Non-Woodnon-Wood Information Bulletin on Non-Wood Forest Products NOVEMBER 2011 23
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ISSN 1020-3435 ISSN Annon-woodnon-wood information bulletin on Non-Wood Forest Products NOVEMBER 2011 23 EDITORIAL Anniversaries are times of reflection, and reflections provide a good opportunity to look back in order to move forward with continued commitment. This edition of Non-Wood News is the twentieth issue I have been involved in: my involvement started with issue 3 in March 1996. Changes have obviously taken place during this time, but important issues still remain. For example, issue 3 included an article on “Bioprospecting or biopiracy?”, covering plant-based pharmaceutical potential, a topic that is still relevant today and a regular feature in our News and Notes section for many years. Much progress has been made in this area since 1996, as can be CONTENTS seen from the recent historic Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing. In acknowledgement of this, in the present issue we have a Special Feature on 3 Special Features “Recognition of traditional knowledge”, which includes articles on bioprospecting % Recognition of traditional knowledge and benefit sharing, as well as information on how countries are developing policies • UN urges greater appreciation of to protect traditional knowledge from biopiracy. culture and creativity of indigenous peoples Over the years, we have strengthened our reporting on • New project in Eastern Europe to the role of people, their communities and their use of protect traditional knowledge in NWFPs. Mindful that “Forests for People” is the theme plant trade of the International Year of Forests 2011, we have • Traditional medicine should be reflected this focus throughout this issue. For example, embraced we provide information on how NWFPs are used in • Bioprospectors probe Amazonian life (Special Feature); how people are using Aboriginal lore rattan in a sustainable way in the Greater Mekong • Botswana to develop policy to (International Action); how a project in Central Africa is protect traditional knowledge helping communities achieve greater food security • Nambia’s indigenous people help (Country Compass, International Action); and how edible draft biopiracy law insects – important food sources in many forest communities – are now being • Developing policy guidelines to considered as an alternative solution to livestock in feeding a hungry world (Products handle genetic resources and and Markets, and Country Compass). traditional knowledge • Micronesia: blending science A strong feature of the 1996 issue was its Country Compass section. This emphasis knowledge with ancient traditions has been maintained over the years and throughout the current issue, which • Green economy needs respect for includes news reports and readers’ contributions from 34 countries: in fact, you indigenous rights will find diverse stories ranging from wildlife in Afghanistan and the economic value • India’s digital library to the rescue of NTFPs in Canada, to the impacts on beekeeping of the earthquake and tsunami of traditional patents in Japan, as well as the ecological and financial impacts of the bushmeat trade in • Indonesia's pledge to forest people Zimbabwe. welcomed % NWFPS in Amazonian life • Amazonía o petróleo NON-WOOD NEWS • Videos on the Amazonian forests of Is compiled and coordinated by Tina Etherington of the FAO Forest Economics, Policy and Products Division. For Ecuador this issue, editing support was provided by Giulia Muir and Sandra Rivero; language editing by Roberta Mitchell, Anouchka Lazarev and Deliana Fanego; design, graphics and desktop publishing by Claudia Tonini. • Forest fund to reward forest- Non-Wood News is open to contributions by readers. Contributions are welcomed in English, French and Spanish dwelling communities and may be edited to fit the appropriate size and focus of the bulletin. • Giant fish help the Amazon rain If you have any material that could be included in the next issue of Non-Wood News for the benefit of other readers, kindly send it, before 31 January 2012, to: forest grow NON-WOOD NEWS – FOEI • Partnership reinforces copaíba oil FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00153 Rome, Italy production chain in Brazil E-mail: [email protected] www.fao.org/forestry/nwfp/nonwood.htm/ FAO home page: www.fao.org All Internet links cited were checked on 24 October 2011. Articles express the views of their authors, not necessarily those of FAO. Authors may be contacted directly for their reference sources. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The use of the Internet has also brought changes, with more readers now contacting us – and each other – through e-mail ([email protected]). In fact, one of the aims of Non- Wood News is to enable networking among readers. Contributions from readers in this issue cover a variety of subjects, including the potential of nettles in the Indian Himalayas, conservation ethnobotany in the North Atlantic, reconciling selective logging with the livelihood importance of NWFPs, and pine resin extraction in southern Europe. Contacts with readers have also led to joint initiatives; for example, we have entered into a copublishing agreement with CIFOR to produce a book on the Amazon, and our next issue will help the Rainforest Alliance celebrate 20 years of their Kleinhans Fellowships (see Readers’ Response). So, thank you to all readers for your contributions. Whether it is an article or highlighting an event or publication on NWFPs, these contributions have played an integral part in putting together Non-Wood News. Reader feedback is always useful and much appreciated so please do continue to contact us. Finally, our reflections on the past 20 issues demonstrate that we here at Non-Wood News need and will take every opportunity to move forward in our efforts to promote the importance and potential income-generating aspects of NWFPs, as well as the recognition that many people depend upon them – whether for their livelihoods, their health or as a source of food. Tina Etherington • La producción de la castaña % Les experts en produits forestiers % Asia’s real contribution to the global amazónica en Bolivia non ligneux d’Afrique centrale se health of forests • Producción de carbón activado sont réunis dans le cadre de l’Année % Debt-for-nature swaps utilizando los productos forestales internationale des forêts 2011 % Forests plus: looking outside the box no madereros (PFNM) en alianza % Non-profit organizations and NGOs % Leaders define pathway to restoring con comunidades de la Amazonía • Rainforest Alliance 150 million ha of lost forests del Perú • WildlifeDirect % Ministers back binding European % Non-wood goods in European forests forest agreement 9 News and Notes • Status and trends % Plans to protect forests could do more % Barcoding % Reconciling selective logging with the harm than good unless power is in • Barcodes gather evidence to combat livelihood importance of NTFPs local hands illegal trade in Kenya % Reforming forest tenure systems • Mexico: barcoding biodiversity not % World sacred forests mapped out 58 International Action free of risks, activists say % FAO, WWF sustainable rattan project • Wales (United Kingdom) to DNA 18 Products and Markets in the Greater Mekong “barcode” plants % Bamboo, Berries, Bushmeat, % Congo Basin: can’t see the wood for Cinnamon, Ecotourism. Edible insects, 62 Recent and Forthcoming Events the trees? Look again Frankincense, Gnetum spp., Honey and 65 Publications of Interest % Conservation ethnobotany in the bees, Imbe (Garcinia livingstonei), North Atlantic Medicinal plants and herbs, Moringa 70 Web Sites % Elephants, the gardeners of Asian and spp., Natural sweeteners, Nettles, 71 Readers’ Response African forests Resins, Saffron, Sandalwood, Sea % Expansion of people-centred forestry buckthorn, Shea butter, Wildlife % Forests and food security: what we know and need to know 35 Country Compass % Generating income from forests and % Afghanistan, Argentina, Armenia, trees Australia, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Non-wood forest products (NWFPs) are goods of % Herbal cuisine Canada, Central African Republic, Chile, biological origin other than wood, derived from forests, other wooded land and trees outside % In the management of forests, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of the forests. Non-timber forest products (NTFPs), gender matters Congo, Ethiopia, Georgia, Haiti, India, another term frequently used to cover this vast Italy, Japan, Lao People’s Democratic array of animal and plant products, also include Republic, Lebanon, Pakistan, small wood and fuelwood. However, these two Philippines, Portugal, Republic of the terms are used synonymously throughout this Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, South Sudan, bulletin. Other terms, such as “minor”, Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, “secondary” or “speciality” forest products, are United Kingdom, United States of sometimes used to keep original names and/or America, Venezuela (Bolivarian titles. The mention of specific companies or Republic of), Viet Nam, Zimbabwe products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these 54 Econook have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in % A modest proposal for wealthy preference to others of a similar nature that are countries to reforest their land