| [Back to front page] | Non-timber forest products During 1997, CIFOR revised its research strategy on non-timber forest products to consolidate and focus field research activities. The new strategy places emphasis on individual and social costs and benefits of alternatives for forest/land use. In particular, it looks at how people respond to new opportunities that shift the relative costs of forest resources, land and labour, and at conditions that favour forest-based development, using NTFPs as a point of entry for studies. The multiple use of forests and the conditions that favour forest-based development for local populations can be approached through a focus on NTFPs. CIFOR’s work has found that successful multiple use is strongly linked with: positive state-sponsored regulations offering clear and well-known rights to people; a harvesting intensity and/or technique that does not put excessive pressure on the resource; and a transparent market, well organised gatherers and the existence of external support groups. Further work will improve criteria to identify conditions with a high development potential, and tools to select appropriate actions. In China, work conducted jointly with the Chinese Academy of Forestry has been reported in Chinese in Forestry Economics and in English. The study highlights the potential of bamboo for rural development, with its differentiated role based on income levels showing it to be relatively more important for middle income farmers. This contradicts the conventional view of bamboo as a poor man’s timber, and offers interesting insights on the wider issue of NTFP development potential, especially for the poorest rural populations. Further studies clearly show the high potential of bamboo for income generation and rehabilitation of degraded lands. In the western Amazon region field work is under way to identify the contribution of forest products (especially NTFPs) to regional development. A meeting was held in Bolivia to exchange experiences and to present the progress of the two main components of the German-funded project (with parallel work in Zimbabwe). Research was carried out in Peru to investigate the potential for NTFP production within secondary forest management. This work has significance for several of the major NTFP research issues already identified. A paper on the potential of Uña de gato (Uncaria spp.) prepared for the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Naturales, has had an important influence in the discussion on a proposed law to ban sale of unprocessed NTFP products from Peru, which would have significantly reduced income among some low-income collectors. A spatial analysis of data using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the Upper Juruá Extractive Reserve of Brazil shows increasing settlement along the main river banks while large areas of the interior are being abandoned due to low rubber prices and complete lack of infrastructure (schools, health posts). The Extractive Reserve is experiencing a major change in economic activities with implications for its conservation and sustainable development. By providing improved understanding of the causes of such changes, research can offer local populations new tools for making informed decisions on their future. Ongoing research in the Humid Forest Zone of Cameroon has shown the importance of trade at a regional level and the high involvement of women, who represent more than 90 per cent of traders. Research output on market organisation and efficiency, transaction costs and traders have been used to debate the effects of a flat tax that was imposed on traders last year. This tax has pushed the poorest of the people, the women, to the brink of bankruptcy. In Africa, preliminary data from research in Zimbabwe show the importance of the wood carving industry as an alternative source of income generation for rural populations there. The current economic adjustment and currency depreciation in the country has led people to look for alternative employment. With the increase in tourism, the demand for handicrafts based on forest products has increased, providing people with more employment opportunities. However, this also means increased pressure on forest resources. A new activity in Indonesia began in August 1997 involving collaboration with an EU-supported project on NTFPs at the Center for Social Forestry at the University of Mulawarman. Three research sites have been selected for study, including a benzoin production system in North Sumatra, rattan and fruit garden systems in the middle Mahakam area of East Kalimantan, and NTFP extraction systems in the Bulungan research forest. To complement hands-on research, CIFOR conducted a series of reviews and workshops on various aspects of NTFPs to make research results widely available. Florida International University is collaborating with CIFOR in an overview of the effects of moving from a subsistence to market economy in forest based activities, especially NTFP. This activity is being co-sponsored by CIFOR and FAO and has opened new avenues for collaboration between both institutions. CIFOR also supported a workshop of the Joint Forest Management Network in India on NTFPs. Review activities have focused on Central African NTFP trade in Francophone Europe, and NTFPs in Talamanca, Costa Rica. During 1997, field research on livelihoods and incentives for conservation looked at which conditions most favour successful use and development of NTFPs. The research was conducted with partners from the World Wide Fund for Nature-Indonesia Programme, the University of Indonesia and WATALA, an Indonesian NGO, with additional collaboration with ORSTOM-ICRAF, LATIN, the Ford Foundation and the Forest Research and Development Agency. As more forest products enter the market and forest products are seen as a means of enhancing the income of forest dwellers, serious concerns have been raised about the impact of economic incentives on the long-term management of forests. A fear has been expressed that as forest products gain value, they are more likely to be exploited. Marketed products are seen as particularly vulnerable because of their more open-ended demand and the attraction of additional harvesters interested in capturing benefits. High levels of exploitation are expected to result in forest degradation and, sometimes, even extinction for sensitive or rare species. An opposing view maintains that high value creates an incentive for conservation. Two distinct rationales are used to support this position. The first proposes that a resource must be valued if people are to invest in its long-term maintenance. People are more likely to protect a valuable resource than one that is not valuable. The second rationale maintains that some uses of the forest are more compatible with conservation than others. To the extent these conservation-compatible uses are more valuable, people will have more incentive to not engage in more destructive uses of the forest such as logging or conversion to agriculture. This position is the basis for the current popularity of valuation studies. According to this rationale the conserving or degrading nature of the use is therefore as important as its relative value. What determines whether existence of a high value, marketed product will lead to increased exploitation of the forest or conservation and sustainable management? CIFOR research to answer this question in two regions of Indonesia – Krui, Sumatra, and Kayan Mentarang, Kalimantan – found that income alone is not an adequate predictor of people’s management behaviour. Most previous analyses of economic incentives describe people’s behaviour as a response to net income, especially expressed as the value of forest products or returns to labour or land. These studies do not take into account that net income may be valued differently among different people and in different settings or periods of time. A single forest product or forest-related income source may also be valued across several dimensions such as food security, monetary value or emergency source of cash. The forest landscape may be even more valued than a particular product and stream of income. Money itself may be valued differently in different settings. The value of an income will depend to a large extent on the economic strategy of the person or household concerned and the social context in which that strategy is carried out. Economic incentives are only part of the picture. To complement field work, reviews of a range of NTFP valuation methods and analysis of their appropriateness for different circumstances have been initiated. The intent is to capture the diversity of methods in use and enable practitioners to determine for themselves which elements might work best for them. The reviews highlight the ways in which methods for NTFPs are distinctive and can be adapted from other fields. They also cover discussions of methods for analysis of marketing systems, profitability, assessment of microenterprise feasibility, project planning, measurement of household incomes, and monitoring and evaluation of impacts.
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