Aboriginal Use of Non-Timber Forest Products in Northw estern North America

Summary

Aboriginal peoples in northwestern North America hav e traditionally used hundreds of different forest plants for food, materials and medicines. Plant products have also been economically important as trading goods. Today there are excellent prospects for aboriginal people to participate in the harvesting and marketing of non-timber forest products, but there are serious issues of access to and control of resources, respect of intellectual property rights, and concerns for conservation of plants and ecosystems that must be addressed. We provide an overview of past, current and potential use of NTFPs by aboriginal peoples in British Columbia and neighboring areas, and discuss the relevant issues and concerns, with recommendations about how these can be accommodated.     

Overview of Rattan Plantation Management

Rattans are climbing spiny plants that are regarded as an important kind of commercial non-timber forest products. Rattan resources are dwindling rapidly due to over-exploitation in the wild and the loss of tropical forest cover. These threaten the sustainable utilization of rattan resources and long-term survival of the rattan industry. The development of rattan plantation and the improvement of management technique are hence important. The major issues on plantation management are reviewed in this paper. It includes fertilization, growth and yield model and harvesting technique. The problems and prospects in future management techniques are also discussed.     

Income Options for the Poorest of the Poor: The Case of Cardamom in Northern Laos

This study examines the potential of cardamom for poverty alleviation and sustainable rural development under conditions of increased resource scarcity in the uplands of northern Laos. Drawing on both qualitative and quantitative fieldwork in Luang Namtha province, the supply chain of cardamom is identified and the socio-economic opportunities for collectors and growers are examined. Rising demand in neighbouring countries, particularly China, provide sound income opportunities for all actors in the cardamom supply chain. Growing improved varieties has become a boon for farmers endowed with relatively large land areas with suitable agro-ecological conditions. However, land-poor and landless collectors of wild cardamom are facing increasing difficulties due to overharvesting, lower prices offered by middlemen, and the rapid conversion of remaining forests into monoculture plantations, especially rubber, which has reduced the natural habitat of cardamom and other non-timber forest products. The major policy implication is that protecting the remaining natural and secondary forests—for instance through making use of evolving international support mechanisms for community-based forest protection, including REDD-plus—will not only be of benefit for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation, but would also enhance the livelihoods of the poorest groups in the uplands of northern Laos.     

全球森林管理的趋势及对碳储量的影响

全球森林日益受到土地利用变化、分散化、管理目标变化和退化的影响。运用管理强度描述全球森林动态变化趋势,并概述了与森林管理相关的全球碳库变化。讨论了对“管理”的不同解释,并强调了一些重要的核算和分析问题。全球森林面积自1990 年以来下降了3％,但全球各地人工林面积都有所增加,截止2010 年已占全球森林面积的近7％。由于人为因素造成的栖息地破碎和退化,使得占所有林地34％的原始森林面积正在下降,尤其是南美洲和非洲。同时,自然再生林面积也有所下降。由于管理强度的增加,1990 年以来,非施业林面积（通常被定义为缺乏人类管理计划或保护状态的土地）大幅度下降,截止2010 年仅占全球森林的21％,而用于水土保持、生物多样性保护和提供生态系统服务等非木质林产品用地面积大幅增加。从全球来看,木材生产自1990 年以来一直相对稳定,但非木质林产品用地面积越来越多,表明林业采伐面积占森林总面积的比例较小。根据管理森林和区域研究领域的发展趋势可知,历史上和现在的森林管理是当前碳储量的一个非常重要的决定因素。目前,已建成的森林抵消了来自使用化石燃料释放二氧化碳的约30％,而减少森林的砍伐可能会将陆地碳地面总吸收量从大约4.0 t 升至每年6.2 t。然而,研究结果表明,多样化使用森林土地可能对维持或提高目前的陆地碳汇有重大影响。未来,诸如大气二氧化碳的增加和气候变化等间接的人类影响,以及土地管理的直接影响和木材生物燃料的日益增长的需求,都将成为影响土地管理战略规划和森林生态系统全球碳循环的重要因素。     

Research in Non-Timber Forest Products

Abstract

Summary Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) have emerged as a complex set of issues reflecting changes in society and how natural resources are regarded. These issues range from the sustainability of forest management practices to the relationship of diverse cultures and communities to public lands and their resources. Research and its relationship to this set of issues is a relatively unknown aspect of NTFPs.

This paper reports on early NTFP research by scientists in the USDA Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station. It characterizes efforts over approximately five years and identifies their key elements. It also discusses the role research has and could play in addressing the problems and questions associated with NTFPs and sustainable forestry .     

An Interdisciplinary Research Initiative Towards Sustainable Management of Forest Resources in Lowland Rain Forests of Sri Lanka

Ever-wet forests of SW Sri Lanka are biodiversity hot spots with a wealth of potentially useful and currently used species. Traditional peoples surrounding these forests depend on them for a variety of focds, medicinals and the like as well as for timber. Some of these forests are being preserved as storehouses of diversity that include rare endemics and wild relatives of useful plants. Other natural forests and plantations must be managed for multiple uses including timber and non-timber products used by the forest dependent villagers. Understanding the ecological, social and economic interdependence of forests and rural communities is vital for the future forestry sector development in Sri Lanka. As many of the plants used locally are characteristic of early stages of gap regeneration, timber and non-timber products are compatible uses, given sufficiently judicious management. Anthropological and biological research is now in progress to plan for multiple use management of Sri Lankan ever-wet forests.     

Modern Nursery Practices in the Production of Quality Seedlings of Indian Sandalwood (Santalum album L.)— Stage of Host Requirement and Screening of Primary Host Species

Abstract

Fewer than one tenth of tropical forests are being managed on a sustainable basis. Sustainable forest management means managing the forest in such a way as to not irreversibly reduce the potential of that forest to produce all products in subsequent harvests. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio resulted in several decisions that are relevant to the future of forestry. The Conference also focused world attention on questions of the environment. One outcome of this increased awareness has been the growing support for eco-labelling, which may provide an opportunity for those countries able to prove their forest products are harvested sustainably. Other economic opportunities present themselves in the utilization for cellulose of tree crops such as rubberwood and oil palm trunks and fronds. Non-wood resources such as rattan also hold promise if we are able to grow them in conjunction with existing tree crops. The roles of tropical forests as carbon sinks require more in-depth study as does the question of what constitutes critical levels of biodiversity. Aesthetic values such as recreational use increasingly require that sufficient buffer zones of unique features be preserved. These challenges demand that the forestry profession becomes more proactive and support major policy changes to address the need for sustainable forest management.     

Participatory Research for Adaptive Ecosystem Management

Summary

Participatory research involves members of interested communities who work with researchers to apply their joint skills and experience to explore issues of mutual concern. There is an increasingly explicit federal mandate for participatory research efforts involving stakeholder groups in public land management. This paper presents a case study of one effort ongoing in the Hayfork Adaptive Management Area (AMA) on the Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity national forests of northern California. There, a network of U.S. Forest Service staff, scientists, local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and nontimber forest product harvesters (wildcrafters) has been working to address ecological, economic, and social aspects of harvesting nontimber forest products (NTFP) from public land. This paper discusses the challenges of NTFP management on public lands and analyzes participatory research as an approach for addressing some of these challenges.     

Community Forest Enterprise Markets in Mexico and Brazil: New Opportunities and Challenges for Legal Access to the Forest

ABSTRACT

A significant shift has taken place in global forest tenure, with a doubling of the forest area under community ownership (or administration over the past 15 years). There is every indication that communal tenure will double again over the next 15 years. Recognition of traditional and indigenous peoples' collective rights over forest lands has important implications for forest-rich countries—both developed and developing. Combined with dramatic changes in the structure of the forest industry and globalizing markets, this shift creates new opportunities and challenges for low-income forest producers and community enterprises to leave poverty and diversify livelihoods. The challenge for policy makers and governments is to reform outdated regulatory and incentive frameworks to support these enterprises. This article presents findings on three types of responses from communities to the new opportunities created by the tenure shift and looks specifically at community timber enterprise cases from Mexico and Brazil; recommending actions by communities, policy makers, and private sector. Changes in international and domestic forest product demand, consolidation of commodity wood sectors, new corporate responsibility commitments, and the emergence of ecosystem service markets all affect community markets. One response has been the emergence of socially-integrated, timber and non-timber based enterprises. Another has been the expansion of self-financed community conservation. A third response has been new models of collaboration between companies and communities.     

Forest Policy Evolution in Poland

Abstract

In Europe, intensive forest management has anteceded a long history of intensive exploitation. The result has been the replacement of natural forests with highly productive albeit more vulnerable forests of simplified structure. Polish forestry has followed this same pattern and the country has seen a substantial increase in forest cover over the last 50 years. The main challenge for Polish forest management comes in trying to meet growing demand for wood products while responding to increased public demand for conservation of environmental values. Poland's new Forest Act for the first time puts environmental social and productive values of the forest on an equal footing. Within the framework of the Act. the Polish Policy of Sustainable Forest Development puts special emphasis on protection of biological diversity and the promotion of environmentally safe technologies and practices. The concept of Forest Promotion Areas is the major element of the Policy. The challenge for Forest Promotion Areas and for Model Forests will be to bring together all the necessary elements: environmental, economic and social that will allow sustainable development in its broadest sense.     

Quantitative and financial evaluation of non-timber forest products (case study: Zemkan basin forests,West of Iran)

Although Zagros forests in western Iran lack industrial timber value due to the severe climate and socioeconomics problems, non-timber products are of great value and importance due to their high economic potential and also their potential to improve the welfare of forest-dwelling and forest-fringe villagers. This study was done in the forests of the Zemkan basin, an important part of central Zagros forests, Iran, to recognize the non-timber forest products (NTFP_S), investigate their potential economic value and role in people’s livelihood. Data, collected using forest cruising, participatory observations, interviews with indigenous and local persons and experts, identified wild pistachio resin, wild pistachio fruit, oak fruit and oak syrup (Shokeh manna) among the non-timber products in this basin with total potential harvestable NTFPs of 77.16, 771.602, 13248.68, and 1324.868 tons per year, respectively. The economic rent from NTFPs is 33 US$/ha/year and its total expected values with consideration of real interest rate when the exploiter invests the capital in the bank (6.4 %) and when money is borrowed from the bank to execute the incorporated projects (8.4 %) are $516/ha and $393/ha, respectively. Furthermore, families’ economic share from potential profit of NTFPs is annually $601 per household. In addition wild pistachio resin has the highest share of the total potential profit of NTFPs and its equal to 51 % of the total of potential profit of NTFPs. Therefore, it is suggested that decisions be made to increase the infrastructure and strengthen the local selling market to enhance the cash income from NTFPs. Forest participatory management practices are suggested to organize and improve traditional use of the forests.     

Why Is Non-Timber Forest Product Harvesting an “Issue”?

Summary

Despite an encouraging trend in North America of growing interest across a range of disciplines in non-timber forest products (e.g., this volume), NTFP harvesters' knowledge and practices continue to be poorly understood and undervalued, if not ignored, both by research scientists and forestland policy-makers and managers. This article explores why NTFP harvesting suddenly emerged in North America as an “issue” in the early 1990s. Drawing from a three-year study of chanterelle mushroom harvesters on the Olympic Peninsula Biosphere Reserve (Washington, USA), we discuss a variety of forces which intersected in this period to bring NTFP harvesting to wider attention. Unfortunately, harvesters continue to be excluded as knowledgeable actors in, if not legitimate co-managers of, temperate forest ecosystems, resulting in both passive and active harvester resistance to research and management, a devaluing of local harvesting traditions, and missed opportunities for collaboration. We reluctantly conclude that despite “New Forestry” co-management rhetoric, given existing institutional barriers and positivist scientific categories, NTFP workers will likely remain excluded from active roles in temperate forest research and management-contributing in turn to the ongoing legitimacy crisis of public and private forest management entities.     

Forests,people and environment: some African perspectives§

Forests in Africa support the livelihoods of millions of people through provision of timber and non-timber forest products, food and nutrition, energy and payment of environmental services. However, mismanagement of forests has resulted in deforestation and forest degradation, thereby contributing to the increased emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This special issue highlights some of the research outcomes presented at a pre-congress workshop organised by the African Forest Forum and partners at the 2015 World Forestry Congress. In this issue, the main drivers of land degradation are highlighted vis-à-vis population growth, agricultural expansion, climate variability, drought and energy needs. Promising traditional management practices are identified including age-old farmer-managed natural regeneration and exclosures. In addition, research presented indicates that age-old systems such as native non-browse shrubs in Ethiopia are important in that they facilitate regeneration of late-successional tree species. Furthermore, opportunities for using forests to mitigate climate change are highlighted with a case study on the economics associated with carbon markets. The issue also highlights the methodological challenges of quantifying carbon in African forests. The effect of climate change on threatened forest species and biodiversity in general is discussed, and the associated human disturbances impacting on the population structure of a threatened species, e.g. Afzelia africana in West Africa, is presented. The important role of non-timber forest products in income generation for the rural communities and the associated challenges of commercialisation is emphasised with examples from two important tree species: shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) and baobab (Adansonia digitata). Finally, the issue covers a people-centred approach in tree planting and management where studies demonstrated that there are still problems of poor participation of local communities due to poor implementation of enabling policies, lack of involvement in initial planning and subsequent lack of clear benefit-sharing mechanisms.     

Typology of non-industrial private forest owners in Tasmania

The heterogeneous nature of non-industrial private forest (NIPF) owners and the challenge this heterogeneity presents for effective policy and program design and delivery is widely recognised. Understanding the socio-economic and motivational differences between various types of landowners will better equip policymakers and forest extension professionals to design policies and programs that efficiently promote private sector timber production and forest conservation outcomes. The purpose of this study was to develop a survey-based empirical typology of Tasmanian NIPF owners based on their stated objectives of forest ownership and to relate owner type to a range of observable property and owner characteristics as well as to timber harvesting and forest management behaviour. Using principal component analysis (PCA) followed by means cluster analysis, four distinct groups are identified: income and investment owners, non-timber output owners, agriculturalists, and multi-objective owners. Members of these groups are found to differ significantly in terms of their personal and property characteristics, as well as their timber harvesting and management behaviour. For example, members of the non-timber output owners, who are motivated solely by objectives related to the production and protection of the non-timber outputs of forests, have similar proportions of timber on their property, but are less likely to have harvested timber from their property, than all other groups.     

Estimating fiber for lechuguilla (Agave lecheguilla Torr., Agavaceae), a traditional non-timber forest product in Mexico

Lechuguilla (Agave lecheguilla) plants are amongst non-timber forest products that are an important source of income for the inhabitants of the arid and semiarid regions of Mexico. There are however, no management programs to promote and protect this resource. In the present study a reliable, non-destructive and easy-to-follow method to estimate yield of lechuguilla fiber in wild populations was developed. A table for estimation of dry fiber production per plant was generated selecting height of cogollo multiplied by its diameter as the independent variable, using a quadratic polynomial regression equation. Using this table in the field would allow a quick and reliable estimation of lechuguilla fiber yield in natural populations.     

Sustaining Tropical Forest Biodiversity

Abstract

Tropical forests are very rich in biological diversity and form an important economic and ecological resource. This biodiversity is of great value for communities living in or near these forests as a ready source of subsistence and cash income, and for the world at large as a source of tropical timber and non-timber products and a repository of genetic and chemical information. However, this biological complexity is diminishing rapidly. We analyze the main human (anthropogenic) actions causing loss of tropical forest biodiversity along with the strategies of management for forest biodiversity. Not only is the biophysical component important in management for biodiversity, but the action participation and support of local people, the national government and international cooperation as a whole, arc essential for an effective and sustainable development of tropical forests. This integrated development strategy ensures that socio-economic and environmental benefits are provided for present and future generations.     

Introduction: Working Forests in the Tropics: Policy and Market Impacts on Conservation and Management

Abstract

Tropical forests are very rich in biological diversity and form an important economic and ecological resource. This biodiversity is of great value for communities living in or near these forests as a ready source of subsistence and cash income, and for the world at large as a source of tropical timber and non-timber products and a repository of genetic and chemical information. However, this biological complexity is diminishing rapidly. We analyze the main human (anthropogenic) actions causing loss of tropical forest biodiversity along with the strategies of management for forest biodiversity. Not only is the biophysical component important in management for biodiversity, but the active participation and support of local people, national governments, and the international community as a whole are essential to effective and sustainable development of tropical forests. This development strategy ensures that socioeconomic and environmental benefits are provided for present and future generations.     

Factors influencing Norwegian small-scale private forest owners’ ability to meet the political goals

Abstract

Norwegian forest policy has high-level, complex objectives for the products and benefits from the forest, including increased contribution to the climate, preservation of biodiversity, and creation of economic values. In Norway, it is first and foremost small-scale private forest owners who have to deliver on these expanded goals. The article reveals owners’ lack of forestry competence, and elaborates on the role of forestry employees (advisers) in owners’ decision-making processes, be it forestry-competent owners or not. There is, however, a decreased number of advisers in the private and public forest services, implying that forest owners are atomised in the meaning of being alone. This type of individualization and an increasing lack of forestry competence among forest owners are a contradiction. The mismatch is serious for the government and the forestry business because it probably hampers the fulfilment of the political objectives. The article presents six options for meeting the obstacles to goal fulfilment. The article is based on two research projects from the counties of Trøndelag and Hedmark. Data were collected between 2002 and 2007 and include survey, focus group interviews, in-depth interviews, fieldwork and document analysis.     

Economic contribution of wild edible mushrooms to a forest fringe ethnic community in some eastern lateritic parts of India

Dry deciduous forests of the eastern lateritic part of India are a typical case where forest valuation is yet to be integrated with the non-timber forest products like wild edible mushrooms (WEMs), which have a wide use in subsistence and cash income. A detailed accounting of the production and utilization of WEMs harvested from that region was made to highlight the economic worth of WEMs to the Santal community of this region. The WEMs production in the forest was in a polynomial pattern during the monsoon period. The net present value of revenues from WEMs was estimated to be contributing 9.83 and 10.29 % of total annual income of a Santal family of the Choupahari and Gonpur forests, respectively. The ecological footprint of the Santal communities on WEMs was higher in the forest area which was closer to the local markets than did the distant ones. Forest areas of the eastern lateritic part of India have a strong potentiality to produce WEMs that may be helpful for socio-economic upliftment of local tribal communities through the development of entrepreneurship and policy making.     

嵩明县森林资源管护的难点及良化对策

嵩明县实施天保工程以来,在森林管护及生态建设上取得了一定的成绩,但在具体的森林管护工作中却存在：林农矛盾未全面解决;林火管理难度大;林内采薪、放牧、采实(菌)屡禁不止;内部管理不协调;非天保区管护松懈等问题。在分析这些难点的基础上,结合嵩明县实际,提出了相应的良化森林资源管护对策。