Forestry Department Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Forestry Department Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Trees Outside the Forest: Towards Rural and Urban Integrated Resources Management Elements for Consideration Contribution to the Forest Resources Assessment 2000 Report Working Paper Forest Conservation, Research and Education Service Forest Department Rome, 2001 Trees Outside the Forest: Towards Rural and Urban Integrated Resources Management Elements for Consideration Contribution to the Forest Resources Assessment 2000 Report Working Paper Forest Conservation, Research and Education Service Forest Department Rome, 2001 The designations employed and the presentation of the 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 concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product for educational or other non-commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holders provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of material in this information product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyright holders. Applications for such permission should be addressed to the Chief, Publishing and Multimedia Service, Information Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy or by e-mail to [email protected] © FAO 2001 Trees Outside the Forest: Towards Rural and Urban Integrated Resources Management Foreword Rural people all around the world share the same concern for trees inside and outside the forest, with respect to resource use, availability and sustainable products and services. These men and women make no distinction between field trees and forest resources, perceiving the clear and close link between the two. Policy-makers and planners tend to view these same resources as different entities. It seems clear that trees outside the forest have not yet succeeded in arousing real interest at the top. So there is a need to describe and comprehend the dynamic effect of the trees outside the forest on rural and urban land and to relate this in turn to forest dynamics. This should lead to a better understanding of non- forest tree management and towards sustainable management of natural resources and of forest, farm, pastoral and urban land. A look at trees outside the forest can lead to an appreciation of their contribution to local economies, some sense of their importance at country levels, and a glimpse of their impact at the international level. The outline of this image remains fuzzy, however, in the overall picture of progress in the constant search for sustainable development, because we lack the hard facts and figures beyond the spontaneous use of this resource. These remarks apply to countries with little forest cover where conservation, and indeed expansion of woody resources is crucial, as to countries with abundant forest resources where degradation is still a real problem even in the absence of actual deforestation. Planners in developing and developed countries alike are asking the same questions about the future and management of tree resources inside and outside forests, reflecting the implicit challenges of demographic pressure, supplying wood and non-wood products, farmland productivity, and environmental quality. Growing populations, shrinking forests and degraded ecosystems all suggest that trees outside the forest are destined to play a larger local and global role in meeting the challenges of resource sustainability, poverty reduction and the search for food security. Trees outside forest areas are unquestionably in a very strong position to substantially relieve the pressure on forest resources, conserve farmland, boost agricultural productivity, blunt the harmful impact of urban growth on the environment, boost food supplies and supply local, national and even international markets. This paper, in reviewing the situation of trees outside the forest, is a contribution to FAO’s Forest Resource Assessment 2000, and a response to the expressed concern by the expert consultation on this question held in Kotka, Finland, 1996 (Kotka III), concerning the lack of hard data on the trees outside the forest. It follows the recommendations of Kotka III approved by the 1997 and 1999 Committee on Forestry. The paper is based on the analysis of data collected by and in collaboration with FAO member countries, and on the results of studies and discussion workshops with experts from national and international institutions. It aims to foster awareness of the diversity and importance of trees outside forests in a context of area-specific and integrated management. The work has revolved around a number of questions: the contribution of this resource to rural development and to the quality of life and of the environment, its dynamics, the eventual link with forest tree dynamics, the advance or regression of these trees in agrarian systems, resource appropriation, land ownership, the impact of policy on its evolution and role, the rationale for its assessment, who is to assess the resource and how. iii Trees Outside the Forest: Towards Rural and Urban Integrated Resources Management The answers to these questions are still pending. FAO and its members need to pursue their investigations and discussions in a permanent and interactive exchange. But the first fruits of multidisciplinary group efforts are already sufficiently solid and numerous to provide arguments in favour of policies and strategies to promote trees outside the forest on the part of policy-makers, planners and donors. This paper attempts to outline the resource, define its importance and dynamics, pinpoint the most influential factors, and, finally, review its assessment. It draws heavily upon the examination and in-depth analysis of the relevant literature on trees outside the forest done by CIRAD-Forêt, in collaboration with FAO, and shortly to be published in the FAO Conservation Guide series. FAO wishes to thank CIRAD (France), and especially CIRAD-forêt: indeed, this paper is based on preliminary work done by CIRAD-forêt in collaboration with FAO in preparation for the FAO Conservation Guide on trees outside the forest to be published at the end of the year 2001. The writing and technical editing were the work of Agnès Le Magadoux; the make-up of Mattia Biasioli and Matthieu de Carbonnel, participant to the FAO Volunteer Programme. The original French version has been translated into English by Julie Rice. The project was supervised by Michelle Gauthier, under the general supervision of Tage Michaelson, Chief of the Forest Conservation, Research and Education Service of the Forest Resources Division. It is the fruit of collaboration among several FAO services, especially that of the Forest Resource Assessment Programme. And so, while the paper claims to offer no universal answer, it does hope to help institutions and resources users in their efforts for intelligent and humane management of trees outside forest heritage, so that we may hand these resources down to society needs. El-Hadji Sène Director Forest Resources Division iv Trees Outside the Forest: Towards Rural and Urban Integrated Resources Management LIST OF ACRONYMS CBD : Convention on Biological Diversity CITES : Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora IFF : Intergovernmental Forum of Forests IPF : Intergovernmental Panel on Forests IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change NWFP: Non wood forest products ONG : Non Governmental Organization UNCCD: Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa UNCED : United Nations Conference on Environment and Development UNFCC : United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFF : United Nation Forum on Forests v Trees Outside the Forest: Towards Rural and Urban Integrated Resources Management Table of contents Foreword ................................................................................................................................ iii LIST OF ACRONYMS ..............................................................................................................v Introduction ..............................................................................................................................1 1. Definition..............................................................................................................................2 2. Functions, importance and challenges.................................................................................3 2.2 A wealth of uses and services ..................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Economic significance ................................................................................................................ 4 2.2.1 Wood products from TOF ................................................................................................................... 5 2.2.2 Non-wood products from trees outside the forest............................................................................... 6 3. Patterns of change, trends and dynamics...........................................................................13 3.1

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