Use of Plants and Animals with Special Reference To
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USE OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO NON- TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS, AMONG THE PEOPLE OF SANTA ROSA DE MANDURIACU GRANDE, A RURAL COMMUNITY IN NORTH - WESTERN ECUADOR Raúl Córdova A thesis submitted for a M.Sc. degree in Forest Ecology / Tropical Silviculture University of Helsinki Department of Forest Ecology Viikki Tropical Resource Institute (VITRI) Helsinki, November 2007 Tiedekunta/Osasto - Fakultet/Sektion – Faculty Laitos - Institution – Department Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry Department of Forest ecology, Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI) Tekijä - Författare – Author Córdova, Castro Raúl Clemente Työn nimi - Arbetets titel – Title Use of plants and animals with special reference to non-timber forest products, among the people of Santa Rosa de Manduriacu Grande, a rural community in north-western Ecuador Oppiaine - Läroämne – Subject Forest Ecology / Tropical Silviculture Työn laji - Arbetets art - Level Aika - Datum - Month and year Sivumäärä - Sidoantal - Number of pages M.Sc.Thesis November 2007 88 + annexes 115 Tiivistelmä – Referat - Abstract Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are seen as an important part of sustainable forest management practices principally for their undoubted role in poverty reduction when used as safety nets for the poor in rural livelihoods. The aim of this study was to analyse the perceptions, uses and importance of the different NTFPs for the people of Santa Rosa’s community through the evaluation and categorization of the different NTFPs components, such as species (plants and animals), utilized parts, products and categories of use. Data of 143 NTFPs (89 plants & 54 animal sp) were scientifically collected, registered, identified, categorized and analysed in order to have a wider understanding of their importance, perceptions and resource availability from the point of view of the community people. To measure qualitatively and quantitatively the importance of the different NTFPs a simple and participative method named by the researcher “simple selection & elimination” was applied. The results show a clear tendency of prioritization of plant and animal use as NTFPs. In both NTFP groups, community people prioritized the products with medicinal applications (medicinal plants and some animal parts are the first health care resources) followed by products used as food. Many of the plant species are cultivated in small scale, and the contribution of wild fruits is important. In the case of animal species, wild meat is in the majority of the cases the only protein source which balances the diet of the people. The availability of wild animals, specially rodents, is still good. The NTFPs with some commercial value are the least prioritized mainly due to the isolation of the community and the lack of a well established commercialization chain. Finally, it is important to remark the great role of NTFPs in sustaining the rural livelihoods of Santa Rosa’s people by contributing to medicinal, nutritional, cash income generation, construction, cultural and religious needs. Avainsanat – Nyckelord – Keywords north-western Ecuador, non-timber forest products, availability perceptions, participatory methods, importance of plant and animal species, utilized parts and products, safety nets Säilytyspaikka – Förvaringställe – Where deposited Viikki Science Library Muita tietoja – Övriga uppgifter – Additional information A CD with extra Thesis data such as photographs of plant and animal species and other useful data is included 2 Preface The current research work was conducted in north-western Ecuador between February and November 2007 with the support of the University of Helsinki trough the Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI). I would like to express my sincere gratitude firstly to my supervisor and VITRI director, Professor Olavi Luukkanen for supporting the idea of the research and later gave me useful comments which helped in concluding this work. I would also like to thank for his support in obtaining all the economic aids available such as the Master’s Thesis Travel Grant of the University of Helsinki and the Gradu stipendi of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. I am also grateful to Dr. Anja Nygren for being the second examiner of this work. Also my thanks for VITRI’s staff who helped me by copying and binding the official copies of the thesis document. On the Ecuadorian side, I thank the people of Santa Rosa for their cooperation, hospitality and openness - factors that supported and motivated greatly during the field work. Special thanks to Fausto Pantoja, president of Santa Rosa’s community and his wife Cecilia Yepez and their children Jheison and Keli, for sharing with me their daily activities and time and for their company and hospitality. Tierra Para Todos Foundation trough their director Pablo Iturralde helped a lot with the logistics of the first field entry and with the relevant contacts. I am also very grateful to all the specialists in Ecuadorian flora and fauna who helped me with the scientific identification of some plant and animal species; Galo Pavón from the University of the North, Rosa Batallas and Miguel Chinchero from National Herbarium of Ecuador, Juan Rivadeneira and Mario Yánez from the Ecuadorian Nature Sciences Museum. Finally I would profoundly thank my Ecuadorian and Finnish families for their spiritual support in concluding this period of my academic studies. I am very grateful to my wife Anna Vohlonen-Córdova and my daughter Tamia Córdova for their love and unconditional support and patience in all aspects and their incomparable company without which it would have been impossible to conduct this research work. Ibarra-Ecuador, November 2007 Raúl Córdova 3 Contents 1. Introduction 8 1.1.- Non-timber forest products in Ecuador 8 1.2 Previous NTFP studies in the North western Ecuador 9 1. 3 Aims of the study 11 2. General background and framework 12 2.1 NTFP definitions 12 2.2 Some methods to study NTFPs 13 2.3 NTFPs and sustainable forest management in Latin America 16 2.3.1 Importance 16 2.3.2 - Traditional Non-wood Forest Products 17 2.3.3 Intangible values of Non-Wood Forest Products 19 2.3.4 Bioprospection and Biopiracy 20 3. Materials and methods 21 3.1 Study area 21 3.1.1 Location 21 3.1.2 Reaching the community of Santa Rosa 23 3.1.3 Ecological and climatic conditions 25 3.1.4 Socio-economic aspects 25 3.2 Data collection methods 30 4 3.2.1 Questionnaires 30 3.2.2 NTFPs’ registration 31 3.2.3 NTFPs’ collection 32 3.2.4 NTFPs’ local identification 32 3.2.5 NTFPs’ scientific identification 32 3.3 Data analysis 33 3.3.1 Data Classification and analysis 33 3.3.2 Evaluation method for NTFP importance 33 4.Results 36 4.1 First perceptions of NTFPs by the community members 36 4.1.1 First perception 36 4.1.2 Importance of NTFPs and their reasons (Why?) 38 4.1.3 Frequency of use 38 4.1.4 NTFPs’ availability perceptions 38 4.1.5 Source of NTFP knowledge (From where or whom?) 40 4.2 NTFPs’ classification and identification 40 4.2.1 Plants 40 4.2.2 Animals 42 4.3 NTFPs’ Pant types 42 5 4.4 NTFPs’ Animal types 43 4.5 NTFPs’ categories of use 44 4.6 NTFPs’ utilized parts categories 47 4.6.1 Utilized plant parts categories 47 4.6.2 Utilized animal parts categories 50 4.7 NTFPs’ end products 52 4.7.1 Plant products 52 4.7.2 Animal products 53 4.8 Importance of the NTFP species for the members of Santa Rosa 55 4.8.1 Importance of plant species 55 4.8.2 Importance of animal species 61 5. Discussion 69 5.1 The role of the NTFPs in rural livelihoods 69 5.1.1 NTFPs and poverty reduction 69 5.1.2 NTFPs as safety nets 72 5.1.3 Commercialization of NTFPs 76 5.2 Multidimensional aspects of the NTFPs 78 6 6. Conclusions 80 7. References 82 7.1 Reference books consulted for the species identification 87 7.2 Reference persons consulted for the species identification 88 Annexes 89 Annex 1.- Questionnaire Form Part 1 90 Annex 2.- Questionnaire Form Part 2a-Plants 92 Annex 3.- Questionnaire Form Part 2b-Animals 93 Annex 4.- Questionnaire summary of plant species 94 Annex 5.- Questionnaire summary of animal species 108 Annex 6.- Thesis data CD 115 7 1. Introduction 1.1.- Non-timber forest products in Ecuador The role of Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in maintaining and improving the livelihoods of rural communities has be seen as a very important in supporting the sustainable forest management process. Globally there is a lack of scientific data (abundance, distribution, reproductive biology, yield and harvest measurements, etc.) and specific resource assessments to evaluate NTFPs in order to appreciate the role of these products in the sustainable development (Wong J. et al. 2001). The situation of the NTFP in Ecuador is similar; few studies related to NTFPs have been conducted without a standardized methodology to be compared with each other. There are no official statistics to measure the contribution of NTFPs in rural livelihood economies. Only few registers of some commercialized products are found as are the cases of Paja toquilla (Carludovica palmata ) and other vegetal fibres, tagua or better known as vegetal ivory (Phytelephas macrocarpa and Phytelephas aequatorialis), yarns, cloths, medicinal plants, mushrooms and orchids (Acosta 2004). Some studies have recorded the use of 600 species of animals (34%) and plants (66%) as NTFPs. The main concentration (72%) of NTFPs was found in the tropical rain forest of Eastern and Western Ecuador (Amazon and Coastal region respectively) (Añazco 2004). Other studies have been carried out with the indigenous groups of Cofán, Awa and Huaorani within the previously mentioned regions. These studies were concentrated mainly in the identification of some key products which have some possibilities to be formally commercialized and through this diversify the livelihoods of the indigenous communities (Fundación Ambiente y Sociedad 2003).