Can Gaharu Be Harvested Sustainably? A Case Study From East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Aims to valuate Africa's forestry and forest products, namely Wood Forest Products (WFPs) and Non-wood Forest Products (NWFPs) in the sixteen (16) West African countries.The study identified a systematic assessment of the most common forest products (wood and non-wood forest products) considering the available data on the national forest reserves of the selected countries in West Africa. The study also revealed the need for biodiversity conservation of the available forest reserves to help mitigate the impact of global warming targeting the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 13- Climate Action. This is focused on integrating climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning signs into the national policies, improving forest planning and management education, awareness-raising, and institutional capacity within the sub-region. Keywords: Forestry; Forest Management; Forest Products; Land-Use; West Africa.

Cocoa production in humid forest landscapes has been one of the main cash providers of West and Central African economies. Along with the liberalization of the perennial tree sector, there are increased fluctuations of cocoa income. At the same time, the demand and interest for timber production and non-wood forest products have also been increasing. With the continuous disappearance of natural forests, the production of these commodities is being shifted into cocoa agroforests and plantations. In view of helping research and development institutions in promoting sustainable tree crop systems, this paper attempts, for the main cocoa producing countries of West Africa (Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire), to: (1) document the temporal evolution of the market demand for forests and non-wood forest products both at the local and international levels; (2) explore the set of tree species that can be produced in cocoa agroforests of WCA to satisfy this demand. Deforestation resulting partly from the expansion of perennial orchards and slash and burn agriculture is: (i) leading to a shortage of suitable forest land necessary to stabilize or increase national cocoa production and (ii) increasing the gap between the demand and availability/supply of non-wood forest products (NWFP) and timber by reducing the main source of these products—the forest. Demand of these products is increasing with the growth of urban and peri-urban centers. At the same time, perennial agroforestry systems such as cocoa agroforest are increasingly perceived as assets for Payment for Environmental Services (PES) such as carbon storage and biodiversity conservation, because of the potential of the resources that they can generate. These demands of products and payment for ecosystem services that can be provided by sustainable cocoa agroforestry systems depends upon the appropriate combination of cocoa, timber and non-timber forest trees on the same land. Such demands is still to be properly exploited in the region. Cocoa agroforests in West Africa are characterized by fewer species than those of Central Africa. The level of market access influences the types of species that are managed inside cocoa agroforests. Among the species potentially associable with cocoa, those demanded by the local, regional and international markets are not necessarily the ones that are more frequent in the cocoa fields. The gradual reduction of natural forest, from which timber and non-timber products are gathered, aroused the need to integrate the growing of such species in cocoa agroforestry systems.

The resources extracted directly from forest or forest based sources are defined as forest products. Sources of such produce include various forest types which belong to state (montane, submontane, lowland rain, moist monsoon, dry monsoon, savanah and mangroves) and home gardens. Export forest products are of three main categories: significant non-wood forest products which are medicinal plants, rattans, bamboo, edible plants, gums and resins, and moderately significant non-wood forest product exports which are Kithul produce, barks, fruits, seeds, flowers, and leaves from forest and wood products. Quantification of exported forest products have however received lesser attention and the objectives of this study are therefore to prepare an inventory of exported forest products of Sri Lanka with types, quantities, values and destinations and to identify the trends of exports. Data were collected from Forest Department and Sri Lanka Customs. Forest Department issues export permits for different product types of plant parts, wood and non-wood value added products. Details related to product types, quantities, values and destinations have been extracted from the records and analysed for the last five years. Major product markets were also identified by analyzing the obtained data. Results indicate that there are about 2,400 permits issued per year for both wood products exports and plants/plant material exports. Quantity of the wood products exports per year are about 5million pieces. Seventy five percent was for commercial purposes and 24.43% was for individual requirements. The major exports markets were United Kingdom, Australia, India and Maldives. Quantity of the plants/plant material exports per year are about 6.3 million pieces. About 91.9% is for commercial purpose and 8.1% is for individual requirements. The major export markets were Germany, Kuwait, Japan and Netherland. Records of the Sri Lanka Customs showed that there are significant illegal exports including Wallapatta, Sandalwood, live plants, cardamom, orchid plants and bird nests. Common export restrictions of Forest Department include plants and plant parts such as Kothalahibutu (Salaciareticulata), Nux vomica, Polpala, Kottamba leaves (Terminalia catappa) and Maswadda. Implications for policy include mechanisms to formalise record keeping procedures of the institutions involved and the urgent measures to avoid the significant losses to the economy due to illegal exports. Keywords: Forest products, Legal/illegal exports, Wood and non-wood forest products, Economy

Governance of non-wood forest products in Russia and Ukraine: Institutional rules, stakeholder arrangements, and decision-making processes

Application of multi criteria analysis methods for a participatory assessment of non-wood forest products in two European case studies

The enormous natural resources of India's forests including Non-Wood forest products (NWFPs), such as medicinal and aromatic plants, leaves, seeds, nuts, fruits and gums offer employment that provide up to half the income of about 25 % of the country's rural labor force. Despite of the potential benefits that are offered by non-wood forest products, it has been widely documented that forest still offers little in terms of opportunities for expanding livelihood options and assets required to reduce livelihood vulnerability. Based on this, a study was carried out to determine the contribution of NWFPs towards poverty reduction by assessing potentials and constraints experienced by adjacent local communities towards their exploitation. The specific objective of the study is to assess the role of NWFPs contribution to tribal income and also influence on the poverty reduction. The study was conducted in Kodaikanal and Palani range in Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu state. The data were collected personally in cooperation with forest officers and other officials of the district by using pre-tested interview schedule. The findings reveals that the 65 selected households involved for collection of myrobalam (kadukkai), honey, amla, broom grass, stone flower, pepper, and coffee. These products were easily accessible and available to them and these activities are the important source of employment and income. The tribes earned at an average per day, from the collection of NWFPs of Rs700 for broom grass, Rs.650 for kadukkai, Rs.600 for amla, Rs.500 for pepper, and Rs.400 for coffee and stone flower. Regarding honey collection, the tribes earned Rs.400 per liter. Majority of the respondents (92.3 %) were facing the problems related to lack of transport facilities for NWFPs existence of bad weather (76.9 %), deforestation(69.2 %), fluctuated market price (61.5 %), lack of storage facilities for NWFPs (56.9 %), over collection of outsiders (38.4 %), low infrastructure facilities for NWFPs (18.4 %), lack of skill oriented training for NWFPs(16.9 %) and lack of timely information for marketing of NWFPs (15.3 %). It is suggested that there is a need to take necessary steps by the government to eliminate these existing problems faced by the respondent of study area. Respondents expected nearby Ration shop and Primary health centre from the district authority.

Although the development of and debate on forest certification currently focuses on wood products, certification is also relevant to nonwood forest products (NWFP). While discussions on NWFP certification have increased recently, the applicability and impact of certification as a tool to promote the sustainable use of NWFP remains unclear and less debated.This paper aims at contributing to this discussion by analysing the status of certification of three well-known NWFP using case studies from their main exporting countries: brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa) in Bolivia, sheabutter (Vitellaria paradoxa) in Ghana and devil’s claw (Harpagophytum spp.) in Namibia. For this purpose, the principle production systems and producers as well as the trade in and markets for the products have been investigated. In addition, the actual and potential use of forest management, organic, social and roduct quality certification have been analysed. All three case studies have shown that trade in certified NWFP is still marginal compared to the trade of non-certified products. Major challenges of NWFP certification include lack of market demand, high costs of certification system establishment and difficulties in establishing a monitoring system due to the dispersion of collectors. However, the case studies also highlighted benefits of certification such as the provision of higher prices for producers and promotion of the stablishment of a functioning monitoring system. Positive influences on tenure rights and local empowerment were identified as possible additional benefits of certification but the examples show that other factors might emerge as more significant side benefits from NWFP certification. The environmental impact of certification on the exploitation of NWFP depends very much on the nature of the resource used.

Due to overemphasis on timber production in past decades, Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFPs) were neglected by foresters and policy makers leading to lack of attention on their values, although their uses are less ecologically destructive than timber harvesting. This study was conducted to emphasize the contribution of NWFPs to rural livelihood in South Kordofan State (Sudan) in terms of their values to provide subsistence, employment and income generation. The state is rich with various tree species which grow naturally. This research focused on the much precious species according to local knowledge, namely, Zizyphus spina-christi., Balantites aegyptiaca, Adansonia digitata, Tamaraindus indica, Acacia nilotica, Grewia tenax, Acacia Senegal, Croton zambesicus and Sterculia setigera. Data was collected through a questionnaire with a sample size of three hundreds households. Descriptive statistics were applied to analyze the data using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The study came out with quantitative results declaring the high dependency of households on NWFPs for subsistence and income generation. More emphasis of forest management for such products could contribute to both sustainability and conservation objectives.

Atualmente, a redução da biodiversidade, em virtude do aumento do desflorestamento, fez com que se buscassem meios de se preservar os remanescentes florestais no Brasil e no mundo. Nesse contexto, os Produtos Florestais Não-Madeireiros (PFNM) tornaram-se uma alternativa para auxiliar a conservação das florestas, uma vez que, na maioria dos casos, a extração de PFNM não implica a supressão da cobertura florestal. Sendo assim, tem crescido o número de estudos sobre o potencial dos PFNM para a geração de renda e para a conservação do meio ambiente, sempre com a premissa de serem explorados de maneira sustentável. Para isso, são necessárias pesquisas acerca da biologia, da distribuição e da abundância reprodutiva do PFNM a ser explorado. O presente artigo tem, por objetivo, propiciar uma visão panorâmica dos métodos biométricos adequados para avaliar o estoque de recurso em pé, a dinâmica da produção, os componentes resultantes e as colheitas reais dos tipos principais de PFNM nos trópicos. Também são revistos estudos que buscam estimar o valor econômico dos produtos da floresta.

Non-wood Forest Products (NWFP) or timber forest products (TFP) have been and are an important source of economic growth in Albania. These are products of biological origin, except wood, which derived from forests, other wooded land and trees outside forests (FAO 2003). NWFP can be collected in nature, produced in forest plantations in plots planted with trees and crops, as well as from separate trees. As an example we can mention the NWFP edible products (fruits, mushrooms, drugs, spices, spice, and hunting meat), fiber (used in construction, furniture, clothing, or utensils), resins, essential oils, rubber vegetable and animal products used for medical purposes, cosmetic, or cultural. NWFP produced in Albania include medical and aromatic plants dried and pressed into balls, essential oils, such as fiber Staples willow, straw, and other plants used in joinery, such as edible fruits chestnuts, hazelnuts, mushrooms, etc. Keywords: product, forestry, aromatic pants, collectors, prices.

This article attempts to examine European trade policy regarding non-wood forest products (NWFP) from the perspective of the EU legislature, with the hypothesis that there is little EU trade policy promoting NWFP production and imports from other countries to the EU. The examination was done by using document analysis as method to examine public records in the EUR-Lex database containing the keyword "non-wood forest products." In its findings, the article presents relevant paragraphs containing the keyword together with contextual information and analysis. The article concludes that its hypothesis is correct in that there is little policy related to NWFP trade and NWFPs tend to be treated as simply another forest product, not as a particular type of forest product with merits of its own (such as environmental and socioeconomic benefits). The article ends with suggestions for policy and action to support international trade in NWFPs.

Non Wood Forest Products (NWFPs) are important resources for rural economies. Highly regarded food products are collected from Mediterranean forests, such as nuts, berries, mushrooms and truffles, as well as aromatic and medicinal plants. Other NWFPs, such as resin or cork, can play a role in the circular bio-economy, providing sustainable alternatives to fossil-based raw materials. However, achieving fair levels of profitability for all actors throughout the value chain is still a challenge. Existing hourglass-shaped monopsony structures need to be resolved and market access to local producers must be strengthened. Furthermore, it is important to promote greater consumer awareness and willingness to pay for the sustainable, ‘wild-collected’ nature of these goods. The European thematic network INCREDIBLE (Innovation networks on Non-Wood Forest Products in the Mediterranean basin) brings together the main actors associated with NWFP with the aim of sharing knowledge, expertise and experience. Sharing information helps to identify the challenges and requirements of each NWFP value chain so that profitability and sustainability can be improved. The objective of Open Innovation is to bring together innovative ideas of actors from different organisations, thus making the best use of their respective areas of competence in order to create an effective innovation ecosystem. INCREDIBLE facilitates open innovation by establishing and operating Innovation Networks (iNets) for different NWFPs. The social, technological and silvicultural challenges and requirements for innovation in each iNet are identified and different approaches to addressing these are explored by the various actors involved in accordance with their areas of competence.

Current literature regarding the economic potential of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) has become more cautious than previously, and earning an income from NWFPs is no longer considered a certainty for dwellers in many forested areas. However, there is also more information on the NWFPs, the areas from which there can be sustained collection and the markets where they can be competitive. This paper discusses some of the considerations to be taken into account to prevent costly mistakes in choosing NWFPs for commercialisation. It also highlights the possibilities for particular products to improve their prospects in markets from the local to the national and international level, using information from literature and past data on NWFPs in Leyte Province in the Philippines as an illustration. Past data include a list of several NWFPs from Cienda, Leyte. A table of relative frequency of use was assembled from this list after two rounds of interviews, to form the basis for possibly marketable NWFPs using a provisional template.

Non-wood forest products (NWFPs), including medicinal plants, nuts, and bushmeat, serve as a source of sustenance and income for hundreds of millions of individuals. The global trade in NWFPs presents significant potential profits but also considerable risks of unsustainable exploitation or unfair allocation of benefits. In this context, a dialogue is developing on the benefits and obstacles of certification as a means to encourage the sustainable utilization of natural resources, encompassing NWFPs. Certification programs related to NWFPs encompass forest management, social responsibility, organic standards, and product quality certification. These plans emphasize, to varying extents, social, economic, ecological, and/or product quality concerns. Essential criteria for the certification of NWFPs encompass the creation of a restricted and overseen permit system, the formulation of explicit tenure rights, controlled access to harvesting locations, the establishment of niche markets, and the execution of quality control protocols. Data on NWFP certification remains inadequate to accurately evaluate the utility and impact of certification as a means to encourage the sustainable use of NWFPs. The existing literature reveals opportunities, limitations, and ambiguous matters that necessitate deeper examination to deliver reliable information on the advantages and disadvantages of NWFP certification.

Non-wood forest products (NWFPs) are part of forest ecosystem and it has certain functions that support ecosystem sustainability. Utilization of NWFPs is a sustainable use or utilization of by-products from trees or other forest products. The present study aimed to obtain basic information on the NWFPs species that cultivated in Gempolan Village. Therefore, the species density, relative density, frequency, relative frequency, and important value index was calculated. In addition, the utilization of NWFPs species was described based on the interview. Field observation was conducted in 38 community forest by making plots 40 × 25 m2. Furthermore, interview was conducted with the owner of those community forests to obtain information on the NWFPs utilization. The results showed that community forest management in Gempolan Village applies an agroforestry system with a random mixture and alternate row-cropping pattern. NWFPs can be classified as their function, namely as food, medicinal plant, animal feed, and spices/condiments. Most of the NWFPs were only used to meet their own needs. NWFPs that produces from community forest in Gempolan Village was dominated by multi-purposes tree species (fruits) such as durian, avocado, jengkol, petai, pakel, sawo, melinjo, jackfruit, and breadfruit.