UNDERSTANDING DIVERSITY IN NTFP MANAGEMENT: A NEGLECTED ISSUE IN NTFP RESEARCH

Transcription

1 NTFP research in the Tropenbos programme: Results and perspectives UNDERSTANDING DIVERSITY IN NTFP MANAGEMENT: A NEGLECTED ISSUE IN NTFP RESEARCH Freerk Wiersum Forestry Sub-department, Wageningen Agricultural University 1 1. DIVERSITY IN NTFP PRODUCTION SYSTEMS The commercial production of NTFPs has resulted in more deforestation than timber production, as witnessed by the large areas of coffee, tea, oil palm and other estates. Commercial plantations and natural forests form two extreme poles of a continuum in NTFP production systems. The best options for multiple-purpose production systems aimed at combined forest conservation and increased income opportunities are formed by production systems that are intermediary between commercial plantations and natural forests. The scope for such production systems has previously been mostly disregarded in research. One of the major reasons for the present interest in the scope for NTFP production is the suggestion that such production can effectively contribute to forest conservation. This suggestion is based on the observation that quite a substantial amount of non-timber forest products is collected in natural forests, and that this collection often causes less damage than timber logging. Consequently, much NTFP research focuses on the question of the amount of scope for NTFP production in sustainable natural forest management. It often seems to be assumed that NTFP production takes place either in natural forests or in commercial tree crop plantations. This distinction reflects the often-suggested dichotomy between nature and culture, with NTFP production systems being conceived in terms of either a natural ecosystem or of a man-made cultivation system. This often-presumed dichotomy of NTFP production systems does not reflect reality. Various studies have indicated that NTFPs are obtained not only from natural forests, but also from a large variety of human-influenced forest types and tree crop plantations (e.g. the Cameroon study reported earlier in this volume). Several of these NTFP production systems still display many of the ecological characteristics of natural forests. This diversity in NTFP production systems has hitherto received relatively scant attention. Nevertheless, their presence illustrates that many local communities are not mere gatherers of NTFPs, but that they are actively managing the forests in order to increase the production of valuable NTFPs. 2. DIVERSITY IN MANAGEMENT CHARACTERISTICS In considering the development potential of NTFPs, attention should be focused on the assessment of various management characteristics rather than on use characteristics. The diversity of NTFP production systems is the logical outcome of the diversity in NTFP management systems. Forest management consists of all the conscious efforts to maintain forest 1 P.O. Box 342, 6700 Wageningen, the Netherlands. freerk.wiersum@bhhk.bosb.wau.nl 1

2 The Tropenbos Foundation, Wageningen, the Netherlands resources and stimulate increased forest production. Several categories of management practices may be distinguished for the conservation and production of NTFPs (Box 1). Many local communities are actually involved in one or more of such practices. The impact of such indigenous forest management practices on the vegetation depends on their nature and intensity. Box 1 Different categories of indigenous NTFP management practices (Wiersum, 1996; 1997) 1. Maintenance of the resource through controlled utilisation and protection - Only certain species harvested according to stand composition, e.g. size, stand structure, etc. -Rotational harvesting regimes - Using harvesting techniques which do not cause tree mortality, e.g. limiting harvested amounts, coppicing/pollarding/lopping - Control of pests and diseases, e.g. sanitary pruning - Fire control practices 2. Stimulation of the production of required products within existing vegetation - Selecting coppice shoots, rejuvenation pruning, ringing trees to stimulate fruiting - Selection of (high-yielding) cultivars - Decreasing water/nutrient/light competition for trees by weeding and thinning non-valuable species - Optimisation of soil conditions (e.g. mulching) to favour desired species 3. Stimulating regeneration of valued species - Protection of natural regeneration - Stimulating of root sprouting - Planting of cuttings - Transplanting of seedlings obtained from natural forests or plantations - Incidental or purposeful seeding Anderson (1990) distinguished two categories of forest management in relation to the impact of management practices: 1. Tolerant forest management: management practices by which the native vegetation is largely conserved or reconstituted through successional stages. 2. Intrusive forest management: management practices by which the native vegetation is replaced by (mixed) tree plantations that are manipulated by long-term human activities. Tolerant forest management results in the modification of forests, while intrusive forest management results in transformed forests (Box 2). The presence of such diverse forest types indicates that local communities exert their own agency in dealing with NTFPs. Forest products are not collected from wilderness areas, but from socially-differentiated forest environments. Various production systems have gradually developed as a result of an evolutionary continuum in interactions between local communities and forests (Wiersum, 1997). During this evolution, the management activities have gradually become intensified and a process of co-domestication of forests and tree species has taken place. During this process there was a concomitant change from wild to domesticated tree species and a change in structure and composition of tree stands occurred (Wienk et al., 1997). 2

3 NTFP research in the Tropenbos programme: Results and perspectives Box 2 Different agroforestry systems incorporating NTFP production (Wiersum, 1997) A. (Modified) forests with prevalently tolerant forest management practices Gathering of non-timber products in natural forests in which NTFPs are protected: specific areas or specific tree species in natural forests that are favoured and protected because of their value for providing useful materials. Example: individually claimed trees Resource-enriched natural forests: natural forests, either old-growth or fallow vegetation, whose composition has been altered by selective protection and incidental or purposeful propagule dispersion of food and/or commercial species. Examples: enriched natural forests; enriched fallows B. Transformed forests with prevalently intrusive forest management practices Reconstructed natural forests: (semi-)cultivated forest stands with several planted useful species, tolerated or encouraged wild species of lesser value and non-tree plants (herbs, lianas) composed of mainly wild species. Example: forest gardens Mixed arboriculture: cultivated mixed stands, almost exclusively of planted, and often domesticated, tree species. Examples: home gardens; smallholder plantations Interstitial trees on croplands: either naturally regenerated or protected trees, or planted and sometimes domesticated trees scattered over agricultural fields. Example: scattered fruit trees cultivation on/along crop fields Commercial plantations with associated agroforestry practices: plantations of domesticated tree crops which are (temporarily) inter-cropped with food plants or grazed by livestock. Example: (mixed) tree-crop plantations At present, many of these indigenously developed forest types have mainly local significance, although some also play an important role in the commercial production of non-timber forest products (Wienk et al., 1997). Most of these human-created forest types have until now been barely acknowledged by forest science. As a recent book on the nature of forests in the West African forest-savannah edge (Fairhead and Leach, 1996) illustrates, the origin of such anthropogenic forest types is often not recognised, as ecologists and foresters have mostly disregarded the positive influences of local communities on forest composition and production. The usual perception is that local communities are mere destroyers of forests (by necessity or ignorance). It is sometimes also considered that they may be preservers of patches of natural forests on ancestral lands, but the possibility that they may be active manipulators of forests is usually not considered. Little attention has been given to the possibility that local communities have enriched forests with tree species they value or have even reconstructed forests to suit their needs for specific forest resources, while maintaining much of their original structure and biodiversity. 3. CONSEQUENCES FOR RESEARCH The conclusion that local people are not mere gatherers of NTFPs from virgin forests, but that they may be more or less intensively managing these resources in human-influenced forest types, has several important consequences for NTFP research: 3

4 The Tropenbos Foundation, Wageningen, the Netherlands 1. More research should be focused on the identification of different types of indigenously developed forests and of the various factors which influence both their dynamics and sustainability. This means that the concept of sustainable forest management should incorporate the notion that not only the ecological integrity and social functions of forests should be maintained, but also the indigenous ingenuity and creativity in conserving, enriching or even reconstructing forests. 2. For most local communities, managing NTFP resources is only a part-time activity that is combined with other land-use activities. As the utilisation of NTFPs is integrated within the total livelihood system of local people, it cannot be understood in the context of specialised resource utilisation. Research should therefore not focus primarily on the role of NTFP production in contributing to forest conservation, but on the role of NTFP production within integrated land-use systems. Box 3 Provisional categorisation of NTFPs according to management characteristics Supply characteristics 1. Production characteristics - Degree of ecological sustainability of extraction - Ease of vegetative or regenerative propagation - Ease of cultivation under different environmental conditions - Ease of stimulating production by technological means 2. Organisation of production - Access to NTFP resources - Gender division of production responsibilities Demand characteristics 1. Opportunistically collected products for subsistence consumption not related to main household needs (e.g. snack fruits) 2. Occasionally collected products purposively collected in times of emergency (e.g. medicinal products, emergency foods during droughts) 3. Products for regular household consumption - Easy to substitute with products of other species (e.g. various fruit products, fodder, fuelwood) - Difficult to substitute with products from other species (e.g. preferred forest foods) 4. Products for sale at various market types (local, regional/national, international) - High degree of competition with substitutes - Low degree of competition with substitutes (e.g. certain medicinal products, gums, resins) 5. Products demanded in manufactured forms, and which can be locally produced giving them added value (e.g. palm sugar, liquors) Research should be focused on the assessment of various factors influencing NTFP management rather than only on factors influencing their collection and use. Up to the present, most typologies of NTFPs have been based on their use characteristics. Such classifications should be considered as a first step in developing a typology of NTFP management. Little attention has so far been paid to elaborating these typologies and placing NTFPs within a typological framework that explains patterns of NTFPs management. These typologies will have more predictive value in assessing the scope for developing different production systems than the present NTFP classifications (cf. Ruiz, 1995; Peters, 1996). Such a framework might possibly be based on an integrated set of supply and demand characteristics (Box 3). 4

5 NTFP research in the Tropenbos programme: Results and perspectives 3. REFERENCES Anderson, A.B. (1990). Extraction and forest management by rural inhabitants in the Amazon estuary, in A.B. Anderson (ed.), Alternatives to deforestation: steps towards sustainable use of the Amazon rain forest. Columbia University Press, New York, USA. Fairhead, J. and Leach, M. (1996). Misreading the African landscape. Society and ecology in a forest-savanna mosaic. African Studies Series No. 90, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Peters, C.M. (1996). The ecology and management of non-timber forest resources. World Bank Technical Paper No. 322, World Bank, Washington, D.C., USA. Ruiz, M.R. (1995). A conceptual framework for CIFOR s research on non-wood forest products. CIFOR Working Paper No. 6, Center for International Forest Research, Bogor, Indonesia. Wienk, J.F., Wiersum, K.F. and Neeteson, J.J. (eds.) (1997). Processes and stages in the transition from natural forest ecosystems to tree crop plantations. Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science 45(4): Wiersum, K.F. (1996). Domestication of valuable tree species in agroforestry systems: evolutionary stages from gathering to breeding, in R.R.B. Leakey, A.B.Temu, M. Melnyk, and P. Vantomme (eds.), Domestication and commercialization of non-timber forest products in agroforestry systems. Non-wood Forest Products 9, FAO, Rome, Italy. Wiersum, K.F. (1997). Indigenous exploitation and management of tropical forest resources: an evolutionary continuum in forest-people interactions. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 63:

6 The Tropenbos Foundation, Wageningen, the Netherlands 6