Renewable resources and poverty alleviation: an application to non-timber forest products

Abstract

Economists have been studying renewable natural resources for a long time and in doing so they have incorporated concepts from many fi elds (e.g. law, population biology, ecology, hydrology and entomology among others). Arguably, one of the main contributions of economics to the management of renewable natural resources has been to clarify the role played by property rights. More specifi cally, by integrating biological and economic models (in so-called bio-economic models) economists have shown that open-access conditions create economic as well as biological problems. In this chapter, I propose a methodology, based on a bio-economic model, to analyze extraction of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) under different management regimes. The objective is to illustrate the potential impacts that price increases can have on the income that extractors receive from NTFPs extraction. Participants in this kind of activities are typically poor, and changes in the income that they receive from extraction can have important implications on their wellbeing. A case study illustrates how one could evaluate the effectiveness of different price scenarios. It also shows the kind of biologic and socioeconomic information that is needed to apply the methodology suggested. More accurate the information, more confi dent one can be about the policy recommendations. This is an area of opportunity where applied research between economists and ecologists can lead to concrete policy applications.