Silviculture for non-timber forest product management: challenges and opportunities for sustainable forest management

Abstract

Recent concerns regarding non-timber forest product (NTFP) management are focused on raw material production. But NTFP ought to be viewed from the perspective of ecological processes, cultural heritage, livelihood of local people, economic values and incentives for forest management. This broader role for NTFP cannot be realised by simply domesticating a few species. Integration of NTFP in forest management is necessary in order to achieve sustainable forestry. Because forestry technologies are developed with timber values uppermost, it is vital to develop forest management technologies that take into account both timber and non-timber values. Global examples show that traditional knowledge could play a vital role while developing silvicultural regimes, and in situ experimentation will strengthen the regimes. Guidelines for ethnobotanical studies are briefly presented. Key words: cultural heritage, ecological processes, ethnosilviculture, livelihoods, non-timber forest product, sustainable forestry