic factors, this has an effect on the trade in the other direction. Official policies, restrictive regulations and corruption currently increase the costs of the NTFP trade to producers and traders. Conservation and development projects need to incorporate these constraints into their analysis of problems and proposed solutions.
* This report is drawn from my recently submitted Ph.D. thesis entitled 'Forest livelihoods in Southwest Province, Cameroon: an evaluation of the Korup experience'. University College London. The research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (UK) Global Environmental Change Programme, whose support is gratefully acknowledged.
For further information and a list of references please contact:
Ruth
Malleson
The
Beech Hut
Dunsmore
Aylesbury, Bucks. HP22 6QJ, United
Kingdom
Tel:
+ 44 1296-696103
Email:
RMalleson@AOL.com
CONSTRAINTS, POTENTIALS AND PERSPECTIVES FOR NTFP PROCESSING IN SOUTHERN KYRGYZSTAN
By Gulmira Ismailova
Southern Kyrgyzstan is home to the last remaining natural walnut forests on earth. They constitute a globally unique ecosystem comprising such species as walnut (Juglans regia), apple (Malus spp.), pear (Pyrus spp.), hawthorn (Crataegus spp.), Sogdiana plum (Prunus sogdiana), dog-rose (Rosa spp.) and other plants. They represent an extremely valuable reserve of rich genetic biodiversity, containing over 180 tree and shrub species. The walnut forests produce a large number of NTFPs including nuts, fruits and berries, honey and other bee-keeping products, medicinal plants and mushrooms. The natural conditions of the forest area are particularly favourable for the development of bee-keeping and production of ecologically pure high-quality honey with valuable medicinal properties.
About 48,000 people live in the walnut forest area. Their livelihoods depend directly on the use of forest resources, including the harvesting of NTFPs.
In Soviet times, the main NTFPs were harvested, processed and sold on the internal market of the Soviet Union. Some enterprises specializing in NTFP processing were located in the walnut forests. In addition, NTFPs were processed by other enterprises engaged in processing of agricultural products or pharmaceutical enterprises located elsewhere in the Kyrgyz republic, sometimes even outside it (especially for medicinal plants). Products manufactured by these enterprises were sold in the whole of the former Soviet Union. There were no problems related to marketing as the sale of production was guaranteed by the state within a planned system of production and sale of manufactured production.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the gaining of independence by Kyrgyzstan, economic ties with the other republics were broken and the former markets lost. Many processing enterprises were forced to stop their activities, some worked at below full capacity or, in response to market forces, changed their range of manufactured products to producing mainly fruit and vegetable puree, different pickled vegetable products, etc. Their technical equipment also leaves much to be desired, with many enterprises still reliant on Soviet equipment from the 1970-80 era. At that time, many forest areas were accessible for vehicles. Nowadays much of the forest can only be accessed by horse, thus creating additional difficulties for NTFP processing.
Many NTFPs, particularly fruits and medicinal plants, are now no longer harvested or processed. Local people harvest forest products only for their own consumption. Many wild-growing fruits are left to rot in the forest. The forests in Kyrgyzstan are state property but neither the Leshozes (State forestry body) nor local people have any knowledge of processing, business management or marketing.
In 1997, with the support of the World Conservation Union, the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Swiss Government, elaborated a Walnut Forest Action Plan to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of this unique forest ecosystem . The Action Plan consists of 11 projects including one on "Processing and marketing of non-timber forest products". To implement the project, the collaborators of the Kyrgyz-Swiss Forestry Support Program, LES-IC, have supported a number of different NTFP processing and marketing activities. These include the establishment of several mini-enterprises (private persons or groups of people) engaged in producing jam and dried fruits from wild-growing fruits and berries, harvesting and drying medicinal plants, development and processing of bee-keeping products, extraction of walnut kernels, packaging and grading, obtaining walnut oil and ensuring sales. Service centres have been established to provide consulting and marketing services, conduct training of interested persons in management of production, processing, marketing, etc.
Research is being carried out to identify products having the greatest market potential, sale markets, criteria for defining quality and marketable state of forest products. The ecological purity of the products of the walnut forests is, of course, their main potential sales advantage.
For further information please contact:
Gulmira
Ismailova
Responsible
for project "Processing and marketing of non-timber forest products"
LES-IC
office, Novoselov street 1, Sputnik
Jalal-Abad,
714611 Kyrgyzstan
Tel/fax
+996 3722 53169; +996 3722 50241
E-mail:
jalabad@imfiko.bishkek.su
COMMERCIALISATION OF NTFPs: FACTORS INFLUENCING SUCCESS
By Elaine Marshall
Why is it that commercialisation of NTFPs does not consistently contribute to poverty alleviation? A new 3-year project is being funded by the Forestry Research Programme of the UK Department for International Development to analyse the opportunities and constraints to commercialisation of NTFPs at the household and community level, through comparative analysis of case studies. Market structure will be analysed for selected NTFPs, to identify interventions necessary for successful commercialisation. Gender issues and community perceptions of success will receive particular attention. Outputs will include (i) a manual developed and tested with rural communities, to provide tools for successfully developing NTFP resources, and (ii) an Expert System for use by decision-makers to evaluate the potential for successful NTFP commercialisation.
The main collaborators on this project are the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the Overseas Development Institute in the UK; Grupo de Estudios Ambientales, Grupo Mesófilo, Methodus Consultora, Estudios Rurales y Asesoría Campesina (ERA), SEMARNAP and PROCYMAF in Mexico; Universidad Nur, Care-Bolivia and the Superintendencia Forestal in Bolivia; and Fauna & Flora International in Nicaragua.
We are bringing participants from the field of NTFPs to present both successful and unsuccessful case studies at our project inception workshops in Mexico, March 2001, and Bolivia, April 2001. We feel we have as much to learn from case studies which have been successful as those which have failed. During our workshops, we will undertake a collaborative analysis of NTFP case studies, and facilitate project stakeholder discussion in an attempt to reach consensus on defining and measuring success at community level. Our research methodology for measuring successful NTFP commercialisation, will build upon previous research undertaken by CIFOR (1999). Specifically, we hypothesise that success is associated with:
The links between these conditions are unclear, and their relative importance has not been evaluated. Based upon the workshop findings, we will further develop and refine our research methodology and collaboratively explore the relationship between these factors, and their respective influences on achieving successful commercialisation at inter and intra community levels, during the 2nd and 3rd year of the project. Field data collected will be used to evaluate the research hypotheses from our workshop, in two different areas each of Mexico and Bolivia. In parallel to these activities we will collect data along the market chain, on selected traded NTFPs, to explore the potential for market intervention strategies.
This publication is an output from a research project funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of DFID. [Project R7925, Forestry Research Programme]
For further information
contact:
Miss Elaine Marshall,
Project Co-ordinator,
UNEP-WCMC,
219 Huntingdon
Road
Cambridge CB3 0DL,
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 1223 277314,
Fax: +44 1223 277136
Email: Elaine.Marshall@unep-wcmc.org
ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF NTFPs
By Gerald E. Wickens
Unfortunately there is a conflict between sustainable development of the world's natural resources to meet an ever increasing global population and that of sustainable conservation to safeguard genetic resources for the future. The developed countries expect the less developed countries to maintain flora and fauna forest services regardless of the local economy. The situation is not helped where the less developed countries occur in regions inherently poor in natural resources, especially in the arid and semi-arid tropics.
These arid ecosystems well illustrate the problems that inevitably arise between managing the environment and social needs. Improved health care from the 1930s onwards has led to a dramatic increase in human and livestock populations which were formerly held in check by wars, famine and disease. This has resulted in ever increasing requirements for locally grown food, grazing and fuelwood and has led to over- cultivation, over-grazing and deforestation, i.e. desertification, a situation that has been even further aggravated by drought associated with climatic change. Over-cultivation results in lower productivity.
"Whereas 30 years ago farmers were able to grow sufficient crops for subsistence plus a surplus for sale, they are now often cultivating from three to five times as much land in the uncertain hope of a yield that will provide enough for their subsistence" (Cross & Barker, 1993, cited in Wickens, 1997). Later and poorer sexual maturity, fertility and meat production from livestock arise from over-grazing, leading to more and more animals being required in order to meet the demands for meat.
Deforestion has forced people to travel further and further afield for their fuelwood and other tree products. All three factors have led to increased wind and water erosion, lower water tables, etc. It is a degradation cycle that the present population pressure and economy is unable to control.
The changing use of NTFPs by the Mbeere of Embu District, Kenya, between 1970 and 1987 has been documented by Riley and Brokensha (1988). It is a scenario that represents the changes also found in other developing countries. Over-utilization and the degradation of the vegetation, soils, water resources, etc., have imposed changes on the use of NTFPs and even their substitution by, for example, imported products including their chemical analogues in medicine, dyes, pest control, etc.
The use of NTFPs follows the rule of supply and demand. Supplies depend on seasonal or annual availability in terms of quantity and quality and the presence of suitable alternatives. Since the dawn of agriculture, cultivation has been the response to wild sources being unable to meet demand. For example, 2 tons of fresh leaves from Catharanthus roseus (Madagascan periwinkle) are required to produce 1 g of the anticancer alkaloid needed to treat a leukemia patient for 6 weeks. Supplies are now from cultivated plants (Sukh Dev. 1989; Robbins, 1995).
While demand can be related to actual need, a product is not necessarily utilized throughout its distribution range. For example, the field mushroom, Agaricus campestris, is often the only edible fungus people will gather in the UK and even then it is eaten with extreme caution, yet in Europe a wide range of wild fungi are consumed. For example, in the Garfabnana region of Tuscany the local people use 19 species for food (Pieroni, 1999). Many of these edible European fungi also occur in the UK and are readily eaten when imported. The reasons for such different attitudes to wild fungal food sources are obviously complex and poorly understood but certainly involve education, urbanisation and local customs.
For the list of references
please contact the author.
Gerald E. Wickens
The Triangle
Buxton Road
Aylsham, Norfolk
NR 11 6JD, United
Kingdom
GROWTH AND PHYSIOLOGY OF IRVINGIA GABONENSIS SEEDLINGS UNDER DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
By Christiane Then and Wolf- Ulrich Kriebitzsch
Introduction
Irvingia gabonensis
(Irvingiaceae) or bush mango is an arbuscular mycorrhizal tropical rain
forest NTFP- producing tree which is widely distributed and abundant all over
Central Africa. The fruits are used by local communities for subsistence and
for sale on local and regional markets.
As pressure on natural resources has been increasing, attempts have been made to include this species into programmes for domestication or for enrichment planting inside the forest. To ensure success, basic information on the species' light and nutrient demands, as well as the drought resistance of the seedling stage, are needed. In this greenhouse experiment we germinated seeds from Irvingia gabonensis from SW Cameroon and grew seedlings in a poor sandy soil (pH 4.8) under controlled conditions. Three different light intensities and fertiliser levels were used:
The response of the plants to the various treatments was evaluated by gas exchange and growth parameters.
Characterization of
Irvingia gabonensis
This species has
very large leaves and generally produces extremely high leaf areas (LA). The
total dry weights (DW) as well as the DWs of leaves, shoots and roots are also
high. In the shade (2%) this is already visible, but total DW is tripled in
slight shade (17%). In full light (100%), total and leaf DWs and total leaf
area (LA) decrease significantly because of leaf fall caused by light damage.
In fact, both leaf damage and numbers of fallen leaves rise from slight shade
to light. Actual leaf number as well as the totally formed leaf number (including
fallen leaves) follow the same patterns as the DWs. Only the +P treatment increases
leaf number at 100%, by providing, among other parameters, better resistance
against leaf fall. At 100% light there is a decrease of the totally formed leaf
number with time. This proves that the decrease in DWs from slight shade to
light, mentioned above, are not only caused by leaf fall but by a growth preference
for the 17% light intensity. This finding is supported by shoot-DW, as well
as height growth and internode lengths, which are significantly higher with
+P, and have their growth maxima at 17% decreasing to 100%. As a consequence,
the shoot/root (S/R) ratio is greatly reduced from shade to light. This means
an improved water uptake from the soil. Specific leaf areas (SLA) and branching
patterns react the same way. The generally low specific leaf area in all three
light treatments indicates a good adaptability of I. gabonensis to dry
conditions. In this context the abscission in light must be considered as a
protection against high water loss.
The species demonstrates generally low maximum photosynthetic capacity rates (Pnmax) - typical for shade adapted plants - with an increase from shade (2%) to slight shade (17%) by 20%, and a decrease to light (100%). In comparison to other investigated rainforest species, however, Pnmax is relatively high. In conjunction with the high leaf area mentioned above, this allows for fast biomass production in the seedling stage. Pnmax is tendentially higher with -P. Quantum efficiency (Q) values prove that I.gabonensis can make use of very low light intensities - a characteristic adaptation for seedlings on the very shady forest floor. Values typically rise from light to shade, with maximum at 17%. Maximum Pnmax at 17 % and the high quantum use is also reflected by a high productivity of DWs and LA especially at this light level (see above). +P nutrient supply increases the light demands of the plants as proved, for example, by the light saturation point (IS) which is significantly enhanced with +P.
Transpiration rates (Tr) are particularly low and tendentially higher at 17% shade. Water use efficiency (WUE) also tends to increase with light. Relatively high Pnmax rates together with low water losses produce a high WUE, which results in particularly effective biomass production relative to water loss. Tr significantly increase with the fertilizer treatments. The increase of photosynthesis caused by a higher nutrient supply raises water use efficiency (WUE) values in the fertiliser treatments which are tendentially highest with +P.
As for drought resistance, water demands are high. Drying out experiments to examine the development of Pnmax under water shortage over several days, show a positive relationship between increasing light and the initiation of drying out, survival rate and recuperation. Experiments indicate that the danger of drying out is most pronounced at the 17% light level and lowest for 100%. This suggests that I. gabonensis is limiting transpiration - in addition to leaf abscission - by closing stomata at higher light levels to avoid water loss. The closing of stomata is also indicated by the decrease in Pnmax and DWs from 17% to 100%. A negative fertilizer effect is most pronounced for +P and -P whereas the controls are less susceptible to drought . This may be a consequence of wider opened stomata for the fertilizer treatments than for the controls as also indicated by Pnmax (see above).
Conclusions
We resume that
all investigated parameters show a great impact of irradiance on I. gabonensis
seedling development. Seedlings of I. gabonensis are very well adapted
to the shady conditions in the understory of rainforest. Water demands are high
and there is a good adaptability to dry conditions. I. gabonensis is
distinguished by a high productivity, which is conform with the high nutrient
and water demands.
Recommendations
Based on the above
results, we recommend partial shading similar to our 17% treatment (which corresponds
to 8.5% of natural radiation) for this species at the seedling stage to achieve
optimal growth and leaf development. Regularly applied fertilizer including
+P would be useful but is costly. We recommend arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculation
as experience points not only to increased growth and nutrient uptake but also
to improved water supply (as indicated, for example, by higher SLA). This would
stimulate even further the above-mentioned high adaptability to dry conditions.
For further information
and available data please contact:
Christiane Then
Institute for World
Forestry
Leuschnerstr. 91
21031 Hamburg,
Germany
Tel:+49 40 73962136,
Fax: +49 40 73962
480
Email: then@holz.uni-hamburg.de
Wolf- Ulrich Kriebitzsch
Tel: +49 40 73962-
103
Email:
kriebitzsch@holz.uni-hamburg.de
OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS FACED BY RESOURCE-POOR FARMERS IN INVESTING IN THE PLANTING AND IMPROVEMENT OF INDIGENOUS TREES FOR INCOME GENERATION
By K. Schreckenberg, RRB Leakey and Z. Tchoundjeu
The domestication of indigenous trees for the production of non-timber forest products within agroforestry practices has been suggested as a sustainable means of promoting the reduction of poverty in tropical countries (Leakey and Simons, 1998). This DFID-funded project was established in Cameroon and Nigeria, to:-
Project sites (4 in Cameroon and 2 in Nigeria) were selected to represent a range of agroecological conditions, species abundance, market access, population pressure and land availability. Biophysical and socio-economic studies were carried out at each site and market studies implemented in adjacent or other relevant markets.
The socio-economic team implemented community level work in the Cameroon communities and household interviews in all six communities. The principal findings are that out of the average of 80 fruit trees per 3-6ha farm, D. edulis is the most commonly planted species, accounting for 65 % of all planted trees. Half of the planted species are indigenous, the vast majority being located within other perennial tree crops (eg. cocoa and coffee), with indigenous exceeding exotic species. Land tenure, which is commonly perceived to be a constraint to planting tree crops, was found not to be and preliminary data analysis found no clear differences between the tree stocks of wealthy or poor farmers, although male headed households had twice the numbers of female-headed households. Labour was not found to be a major constraint for tree planting or maintenance, but bottlenecks may occur at harvest time.
Income from indigenous fruits was the primary source of income for 11% of households, especially in August - October, when other income is scarce. It is also seen by farmers as an important buffer against other financial risks and against falling prices for major commodities, like cocoa and coffee.
The biophysical studies were particularly targeted at an understanding of the variability of fruit and kernel characteristics. Thirteen different characteristics (fruit, nut and kernel mass; fruit length and width; flesh taste and fibrosity; skin and flesh colour, fat content of kernels, and the viscosity and elasticity (drawability) of food prepared from kernels) were measured. The relationships between tree height and dbh showed that the population structures of D. edulis were similar in both countries, both were populations planted on farm, while the I. gabonensis population in Cameroon was a mature relic of a natural population and that in Nigeria a relatively young planted population.
As expected, very considerable tree-to-tree variation was found, indicating the appropriateness of a village-based tree domestication programme (being implemented by ICRAF / IRAD), that also conforms to the Convention on Biological Diversity, by promoting the rights of farmers over their indigenous knowledge and germplasm. For example, a few I. gabonensis trees in Nigeria were found to be considerably bigger than those in Cameroon, while in Cameroon, a few trees had better kernel traits. From the results so far, it is possible to identify the traits that should be selected for cultivar development in both species. In I. gabonensis in particular it will be important to select a combination of traits that form either a fresh fruit ideotype, or a kernel ideotype in response to consumer preferences.
In an attempt to quantify the extent of domestication already achieved by farmers' own tree selection activities, there is evidence that in both species traits of little importance to farmers are normally distributed, as in wild populations, and that others of importance to farmers may form a separate sub-population outside the curve formed by wild populations. This illustrates the way in which such data can be used to identify the best individual trees for cultivar development using vegetative propagation, so taking the domestication process forward more rapidly.
For farmers to really benefit from the further domestication of these species, it is important that the trade recognises the genetic variation between cultivars in terms of the market price. Attempts to ascertain market preferences have identified that traders favour skin colour as a trait in D. edulis, while consumers prefer taste. The odour of I. gabonensis kernels seems also to be a factor of importance to consumers. The market analysis to date has not yet, however, taken into account the apparent differences between the requirements of wholesalers and retailers.
A recent stakeholder workshop in Cameroon, was very enthusiastic about the results of the project and the new emphasis being placed on the domestication of the traditionally important, and previously-ignored, indigenous fruits. In particular the results were seen to be a major contribution towards the work of ICRAF and IRAD to develop land use systems that also provide a step towards poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods.
Outputs from this project will include 4 already submitted MSc theses, 10-20 peer-reviewed research papers (the first is published), policy guidelines, a synthesis in book form, posters and media presentations.
This publication is an output from a research project funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of DFID. [Project R7190, Forestry Research Programme]
For more information,
please contact the authors at:
Dr. Kate Schreckenberg
Overseas Development
Institute
111 Westminster
Bridge Rd
London SE1 7JD,
UK
Email: k.schreckenberg@odi.org.uk
Dr. Roger Leakey
Centre for Ecology
and Hydrology
Bush Estate, Penicuik
Midlothian EH26
0QB, Scotland
Email: rrbl@ceh.ac.uk
Dr. Zac Tchoundjeu
International Centre
for Research in Agroforestry
PO Box 2123, Yaoundé,
Cameroon
Email: z.tchoundjeu@camnet.cm
APPLICATION OF MOLECULAR MARKER TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE GENETIC CHARACTERISATION OF NON-TIMBER SPECIES
By Marie Baucher, Sylvia Burssens, and Marc Van Montagu
The stability of an ecosystem is largely determined by the intraspecific genetic diversity of the different interacting species, because this diversity holds a reservoir of potential adaptations to changing environmental conditions. A low genetic variability as a consequence of biodiversity loss may lead to the disappearance of endangered species. Although measurements of visual traits reveal the existence of genetic variation, they do not give a good indication of the structure of diversity within populations or how this population is maintained.
Biotechnological advances in the analysis of genetic variation can revolutionise our ability to conserve and improve forest species by accelerating knowledge gathering. The use of molecular markers technology, such as Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) (Vos et al., 1995), associated with the measurement of quantitative characters, enables the measurement of the genetic variation of a species or a population. As DNA analysis allows for the direct visualisation of genetic information, independent of environmental factors, tissue development or developmental stage, these methods can be used for species identification and the development of general sets of molecular markers with which to assess genetic diversity. Furthermore, the genetic mapping of quantitative traits closely linked to molecular markers is a very efficient tool to analyse the outcomes of crosses in marker assisted breeding programmes.
The Institute of Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries at the Department of Molecular Genetics, Ghent University, is participating in an INCO-DEV project, supported by the European Community since 1999, to assess the levels and dynamics of intra-specific genetic diversity of tropical trees with molecular tools. In addition to studying the biodiversity within 10 different species from Central America, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Brazilian Atlantic rain forests and the Carribean Islands, the aim of the project has been to assess human impact on the genetic diversity of tropical trees. For example, the AFLP technique was used to study biodiversity within and among three neighbouring natural populations (Guaritiba, Grumari and Barra) of Eugenia uniflora (pitanga), each of which has experienced different degrees of human impact (Margis et al., in preparation). E. uniflora is a colonizing plant species endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic rain forest. It plays an important role in the maintenance of the woody coastal ecosystem, especially in disturbed sites. Its ecological importance is reinforced by the fact that pitanga fruit are a feeding source for a wide variety of birds and mammals. Because of the sensitivity and high resolution of the AFLP method, significant genetic variation could be detected between populations which are geographically very close together. Intra and inter genetic diversity analysis showed that more than 86% of diversity resided on the intra population component, suggesting that gene flow among the populations is intense (Margis et al., in preparation).
The same partners plan a continuation of the project, focusing on the impact of different human activities (e.g. logging, fragmentation and land degradation) on the genetic diversity and gene flow within several tropical plant species in Latin America.
Thanks to the development of methodologies such as HPLC, capillary electrophoresis and mass spectrometry, it is now possible to obtain information on metabolite levels in individuals of a population (Fiehn et al., 2000). These high throughput technologies allow the study of the effect of the genetic background, but also of environmental conditions, on the production of secondary metabolites in medicinal plants and can be applied to capture the value of biodiversity of tropical forests. Other applications of the use of molecular approaches in non-timber species are gene engineering of desired traits, such as the modification of particular phytomedicinal pathways. This might include manipulation of both the quantity and quality of metabolites produced through the introduction of targeted genes.
For references and further
information please contact:
Marc van Montagu
and Sylvia Burssens
Instituut Plantenbiotechnologie
voor Ontwikkelingslanden
K L. Ledeganckstraat
35
9000 Gent,
Belgium
Tel: + 32-9-2648727,
Fax: +32-9-2648795
Email: mamon@gengenp.rug.ac.be
Marie Baucher,
Université
Libre de Bruxelles
Laboratoire de
Biotechnologie Végétale
1850 chaussée
de Wavre
1160 Bruxelles,
Belgium
DEVELOPING NEEDS-BASED INVENTORY METHODS FOR NTFPs
Report of the ETFRN
research workshop held 4-5 May 2000 at FAO in Rome
By Jenny Wong
The ETFRN workshop was one of the activities in a pre-project supported by the Forestry Research Programme of the United Kingdom Department for International Development. The pre-project was intended to examine the biometric basis of current resource assessment methods used for NTFPs. The background paper for the workshop represented a review of English language NTFP literature. The workshop was asked to comment on the review and to assist in the identification of key areas where biometric research is needed.
Biometrics can be defined as the 'application of statistical methods and principles to the study of biological organisms'.
Not all disciplines use the term 'NTFPs' and so the criterion for including a study was that it should be concerned with human harvesting of some forest-based plant or animal resource. Resource assessment was here interpreted as the quantification of some characteristic of the resource, e.g. its abundance, growth rate or yield or as a description of quantitative monitoring methods. In all, 126 case studies were identified from a wide range of disciplinary approaches (see Table 1).
In order to examine the biometrics of these studies it was first necessary to establish a set of criteria to define biometric quality. These are all concerned with statistical aspects of the design of the studies and are:
In addition, in order to be able to judge these criteria it is necessary for the protocol used to be clearly reported, so this was included as a further factor. The results of the evaluation are shown in Table 1.
Generally, it would appear that most (60%) NTFP studies have some biometric shortcomings. Many of the 56% that did not report their protocols could, of course, be well designed studies but without the details it is impossible to judge. Also, to be fair, some of these studies may not need to be biometrically rigorous. As in all forms of inventory the methods used should be matched to the information needs of the management system and need not be biometrically rigorous as long as objectives are met.
What is perhaps of more concern is that 43% of resource inventory and 90% of yield studies failed in some way. These are studies that usually have quantification as a primary objective and it seems clear that there is a serious problem in the methods currently used for NTFP resource quantification.
The review concluded that the principal difficulties with NTFP quantification are:
The workshop itself was concerned with identifying priority research areas from the perspective of different 'needs' for NTFP quantification.
At the species level, information is needed to guide appropriate management of individual products. Here the main difficulties are technical as little is known about the best methods to use to sample, measure, monitor and analyse (including yield determination) individual products. Research is needed into all of these aspects for most products though emphasis was given to resource inventory as other studies build on sound initial inventory of the resource.
At the community level any improved methods for studying a specific product will need to be participatory in that they should enhance and build on local knowledge to be effective. Much NTFP management is traditional and based on local knowledge but often this is not formally acknowledged by regulatory authorities. The workshop identified an urgent need for the development of participatory techniques which are accessible and meaningful to local communities and which will produce results acceptable to regulators, that is, usually, government agencies.
At the macro level the difficulties of studying individual species are compounded by the expense of undertaking studies on individual species forcing the use of a single design for a range of products. This severely restricts the ability to tailor designs to the peculiarities of individual products and there needs to be some investigation of the implications of this in the context of multi-purpose resource inventory. A further consideration is that there needs to be some means of integrating information from all NTFP studies within a country. Such information is required for government level strategic planning for the regulation of harvesting, issuing of export permits, incentives for NTFP livelihoods etc.
The workshop concluded that there is a need for focused research on NTFP biometrics. In particular, the urgent need for a source of biometric advice for fieldworkers and for better reporting of protocols by those publishing NTFP resource studies were emphasised.
For further information and to download the workshop review paper and proceedings visit the workshop web page at: http://www.etfrn.org/etfrn/workshop/ntfp
This publication is an output from a research pre-project funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of DFID. [ZF0077 Forestry Research Programme]
Jenny Wong
Ynys Uchaf
Mynydd Llandegai
Bangor, Gwynedd
LL57 4BZ, United
Kingdom
Tel: +44 1248 602124
Email: 105456.3316@compuserve.com
COMMUNITY-BASED WILDLIFE POPULATION ASSESSMENT IN THE KORUP PROJECT AREA, SW CAMEROON
By Lien, M Waltert, K Faber, K von Loebenstein, M Mühlenberg
The Korup Project Area (KPA) is made up of the Korup National Park (1260 km²) and the Support Zone (5360 km²), which includes three Forest Reserves (Ejagham, Nta Ali and Rumpi Hills Forest Reserve) situated to the north, east and south of the National Park, respectively. The human population is 45,000 people in about 180 villages. The global objective of the Korup Project is to conserve the biodiversity of the KPA. Its purpose is that the different actors should protect, develop and use the natural resources in an ecologically and economically sustainable and socially acceptable way.
The majority of the people living in and around the protected areas depend on animal wildlife, which is one of the main sources of protein. Vertebrates also play an active role in the ecology of the forest, e.g. as important seed dispersers. Moreover, the Support Zone still harbours populations of some highly endangered and range-restricted species such as Drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) and Preuss's Red Colobus (Piliocolobus preussi). Up until now, there have not been enough data to assess the sustainability of human pressure (hunting and poaching) on animal wildlife or the impact of logging activities and changes in land use. Based on experiences from Ivory Coast, the Korup Project, in collaboration with the Centre for Nature Conservation (CNC, Göttingen University, Germany), has therefore developed a methodology involving the local communities in the assessment of wildlife. This programme intends to assess the densities of key species in selected areas and their changes over time. The focal species are duikers (four species), primates (seven species) and three groups of birds (hornbills, touracos and selected understorey bird species). The key species are surveyed from permanent line transects covering the forested parts of five village areas, in the northern and eastern part of the Support Zone. In the near future, a similar programme will be carried out in parts of the National Park.
Transects are surveyed by carefully selected and trained local staff. Direct observations and indirect cues (tracks, dung) are recorded both for diurnal and nocturnal key species. The personnel of the programme consist of 15 Eco-staff divided into five teams (three staff per team), one field supervisor, one co-ordinator, one advisor and non-permanent consultants. Data collection and analysis follow standard Distance Sampling procedures. The collection of data started in February 1999. In one year of biomonitoring, four teams have covered 379 km during morning observations, 311 km during night surveys, and 350 km during footprint surveys, collecting 9827, 185 and 4294 data-sets, respectively. For most focal species this has provided sufficient data for calculating densities.
The community-based approach ensures long-term monitoring and is financially affordable. It also increases the level of awareness on conservation issues of local communities and some key stakeholders such as the Government of Cameroon. The programme is a member of the Cameroon Biomonitoring Network (CBN), the objective of which is to exchange experiences among its members.
For further information,
contact:
Lien
Biomonitoring Co-ordinator
Korup Project
B.P. 2417 Douala,
Cameroun
Tel./Fax: +237-43.21.71
Satellite Tel.:
00873761627170
Email: ngutikp@aol.com
Dr. M. Waltert
Centre for Nature
Conservation (CNC)
University of Göttingen
Von-Siebold-Straße
2
37075 Göttingen,
Germany
Tel.: +49 551 392313,
Fax.: +49 551 399234
Email: mwalter@gwdg.de
http://www.gwdg.de/~ubns/mw.htm
ASSESSMENT OF NTFPs IN COMMUNITY FORESTRY: EMERGING PARTICIPATORY INITIATIVES FROM THE HILLS OF NEPAL
By Hemant R Ojha
Introduction
Nepal has a
very rich floral and faunal diversity due to its topographical, climatic and
edaphic variations. About 100 NTFPs are extracted for trade, and 800 more find
subsistence uses as foods, spices, herbal medicines, incenses, oils, fibres
and construction materials (Edwards, 1996). Increasing subsistence as well as
commercial expectations from non-timber forest products (NTFPs) has necessitated
more careful assessment of the resource base and sustainable harvesting schemes
in the hills of Nepal. This paper reviews some participatory NTFP resource assessment
initiatives with commercial medicinal herbs and fibre-yielding shrubs.
Currently most of the operational plans (OPs) for managing community forests (CF) lack provisions for NTFPs. However, Forest User Groups (FUGs) are not authorized to use and manage NTFPs unless they are included in the OP. Growing awareness of the value of NTFPs has now highlighted the need for better NTFP resource assessment and their incorporation into OPs.
The fundamental parameters that need to be assessed while planning sustainable management of NTFPs at operational level are: existing growing stock, productivity, quantity of sustainable yield that can be prescribed for harvesting, and sustainable harvesting techniques. In Nepal, very limited documented knowledge on species as well as ecosystem level is a major constraint in seeking appropriate answers to these questions. In view of this, FUGs and foresters are increasingly required to work together to generate more information, often using indigenous knowledge and beliefs as a preliminary basis.
Case Examples
Binayak FUG in
Bajhang in the western hills of Nepal was formed in 1995 and a patch
of 25 hectares of community forest was handed over primarily for the fulfilment
of timber and fuelwood needs. In 1999, the Asia Network for Small Scale Bioresources
(ANSAB) assisted the FUG to expand the community forest area to include NTFPs.
The participatory planning exercise identified Lokta (Daphne spp.) as
one of the main commercial products. Lokta (a 3-4m high shrub) is one of the
main sources of traditional Nepali handmade paper, and has an attractive local
as well as international market.
The participatory resource assessment started with preliminary mapping of Lokta resources in the forest. The forest was divided into various blocks following boundary survey and area calculation. Sample plots were then laid systematically in each of the blocks, and counting of Lokta plants by diameter class was done and the total growing stock was projected. Using secondary information, cutting cycle and the minimum size for cutting were determined to estimate annual sustainable harvest levels.
Bhitteri Pakha FUG in Dolakha district in central Nepal offers another example of NTFP assessment. Argeli (Edgeworthia gardeneri), which is a fast growing shrub with a unique triangular branching pattern, was identified as the main commercial NTFP. Whiteskin is extracted from Argeli stems and exported to Japan, where it is converted to a high quality paper that is also used for currency making.
As argeli is not uniformly distributed in the community forest, habitat mapping was carried out to determine the sampling frame. From this, an estimation of number of clumps as well as stems was made. It was very time consuming to count individual stems as a clump contained as many as 80 stems. To expedite the process, stem diameter distribution was assessed from a sample of 1000 stems across several clumps, and the estimated number of clumps was combined with a diameter distribution curve to estimate the number of stems across various diameter classes. Participatory wisdom suggested 30% mortality from one class to another, and based on this, population size was projected for 10 years. Annual sustainable yield was calculated on the basis of a predetermined minimum size of cutting.
In the western Himalayan district of Humla, communities had long experiences of collecting plant products for local as well as commercial use. ANSAB staff wanted to verify whether indigenous harvesting practices were optimal in terms of productivity and conservation impact. To address this, ANSAB (1999) designed a participatory action research plan to identify best harvest intervals and collection methods for four commercially harvested medicinal plants, including Jatamansi (Nardostachys grandiflora). This is an erect perennial rhizomatous herb growing 10-60cm long and used both locally for medicines and commercially for medicines and perfumery.
For the purpose of quick assessment, patches harvested in 1993/94, 1994/95, 1995/96 were discernible, and two more patches were identified for subsequent harvest treatments. By applying the same level of harvesting, the five patches were harvested on a five, four, three, two and one year rotation. Yields of fresh Jatamansi roots and rhizomes from these harvests were recorded. The results were analysed to assess the effect of harvest intervals across the two habitat types. A harvest interval of five years was found to be optimal.
Experience with Jatamansi and other high value NTFPs in Humla has indicated new dimensions of sustainability and management of medicinal plants. In addition to quantity of harvest, methods, seasons and techniques of harvesting were found to be equally important.
Discussions and Conclusion
A wide range of
assessment techniques for NTFPs has to be considered to address variations in
terms of plant form, life cycle and product type. The examples presented demonstrate
that Lokta and Argeli, although similar shrubs, were assessed using two different
techniques. Methods of assessment have to be site and product specific. Understanding
ecological regularities of species as well as ecosystems can facilitate speedy
inventory of NTFPs. Mapping Argeli habitats minimised the sampling frame, and
hence the costs, while maintaining accuracy. Indigenous knowledge may provide
a basis for scientific inquiry as well as for provisional harvesting plans.
Thus both the Jatamansi experiments, and determination of the cutting cycle
and mortality of Argeli were achieved through participatory wisdom. The diversity
of techniques needed for NTFP assessment can be designed, tested and refined
through the use of local as well as scientific knowledge.
For further information
please contact:
Hemant R Ojha
ANSAB
P O Box 11035,
Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel: +977 1 497547,
Fax: +977 1 487916
Email: hemant@infoclub.com.np
ANALYSIS OF THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF NTFPs IN THE TROPICAL FOREST OF GHANA
By Emmanuel Tabi-Gyansah
Introduction
In Ghana, NTFPs
are an important source of income to the majority of rural dwellers. Main products
are cane (Calamus spp.), rattan (Lacosperma spp.) and chewsticks
(Garcinia afzelii). These products contribute 2 % (in comparison with
the forestry sector's 6%) to the country's GDP. Furniture production and other
processing activities from cane and rattan have expanded. Cane-processing enterprises
were actively promoted.
Although the development of NTFP-based industries has helped economic development, it has also caused an increased demand for raw materials. The growing depletion of forest resources has generated interest in conservation-oriented projects, but these cannot successfully be implemented without knowledge of the current status and rates of change in the spatial distribution of the principal species.
In Ghana, 'conventional' forest inventories generally have been based on stock surveys of compartments. Such inventory data are essentially non-spatial. At best, the results are combined with remote sensing data to display forest patterns and produce forest maps. Because the smallest mapped unit is a compartment (often several hundreds of hectares in area), detailed information on the local spatial distribution within map units is not presented in maps. Recent research (Acharya, 1999) has shown that geostatistics offers a promising method for characterising large and small scale variations of both species richness and forest structure parameters. This paper describes further research to investigate whether geostatistical methods can be used to produce reliable information about the spatial distribution of NTFPs - cane, rattan, and chewstick - in part of the Subri River Forest Reserve, one of the largest forest reserves in Ghana (Tabi-Gyansah, 2000).
Geostatistics
Most people know
intuitively that two values that are close together in space tend to be more
similar than those far apart. Such variables are known as regionalized variables.
A regionalized variable y(x) is considered at all pairs of location x and x
+ h, i.e. at locations separated by the distance vector h. Geostatistics
allow the correlation between any two values separated in space to be quantified
and used to predict the values at unsampled locations. Geostatistics are therefore
a powerful tool for the study of spatial distributions.
In geostatistics, a so-called variogram is used to model the way two values are spatially correlated. The spatial variance usually increases with distance, and levels off at a certain distance beyond which observations appear independent (Figure 1). This is the so-called range, beyond which the variogram value remains constant. Between locations separated by a distance smaller than the range, the regionalized variables are dependent. When the variogram is extrapolated back to zero distance, it may approach a non-zero variance or non-zero y-intercept. This is known as the nugget variance, and represents unexplained spatial dependent variation or purely random variance.
Some general results
A multi-level sampling
design was used to collect data on various tree parameters and on the abundance
of NTFPs in 500 m² sample plots along 1200m transects on either side of a predetermined
base-line. Subsequent analysis involved two main steps: i) analysis of
the observations, without considering their spatial locations, and ii)
estimation of variograms and contour mapping to provide information on spatial
dependence and variations in the distribution of timber and NTFPs.
In summary, the research revealed that timber and NTFPs have some inherently different spatial characteristics:
Conclusion
Although further
work is required, this research suggests that geostatistics may play a useful
role in the survey of NTFP resources which, by their very nature, can only be
studied on the ground. Not only may geostatistical methods help forest resource
managers to better understand the spatial distribution of NTFPs but they may
also support the selection of appropriate sampling designs to inventory this
increasingly scare resource.
Further information
The research described
in this paper was undertaken in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
an MSc degree in Geoinformation for Forest and Tree Resources Management at
the International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC), in
the Netherlands. The work was supervised by Prof. Dr. A. de Gier and Dr. M.
Weir, and is one of several research projects dealing with applications of geostatistics
carried out by ITC's Forest Science Division. For further information, contact:
weir@itc.nl.
For the list of references,
please contact:
Emmanuel Tabi-Gyansah
Forestry Commission
PO. Box M434
Accra, Ghana.
Email: tabi@forestrycommission.com
EPIPHYTIC BROMELIADS: TOWARD THE SUSTAINABILITY OF YIELD FROM NATURAL POPULATIONS IN THE HIGHLANDS OF CHIAPAS, MEXICO
By Jan H.D. Wolf and Cornelis J.F. Konings
Direct economic benefits of conservation efforts may be attained when forest products can be harvested for commercial purposes while at the same time maintaining the ecological integrity of the forest. Recently, a concept known as canopy farming© has been proposed for this purpose. Vascular epiphytes are just one of the potential NTFPs in the canopy and of these the bromeliads are often the most abundant, particularly in areas with a pronounced dry season.
Bromeliads are traditionally used by highlanders of Mayan origin in Chiapas, Mexico, for ceremonial purposes and for the decoration of sacred sites. The western world has only recently 'discovered' the potential of bromeliads for (home-) decoration, and species in the genus Tillandsia are now regarded as a valuable cash-crop in several countries. Thus, between 1993 and 1995, Guatemala exported 14.5 million Tillandsia plants annually. Rauh, a specialist in Bromeliaceae, estimates that at least 75% of the plants in Tillandsia farms are collected from the wild and holds such activities responsible for a decline of bromeliads, casting doubts upon the sustainability of this harvesting practice.
In a study in pine-oak forest of the highlands of Chiapas we aimed to obtain criteria for the sustainable harvesting of a natural population of bromeliads. For details, we refer to Wolf & Konings (under review).
Two approaches may be followed to attain sustainability of yield. By means of demographic and/or genetic studies and modelling we may attempt to establish the minimum viable population size and propose management interventions accordingly, based on population viability analysis. A reliable analysis, however, requires observations over a long period of time and has no universal value. For the immediately threatened forests and bromeliads in Chiapas we therefore suggest an empirical approach in which we start with an arbitrary definition, though based on generally accepted principles, of the most strict criteria for sustainable removal. Exploited species must then be monitored over time to see whether the initially stringent thresholds may possibly be lowered. We propose that harvesting should only be permitted from populations (i) with a high population density, (ii) that are evenly distributed in space, and (iii) for which the reproductive potential will not be affected by the removal.
Harvesting from a small population might negatively affect the local survival of a species, since small populations may experience reduced offspring fitness and a loss of genetic variability through inbreeding or genetic drift. In addition, they are considered to be more vulnerable to demographic and environmental stochasticity, and to natural catastrophes. We suggest the use of a minimal population density limit for exploitation of 10.000 large rosettes/ha, a threshold ten times higher than that applied in a stable Tillandsia circinnata population in Florida.
We consider that populations that are spatially evenly dispersed within a homogeneous habitat are at carrying capacity, for which the extinction risk is also smaller. We presume that for three-dimensional epiphytic populations at capacity this implies that over the entire forested area the abundance of epiphytes on trees of a larger inhabitable size is nearly proportionally greater than the abundance on smaller trees. On the basis of a pilot study in three forest stands at 'La Florecilla' along a disturbance gradient, we propose to employ the squared correlation coefficient (r2) of a linear correlation of Tree Size against epiphyte abundance as an index of spatial homogeneity (ISH) of the population. The variable Tree Size is a linear combination of DBH and number of branching points. At the least disturbed stand, the ISH was 0.901 and accordingly we suggest that at La Florecilla harvesting should be limited to populations with an ISH >0.90 (p<0.001).
To assure that the removal of rosettes does not affect the reproductive capacity of the population, we propose exploiting only that part of the bromeliad population that grows in the lower stratum of the forest, including the forest floor. Population densities in the lower stratum of the forest are likely to depend on a seed supply from the canopy. In contrast, canopy colonisation by wind dispersed seeds from lower strata seems unlikely and plants that grow near the forest floor are not likely to play an essential role as providers of progeny for populations of bromeliads that seem best adapted to survive in the canopy.
For a second study at 'La Florecilla' we developed a user-friendly transect method that aimed to identify populations of bromeliads that may be harvested sustainably (Table 3). We found one species, Tillandsia vicentina, with both a satisfactory average population density of about 24,000 rosettes of over 20 cm/ha on oaks and an ISH of 0.91, after excluding oaks (40%) that sustained few Tillandsia plants. We allow the exclusion of up to half of all host trees that support few bromeliads, since in the structurally heterogeneous forest we expect a high variability between trees due to the random sampling design. Less than 20% of the population occurred in the lower stratum of the forest, up to a height of 6 m. In compliance with the proposed prerequisites and taking into account certain quality considerations, we estimate that it is possible to sustainably harvest about 700 rosettes of T. vicentina /ha/yr from the understorey and forest floor, in a 4-year rotation cycle; equivalent to an annual yield of 112,000 rosettes from the entire forest at La Florecilla. The implementation of a monitoring programme that makes use of the transect method is a necessity for any management plan. We hope that the exploitation of bromeliads as an alternative NTFP will contribute to community economic development and conservation of both the bromeliads and the forests they grow in.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful
to the community of La Florecilla and the Hermanas Misioneras Clarisas for their
co-operation and for granting us access to their forests. We thank Prof. Dr
R.A.A. Oldeman for permitting free use of the term Canopy Farming©.
For further information,
contact:
Cornelis J.F. Konings
El Colegio de La
Frontera Sur,
C.P. 29290, San
Cristóbal de Las Casas
Chiapas,
México
Jan H.D. Wolf
University of Amsterdam
Institute for Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Dynamics
Hugo de Vries-laboratory
P.O. Box 94062
1090 GB Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 20 5257840
Email: wolf@bio.uva.nl
CERTIFICATION OF NTFPs : AN EMERGING FIELD
By Patrick Mallet and Marion Karmann
Certification is a market-based tool that is becoming a hot topic in many natural resource sectors. A certification logo or label enables potential customers to differentiate products, based on the social and environmental 'qualities' of the commodity they decide to buy. This market opportunity is motivating many producers to adapt their management practices to meet certification criteria.
The harvest of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) is coming under increasing scrutiny from certification programmes because of the key role that it plays in the sustainable management of community agriculture and forest resources worldwide. NTFPs are presenting many new challenges and opportunities in certification due to the wide range of management practices and difficulty in monitoring their harvest and processing.
While NTFPs have been certified through organic certification and, to a lesser extent, under fairtrade systems, the primary focus of recent work to develop certification has been through the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). FSC promotes well-managed forests by applying criteria that address ecological, social and economic issues. The NTFP Working Group of the FSC has been undertaking field trials and interpreting the FSC Principles and Criteria to make them more appropriate for the harvest of NTFPs.
The following categories of criteria are included within the FSC and are useful in measuring the sustainability of all types of production systems:
While FSC is most closely associated with NTFPs, it is also the most expensive certification programme to implement. In addition, the FSC system is difficult to apply to the vast majority of informal community-based NTFP operations that constitute the bulk of NTFP harvesting worldwide. FSC is beginning to look at new models of community-based certification where a number of harvesters are certified as a group or where a resource manager is certified to oversee multiple harvesting operations. Despite this recent progress, FSC certification is probably still most appropriate for large scale industrial NTFP operations.
For small scale NTFP operations, as is the case for most food and medicinal product harvesting, organic agriculture certification provides a reasonable alternative. The range of criteria addressed under organic certification is narrower than under FSC, with an explicit focus on building soil fertility and crop management techniques. However, organic certifiers are beginning to look at landscape level issues as well as social concerns. Given the relatively low cost of certification and strong consumer recognition for organics, this certification may be most appropriate for many NTFP harvesting operations.
Fair trade is also an option for NTFP certification although only for southern producers. Fair trade is beneficial for small producers since its primary focus is on ensuring that they receive a fair deal for their products. Secondly, the costs of certification are borne by the retailer and consumer rather than by the producer. The current scope of products covered under fairtrade only includes a few agroforestry products although it is likely that this product base will grow to include NTFPs.
One issue on which all certification programmes can agree is that certification specific to NTFPs is still very recent and largely untested. However, the recent work of the FSC NTFP Working Group has gone a long way to refining certification for NTFPs. Trial certification assessments for specific NTFPs like chicle gum, Brazil nuts, and chestnuts have resulted in product specific interpretations of the FSC Principles and Criteria. In another case, SmartWood, an FSC-accredited certifier has developed a generic addendum to their criteria that will be used as the basis for all their future NTFP assessments. Finally, IMAFLORA, an organisation in Brazil is assessing the possibility of certifying a forest region from which a wide range of medicinal plants are harvested, based on the individual management plans developed for each species.
There are a number of challenges facing NTFP certification. Among the most critical are the following:
The primary goal of certification is to bring about positive environmental and social change in resource stewardship. Certification criteria can be used by producers and harvesters everywhere as a model for best practices. It must be remembered that the time and financial costs associated with undergoing a certification assessment often outweigh the benefits derived from being certified. When considering NTFP certification, the best option may be not to pursue a formal assessment.
Certification is only one tool among many to move towards more sustainable production systems. It will take further refinement of certification programmes to meet local realities, more producers and harvesters willing to test the certification market, and increased demand by consumers for certified products before the full benefits of NTFP certification are felt.
For more information,
please contact:
Patrick Mallet
Certification and
Marketing Program
Falls Brook Centre
Email: pmallet@web.net
http://www.web.net/~fbcja
Marion Karmann
Herdstr.4
58332 Schwelm,
Germany
Tel: + 49 2332
913892
Email: Karmann@uni-freiburg.de
NTFP CERTIFICATION: CHALLENGES FOR RESEARCH
By Jelle Maas and Mirjam A.F. Ros-Tonen
Background: the emergence
of NTFP certification
Various organisations
have taken up the issue of NTFP certification (Dürbeck, 1999). This issue
has gained a more pronounced place on the international agenda since the NTFP
Certification Workshops organised by the Falls Brook Centre (Canada) in Oaxaca,
Mexico. Although there are only a few officially certified NTFP products to
date, an increasing number of initiatives are being taken to develop standards
for NTFP certification. Mallet (1999) distinguishes three types - or fields
- of NTFP-related certification initiatives.
Sustainable forestry
Certification of
sustainably managed forests is mainly based on principles for Sustainable Forest
Management. Many sets of criteria and indicators prepared for timber certification
could partly be applied to NTFPs. Specific sets for the management of NTFPs
from natural forests are those of the Forest Stewardship Council's (FSC) NTFP
Working Group and the Rainforest Alliance/Smart Wood (Rainforest Alliance, 1998;
Shanley et al. 1998). Within this group of sets, an important issue is
the definition of NTFPs and the distinction between products from forests and
anthropogenic (human-made) vegetation types. Organisations such as the Institute
of Forestry and Agricultural Management and Certification (IMAFLORA, Brazil),
the Consejo Boliviano para la Certificación Voluntária (CFV),
Estudios Rurales y Asesoria (ERA, Mexico) and the WWF Mediterranean Programme
in Greece are undertaking field tests of standards for NTFP certification (FBC,
1998; Mallet, 1999; Lintu, 2000).
Certification of forest management in a defined area is based on performance requirements. Another option is to certify the environmental management system (EMS) of a forest organisation, which is typically made according to the respective international standards (ISO 14001/14004). EMS does not lead to product labelling (Demidova and Alhojarvi, 2000).
Organic agriculture
Certification systems
for NTFPs from human-altered vegetation types are partly being developed by
organisations in the field of organic agriculture. The most important among
these are the International Federation of Organic Agriculture (IFOAM), the Organic
Crop Improvement Association (OCIA) and ECOCERT International, which deals with
the EC2092/91 regulation for organic agriculture. These certification schemes
mostly focus on principles of organic production, addressing other criteria
to a lesser extent.
Fair-trade
Fair-trade based
criteria sets mainly focus on socio-economic criteria, with only general emphasis
on ecological and management issues. The Fairtrade Labelling Organization (FLO)
coordinates 17 national Fair-trade systems.
In addition to these basic types of certification, there are a number of other initiatives and procedures developed or under development among which Analogue Forestry. Analogue Forestry is a type of complex agroforestry developed by the Neo Synthesis Research Centre (NSRC) in Sri Lanka. The system encourages farmers to mimic the structure and ecological functions of the local natural forest ecosystem using species that provide them with a range of products for personal consumption or sale in the marketplace. Farmers benefit from the diversity of products that they harvest while also restoring the natural environment and supporting key ecological processes like soil retention and water purification (Senanayake and Jack, 1998).
Research priorities
in NTFP certification
While most
of the aforementioned organisations focus on the development and testing of
standards for certification, NTFP certification-related research is still in
its infancy. Worth mentioning are the research-oriented activities of the Rogue
Institute for Ecology and Economy (RIEE) in Ashland, Oregon, USA, and the NTFP
Network for Sustainable Forest Management in the Mediterranean by the WWF Mediterranean
Programme Office. The RIEE is focussing its research efforts on the education
and training of NTFP harvesters in the USA and has developed a manual of sustainable
harvesting guidelines for 27 NTFP species in Oregon (RIEE, 2000). The WWF project
aims at the conservation of important Mediterranean forest areas through the
promotion of rural community development in and around these areas and sustainable
NTFP production (FBC, 1998).
As was indicated during the meetings in Oaxaca, Mexico (FBC, 1998), and in the literature (Pierce, 1999), many aspects of NTFP certification require specific research. The outline below, which builds on one presented in Maas (2000), is an attempt to categorise these needs. It follows the three main objectives of NTFP research distinguished by Ros-Tonen (1999), i.e. forest conservation, participatory natural resource management and improved livelihoods. A forest-oriented approach, aimed at forest conservation, focuses on the development of an ecologically sustainable extraction system. From a people-oriented perspective, research should be supportive to participatory forest management and improved livelihoods. The introduction of certification has a significant impact on the social structures of a community (emancipation of specific groups like harvesters or traders), but will also influence the availability of the certified product on the local market. Arnold and Pérez (1998) mention the importance of some kind of balance between subsistence needs and the commercialisation of NTFP resources.
The following makes clear that there is a challenge ahead for continued collaborative NTFP research for the benefit of tropical rainforests and the people who depend on them for their livelihood.
1. Forest-oriented approach
2. People-oriented approach
For references please
contact the authors
Jelle Maas
Programme Unit,
Tropenbos Foundation
PO Box 232, 6700
AE Wageningen
The Netherlands
Tel: +31-317-495506
Email: j.b.maas@tropenbos.agro.nl
http://www.tropenbos.nl/tropenbos/tropenbos-home.html
Mirjam Ros-Tonen
Goethelaan 46
3533 VS Utrecht,
The Netherlands
Email: rosm@xs4all.nl
By Louise Fortmann
In this, the briefest of discussions of property and NTFPs, I discuss what property is, complexity, and the beneficiaries of property rights. If you have specific questions, please contact me at the address below.
What is Property?
To understand property
in NTFPs we need to dispel four commonly held assumptions about property. First,
we often think of property as being things - our house, our clothes, our bicycle.
This commonsense notion is misleading. Property is actually a social relationship
among people. It is an enforceable claim to rights in something. That is, my
cattle are my property because other people (or the state) recognize my right
to them and will enforce my property rights against would-be cattle rustlers.
A second common mistake is to think that the property rights regimes in the
North are universal. To the contrary, there is significant variation in what
can be claimed as property and what sorts of things are bundled together in
a single property right. In particular, people often think that every thing
that is found on a piece of land - water, trees, plants, wildlife, minerals
- is owned along with the land. In fact, property rights in trees and so on
are not infrequently held separately from the land. Third, we often assume that
if you own something, no one else has rights to it. Actually, multiple people
can have rights to different uses of the same object. For example, I may own
the timber in a pine tree, but you have the rights to all the needles and cones
until I harvest the tree. Finally, we tend to think that property is what the
government says it is; that property rights have to be recognized by the state.
To the annoyance of many governments, local people create their own enforceable
property regimes all the time.
Property Rights in
NTFPs Can Be Complex!
NTFPs take at least
three different forms - products of trees, e.g., firewood, fruit, bark, roots;
products from the understorey, e.g., grass, berries, mushrooms; and fugitive
resources that live in or move through a forest/tree - wildlife, insects, birds.
Thus, thinking about property in NTFPs raises three kinds of questions about
what property rights give rise to other property rights. Who owns the trees
and does s/he therefore own all parts of the tree, everything in or on it, and/or
the land on which it is growing? Who owns the land and does s/he therefore own
all the trees, everything in the understorey, and/or everything passing through?
Who owns the fugitive resources and does s/he therefore own the land and/or
trees on/in which these resources are found?
We must also ask, what, in the absence of a title from the government, creates what kinds of property rights? And for all rights to NTFPs we must ask under what circumstances do what categories of people have what rights, where, for how long? Obviously for any aggregation of trees, be it a forest, a woodlot, or small numbers of individual trees, there is potential for a complex array of overlapping rights in NTFPs.
Just Who Benefits from
NFTPs ?
Property rights
are important because they increase the likelihood that a person can secure
a livelihood from an NTFP. Discussions of livelihoods and livelihood strategies
often focus on resident households This makes the often erroneous assumption
that all members of the household benefit equally from household assets including
NTFPs. In some circumstances, women and children are significantly less likely
to benefit than men. Focusing on residents excludes regular mobile users from
the picture.
In terms of household inequity, a fundamental problem lies in the distinction between access, ownership and control. This is most often a problem for women. The economist Bina Agarwal has shown that male family members may control land even though legally it is owned by a woman in the family. The same principle applies to NTFPs - access or ownership without control reduces the likelihood that a woman can earn her own livelihood from the NTFP. An independent livelihood is not only important for providing subsistence, but also affects a person's status and power within a household, including for a woman whether or not she is likely to be beaten by her husband. Another example comes from the geographer, Dianne Rocheleau. Men and women used the same tree, men for swine food and women for handicraft materials. But since women did not own or control the trees, when swine food was no longer needed, men cut the trees down, destroying a resource that women needed.
The question of intra-household entitlements also arises for NTFPs managed as a common pool resource particularly in the case of divorce or death of a household head. Decisions about the management of NTFP commons may also exclude the seasonal users such as nomadic pastoralists, migratory mushroom pickers. This has two implications for the migratory users. First, they may be excluded from access to the NTFP altogether. Second, for any number of reasons, management by resident users may not maintain an adequate level or quality of the NTFPs.
A Final Caution
Property rights
are rarely a tidy set of rules. Property rights have histories that have effects
in the present. Property rights change as informal arrangements emerge that
may or may not be formalized but that, nonetheless, have clear effects on the
ground. Thinking clearly about property rights in NTFPs requires a careful eye
on the past and how it affects the present, a clear understanding of the different
kinds and seasonalities of users and uses, as well as a grasp on the distribution
of benefits.
Louise Fortmann
Department of Environmental
Science, Policy and Management
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-3313,
USA
Tel: +1 510 642
7018, Fax: +1 510
643 1815
Email: fortmann@nature.berkeley.edu
THE INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY RESOURCES AND INSTITUTIONS (IFRI) RESEARCH PROGRAM AND THE SEARCH FOR COMMUNAL MANAGEMENT OF FOREST RESOURCES
By Amy R. Poteete
The International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) research program is a network of collaborating research centres in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. Members of the IFRI network use standardized methods to collect data on a common set of biophysical, socioeconomic, and institutional variables. Researchers return to forest sites every three to five years to conduct repeat studies. By building an international database of comparable repeat studies, IFRI scholars gain the ability to draw comparisons across a large number of cases and over time.1
IFRI studies suggest that the perceived value of a resource is the most important factor affecting the emergence and success of institutions for self-governance. The use of forest resources shapes perceptions of forest value and condition. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) loom large in assessments of forests by local users of forest resources. The IFRI research protocols are sensitive to the multiple ways in which people interact with forests. We collect data on the use of a wide range of forest products including trees, bushes, grasses, leaves on the ground, climbing leaves (e.g., vines), soils, stones, minerals, and wildlife. Of the pairings of user groups and forests in our database, nearly all (87.4%) use at least one non-tree forest product. In fact, the most commonly used forest products for our study sites are grasses (70.5 %) rather than trees (compare parts of trees: 67.2 %; parts of bushes: 56.5 %; leaves on the ground: 35.9 %; climbing leaves: 32.2 %; soils, stones and minerals: 34.9 %; wildlife: 34.6 %)! The availability of NTFPs clearly influences assessments of forests by the people who use them, and thus affects their willingness to take action to protect their forest resources.
The ease with which the condition of the resource can be determined also influences perceptions of values associated with the forest (Gibson, McKean and Ostrom 2000). Reliable indicators of not only the condition of the forest, but also of links between the forest and its indirect services, are especially important. IFRI studies in several countries find that local people fail to take the actions needed to protect their forest resources when they are not aware of intangible forest services (e.g., watershed protection) that are at risk (Becker 1999; Becker and León 2000; Gibson 2000). The information that IFRI researchers collect on changing forest conditions and their consequences can be used to help increase local awareness of indirect forest services, and thus bolster local efforts at forest conservation (Becker 1999).
Recognition of a forest's value provides a motivation for working collectively to protect it, but does not guarantee collective action or its success. Collective action is costly. In addition to obtaining information, actors must overcome coordination problems, distributional struggles, and the incentive problems associated with shared resources. Characteristics of groups, such as their size and degree of homogeneity, gain importance because they influence the severity of coordination problems and distributional struggles. External recognition and support for local self-governance are also important factors. If the benefits of mobilization are high enough, a community may develop rules for resource management in the absence of external support. Official recognition of local autonomy lowers the transaction costs of self-governance.
Once established, institutions alter the importance of conditions that affect their survival. Institutions limit the effects of population pressure (Agrawal and Yadama 1997), population growth (Varughese 2000), and variable proximity to forest resources (Varughese and Ostrom, 2001).
By paying attention to biophysical, socioeconomic, and institutional factors, IFRI furthers our understanding of forest systems. We better understand the role of perceptions of forest value and condition, the importance of institutions in mediating the effects of social and economic changes, and the conditions for successful organization for forest management by the people who use forest resources. Of course, many questions remain. As our network grows and the number of repeat studies in our database accumulate, IFRI brings increased leverage to on-going efforts to untangle the relationships among people, their institutions, and forest resources.
1 As of December 2000, there are fourteen IFRI collaborating research centers in twelve countries. The first were established in 1993. Revisits have begun in Nepal, Uganda, and the USA. For more information, see our website (http://www.indiana.edu/~ifri).
A complete set of references
is available from the IFRI website:
http://www.indiana.edu/~ifri/publications.htm
or as a separate
PDF file: http://www.indiana.edu/~ifri/poteetereferences.pdf
For further information
please contact:
Amy Poteete
Workshop in Political
Theory and Policy Analysis
Indiana University
513 North Park
Bloomington, IN
47408 USA
Tel: +1 812-855-0441,
Fax: +1 812-855-3150
Email: apoteete@indiana.edu
FORGING (UN)DEMOCRATIC RESOURCE GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS FROM THE RELIC OF ZIMBABWE'S COLONIAL PAST
By Alois Mandondo
This article reviews natural resource governance in Zimbabwe's peasant sector from colonial to post-colonial times, with special emphasis on woodland resources. Governance is considered within the framework of power, process and practice and how these have shaped access, control and use of natural resources.
Zimbabwe's policy thrust seeks to empower peasant communities through decentralized entrustments to the use and management of natural resources. A careful examination of what is being decentralized to whom, how and with what effect shows that decentralization can have very little to do with democratization of forest management despite rhetoric implying decentralized structures and arrangements and democratic governance. For instance, founded upon the expropriation of land, resources and power from indigenous communities the colonial system of decentralized indirect rule of chiefs and allied "traditional" institutions, which were presided over and controlled by native commissioners to impose colonial administration, was very much about extending the power of the central state. This was justified in terms not unlike those advocating decentralization today, e.g. respect of local cultures; fiscal accountability; and giving people a voice in their own governance. Colonial natural resource governance systems were crafted in the context of conquest and subjugation and the extension of the power of the central state resulting in over-centralization of natural resource governance systems. Centrally-directed legislative controls were implemented in a highly authoritarian manner resulting in restricted access of peasant communities to natural resources.
Much of the colonial legislation was inherited piecemeal into post-colonial times. Although local government reform in the post-colonial period was purportedly adopted to give a democratic orientation in planning for local development, such reforms neither genuinely decentralized nor democratized local government. Instead, such reforms appear designed to ensure one-party political domination. Post-colonial amendments to over-centralized controls on peasant access and use of natural resources to date have largely deracialized the colonial acts and policies without democratizing them - most acts still feature the criminalizing, and command and control postures and approaches of their colonial antecedents. Natural resource governance systems have thus, by and large, resulted in weakening of the peasant stake in access, use and control of natural resources, from colonial through to post-colonial times.
Various strands of peasant disempowerment are evident. The first form is reflected through structures that deny peasant communities accountable forms of representation. For instance, the "traditional" chiefly institutions were founded on the undemocratic principle of fusion of legislative, executive and judiciary powers. Although the creation and reinforcement of such structures ran under the pretext of building on the legitimacy of existing structures, their design enhanced racial domination and the ascendancy of colonial administration, resulting in a decentralized despotism. Over the years chiefly institutions have been used to legitimize external (mostly state) agendas that further weakened the peasantry, including the extension of the state's influence or reviving its political mileage. The chiefly institutions existed in tandem with new institutions created by the state in the immediate post-independence period, ostensibly to democratize the process of planning for local development, but these also served to further the interests of one-party political domination.
The second form of disempowerment has been practised through the over-centralization of power and decision making in environmental regulation systems. A trend towards concentrating power in the executive, especially the presidency and bureaucracies under executive direction, was entrenched from colonial through to post-colonial times. In spite of aspiring to extend far-reaching control, the state and its bureaucracies lack the resources and capacity to effectively enforce most controls Third, over-centralization was justified through yet another form of disempowerment associated with discourses of "science" that justified a command and control approach to environmental regulation. The peremptory approach to environmental regulation was inherited piecemeal into post-colonial times, in which later amendments to colonial acts fell far short of democratizing the regulation systems. A fourth, and procedural form of disempowerment occurs through the use of alienating languages in local government bodies that are characterized by decision-making frameworks that override the visions of lower constituencies. Fifth there is fiscal disempowerment through urban biases in investment priorities, externalization of locally-collected revenues and also through the burdens imposed upon tax-payers by a multiplicity of bloated organizational hierarchies. Lastly there is a generalized disempowerment associated with presence at the local of many organizations, essentially sharing the same broad goals but with different and often "predetermined" visions of how, when, for whom and through whom to achieve them.
Lastly, pioneering efforts at decentralizing entrustments over use and management of resources to the peasant communities have largely resulted in recentralization at the district level, where such efforts are still practised in the top-down manner. This is in part because the policy thrust seeking to empower the peasant communities is supply-led, and thus defined according to the terms and processes of external agents, including funders of projects and central governments and their functionaries. Most forms of disempowerment reflect the dangers of supply- led decentralization in which states enjoy a free reign in defining governance systems, and the nature and extent of the entrustments to be devolved to local communities. There appears to be general reluctance on the part of the state to decentralize meaningful entrustments to local communities. Supply-led decentralization, therefore, needs to be complemented by demand-driven decentralization, conceivably championed by civil society to ensure genuine democratization and empowerment in natural resource management.
Incremental strategies could, because of a general absence of a vibrant civil society or social movements, particularly from the local settings, provide the initial front of engagement including advocacy for transparency and accountability within supply-led decentralization. As civil society and advocacy movements gain strength the agenda could be broadened to include advocating for reforms in governance structures and arrangements. Tactically, meaningful entrustments already secured for the community should be consolidated , whilst advocating for the expansion of the existing sets of entrustments. Most decentralization initiatives, including the CAMPFIRE programme, Zimbabwe's flagship for peasant empowerment in natural resource management, are nevertheless being implemented within a broader national political economy of racial inequities in the distribution of land. They therefore carry the stigma of "delaying tactics" or "diversionary pursuits" to the more fundamental question of land redistribution, which represents potentially the most important direction towards genuine empowerment of local communities. The major challenge of the unfolding land drama to civil society is the high polarization and the politically charged nature of the issue.
Community-based or CAMPFIRE-type approaches are also premised on the deep green ethos and values of a global (western) environmental discourse and scientific culture - participation for environmental conservation. Decentralization conceptualized within the framework of that culture is supply-led - guided by the values of that culture, and inherently top-down. That culture offers limited room for community empowerment without instrumentalizing it just for participation for environmental conservation. The challenge to civil society is to demand decentralization on the terms and definitions of beneficiary communities.
For further information
please contact:
Alois Mandondo
Institute of Environmental
Studies
University of Zimbabwe
P.O. Box M.P. 167
Mount Pleasant,
Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: + 263-4-302693,
Fax: + 263-4-332853
Email: mandondo@africaonline.co.zw
THE ROLE AND DYNAMICS OF COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF NTFPs IN CAMEROON
By Jolanda van den Berg, Han van Dijk, Guy Patrice Dkamela, Yvette Ebene and Terence Ntenwu
Introduction
Most ongoing research
on NTFP production focuses on the potential for nature conservation, particularly
in terms of economic and ecological sustainability. Less attention has been
given to the dynamics of indigenous NTFP management systems, although it is
widely acknowledged that the capability of communities to manage and control
NTFP exploitation is of major importance for sustainable extraction. Indigenous
management systems tend to be responsive to external factors such as demographic,
economic, political and ecological change, which may lead to an increase of
tenurial insecurity and to destructive harvesting practices.
The study
This study aimed
to gain insight into the role and dynamics of community-based institutional
and regulatory frameworks related to NTFP resource exploitation and management
in the humid forest zone of Cameroon. It was focused on the relations between
increasing commercial value of NTFPs and exploitation and management intensities,
on the one hand, and the social sustainability of community-based NTFP management
institutions on the other hand. A comparative study on six pre-selected NTFP
species was undertaken. Three research sites were selected: Dja Biosphere Reserve,
Lékié district and the Tropenbos-Cameroon site. These are comparable
with regard to ecological conditions and local utilisation of these species,
but different in respect to four factors that can have an impact on the intensity
of NTFP resource exploitation and management: (a) availability of NTFP resources;
(b) market access; (c) population density and (d) presence of non-governmental
and private agencies (e.g. development and conservation organisations, logging
companies). In each site, three representative villages were chosen. The selected
NTFP species were expected to occur commonly and to be used and marketed in
at least two of the three sites. They had to be extracted from various habitats
(ranging from natural forests to plantations) and their exploitation had to
represent different levels of risks for unsustainable harvesting. The following
NTFP species were included in the study:
The survey included interviews with individual villagers based on questionnaires. In total 237 villagers (109 men and 128 women) were interviewed. The questions covered NTFP utilisation and its purposes, the relative and absolute importance of the selected NTFP species, and the construction of different sets of property rights to these NTFP species. Also, information was gathered on socio-economic conditions and the social and political organisation. The fieldwork took place end 1999.
Main results
No cases were recorded
where exploitation of the selected species was legitimised or constrained by
external regulatory frameworks. Customary tenure in NTFP resources in south
Cameroon can be depicted as a variable combination of group rights to manage
or control access to, exploitation and production of NTFP resources on the one
hand, and individual user rights on the other. Four factors were identified
that determine the distribution of such property rights, as well as the social
unit in which these rights are established: (1) land types; (2) the way land
was acquired (inherited versus self-acquired through forest clearance or purchase);
(3) the nature and intensity of improvements to land or resources; and (4) the
type of resource concerned.
In all areas, land right holders are limited by secondary user rights to NTFP resources on their land. The distribution of secondary user rights differs between and within the research areas, but the group of people holding user rights to NTFP resources is always larger than the group who holds the right to control and manage access, exploitation and production, except for oil palm (Elaeis guineensis). In cases of self-acquired land resources, particularly cash crop plantations, the group of user right holders is the most restricted. Planting NTFP trees creates the most individual rights, including exclusive user rights. Among Badjoué people in the Dja area, for all land use types involved, user rights are the most widely distributed.
There exists considerable variation in NTFP utilisation, commercialisation, exploitation and management practices and tenure between different areas in southern Cameroon as well as between the selected NTFP species. In the most densely populated and most accessible area (Lékié), there is a tendency to abandon the exploitation of commonly used NTFPs and to buy these products instead. However, the level of NTFP commercialisation is higher compared to the other areas. There is also a shift in production areas from natural forests with predominantly communal NTFP management and broad distribution of user rights to NTFP resources, to man-made production systems with more individually based management and use of NTFP resources. But a broad distribution of user rights during peak production periods in the Lékié area suggests a strong resilience of customary property perceptions and relations. Moreover, the level of application of management techniques in this area is as low as in other areas. This is in contrast with the expectation that increasing exploitation pressure and reduction of suitable forest habitats will lead to more intensive management in modified forest-like systems.
Conclusions
The study did not
reveal that the extent of forest degradation and related decrease in availability
of wild NTFP resources, or the presence of favourable economic conditions, influences
the level of applied NTFP management techniques. The variation between particular
NTFP species in terms of management practices and intensities, calls for the
establishment of species-oriented NTFP development approaches and not only a
production system approach. Further research is needed to evaluate the importance
of land use conditions (in particular land availability and tenure security)
and cultural factors (in particular local perceptions of NTFP management and
ownership) in relation to specific resources in order to optimise the impacts
of NTFP based development efforts.
This study was made possible by the Central African Program for the Environment (CARPE), with support from the Biodiversity Support Program (BSP), a consortium of World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy and World Resources Institute with funding by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The views expressed in this article, are those of the authors, and are not necessarily shared by CARPE.
For further information
please contact:
Jolanda van den Berg
Wageningen University,
Law and Governance Group
P.O. Box 8130
6700 EW Wageningen,
The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 317 484633,
Fax: + 31 317 484763
Email: Jolanda.vandenberg@alg.ar.wau.nl
Han van Dijk
Wageningen University,
Forest Policy and Management Group
P.O. Box 342
6700 AH Wageningen,
The Netherlands
Tel: + +31 317
478017, Fax: +
31 317 478078
Email: Han.vandijk@bosb.alg.wau.nl
NTFPs IN THE BOLIVIAN AMAZON: SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT IN VIEW OF INSTITUTIONAL DEFICIENCIES
By Dietmar Stoian, Carmen Gottwald, Sergio Ruiz, Wil de Jong, Michel Becker & Alan Bojanic
Since 1996, the Institute of Forest Policy (IFP), Markets and Marketing Section, of the University of Freiburg has been collaborating with CIFOR in a research project on NTFPs in the northern Bolivian Amazon, co-funded by the German Federal Ministry of Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The first phase of the joint project focussed on the socio-economic impact of northern Bolivia's Brazil nut and palm heart industries on regional development. Employing a livelihoods perspective, it could be demonstrated that the gathering, processing, and marketing of Brazil nut and palm heart is an indispensable source of household income in both rural and peri-urban areas. Contrary to what the literature suggests, NTFP extractors are not generally marginalized in the extractive economy. Rather, the benefits captured by those at the very beginning of the marketing chain are subject to considerable variation; these depend on access to the resource base, transportation and market information, as well as the contractual arrangements governing the extraction process and the family labour available.
Though also subject to variation, benefit sharing in the palm heart industry is even more in favour of the extractors: gatherers, intermediaries and processing plant operators gain typically 40%, 22% and 38% of the F.O.B. price, respectively. In sum, NTFP gatherers in northern Bolivia's extractive economy pocket the highest profits per production unit, followed by owners of large estates or processing plants, the plants' labourers, itinerant traders, and contractors.
It was found that rural households carefully balance the trade-offs between extractivism, agriculture and wage labour. Rural dwellers in more remote settlements emphasize extractive activities whereas those in the proximity of town gear a larger share of their agricultural produce to the market. The persistence of NTFP extraction is thus rooted in a varied NTFP portfolio and flexible responses to market opportunities and decline, rather than the deliberate management of NTFP resources with a long-term view for sustained production. Extraction-based livelihood strategies further entail seasonal or circular migration in accordance with times of low or high demand for labour, e.g. residence in (peri-) urban areas from where they set out to the forest only in times of the Brazil nut or palm heart season. A strong rural-urban nexus underlies various extractive activities, without which neither the extractive economy nor (peri-) urban livelihoods could be sustained.
The ultimate rubber decline in the early 1990s led to a further diversification of the regional economy: along with increased agricultural activities, the region's Brazil nut, palm heart and timber industries have been notably expanded. Given the region's poor soils, scarcely developed infrastructure, low market access, lack of capital and human resources, and general political neglect, it is anticipated that northern Bolivia will have to rely on the exploitation of (non-timber) forest resources for a long time to come.
The research revealed that the institutional arrangements governing their extraction are poorly understood. To address this shortcoming, a second phase will highlight the institutional arrangements, constraints and conflicts in northern Bolivia's extractive economy. One of the hypotheses is that adequate institutional arrangements are of major importance in promoting sustained use and benefit capturing in extractive economies. It is presumed that present institutional arrangements need modification to work toward this end.
The theoretical framework will draw on the concept of New Institutional Economics (NIE), whereby institutions are understood as the rules of the game in a society or, more formally, the human devised constraints that shape human interaction; in consequence, institutions structure incentives in human exchange, whether political, social, or economic (North 1990). NIE is an interdisciplinary approach to explain phenomena which have not been adequately addressed by Neoclassical Economics. It implies aspects such as property rights, transaction costs, asymmetric information and power relations. In addition to NIE, the analytical framework will draw on the concepts of Political Ecology and Social Capital.
Institutional analysis in the case of northern Bolivia will emphasize the profound legal reforms the country has experienced in the last decade with a wide impact on natural resource use. At local level, there is also a range of institutions other than laws (e.g., a system of advance payments called habilito, or customary rights related to land tenure) which play a crucial role in the extractive economy. Being informal or private, these institutions complement or, in some cases, conflict with formal institutions such as laws. Thus it will be crucial to distinguish between de jure and de facto institutional arrangements when analysing the institutional underpinning of (non-timber) forest use.
Research is coordinated by Dr. Wil de Jong (CIFOR) and Prof. Dr. Michel Becker (IFP). PhD students in the first phase are Alan Bojanic (University of Utrecht) and Dietmar Stoian (IFP) and, in the second, Carmen Gottwald and Sergio Ruiz (both IFP).
For references and further
information, please contact:
Dietmar Stoian
Institute of Forest
Policy
Markets and Marketing
Section
Bertoldstr. 17
79085 Freiburg,
Germany
Tel: +49-761-203
8500, Fax: +49-761-203
8502
Email: stoian@uni-freiburg.de
Prof. Dr. Michel Becker,
IFP, University of Freiburg, Germany
Email: fopoml@uni-freiburg.de
Alan Bojanic, University
of Utrecht:, The Netherlands
Email: a.bojanic@geog.uu.nl
Dr. Wil de Jong, CIFOR,
Indonesia
Email: w.de-jong@cgiar.org
Carmen Gottwald, IFP,
University of Freiburg, Germany
Email: carmengottwald@gmx.net
Sergio Ruiz, IFP, University
of Freiburg, Germany
Email: sruiz@uni-freiburg.de
NTFPs AND DEVELOPMENT CO-OPERATION - PERCEPTIONS AND STRATEGIES OF DECISION MAKERS
By Jochen Statz
International discussions see the promotion and marketing of Non-timber Forest Products (NTFPs) as a promising approach to reconcile the dual aim of protecting tropical forests and promoting societal development. Yet, in practice, use and trade of NTFPs still plays a subordinate role in the field of development co-operation. A growing number of NTFP-related studies document a wealth of positive aspects of this form of forest use. It remains uncertain, though, how these isolated aspects can contribute to a development that integrates economic, social and ecological aspects.
A PhD-study published recently at the University of Freiburg/Germany looks into potential benefits of NTFP-based forest use. In two South American countries it analyses how decision-makers involved in national development policy and international development co-operation perceive this potential.
Decision makers working in development co-operation determine how prominent a role NTFPs play in forest based development co-operation. It is therefore crucial to understand how they perceive the potential for the use and trade of NTFPs. To answer this question 60 experts (15 in Paraguay and 45 in Bolivia) representing the research sector, policy making, administration and trade, as well as development co-operation, were interviewed. They were asked about their development paradigms and their assessment of the possible contributions of NTFP-based forest use to development. Furthermore, they were asked to outline strategies for the promotion of NTFPs use in accordance with their individual understanding of development.
These interviews were semi-structured and took between one and two hours each. Statements made during the interviews were grouped thematically. Key hypotheses about the successful promotion of NTFP use and trade were derived in a second step. Subsequently, a reference group of the experts discussed and further refined the preliminary findings, leading to a set of five key approaches to successful NTFP promotion. They comprise: 1) intensifying NTFP related research; 2) promoting the concept of sustainable development at the national level, 3) sustaining substantial economic returns from use of NTFPs 4) gaining support of the private sector and 5) promoting NTFP trade stepwise (with marketing of selected products first locally, then regionally and at a later stage internationally). Potential benefits of each of these strategies are not cumulative, i.e. combining as many approaches as possible will not automatically lead to ever more successful strategies.
For further analysis of the verbal data, a Qualitative Comparative Analysis was carried out, an analytical tool developed for comparative social science research by Ragin. As a result key features of strategies to promote NTFP trade were determined and then combined with each other. The interviewed experts saw a number of combinations as promising for the promotion of NTFPs, each being a very specific combination of the strategic elements listed above. Amongst them, economic success in the marketing of NTFPs appears to be crucial, yet only if accompanied by a political and economic setting committed to "sustainable development".
The analysis of the verbal data reveals that none of the five approaches is seen as sufficient or necessary in itself for a successful promotion of NTFPs. All of them can lead to success if combined with certain other characteristics, yet can lead to undesirable results if combined with others. To cite an example, introducing NTFPs to international markets is not seen as beneficial per se. It is rather the specific combination with other approaches (in some cases even their absence) that is expected to result in societal development.
Strategies developed for Paraguay and Bolivia differ in some key traits: while applied research combined with a market oriented approach is seen as promising in Bolivia, experts in Paraguay fear that an intensified marketing of NTFPs might lead to further depletion of forest resources. For Paraguayan experts, intensified forest use is not justified until "sustainable development" is well established in the country.
According to the interviewed decision-makers, two prominent key positions commonly held in the international debate ("conservation through commercialisation of NTFPs" and "development through empowerment of NTFP users") only prove adequate under very specific conditions.
In translating the results of the studies into concrete strategies it needs to be born in mind that the general approach to development co-operation has shifted from "transitive development assistance through projects" to "support for reflexive, autochthonous initiatives pursuing development". In line with today's conception of development assistance this process should not be unilinear and teleological (i.e. bound to a predefined purpose) but rather open as far as the specific outcomes of such initiatives are concerned.
Furthermore, a universal approach to the promotion of NTFP-based forest use and societal development is elusive due to the very diverse natural, economic and social conditions in the various regions of both countries.
Strategies derived in this study can serve as a point of departure for the promotion of NTFPs, but they are only preliminary. Bearing in mind that development is more a process than a target, constant reflection and revision of development strategies based on the use and trade of NTFPs will be required. To this end, the QCA applied in the study can serve as a monitoring tool.
The dissertation concludes with a set of theses regarding the "Promotion of NTFPs in development co-operation" which go beyond the narrow geographical focus of the study.
Please contact the author with comments or for a copy of the dissertation (written in German):
Dr. Jochen Statz
Institute of Forest
Policy
Markets and Marketing
Section
Bertoldstr. 17
79085 Freiburg,
Germany
Email: jochen.statz@uni-freiburg.de
or jochen.statz@gtz.org.np