There are no documented traditional management practices for the management of non-wood forest products on a national scale. However, there are isolated cases within the country where flora has been preserved for cultural, medicinal and/or food value. For example, it is a common practice to preserve isolated trees for their medicinal value and/or edible fruits when clearing land for agriculture (Chidumayo and Majorkorpi, 1997)
Fruit trees of national importance have been reserved under the Forest Law and these include Strychnos cocculoides, Strychnos spinosa, Uapaca kirkiana, Anisophyllea species and Vangueriopsis lancifolia. These can only be cut under licence although in practice this has proved to be very difficult to enforce due to inadequate resources for the implementing Government agency (Forestry Department).
On the preservation of fauna, the Government of the Republic of Zambia has put in place a law to safeguard endangered fauna species from possible extinction. Twenty-eight (28) fauna species are therefore considered to be endangered or vulnerable according to the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (Chidumayo and Marjokorpi, 1997). Some of these endangered species live in very specialised habitats. For example, the checkered elephant shrew (Rhynchocyon cirnei) is confined in the north of Luapula Province. Preservation of such a habitat is therefore very necessary to the preservation of the shrew species.
Under the National Parks and Wildlife law, 25 mammal, 36 bird and 4 reptile species are protected and can only be hunted under licence. However, this list excludes African Wild dogs, all rodents, bats, shrews and invertebrates, some of which are classified as endangered. There is therefore need to constantly review this list in order to take into account the current status of the different species (Chidumayo and Marjokorpi, 1997).
The criteria used for the conservation and management of NWFP include diversity and rarity of habitats and/or species, area, threat of human interference, representativeness and scientific value.
