Local Development Based on Non-Timber Forest Products: Evidence from a Mapping of Initiatives in the Brazilian Amazon since Rio 1992

Abstract

Over recent decades, the sustainable use of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) has offered the promise of reconciling the dilemma between forest conservation and economic development, generating income for local populations. Accordingly, since the 1990s, manifold initiatives, often supported by international donors, have been investing in developing such NTFP value chains. Specifically in the Brazilian context, initiatives have proliferated as a response to the challenges of the largest remaining tropical forest ecosystem—the Amazon region and its inhabitants. Have they worked? What do we know about their impact? To provide for the first time an adequate basis for a more systematic analysis of the impact of NTFP initiatives in the Brazilian Amazon, this article presents a mapping of current and past initiatives supporting NTFP extractivism. The mapping drew on databases of funding organizations and interviews with key informants. The analysis revealed a large number of initiatives (nearly 200) strongly clustered in some areas, like around Belém, along major roads such as the BR 364, and along the Juruá rivers, concentrated on a few products with relatively high commercial value, mostly implemented by civil society organizations and targeting traditional peoples and communities. As interventions for NTFP development, the initiatives offered capacity building, financial support, and facilitate market access. With regard to the latter, the initiatives varied considerably. The vast majority promoted products, while a much smaller number engaged in company partnerships or government procurement. Despite the large number of initiatives, there is insufficient knowledge to gauge the impacts of different strategies of local resources and their users. A clear understanding of the effects of NTFP-based development initiatives and how impacts are generated is essential to seize the potential of the bioeconomy for achieving sustainable development for the Brazilian Amazon.