Collection Of Forest Resources Research Articles

Indigenous Knowledge of Rural Women in Forest Resources Utilization and Conservation in Agoi-Ibami and Agoi-Ekpo, Yakurr Local Government Area, Cross River State, Nigeria.

This study was aimed at assessing the indigenous knowledge of rural women in forest resources conservation in Agoi-ekpo and Agoi-ibami in Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria. The objective of the study is: To examine the extent to which indigenous knowledge of rural women have influenced forest resources utilization and conservation. The sampling techniques used for the study are purposive and systematic in the selection of settlements. Purposive sampling was adopted because it was the researcher’s deliberate intention to choose the rural communities in Yakurr L.G.A. that have direct interface with the Forest Reserves and are involved in the use and management of forest resources. While the systematic sampling was used to select rural women households at fixed intervals. The research findings revealed that a significant percent (71.2%) of the rural women were involved in the harvesting of forest resources. The study also showed that different quantities of edible leaves, fruits, snails, and medicinal herbs were collected by rural women for varying purposes. It further showed that these forest resources were harvested at varying frequencies and that they generate income to the rural women. The main forest resources conserved as revealed by the study included afang, atama, editan, bush mango, and hot leaf because of the high exploitation. Restrictions on the felling and uprooting of plants as well as ban on exploitation were the two prominent ways of forest resources conservation. Pearson’s correlation result indicated a positive and significant association between indigenous practices of rural women and forest resources utilization and conservation. It also showed that problems encountered in the collection of forest resources did not vary by the ages of rural women. In order to control unwanted exploitation of forest resources as well ensure the availability for the future, local communities should set-up forest guards or vigilante to control the quantity of edible forest resources that will be harvested from the forest.

Interactions between Habitats of Asian Elephants and Socioeconomic Factors in the Teknaf Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS), Bangladesh

We conducted a one-year study in TWS, Bangladesh, to test socioeconomic-related impacts on the sanctuary caused by three performers marked as forest-endorsed settlers, illegal settlers, and forest-nearest villagers. The performer’s activities were marked as cattle ranching, gardening, paddy cultivation, vegetable growing, betel-leaf growing, and forest resource collection. These factors had a marked impact on the elephant’s use of fodder species, water bodies, feeding trails and resting places, as well as soil types. We revealed that 8% of the intruders were engaged in cattle ranching, 17% in gardening, 32% in paddy cultivation, 25% in vegetable growing, 6% in betel-leaf growing and 12% were forest resource collectors. These numbers were taken out of a recorded total of 26,937 incidences of forest intrusions, including forest endorse settlers (4%), illegal settlers (35%) and nearest forest villagers (61%). The disturbance rate differed statistically significantly across 6 study sites on the east coast and 4 study sites on the west coast in response to socioeconomic-related activities. Almost 2827 hectares of forestland was replaced by paddy cultivation (575 ha), vegetable growing (529 ha), betel-leaf growing (480 ha), gardening (448 ha), and illegal settlement (795 ha). Thus, a total of 11615 hectares of the sanctuary was permanently damaged, posing challenges to elephant survival.

The Dependency of Coastal Livelihood on Forest Resources, and Alternative Options in the Periphery of the Sundarbans Reserve Forest, Patharghata, Bangladesh

Dependency on forest resources poses a threat to the environment in Patharghata, Bangladesh. Therefore, this study explores the role of forest resource in the life and livelihood of coastal people as well as to understand the effectiveness of forest and status of forest dependency in and around south-central coast in Patharghata, Bangladesh. We collected data randomly from 105 household heads through both open and close-ended questionnaire. To investigate the forest dependency and people’s perception regarding alternative solutions, Microsoft excel software program has been applied. The findings reveal that usage of fuelwood in cooking, housing structure, fish catching, honey & fodder collection significantly contributes to household dependency on forest resources, while other variables seem to be insignificant. Our study amplifies that the share of forest income to the total household income was only 19% while other earning sources provided 81% income. The result shows that respondent people collect forest resources primarily for cooking purpose with a share of 71% where 9% forest resources are collected as fodder followed by 8% forest resource collection as food and sheltering purposes. Moreover, the study found that using alternative cooking system, artificial instruments, declaring the forest as tourist spot, changes in housing structure, occupation are some effective options to reduce forest dependency. The study concludes that these alternative options need more financial and other support from the government, non-government and other civil society organizations to cut down forest resource dependency.

Forest Resource and Agriculture option for Livelihoods among Schedule tribe in RARH Region of West Bengal in India

Agriculture activity and forest resource collection are the major livelihood source among rural tribal people. Agriculture and Forestry can reduce hunger and poverty and improve the sustainability of rural livelihood in the face of economic and environmental shocks and stresses. The major objectives of this study are as follows: 1. to investigate the influences of agriculture activity and forest resource on tribal livelihoods. 2. To find out the major challenges facing by tribal people for agriculture development and forest resource collection. The database of the study is based on secondary and primary sources. Primary data is collected through a well-structured questionnaire. The result shows that most of the tribal people do not have a sufficient amount of agriculture land for sustaining their livelihood. That’s why they depend upon forest resource collection and seasonal migration. With the passage of time growing demands of wood and Non-Timber Forest Products leads to illegal cutting of trees and many times forest land unprotected by forest officials. So agriculture development and forestry regeneration are the utmost need for sustainable livelihood.

The distribution, status and conservation of the Himalayan Musk Deer Moschus chrysogaster in Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary

A survey to understand distribution, status and conservation of Himalayan Musk Deer (Moschus chrysogaster) in Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary (SWS) was conducted in 2017 using camera traps. A pair of camera traps were installed in five habitat areas based on preliminary occurrence information gathered from local herders, forestry staff and unpublished reports. The camera traps were deployed in the field for five months from June through November 2017. Essential ecological parameters such as vegetation, herb species, slope aspect, elevation and indirect evidence of the species were collected from established transects. The survey results were used to develop musk deer habitat suitability and a species distribution model in MaxEnt.Findings indicate that the musk deer currently inhabit small areas and their distribution is more fragmented than in the past. Intensive competition from unregulated grazing, Non Timber Forest Products (NTFP) collection and poaching were observed as major threats to conservation. Initiation of transboundary landscape conservation programs, strengthening of patrolling forest resource collection and grazing are recommended for maintaining and ensuring viable population of the Himalayan Musk Deer in SWS.

Plant diversity and associated traditional ecological knowledge of Soliga tribal community of Biligiriranga Swamy Temple Tiger Reserve (BRTTR):A biogeographic bridge for Western and Eastern Ghats, India

The Biligiriranga Swamy Temple Tiger Reserve (BRTTR) is a chain of hills and important ecosystems, which forms the biogeographic ridge between two biodiversity rich areas namely the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats of India. The hills are being resided by the Soliga tribal community for the centuries and accorded with a status of Tiger reserve in December 2010 under Project Tiger administered by National Tiger Conservation Authority. The study was done on the traditional ecological knowledge of the people in healthcare system. A total of 108 plants belonging to 51 families have been identified, which the Soliga tribal community uses for curing various ailments. The local name, part used, disease cured and prescribed dosage are properly documented while developing detailed inventory on the plant biodiversity of the region. The ecological status of the plant species is also reported to understand their conservation status at global level. The ailments listed are categorized in major and minor ailments. The results indicate that 76% people still depend on traditional health care systems to cure minor ailments. However, 04% people depend on the traditional health care system to cure major diseases. And 33% people were found to be followed traditional and allopathic treatment for curing the major ailments like arthritis, asthma, diabetes, kidney stones, tuberculosis etc. Among the recorded species 09 are found under vulnerable category, followed by endangered (07), endemic (03), low risk-least concerned (02) and data deficient (01). Keeping change in policy scenario in view there would be possibility to relocate tribal community from some of the areas in core of BRTTR to other places. This shift coupled with various other factors for example restrictions on the collection of forest resources, change in socioeconomic setup, and acculturation which is taking place in the society, the ecological and indigenous knowledge of the region would face danger of vanishing. This study support India's initiatives of protecting TEK from patent issues where non-codified information was codified for the future use. And argues that the biodiversity conservation in protected areas requires regular monitoring of various species within the purview of human interactions on ecosystems for various needs.

Antracologia de fogueiras paleoíndias do Brasil central: considerações tecnológicas e paleoetnobotânicas sobre o uso de recursos florestais no abrigo rupestre Lapa do Santo, Minas Gerais, Brasil

This study identified the species of wood in charcoal recovered from Paleo-Indian bonfires in the Lapa do Santo archaeological site, Minas Gerais / Brazil, dated 4140 ± 40-8900 ± 40 AP. Eight different species of wood were identified, mainly species occurring in cerrado environments and gallery forests. The different types of wood analyzed presented characteristics that would have favored their use in rudimentary structures for combustion, indicating foraging strategies for the selective collection of forest resources for fuel wood possessing physical and chemical properties known to facilitate burning.

Bridging the Gaps That Divide

T he US Constitution provides that Native American tribes are sovereign-dependent nations and their interactions with the federal government, including the cession of the tribal lands that formed America, are governed by a complex set of treaties. For decades, federal law and public policies have defined the formal, legal relationship between agencies such as the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USDA FS) and federally recognized Indian tribes. However, this formalized partnership has never been an easy one, long strained by misunderstanding, misgivings, missed opportunities, and political expediency. When President William J. Clinton issued Executive Order 13175 (“Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments”; since approved and upheld by the two subsequent Administrations) in 1996, could any different outcome be expected? An opportunity to forge a new partnership arose in 2001, when during the revision of the Ouachita and Ozark St. Francis National Forests (hereafter, “Forests”) respective land and resource management plans, the Forests were asked to conduct face-to-face consultations on the Arkansas and Oklahoma homelands of the federally recognized Oklahoma Tribes (Absentee Shawnee, Caddo, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Citizen Potawatomie, Creek, Delaware, Eastern Shawnee, Kaw, Quapaw, Seminole, Shawnee, and Osage, among others; hereafter, “Tribes”). The management of cultural and natural resources is extremely important not only to the Forests but also to many Tribes that were removed from their homelands, making the development of a viable forum permitting both formal and informal dialogues between the USDA FS and the Tribes vital. The first of these consultative meetings, organized in 2002, was given the name “To Bridge A Gap” (TBAG) by Bobby Gonzales, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) coordinator for the Caddo Nation, to signify the differences among the various people, cultures, governments, and participating agencies. The success of the first TBAG meeting led to its rapid expansion to include the entire Southern and Eastern Regions of the USDA FS, all 39 Oklahoma Tribes (and tribes from other states), other government agencies, numerous academic institutions, private industry, and archeological/ engineering consulting firms. Now entering its 14th year (Table 1), the annual TBAG meeting represents an official government-to-government interaction planned and funded by all parties and focused on mutual interests in the management of archaeological, natural, and cultural resources of the Forests. TBAG provides a venue for Tribes to develop bonds of trust and communication and establish practical ways of restoring ecosystems while seeking to benefit all participants. These interactions and opportunities are expressed in the TBAG logo (Figure 1). The ultimate goal of TBAG is to provide a permanent platform with a central setting for Tribes to meet with other stakeholders and interested parties. For Tribes, some of the benefits that immediately began to accrue involved the introduction to federal employees who are mandated to protect and preserve public resources and cultural heritage, including the location and protection of sites related to those Tribes with patrimony interests on federal lands. Other recent positive Tribal outcomes from TBAG include the achievement of National Historic Preservation Act Section 101D2 Status for Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, the granting of special use permits for collection of Forest resources for ceremonial purposes, a discussion of Traditional Cultural Properties and Rock Art studies, and NAGPRA repatriation and reburial issues. Tribal Elders can now more readily provide the Forests guidance in NAGPRA-related repatriations of human remains and funerary objects. In addition, Osage and Caddo Elders meet privately to discuss protocols on repatriation of human remains recovered from federal lands within their joint homelands. The USDA FS may be the biggest beneficiary of the TBAG meetings. USDA FS staff members develop personal relationships with sovereign dependent Nations and individuals who review and consult on specific projects and operations. Locally, the Forests have received Tribal feedback on land exchanges and developed master agreements to improve the consultation process and solicit Tribal input. Regionally, consultations have expanded to include the Daniel Boone National Forest (for the Shawnee), Alabama and Mississippi National Forests (Chickasaw and Creek), and Allegheny National Forest (Delaware). Heritage Resource Technician training programs are provided

Local peoples' responses to co-management regime in protected areas: A case study from Satchari National Park, Bangladesh

Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is a rather recent and widely promoted, and hence, accepted paradigm for managing protected areas in most developing countries. Protected area managers in Bangladesh face challenges because of the complex sociocultural and political dynamics that result from the high population densities and extreme poverty of people living in or near lands designated for conservation. In recent years the government of Bangladesh, with active support from international aid and conservation agencies, has tried to develop a holistic approach to protected area management involving forest communities and user groups. This study seeks to explore the initial response to such intervention in a newly declared protected area in order to gain insights about wider implications in other parts of the country. The study was conducted between January 2006 and January 2007 in four villages located in or near Satchari National Park. Results suggest considerable change took place in household forest resource collection patterns, and people's dependency on non-forest income increased significantly during the project implementation period. The study also indicated that although changes occurred slowly, they brought improvements to the livelihoods of those relying on local forests.

Efficiency, enforcement and revenue tradeoffs in participatory forest management: an example from Tanzania

AbstractWhere joint forest management has been introduced into Tanzania, ‘volunteer’ patrollers take responsibility for enforcing restrictions over the harvesting of forest resources, often receiving as an incentive a share of the collected fine revenue. Using an optimal enforcement model, we explore how that share, and whether villagers have alternative sources of forest products, determines the effort patrollers put into enforcement and whether they choose to take a bribe rather than honestly reporting the illegal collection of forest resources. Without funds for paying and monitoring patrollers, policy makers face tradeoffs over illegal extraction, forest protection and revenue generation through fine collection.

Natural resource management in a protected area of the Indian Himalayas: a modeling approach for anthropogenic interactions on ecosystem

The concept of ecosystem conservation as a broad theme came into existence during the 1970s under the Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Indian Government followed this approach and chose the method to segregate the landscape for conservation of the ecosystem as well as for the development of the local economy and its people. We have examined the effect of this policy and concurrently developed a theoretical modeling approach to understand how human behavior is changing under shifting political, socioeconomic and environmental conditions. A specific focus has been on how the landscape is changing in the mountains of the Indian Himalayan region where about 10% of the total geographical area is converted into protected landscape for conservation of biodiversity. For local people living in the Himalayan mountains in India, agriculture is the main land use activity and is strongly linked to the forests in providing sustainability. There are several branches in the rural ecosystems where the local people's economy was centered. These include agriculture, animal husbandry, medicinal and aromatic plants cultivation, forest resource collection, tourism and other occupations. The greatest proportion of the population was engaged in the agriculture sector, whose contribution is high in the rural economy (61%); followed by animal husbandry (19%), forest resource collection for economic gain (18%), and medicinal and aromatic plants cultivation (1.5%). However, three decades ago the animal husbandry branch of the rural ecosystem was contributing the maximum share towards rural household income (40%) followed by tourism (35.2%), and lastly agriculture (14%). The desire of farmers to secure the optimum output from agricultural land use has resulted in an increase for resource collection from the forests. The people's perception (n = 1,648) regarding overall changes occurring in the region was varied and most showed that the current trend within rural ecosystems has emerged because of the implementation of conservation policies/creation of national park and biosphere reserve (80%), followed by limitation (22%), climate (20%), population growth (7%), national economy (10%) and least by socioeconomic change (5%). The theoretical agent model developed here draws attention to agent/farmer behavior and land resource use for his livelihood in the temporal dimension. The current study would be helpful to introduce new approaches for the development of the methodological and theoretical aspects associated with the complex human and ecosystem interactions in the Himalayan mountains for sustainable landscape development.

Traditional intramontane mobility in Garhwal Himalaya: A survey of subsistence practices in the Pindar basin, Uttaranchal

This paper looks at the key resource interactions driving the current trend in intramontane mobility as a traditional subsistence practice in the Garhwal Himalaya region of Uttaranchal, India. For hundreds of years, the natural resource based mid-altitude villages in the Pindar River basin hinged on the annual summer migration to highland pastures. Where self-sufficiency has been obtained through an environmentally embedded tradition of crop and livestock farming, highland forests and alpine pastures continue to provide the human and animal requirements of fuelwood and fodder, as well as the forest products defining traditional diets and cottage industry. The paper reports the data from a rapid appraisal survey of resources obtained by households in selected mid-altitude villages from the seven highland locations that have sustained the centuries-old subsistence culture of the Pindar basin. While livestock have been the crucial link in a forest/fodder–manure–cultivation chain that has necessitated households' dependence on highland pastures and forests, over the last four decades there has been a decline in the numbers engaged in livestock raising and, concomitantly, the annual migration to summer pastures. Instead, there is a trend towards increased cultivation of cash crops and forest resource collection in the traditional highland encampment areas.

Simplification of Pine Forests Due to Utilization by Tibetan Villages in Southwest China

In China, many rural communities depend upon forests to provide wood, fuel, fertilizer, animal bedding, and valuable non-timber forest products (NTFP). However, the degree to which forest resource extraction is compatible with new conservation aims is unclear because there is little information on the specific ecological effects of traditional forest collecting practices. Therefore, we compared the structure and floristics of Pinus densata forests exposed to three levels of resource extraction by Tibetan villages in northwest Yunnan: (1) a forest site protected from wood and timber removal, (2) moderately utilized forest sites exposed to traditional collecting practices, and (3) patches of highly utilized forest from which timber extraction is high in response to recent development pressures. The results show that understorey and cryptogamic species are reduced in all the utilized forest sites by comparison with the protected forest. However, the moderately utilized pine forests still provide good NTFP habitats by maintaining relatively high canopy covers, litter covers, and understorey structural complexity; this suggests that traditional forest resource use, while simplifying the forest, does not pose an increasing threat to pine forest integrity. By comparison, the highly utilized forests are transformed into open, herb-rich environments in which canopy covers and understorey complexity are depleted, and NTFP habitats are degraded. In the future it may be practical to enhance biodiversity by proscribing forest resource collection, but the immediate priority is to monitor the sustainability of forest utilization using indicators such as understorey development, litter cover, and cryptogamic richness.

Selected dynamics of human interference and impact on the reed forests of the Sylhet region

The reed forest of the Sylhet region is of enormous ecological and socioeconomic importance but has been rapidly eroded in recent years. The present research focuses on the extent and dynamics of dependency of local people on the forest, the socioeconomic impact on the reed forest resources, challenges and problems of biodiversity management, and people's perceptions and views on conservation. Fieldwork was conducted on the two Thanas of Companigonj and Dowarabazar, and empirical study tools included socioeconomic survey, participatory rural appraisal, in-depth interview and a preliminary forest resource inventory. Field observations reveal that over-exploitation of forest products, organized large-scale encroachment, changed land-use patterns (notably conversion to agriculture), low degree of public awareness, and habitat destruction are the main causes of biodiversity loss. Education has a clear link with forest resource collection from the reed forests: the higher the level of education, the lower the extent of reed collection. The most pressing challenges to biodiversity management and conservation include excessive population pressure, poverty, lack of education, inadequate employment and alternative income generation opportunities, and a low degree of awareness of the value of biodiversity conservation. Most respondents believe that the process of encroachment on reed forest land is influenced and manipulated by powerful vested interest groups consisting mostly of local government and political leaders, moneyed traders, or corrupt officials. The villagers are aware of forest destruction, and express concerns about the impacts and implications of denudation of the resource and associated biodiversity loss, e.g.: scarcity of fodder; destruction of homesteads by waves and surges especially in the rainy season in oxbow lakes and a reduction in wildlife. Most villagers suggest that the forest department should explore possibilities of introducing community-based social forestry and biodiversity conservation programmes in the forests with active participation of the local people. A process of systematic public consultation should be started immediately towards this end. An integrated management plan should be developed, in close consultation with the community, which addresses such demands and land usage concerning wood and non-wood products, agriculture, fisheries and conservation of ecosystems to promote biodiversity of flora and fauna. Core and buffer zones must be delineated when allocating land use in reed forest areas.

Extraction of non-timber forest products from tropical rain forests. Does diversity come at a price?

Tropical rain forests are rich in plant and animal species. The sustainable extraction of non-timber forest products has been advocated as a strategy to best conserve this diversity. However, the development and implementation of such exploitation systems, which aim to reconcile conservation and economic development, are still hampered by the lack of information on the biological sustainability of these systems, the impact of these exploitation systems on the biological diversity and the insufficient knowledge of the role of forest products in the household economy of forest dependent people and hence their prospects for economic development. Whether the exploitation of non-timber forest products from tropical rain forests is sustainable or not is still open to question, but data presently available on the biological, social and economic aspects of these extraction systems point at an interesting question: does diversity come at a price? Namely, low density of conspecifics, and thus products, and hence low productivity for those involved in the collection of forest resources. The paper will further discuss whether domestication of forest species provides an alternative for some of these species. Species are part of a complex ecosystem and their functioning is partly depended on the presence of other species in the system. The attributes of the species which have to be taken into account in order to make domestication of forest species successful are considered. Finally, the paper returns to the question of how to reconcile conservation and use of tropical rain forests. It will present a case for domesticating the forest instead of the species or, in other words, changing the forest composition without changing its structure and functioning, and maintaining acceptable levels of biodiversity.