Tropenbos Document 14
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METHODS FOR NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS RESEARCH THE TROPENBOS EXPERIENCE Mirjam A.F. Ros-Tonen, Tinde van Andel, Willem Assies, Johanna W.F. van Dijk, Joost F. Duivenvoorden, Maria Clara van der Hammen, Wil de Jong, Marileen Reinders, Carlos A. Fernández Rodríguez, Johan J.L.C.H. van Valkenburg Tropenbos Document 14 1 © 1998 The Tropenbos Foundation No part of this publication, apart from bibliographic data and brief quotations in critical reviews, may be reproduced, re-recorded or published in any form including print photocopy, microform, electronic or electromagnetic record without written permission. 2 CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 7 2 OVERVIEW OF TROPENBOS PROJECTS ON NTFPS 10 3 METHODOLOGIES TO DETERMINE THE AVAILABILITY OF NATURAL RESOURCES 12 3.1 Standard vegetation analysis 12 3.2 The nested sampling or transect method 13 3.3 Land ecological survey methods 15 3.4 The role of local informants 16 4. METHODOLOGIES TO ESTABLISH SUSTAINABLE HARVEST LEVELS 18 5. METHODOLOGIES FOR MARKET SURVEYS 20 6. METHODS TO STUDY NTFP-BASED HOUSEHOLD LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES 22 6.1 Participatory registering of forest use 22 6.2 Personal and participatory personal interviews methods 24 6.3 The agro-extractive cycle 25 7. METHODOLOGIES FOR PARTICIPATORY PLANNING 26 8. CONCLUSIONS 27 REFERENCES 29 APPENDIX 1 List of authors 31 3 BOXES AND FIGURES Boxes Box 1 The Tropenbos Foundation Box 2 Ongoing projects on NTFPs in the Tropenbos programme Figures Figure 1 Main attributes of sustainable NTFP extraction Figure 2 Layout of research plots in Guyana (van Andel) 4 1 INTRODUCTION In the 1990s research on non-timber forest products (NTFPs) received an important impulse worldwide. Much of this research departs from the hypothesis that commercial extraction of NTFPs can provide a stimulus to conservation and sound forest management through adding economic value to the forest, and through contributing to the peoples' cash-incomes and a country's national income and export earnings. However, extraction of NTFPs is not sustainable per definition neither in ecological nor in socio-economic terms. Overexploitation, substitution by synthetics, and exploitative commercialization systems discourage extractors to manage the forest resource in a sustainable way (Richards, 1993). The challenge is to identify the conditions for successful commercial extraction, in a way that it contributes to the conservation of forests and increased well-being for forest-dwelling people. The Tropenbos Foundation (see Box 1) takes up this challenge, by aiming at the development of a checklist of requirements for sustainable extraction of NTFPs and of a methodology to apply it in land-use planning. The checklist could also be used at community level, to assess the feasibility of (small-scale) commercial extraction on a sustainable basis. Tropenbos already supported several studies on NTFPs in Colombia (Dominguez and Gomez, 1990; Galeano, 1991; van der Hammen, 1991; Rodriguez, 1991), Guyana (van Andel, 1996; Verhey and Reinders, 1997), Côte d'Ivoire (Bonnéhin, 1992), Cameroon (van Dijk, forthcoming) and Indonesia (de Jong, 1993; van Valkenburg and Ketner, 1994; van Valkenburg, 1997). In an attempt to streamline activities dealing with NTFPs, and to maximize its orientation towards forest policy and management, Tropenbos published a research strategy in 1995 (Ros-Tonen, Dijkman and Lammerts van Bueren, 1995). The strategy paper contains an overview of attributes of ecologically sound, economically viable and socially and politically acceptable extraction. It also highlights some pitfalls and potential dead ends of commercial NTFP extraction as a conservation strategy. The document is completed with a list of hypotheses concerning the sustainable extraction of NTFPs. The strategy paper was written to provide an analytical framework for studies carried out at various sites. It also forms the basis for the checklist in development. Several Tropenbos studies were formulated when this analytical framework was not yet available. However, these studies could contribute in several ways to the realization of the Tropenbos NTFP research strategy. More specifically, they could provide: - insight into the most important forest land use requirements for sustainable extraction; - insight into the problems and restrictions with respect to these requirements; - judgement on the hypotheses which can be accepted or which need further testing; - judgement on standardized methodologies, e.g. for inventories or market surveys. The focus in this document is on the methodological aspects of these studies, rather than on the themes studied or their results. In this document, NTFPs are defined as all tangible animal and plant products other than industrial wood, coming from natural forests, including managed secondary forests and enriched forests. The cultivation of products in home gardens and agroforestry systems remains beyond the scope of this document, although in practice the distinction between 'wild' and (semi)cultivated products is often difficult to make (de Jong, 1993; van Dijk, 1994; van Valkenburg and Ketner, 1994; van Valkenburg, 1997). Without denying the importance of NTFPs for subsistence use, the emphasis here is on commercial extraction as a potential incentive to forest conservation and sound management, at local as well as national level. 5 BOX 1: THE TROPENBOS FOUNDATION The Tropenbos Foundation was established in July 1988 in order to continue and expand the international Tropenbos Programme, which was set up by the Netherlands’ government in 1986. The main objectives of the Foundation are: - to contribute effectively to the conservation and wise use of tropical rain forests, through generating wledge, deepening insights and developing and testing methods for forest policy and management; - to involve local research institutions and to strengthen research capacity in tropical rain forest To realise these objectives, the Tropenbos Foundation formulates, coordinates and finances objective oriented research programmes, based on the needs of policy makers and forest users. In close cooperation with research institutions and governments in a number of tropical countries, permanent research sites have been established in Colombia, Guyana, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Indonesia. At these sites, interdisciplinary programmes have been set up to produce results which have significance for application on a local as well as on a broader scale. Extension and training are important elements in the international and national Tropenbos programmes. To strengthen the coherence between the sites and to enhance the effectiveness of the Tropenbos programme, in recent years attention has also been paid to the development of themes such as biodiversity, criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management and NTFPs. Figure 1 presents the key conditions for sustainable extraction, grouped in three subsystems: ecological sustainability, economic feasibility and social and political acceptability. Ecologically sustainable extraction is defined in terms of the continuous availability of the resources, with minimal degradation of biological diversity. This is to be evaluated both at the level of individual organisms, at population level and the level of the ecosystem. Extraction is considered to be economically feasible if the cost-benefit balance is positive and income and returns can compete favourably with other economic activities. This requires that natural resources, capital and labour are available, and that markets are accessible. By social and political acceptability is meant that the extraction of NTFPs contributes to the welfare of rural and forest-dwelling people, that it does not lead to cultural disruption, social instability or inequities and that it is supported by local governments. Not all requirements play an equally important role in the success of commercial and sustainable extraction. First of all, the resource is to be there (Peters, 1996). But there also seems to be a general consensus that tenure and exploitation rights, access to markets, the economic organization and dynamics at national level and the combination with subsistence and other economic activities play a crucial role (Tropenbos Newsletter, 1997; van Valkenburg, 1997). Also participatory planning is considered to be an important element (Bawa, personal communication), especially in relation to the social aspects of sustainablility. It is mainly the availability of natural resources, household livelihood strategies, and access to markets which received most attention in the Tropenbos programme thus far. Methods to establish sustainable harvest levels have been developed in relation to fishing (Rodriguez, 1991), while a modest effort was undertaken for rattan by van Valkenburg (1997). Methods for participatory planning have been applied in Colombia by van der Hammen (1991). An overview of these methods and the experiences therewith can be found below. 6 Figure 1 Main attributes of sustainable NTFP extraction Ecologically sustainable at level of individual organism ! Ecologically sustainable at ! ! level of population dynamics Ecologically Ecologically sustainable at sustainable ecosystem level ! Natural resources available ! SUSTAINABLE Natural resources accessible ! NTFP Economically Labour and skills available ! ! feasible EXTRACTION Capital available ! Access to markets ! Support of local governments ! Socially and Socially acceptable ! politically ! acceptable Culturally acceptable ! 7 2. OVERVIEW OF TROPENBOS PROJECTS