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A PUBLICATION of the INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY PROGRAM COLLEGE of NATURAL RESOURCES, NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY a Nordman

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A PUBLICATION of the INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY PROGRAM COLLEGE of NATURAL RESOURCES, NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY a Nordman VOLUME 19/ISSUE 1/Spring 2006 A PUBLICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY PROGRAM COLLEGE OF NATURAL RESOURCES, NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY A Nordman fir stand in the Black Sea region of Turkey. Photo by John Frampton In This Issue: • Benefiting from Conservation: How the collection of Thaumatococcus daniellii fruits in Ghana is emerging as a 2 SYLVANET is published twice a year by the International forest industry. Forestry Program at North Carolina State University. We • Costa Rican program of payments for environmental welcome submissions of abstracts, travelogues, news, an- services: Case Studies. 5 nouncements, photos, and up to 5 page papers, reports, or perspectives on issues pertaining to international forestry— • Forest livelihoods and iron ore mines in Orissa, India. 10 especially by faculty, students, alumni, and associates of NC State. If you would like to submit an article or be added to • Perspectives on forestry in Turkey. 13 our mailing list, email BJ Berenguer at bjberen- [email protected] or Dr. Erin Sills, the faculty advisor for • What do we want for communities in the Amazon? 15 SYLVANET at [email protected] • MI Reflections: Mango Season. 17 • Czechia 2006. 18 • Strengthening global competence of students and faculty through collaboration in forestry. 19 • Conference Notes, News and Announcements. 22 Page 2 Benefiting from Conservation: How the collection of Thaumatococcus daniellii fruits in Ghana is emerging as a forest industry. Edem Kodzo Ekpe and Reuben Ottou Preamble in high forest areas. The arils of Nature Reserve (CNR). Activities In 2004, a group of students the seeds are a source of thau- under the project include nature reserve management, ecotourism and faculty from the Depart- matin, a natural low calorie development, microenterprise ment of Forestry visited Ghana, sweetener. This article attempts development and conservation to give an account of how the including a stop in the Afadjato- education. Other communities in collection of the fruit of this plant Agumatsa area of the Volta the area that are also undertaking Region. They met with the au- is becoming an important forest community ecotourism activities thors of this article, who are industry in the Afadjato- are Wli and Liati Wote project officers of the Ghana Agumatsa Conservation Area and Wildlife Society (GWS), manag- its current and potential impacts Crop farming is the main liveli- ing a community nature reserve in the area. hood activity of the communities. in partnership with communities Most of other activities, like palm of Afadjato-Agumatsa. One of oil production and gari (a staple coarse powder made from cas- the topics discussed was non- The Afadjato- Agumatsa Area sava) are therefore agro-based. The authors talking with NCSU timber forest products, and this Many NTFPs, like fuelwood, students and faculty visiting the article follows-up on that meet- fruits, snails, etc., are also col- Afadjato-Agumatsa area of ing by considering in detail the The Afadjato-Agumatsa area is lected for domestic use. How- Ghana. collection of fruit from the located in the Hohoe District of ever, in recent times, some Sweet Prayers plant, Thaumato- the Volta Region of Ghana. The youths are undertaking collection coccus daniellii. landscape is dominated by the of fruits of T. daniellii during the “Socially, [the collection Agumatsa Range and Mt. Afad- fruiting season for commercial jato, part of the Akwapim-Togo purposes. of T. daniellii] has Introduction Ranges which run in a northeast increased the Forest resources are of great im- and southwest direction between Biology of the Plant portance to people all over the the Volta River and the Ghana- appreciation of and Togo border. The area boasts Mt. world ranging from forest fringe commitment to forest Afadjato, the highest mountain in T. daniellii belongs to the Maran- communities to urban communi- conservation by some Ghana, and the Wli waterfalls, taceae family. It grows well in ties, which live far from the for- the highest waterfalls in West semi-deciduous and deciduous community members, ests. The resources also range Africa. The forest in the area is forests where annual rainfall does especially the young men from products such as timber, one of the few remnants of the not transcend 2000mm. It is a involved in the herbs, twines, fruits, etc. Many eastern edge of the Upper Guinea rhizomatous and monocotyledon- ous herb, propagating itself by harvesting.” governments’ policies consider Forest, a major tropical forest non-timber forest products biome. The area is a globally rhizomes. Long petioles about 2 (NTFPs) as minor products. significant bird area, based on to 2.5m arise from the rhizomes BirdLife International’s criteria. depending on the environment of However, a visit to a forest fringe the plant. These long petioles end community or even urban mar- The Ghana Wildlife Society, in in large broad and oval papery kets in Ghana reveals the impor- partnership with the Gbledi and leaves that can grow to around tance of NTFPs in the daily lives Fodome Ahor Communities is 45cm long and 30cm broad. The of people. They are used as food, implementing the Mt. Afadjato- leaves are ovate-elliptic rounded, in medicine, for shelter, clothing, Agumatsa Community Forest truncate at the base, and shortly etc. While some are used in the Conservation Project with the acuminate at the apex (Yeboah et natural state, others are processed aim of conserving biodiversity al, 1997). before use. Owusu, 2001 listed and aesthetics on Mt. Afadjato as Inflorescence usually arises from seven major NTFPs used in the well as the area in the adjoining Agumatsa Range. The project, the lowest node and may be sim- Afadjato-Agumatsa Area. One of which was funded by the Nether- ple or forked with spikes about 8 these, which is becoming very lands Government between 1998 to 10cm in length and bracts, important in the lives of the and 2003, resulted in the develop- usually imbricate, about 3 to 4cm youths of the Afadjato-Agumatsa ment of micro-scale income gen- in length. The flowers, which area, is the Sweet Prayers plant, erating activities, promotion of may be as long as the bracts, Thaumatococcus daniellii. It is eco-tourism and the establish- form in short spikes close to the 2 herbaceous and grows very well ment of a 12 km Community ground at the base of a swollen petiole. Sepals are broadly linear Page 3 Page 3 Vol 19(1) and about 2.5cm long. As many as 10 to 12 purplish-pink flow- ers may form on each inflorescence, but usually only 2, 3, or 4 rarely more than 4, of these form matured fruits. The fruit grows on short stalks close to the ground and may be covered with plant debris as it clusters on the soil surface within the reach of insects and rodents. It is pyramidal or trigonal in shape, maturing from a dark-green through brown to crimson or bright red colour when fully ripe and may weigh between 6 and 30 g depending on whether it has 1, 2 or 3 seeds. Within the fruit are the black hard seeds that are covered by a thin layer of sticky, transparent gel. The seed has a soft, fleshy juicy cap called an aril, which contains the sweet substance. The plant flowers most of the year but is most prolific from July until late October. Fruit formation, maturing and ripening pre- dominantly occurs from January until mid April. This time is usually off-season for farming. A View from the community nature reserve in Afadjato-Agumatsa Uses of the Plant bagged and transported to Hohoe the district capital to be sold to The plant is known in many forest areas all over West Africa for exporters. Before exporting, the fruits are opened, and the arils cut many local uses. In Ghana, the leaves of the tree are the best off leaving viable seeds. These arils are then frozen and exported. known as they are used for wrapping food. This is also done in Though most of the fruits are collected from the forest in the project the Afadjato area, where women are the main collectors. This area, some are bought from other areas outside the project area. practice is currently reducing due to the introduction of poly- thene bags for food wrapping in recent years. Local hunters also chew the petioles for water during long hunting expeditions. Impact of fruits collection In the Afadjato-Agumatsa area, the fruits are becoming the key The impact of this emerging forest industry is varied. There are product of the sweet prayers plant. Locally, some people use ecological, social and economic impacts in the area. them as sweeteners by licking the seeds to sweeten porridge or fermented palm wine. The fruits are also collected and sold in Ecologically, the collection of the fruits may result in loss of food large quantities to an exporter who exports the arils for commer- for the insects and rodents of the forest floor. Also, during harvest- cial use. The full range of the uses have not been investigated but ing, a lot of stampeding occurs because each harvester tries to out- preliminary investigations reveal that the arils are used to pro- wit the others. This results in the trampling of young T. daniellii and duce Talin, a non-sugar sweetener used in the food, beverages other plants. However, during interviews with collectors, they re- and pharmaceutical industries and by diabetics. Stephen ( Bon- ported that since the active commercial harvesting started in 2001, ne’hin 1997) explains that Talin has a low caloric value and a there has been an increase in the quantity collected from the forests sweetening power 5000 times more than sugar.
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