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Beekeeping as a Non-Timber Forest Product (NTFP) under the Modified Taungya System (MTS) is under exploited. Information on the types of tree plantation and wood hives suitable for its productivity...

Shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes) is one of the most commonly consumed mushrooms and an important forest product in Japan. In outdoor log cultivation of shiitake, colonization of logs by wild fu...

Broom grass (Thysanolaena maxima) is an important non-timber forest product throughout the northern provinces of Lao PDR, playing akey role in the livelihoods of rural populations during the dry se...

Njansang -Ricinodendron heudelotii (Baill.) Pierre ex Pax.- is a commonly traded non-timber forest product from Central African humid forests, used as a spice. South West Cameroon was selected as major production area and market where little data exist on the contribution of njansang to stakeholders livelihoods in the value chain. Interviews were used to gather information from 261 harvesters, traders and processing enterprises. From 2013 to 2015, 65.8 tons were harvested, with 13.17 tons traded in markets in the South West Region and in Nigeria for a value of €33,511. The ease of accessing markets makes a significant difference to the quantity harvested and contribution to harvesters’ household income. Average profit for harvesters is higher in regional markets than in local ones. Harvester’s profits were higher than buy’amsell’ams, retailers and exporters. Processors add the most value and earn the highest unit profits. Livelihood dependence upon njansang decreases along the chain, with harvesters more dependent than traders. Seasonality, corruption, storage and processing, influence price. Long-term value chain sustainability could be improved by increasing collaboration between stakeholders, collective action, disseminating knowledge about processing and storage techniques, and promoting domestication and cultivation to enable trade in this largely wild harvested NTFP to continue sustainably.

Trade barriers of forest products are often advocated in the name of protecting forest resources. Whether the promoting of trade of forest products will increase or decrease the global forest resources is still a matter of debate. We offer an assessment of how forest product trade helps shape observed forest change, by relating wood consumption change to trade of forest products based on cross-section data from 61 countries in 2010. The result shows that wood outputs have positive effects on wood consumption. Compared to domestic production, the result suggests that imports of forest products can help reduce wood consumption. This may indicate that trade liberalization can promote the allocation efficiency of timber resources across the global, which can improve the utilization efficiency and reduce the wood consumption in the world to protect the global forest resources. It is suggested that the high-efficient harvest and wood-processing technological transfer should be advocated in the internati...

The genus Protium Burm f. (Burseraceae) is characterized by having species with the property of exuding resin from tree trunks. These resins have several popular uses. Besides that, they are being used in the cosmetic industry and in scientific studies. Considering the growing demand and the potential of this forest product, it is necessary to develop a sustainable management technique that increases the amount of resin obtained, without altering its quality. This could avoid the product running low on the market and the improper exploitation of trees in the forest, and could turn into a new source of income for extractivist communities. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of the chemical stimulant ethephon on the resin production in two species of Protium at Ducke Forest Reserve, in Manaus, Central Amazonia, Brazil. Another objective was to verify the variation on the chemical composition of the resin hexane extract in Protium strumosum Daly, caused by the use of stimulant, by GC-FID and G...

An industry-wide emphasis on sustainable asphalt practices has given rise to increasing use of warm-mix asphalt (WMA) technologies. WMA reduces both binder viscosity and mixing and compaction temperatures by 20–55°C during the asphalt mix production and laydown process. This research investigates several bio-derived WMA additives that act as chemical modifiers with surfactant properties. Two established additives derived from the forest products industry are studied as well as a WMA additive in development that is derived from corn. The objective of this research is to use the new AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design to compare the established forest product WMA additives with the new WMA corn-derived additive that is in development. Using binder and mix test results as input values in AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design, predicted pavement performance was evaluated for sensitivity to different climatic conditions seen in the Midwestern United States. Results indicate that the climatic conditions have a larger impact ...

Natural resources industries, such as the forest product industry, must deal with variable input material, which affects their efficiency and their ability to accurately predict output yields. In order to address this, the industry can use technologies that adapt to variable input, or plan its operations taking variability into account. In the Canadian softwood lumber industry, the first approach is used with the adoption of advanced technologies that adapt sawing patterns to logs’ and work-in-process characteristic using scanners technology. Another approach to deal with material variability is input material classification. Specific characteristics can be measured to classify input material and reduce variability within each class. However, whether the process involves logs, mining ores or recycled papers, material classification has both a value and a cost. This paper first proposes a method based on classification tree analysis to classify hardwood logs. Next, using agent-based simulation, it analyses...

The effects of six drying schedules on physical and mechanical properties of Paulownia wood (Paulownia fortune Seem.) were studied. Three schedules were based on the recommendations by Forest Product Laboratory (FPL), while the other three were established based on diffusion theory. FPL schedules consisted of a mild (T6E3), a moderate (T6E4), and a severe (T7E4) drying schedule; diffusion schedules consisted of three initial moisture contents (MC) of 113% (Dif-1), 75.5% (Dif-2), and 53.5% (Dif-3). Boards with a commercial thickness of 5 cm were randomly dried to the final moisture content of 8 ± 2% in all six schedules. Results indicated that drying under diffusion schedules had the most improved properties due to the beneficial effect of heat upon wood plasticity. However, lower plasticity effect in FPL schedules, due to lower temperatures, resulted in lower properties in most cases.

Community forestry is an approach for mitigating deforestation and forest degradation by managing the forest resources for benefitting neighboring communities. Monetary benefits and costs are associated in a community forest during conservation and management of a forest. For sustainable forest management, the benefit should be more than cost which is a contesting issue of research. So, this study was conducted in a community forest of the central part of Nepal with the help of 80 household surveys and a focus group discussion. The firsthand information collected at the site is complimented by forest product harvest and cost-related secondary information. It was observed that the total annual harvest of timber was 60 cubic feet, pole was 8 cubic feet, firewood was 1,110 Bhari,1 fodder was 4,388 Bhari, and leaf litter was 590 Bhari. To manage a forest, people were involved in fencing, thinning, and meetings. Management cost was six times higher than administration cost. The benefit from firewood and fodder...

Nondestructive testing and evaluation techniques able to extract information about the internal structure of the samples under test are very important in the wood industry. Microwave imaging systems have been considered for a long time promising apparatuses for this task. In this framework, approaches exploiting the full scattering phenomena for creating images of the distributions of the dielectric properties of the targets have been developed in the last few years. In this paper, a prototype of microwave tomographic system is presented and several experimental validation confirming its suitability for the use in the wood and forest product industry are reported.

Non-timber forest product (NTFP) markets are often used as a development tool to improve livelihood stability of socio-economically vulnerable communities with access to natural resources. Interventions to encourage growth of NTFP markets, however, often succeed at reaching only subsets of target populations. To address impacts of changing NTFP markets on livelihoods and sustainable forest management, value chain and livelihood systems analyses were used to evaluate impacts of a buriti (Mauritia flexuosa) handicraft market on heterogeneous buriti users in Maranhao, Brazil. Data were obtained through interviews with 97 individuals who operated as different types of buriti users. Buriti value chain diagrams were constructed by identifying patterns among responses. Socioeconomic characteristics of actors were identified using statistical means comparisons. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the socioeconomic factors that correlated with peoples' role in the value chain. Results showed that the...

The main objective of this article was to analyse the impacts of emerging bioenergy markets on traditional forest product sector markets in the USA. An econometric model was developed to obtain the equilibrium estimates for the bioenergy and traditional forest markets. The results from the econometric model, using data-set for the state of Florida, suggested that biomass for bioenergy and pulpwood and biomass for bioenergy and sawtimber act as substitutes while sawtimber and pulpwood act as complements to each other. A price subsidy policy scenario was considered to simulate a 30% increase in the demand for biomass for bioenergy. The simulation results suggested that inclusion of this policy scenario might generate additional benefits to forest landowners and bioenergy sector, while sawmill and pulpmill sectors might face adverse financial impacts.

Nontimber forest product (NTFP) certification has potential to promote sustainable harvest and to bolster rural livelihoods. This research compares environmental and socioeconomic benefits of Brazil nut certification for 231 producers in 17 communities in the trinational border region of Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru during the 2006–2007 harvest. Specific objectives were: (1) to analyze differences in “best management practices” between certified and noncertified producers; (2) to identify socioeconomic benefits associated with certified nuts; and (3) to explore producer perceptions of nut certification. Organic and Fairtrade certification were associated with better postharvest practices and higher prices, while Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification was related to preharvest planning. Certification was viewed most positively in Bolivia, where producers gleaned financial and social benefits, moderately in Peru, and least positively in Brazil, where benefits were lower or nonexistent. Partnerships wit...

Discussions of access to natural resources on private lands in the United States often focus on property rights and ownership. In Maine, changing ownership of private forestland has been associated with increased posting against trespass. This raises concerns about the terms of physical entry to land for resource use. While the right of entry is an important component of access to natural resources, other factors also affect access. Building on a theory proposed by Ribot and Peluso (2003), this study of nontimber forest product gatherers and forest landowners/managers in northern Maine examines social and biophysical factors that affect access to natural resources. We consider who is affected by these factors, and suggest ways forward to promote more equitable access to nontimber forest products, especially for Native Americans in the region.

Knowledge on the role of climatic and edaphic factors that influence the essential oil production in aromatic plants is essential for the development of strategies for management and conservation. Mexican oregano is a non-timber forest product traditionally harvested from wild populations by the rural Mayan communities. Despite its economic importance, studies designed to evaluate the variation in essential oil production, and its relationship with environmental conditions, are scarce. The main goal of this study was to assess spatial variation in essential oil yield of 14 wild populations located in a bioclimatic gradient in south-eastern Mexico, and explore if such variation was associated with different climatic and edaphic conditions. A multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between essential oil yield and climatic and edaphic variables. Geographic variation in essential oil yield was observed among bioclimatic regions, among populations within regions and amo...

Integrated agriculture and forestry land-use practices are critical in countries like Sudan, which faces accelerated deforestation, as they can make land-use and agricultural production systems more sustainable. The accelerated loss of forest vegetation is often perceived to result from increased unsustainable exploitation by poor rural populations for their livelihood needs. To explore this critique, we examined smallholder farmers' (SHFs) views on the management and utilization of trees for livelihood improvement and environmental protection. The study involved a cross-sectional survey conducted with SHFs from two villages in Kosti province through questionnaire-based interviews, focus group discussions, and Participatory Learning and Action methodology. Descriptive statistics suggest that forest product exploitation by SHFs has the potential to be sustainable, and is important for both subsistence and income generation. Management strategies adopted by the SHFs to ensure improved yields include (a) the...

This article examines the feasibility of integrating five non-timber forest product (NTFP) species into field crop cultivation in eastern Nepal. Cost-benefit analyses including Net Present Value (NPV) and Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) show that all the NTFP species are more profitable than field crops. This profitability relationship holds true even under a sensitivity analysis assuming a 20% reduction in yield and/or fall in prices. However, despite the profitability, farmers do not readily integrate these species into their farmlands on a large scale. A regression analysis of constraining factors explored in a household survey revealed that domestication of NTFP species is significantly influenced by factors such as knowledge and skill required for domestication, frequency of visits to a forest, length of fallow period, size of upland terraces, cattle and goat herd size, accessibility of a forest, permit system, trading system, and market uncertainty. Overall, the unfavorable institutional environment has be...

Dipterocarpus wood resin is an important non-timber forest product for the ethnic Brao and Tampuon people from Teun Commune, Ratanakiri Province, northeastern Cambodia. While wood resin tree tenure is typically private, whether in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, or Malaysia, in Teun Commune wood resin trees are managed privately, by small groups, and communally, thus providing a unique opportunity for comparing the conditions of wood resin trees managed under different tenure arrangements. This study indicates that wood resin trees managed by small groups and communally are in better condition than those managed privately. Locals believe that this is because everyone has more of an interest in not damaging communally managed trees, and that members of the communities are subject to social factors that influence the behavior of wood resin tappers. The long-term impacts of logging on wood resin tree management are also discussed.

This article investigates sources that lead to the cost growth of eight U.S. forest products industries during the period 1997 to 2005. The cost growth rate decomposes into two components: the cost efficiency change and the cost technical change. Empirical evidences indicate that the cost growth in wood product industries is predominantly from cost technical change. In contrast, cost inefficiency primarily drives the cost growth in the pulp and paper industries.

Forestry and forest industries are transport-intensive sectors. In Norway, the forest sector (forestry and forest industries) represents less than 1% of gross domestic product, but 14% of the total road transport work. Road transport represents 19% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Norway. This article is an analysis of the economic and GHG emission impacts of the following three transport policy scenarios targeting the forest sector in Norway: (1) increased fuel prices, (2) increased allowable total weight for log trucks, and (3) accelerated infrastructure development. Three different models were combined in the analyses: a national full equilibrium model, a national transport logistics model and a regionalized partial equilibrium forest sector model. The results showed that increased maximum total weight had a greater economic impact on transport costs for roundwood than for forest industry products. Elimination of bottlenecks, such as bridges with limited allowable weight, is needed if ...

This article examines African production and sale of beeswax during the period of British colonial rule in Tanzania. It argues that the Nyamwezi and Ngindo people in particular were active in the exploitation of this forest product as a means to pay taxes and gain access to imports in a way that synchronized with subsistence agriculture and which gave them a measure of control over their economic lives. However, while supported by some colonial officials who tried to increase beeswax exports, African producers had to struggle against forestry and game officers who attempted to prevent their access to prime beeswax areas. The purchase and export of this lucrative product was controlled by a small number of Asian traders who also represented a barrier to the producers’ efforts to gain a fair price.

Based on interviews with balsam bough pickers in northern Minnesota (n = 41), this study uses data related to all nontimber forest products (NTFP) harvested to explore benefits of multiple-NTFP analysis, and the utility of two concepts in understanding multiple-NTFP harvesting. First assuming that economic activity is cultural, we use the concept of pluriform economy to disaggregate NTFP activity, while the concept of cultural keystone products is used to arrange the component products into salient groups. One keystone product emerged—balsam boughs—and two keystone groupings—game and furs. Balsam, game, and furs represented 34% of all NTFP identified, yet accounted for the activities of 71% of the sample. The concepts facilitated organization of NTFP into meaningful analytical units. We suggest that balsam harvesters are distinct, overlapping groups organized by culturally important NTFP. We conclude that the cultural keystone concept will contribute to research by providing indicators of distinct, interc...

Despite growing interest in urbanization and its social and ecological impacts on formerly rural areas, empirical research remains limited. Extant studies largely focus either on issues of social exclusion and enclosure or ecological change. This article uses the case of sweetgrass basketmaking in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, to explore the implications of urbanization, including gentrification, for the distribution and accessibility of sweetgrass, an economically important nontimber forest product (NTFP) for historically African American communities, in this rapidly growing area. We explore the usefulness of grounded visualization for research efforts that are examining the existence of “fringe ecologies” associated with NTFP. Our findings highlight the importance of integrated qualitative and quantitative analyses for revealing the complex social and ecological changes that accompany both urbanization and rural gentrification.

Russia is the world's largest exporter of roundwood, mainly to China, Finland and Japan. The Russian government recently announced an increase in its export tax on softwood roundwood from the present 6.5% of export product value to 80% by January 2009. The effects of this policy on the world forest sector to 2020 were simulated with the Global Forest Products Model. The predicted results were lower Russian roundwood exports and prices, lower global wood supply and higher world roundwood prices. In response, the USA, Germany and New Zealand would increase production and export of roundwood. Major consumers of Russian roundwood would suffer a reduction in production and export of wood products. By 2020 Russian harvests and roundwood exports would be 49 million m3 (19%) and 51 million m3 (50%) lower, respectively. The price of roundwood in Russia would be 16% lower. This would encourage a modest increase in Russian forest product production: 1–3% higher. However, Russian export revenues would be US ...

Forest transportation costs are the major cost component for many forest product supply chains. In order to minimise these costs, many organisations have turned to optimisation models to guide decisions that are extremely complex in nature. These models generally assume that input parameters are known with certainty, but in reality they are often associated with a high degree of uncertainty. One way of dealing with uncertainty is through robust optimisation, a procedure which is capable of generating near-optimal solutions that are relatively unaffected by the surrounding uncertainty. We illustrate this by means of a case study that employs a robust optimisation procedure. Our procedure employs a two-phase approach. The first phase creates a more tractable problem by limiting the search to those solutions that are near optimal and feasible. The second phase simulates the affect of uncertainty on the solutions isolated in the previous phase. The simulation results are then evaluated for robustness by means...

Introduction While the United States has long been the most important destination for western Canada's forest products, markets in Asia have also played an important role in the development of western Canada's forest industry. Japan has been an especially significant market, although demand for western Canada's exports in Japan has fallen in recent years. Western Canada's reliance on U.S. demand has increased as a result, and a strong economy and a widespread construction boom in the United States have provided a further pull toward this market. However, U.S. demand has recently weakened, creating risks to the sustainability of an industry that plays a critical role in western Canada's economy. At the same time, the economic landscape in Asia is shifting, creating both opportunities and threats for western Canada's forest sector. This article will discuss several topics related to the role of East Asia's markets in western Canada's forest industry. First, the history of western Canada's forest industry and export trends will be reviewed. The current state of forest product markets in Asia will then be examined. Some specific trends that may affect future demand for forest products in Asia will be identified, and overall economic trends in some key markets will be summarized. Examples of initiatives to improve Canada's forest product trade with Asia will be outlined. Finally, advantages that western Canada's forest product exporters have and some of the challenges they face in the region will be discussed. The Early Development of Western Canada's Forest Industry The first recorded export of forest products from western Canada took place in 1788, when a ship set sail from Vancouver Island's Nootka Sound carrying planks and spars to be sold in China (Mackay 1982). While the value of western Canada's forests was recognized by early explorers and settlers, shipments such as this were incidental through the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and most timber was harvested for local use. Indeed, western Canada's Aboriginal people have harvested timber and other forest products for local use for thousands of years. Aboriginal communities historically used timber for constructing houses, canoes, totem poles, and boxes, and made items such as baskets, hats, mats, rope, and clothing from yellow and red cedar. They also used timber and other vegetation for fuel, food, medicines, and a variety of other domestic uses (Turner and Cocksedge 2001). However, by the early 1860s, some of the newly arriving settlers on Canada's west coast had established sawmills on southern Vancouver Island and the mainland (around what is now the City of Vancouver), and shipments to a variety of destinations in the Pacific Rim began to occur. Lumber and spars were shipped to markets in the United States, Mexico, Hawaii, China, Australia, Peru, and Chile (Lawrence 1957). Beams made of prime British Columbia timber were shipped to China for use in the Imperial Palace in Beijing (Mackay 1982). The early industry struggled: many sawmills operated for only a year or two before going out of business or changing hands. The arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in 1886 "swept the industry out of its pioneer stage and into growth and change" (Mackay 1982, 16). The timber needs of the railroad itself were a source of demand, and once in operation, the railroad provided a ready means for transporting products outside the region. The railroad also helped financial and human capital flow into western Canada, facilitating the region's economic growth (Lawrence 1957). However, the arrival of the railroad also shifted the focus of western Canada's forest industry toward supplying markets in the east, especially in the rapidly growing prairie region, rather than overseas. By the end of the First World War, markets in the east had declined, and lumber manufacturers on Canada's west coast once again looked across the Pacific for opportunities. …

This study evaluated the impacts of government interventions aimed at broadening forest species utilization and exports in Ghana. The interventions included setting up the Woodworking Sector Development Program (WSDP), raw material regulation and the introduction of a levy on exporting major species as air-dried lumber. After the government interventions were implemented, there was increased use and export of lesser-used species (LUS). However, only the air-dry levy showed a significant correlation with an increase in percent of LUS exported in the post-intervention time period.

Static and dynamic models of the derived demand for forest product imports were estimated for each of 10 major forest products covering industrial roundwood, wood-based panels, pulp, and paper and paperboard. The models were estimated with panel data from 64 countries for 1970–1987, by pooled ordinary least squares, first differencing, fixed effects, random effects and the Arellano–Bond approach. The predictive accuracy of the demand equations was tested with postsample data from 1988–1997. Based on multiple criteria, the best results were obtained with the dynamic model estimated by the Arellano–Bond method. For most products the demand for imports was found to be inelastic with respect to price. For all products the demand for imports was elastic with respect to income.

This paper describes and evaluates the current role that non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and their users play on the conservation of the four protected areas-Reserva Ecologica Cayambe-Coca, Reserva Ecologica Antisana, Parque Nacional Cotopaxi, and Parque Nacional Sumaco-Napo Galeras-that comprise the Condor Bioreserve. The category non-timber forest product (also referred to as non-wood forest product) encompasses a myriad of resources that reside in forests and can be useful to people. Plants from which NTFPs are derived play essential roles in tropical forest ecosystem processes such as regeneration and nutrient cycling. In the Condor Bioreserve, certain species of such plants are commercially valuable while others are endangered. People are extracting these NTFPs from the Bioreserve, yet the magnitude and frequency of such extraction is unknown. This paper examines how the three groups of land users that have been identified by The Nature Conservancy-colonists, indigenous peoples, and hacie...

The rural poor are known to turn to tropical forest resources in times of need. But what explains differential use of this “natural insurance” policy among households? Drawing from a 1998 survey of 116 indigenous households in Honduras, this article shows that households sell forest products to pay for crop shortfalls and illness, but that loans from kin are a more common way to weather calamity. Young households with few liquidatable assets and little land are the most likely to sell forest products to self-insure. Development policies that build on the “natural insurance” concept should anticipate major variation within target populations; meanwhile, conservationists should recognize that the lack of formal safety nets in rural communities will motivate the sale of forest products.

In the western Iranian coppice oak forests, current harvests using traditional practices generally exceed regrowth potential, resulting in forest degradation and loss. To reverse this trend, more careful consideration is now being given to species composition, site conditions, forest production potential, and assessments of local wood and non-wood forest product requirements to develop improved forest management plans. The present study was carried out in the Doveyse forest, located in Kurdistan Province, northern Zagros. Clustering analysis of data from a systematic vegetation survey of the 660 ha forest site yielded four distinct plant ecological groups; differences between groups were confirmed using Sorensen index comparisons. Groups 1 and 2 included highly degraded sites that require conservation to rehabilitate or restore productive forest. The results suggest that traditional utilization could be continued on the more fertile sites within groups 3 and 4 under optimal management conditions. Site pot...

Bushmeat, the meat of wild animals, is a highly valuable non-timber forest product in West and Central Africa. The trade in this commodity is currently of great interest to development and conservation agencies, due to concern over the sustainability of its use and the implications of its loss for poor rural households. In this study, we describe the bushmeat commodity chain that supplies the city of Sekondi-Takoradi in Ghana. There are five primary actors in the trade: commercial hunters and farmer hunters, all of whom are men based in local rural areas; and wholesalers, market traders and chopbar owners, all of whom are women based in the city. Bushmeat is freely traded between all actors and actor groups, but the main trade route is from commercial hunters to wholesalers to chopbars. Wholesalers are the smallest actor group but handle the largest per capita market share, whilst chopbars are the most numerous group and together account for 85 per cent of retail sales. The costs of participating in the t...

Kullu or gum karaya (Sterculia urens) is a gum-yielding tree found in the dry deciduous forests of Madhya Pradesh, India. The tree is source of an important gum called kullu gum, gum karaya or katira. Katira—a nationalized forest product in Madhya Pradesh—is commercially and industrially very important. The Saheriyas—a forest dependent tribal community of Sheopur—extract katira from naturally growing kullu trees in the neighbouring forests, using their traditional gum tapping technique. However, this method of gum tapping is destructive and wasteful. Also, the gum thus collected contains impurities like wood-chips and dust and fetches a very low market price. Recognising the need to enhance the capacities of the gum tappers in the District to harvest this precious NTFP resource sustainably, the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) conducted action research and organised a series of village-level skill enhancement programs in Sheopur for the gum-tappers as well as for the Forest Department...

The production and sales of woodcarvings rose substantially during the 1990s in Zimbabwe. Potential conflict between informal groups selling forest commodities and institutions that control the use of forest products is inherent in this fast growing sector. The aim of this study was to identify organizations, stakeholders, and institutions associated with the control and management of tree use on communal lands, to assess how familiar people are with these institutions, and to establish the level of enforcement of the various rules. Formal institutions governing natural resource use are part of state organizations that have published and codified control mechanisms in place. Informal institutions were considered to be traditional leadership structures. In rural areas, knowledge of the official/codified control mechanisms was practically absent, being limited to the few persons in charge of the execution of the legal provisions. Effective control and prosecution of offenders under either theformal or informal system was rare. In practice an open-access situation without any form of controls on tree use for carvings was apparent, and a degree of confusion over who controls forest product use was prevalent.

Synopsis The southern African forestry and forest products industry contributes two percent of the countries gross domestic product, yet is one ofthe most globalised industrial sectors. Forest product exports make up eight percent of the countries total exports and produce an annual net trade surplus of R5 billion. To remain globally competitive, the southernMrican forestry industry must continue to produce low cost wood of the required quality for processors. Increasing yield per hectare is a significant means to achieving this aim and is actively pursued by industry players, particularly through genetic improvement of planting stock. To maximise future productivity from plantations, it is important to consider and measure a number of components within the deployment process. The concept of operational gain is more than the weighted average of the genetic quality of planted hectares, and encompasses tree breeding efficiencies, propagation efficiencies, matching of species and genotype to site, plant use ...

How researchers describe groups living within or near the world's tropical rain forests has important implications for how and why these groups are targeted for assistance by conservation and development organizations. This article explores how data about market behavior can be used to assess one aspect of forest peoples’ livelihoods: their “dependence” on forest resources as a source of market income. With the intent of revealing the importance of methodology to how we describe forest peoples’ livelihoods, I draw from a multiyear survey of market activity among the Tawahka Sumu of Honduras and distinguish nested measures of the Tawahkas’ engagement in forest-product sale. Results indicate that whether or not the Tawahka —or any forest group — can be considered financially “dependent” on forest resources depends on the spatial and temporal scales at which data are aggregated. As a group, the Tawahka earned 18 percent of total market income from forest-product sale, but their group profile masked a high de...

Non-timber forest product (NTFP) literature frequently laments the absence of an information base for policy and management decisions. While formal scientific data on the biological and social ecologies of most NTFPs are limited to nonexistent, long-time gatherers often have extensive experiential knowledge bases. Researchers and managers may overlook this expertise because of assumptions about the nature of knowledge and the identity of individuals who possess valuable information. These assumptions are explored and contrasted to the concept of local knowledge. A case study of gatherers in Michigan's Upper Peninsula found that many possess extensive knowledge of the products they harvest and observe stewardship practices to assure their sustained availability. The paper is illustrated by descriptions of four gatherers and concludes with recommendations for incorporating the local knowledges of individuals from a variety of cultures into policy, research, and management.

International debates on forest-based rural small enterprise development provide the theoretical context in this study. The research focuses upon the constraints that inhibit the growth and expansion of rural non-farm small medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the forestry sector in the Wild Coast spatial development initiative (SDI).

Summary Participatory research involves members of interested communities who work with researchers to apply their joint skills and experience to explore issues of mutual concern. There is an increasingly explicit federal mandate for participatory research efforts involving stakeholder groups in public land management. This paper presents a case study of one effort ongoing in the Hayfork Adaptive Management Area (AMA) on the Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity national forests of northern California. There, a network of U.S. Forest Service staff, scientists, local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and nontimber forest product harvesters (wildcrafters) has been working to address ecological, economic, and social aspects of harvesting nontimber forest products (NTFP) from public land. This paper discusses the challenges of NTFP management on public lands and analyzes participatory research as an approach for addressing some of these challenges.

Prunus africana trees' bark from moist forests on Mt. Cameroon produce a medicinal extractive that is traded internationally with high economic significance. Because sustainable bark harvesting was widely abandoned since the early 1990s and because the economic status of the rural population has deteriorated in the area, illegal and destructive debarking became common. Under the present form of exploitation this tree species is expected to become extremely scarce in the region within a few years. To understand this recent development, historical, legal, and social conditions of the local population are highlighted. With regard to these constraints, options for sustainable management of this valuable non-timber forest product are presented on the legal and technical level to maintain a commodity that has a high potential to contribute to the socioeconomic development of the rural people.

Among the reasons why an income that people get from any given non timber forest product can decline are, over-harvesting of the resource base, capturing of the business by local elite, domestication of the product, decreased demand, or manufacturing of substitutes. In all of these scenarios, income for local collectors is likely to diminish or disappear altogether. This Special Issue of the International Tree Crops Journal brings together a number of studies from Bolivia, Peru, Zimbabwe and Cameroon assessing the sustainability of incomes from non timber forest products once their commercialisation has already been achieved. The studies conclude that avoiding over-harvesting of a commercially successful forest product will in most cases require some restraints on harvesting, usually through developing rules and regulations at the appropriate level. These institutional arrangements are also needed to avoid exclusive income capturing by powerful elites. Sustained production can also be achieved th...

Commercial exploitation of non-timber forest products has been playing a major role in the northern Bolivian Amazon for more than a century. Initially relying on the exploitation of rubber, the regional economy underwent a first diversification as a consequence of the post-World War I rubber crisis: rubber tapping became supplemented with subsistence agriculture and Brazil nut extraction. This mode of making one's living prevailed in the region for several decades until Bolivian rubber trade came to a standstill in the early 1990s. The recent rubber crisis called again for substantial modifications of the regional economy. This paper examines the conversion from a rubber-based economy into production modes making broader use of forest resources. A village- level survey conducted in 163 rural settlements gave evidence that increased commercialization of Brazil nuts, palm hearts, and timber largely offset progressively lower incomes from rubber exploitation. In addition subsistence and market-orien...

Summary As population increases, the needs for products from the forest increase, along with the needs for recreation, wildlife, and esthetics. Although some of these products can also be produced by substitutes, such as plastic, steel, or aluminum, forest products have the desirable property of coming from a renewable resource, that is economically produced, and has positive environmental aspects. While use of forests for products does not preclude their use for recreation, and other nonproduct values, setting aside large tracts solely for recreation obviously can constrain total forest product yields. It is proposed that emphasis should be placed on intensive plantation management, or production forests, to significantly improve product flows to meet people's needs, while freeing other areas for alternative uses. Examples are given to show how genetically improved stock, seedling culture, site preparation, management of competing grass and hardwoods, fertilization, and thinning, can be used to increase ...

Ecologists, managers, federal forest officials, biologists, Russian and international environmentalists are developing and rethinking the practices and products of a timber operation in central Siberia. Predivinsk Lespromkhoz is a timber producing community located on the Einisei River, 150 kilometers north of Krasnoyarsk in central Siberia. The four thousand inhabitants are faced with expanding costs, a loss of financial support from the government, a collapsed market and disappearing natural resources. The restructuring of the Russian Government gave local foresters and limber operations more control of their resources but unfortunately, inflation and the dwindling economy restricted capital for implementation of new, sustainable forest practices and improved marketable products. Predivinsk is relatively accessible to foreigners interested in the taiga of central Siberia and scientists from the Krasnoyarsk Forest Institute welcome collaborative projects.

SUMMARY Problems and prospects of minor forest resource uses and management in three remote high elevation villages in the Indian Central Himalaya were studied. Of the 45 species constituting the minor forest product resource base, medicinal plants (14 species), wild edibles (ten species) and bamboos (four species) were important both for local use and for the rural economy. A range of tree species had fodder and organic manure value. The management practices differ in the government-owned forests and village community-owned forests. Local communities are more conscious of sustainable utilization of the forests they own and manage. Indirect economic benefits from Forests were much higher than the direct benefits. The margin of profits to the villagers from minor forest resources could be improved by appropriate changes in the extraction, regeneration and marketing systems, together with improvement in traditional knowledge in terms of the industrial values of the products and empowerment of local communities.

Concern with Nepal's rate of deforestation has focused attention on the role forest product scarcities have in retarding development efforts. Through an analysis of regional input‐output data the relative sensitivities of different economic activities to forest product scarcities have been assessed. The input‐output analysis was carried out assuming a supply constrained economy with respect to forest products. The analysis shows significant impacts in agricultural production resulting from declining livestock inputs caused by fodder constraints. Declines in production resulting from fuelwood constraints were not significant.

Africa's share of the world's forest product industry is extremely small. This is true also for Central and West Africa, which in this respect are inferior to both North and South Africa. At the same time parts of the continent are very rich in forests, especially Central Africa that is one of the three big reserves of tropical rain forest of the earth, and partly coastal West Africa where, as a rule, the possibilities of regenerating forest also are good. These regions are thus an illustrative example of underdevelopment in the forestry sector. In this article an overall expansion of integrated forestry and forest-based industries in this part of Africa is judged to be both possible and desirable.

There is a trend throughout the world not only to look for new uses for wood as it is, there is a large variety ranging through houses, furniture, toys, rayon and alcohol but to reduce the costs and to improve the reliability of already known products and to develop new, more economical processes. To attempt to cover the field in a single lecture woulfd be an impossible task, so I shall limit my talk tjo some selected developments and products, with particular reference to current and future forest product utilization in South Africa and to those products of wood which concern you as teachers and instructors lin woodwork. If, as trends indicate, wood will become a scarce resource by the turn of the century, efforts directed towards growing more wood are important, but efforts to utilize existing wood much more completely are of even higher priority. The aim of forest products research is to maximise the usefulness of wood from tree to final product, and, in this era of shortages, pollution and environment control, to recycle such products. When talking about modern or new trends in industry, the influence of tradition must be taken into account, for what may be considered a modern trend in South Africa may be of long standing in another country and vice versa. For example, timber housing is a traditional building method in many countries outside South Africa but its general acceptance by the local building authorities could well be classified as a modern trend, if not a break-through, for it would open the market to a variety of wood-based products which would have a tremendous influence on both the construction and the forest products industries. Greater mechanization is evident in all sectors of the industry, whether it be tree-shears for felling, harvesting and handling equipment, mechanical debarkers, or the many hundreds of pushbutton or electronically controlled operations to be seen in any modern sawmill, plywood factory, chipboard plant, etc. Wood is used at present mainly in solid form, either in the round (as in poles, posts and piling) or as sawn timber (lumber) whether rough or planed (as in construction, packaging, railway sleepers, furniture, etc.). Solid wood is being increasingly used in new forms, as in laminated wood structures, or it is being replaced by reconstituted wood products in which the woody material is reduced to smaller elements and then re-assembled to provide a wood-based product, very often with built-in properties which make it superior to solid wood for many uses. Glue-lamination, together with end-jointing techniques such as finger-jointing, has made possible sections and lengths and shapes not to be had in natural sawn lumber.