The dissemination of our “family of NWFP information materials” – Non-Wood News, the NWFP-Digest-L and the publications in our NWFP series – is proving to be very successful and has resulted in our reprinting many of our publications. In addition, we received many messages of congratulations for our tenth anniversary edition (a selection of them is printed below). So, thank you to all our readers for their interest in our work and for being part of the NWFP network.

Greetings from Kampala Uganda, East Africa. This message comes to appreciate the work you’ve done in the last ten years of the Non-Wood News information bulletin, and above all keeping me on your mailing list. May Non-Wood News grow from strength to strength and succeed in all its missions. (Evan Kalungi, Kampala, Uganda)

Thank you for many interesting issues we have been able to read in Non-Wood News during the ten years! (Tapani Tyynelä, Finland)

I would like to thank all of you for bringing out such a wonderful journal that I found extremely useful, informative, updating and attractive. I hope your efforts will have more and more success. (Ghada Abou Ammar, Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic)

Request for assistance

I am looking for information on:

• Rhynchophorus palmarum. The larvae of this insect are cooked with their own oil; these cooked larvae are consumed since it is said they have antibronchial properties. The larvae are known locally as suri. Oil is also obtained from these larvae. I am also looking for cooperation to investigate the possibility of their industrial use.

• the oil extraction of Carapa guianensis – especially the equipment needed for the extraction and marketing of the oil.

(If you can help, please contact: Victor Acosta Avila, Romulo Espinar 117, Iquitos, Loreto, Peru; e-mail: [email protected] )

Bamboo cultivation and utilization awareness creation programme in Ghana

To arrest the dwindling forest condition of Ghana and its associated environmental degradation, a reforestation programme which includes bamboo cultivation has been adopted. I would therefore be most grateful to have the following donations to help establish a bamboo nursery:

• Élite bamboo seeds and seedlings

• Educational materials on bamboo

• Films on bamboo cultivation and processing

• Equipment – mist systems, projectors etc. (both used and new)

(If you can help, please contact: Abraham A.A. Allotey, PO Box GP 3752, Accra, Ghana; e-mail: [email protected] )

Bamboo in Madagascar

I am seeking information on bamboos in Madagascar. I can only find some scientific articles about bamboo in Madagascar, especially from Kew Botanical Gardens. Recent work about Malagasy bamboo has been carried out, especially by the taxonomist Soejatmi Dransfield, Kew Gardens. But what I am looking for is also information about the ethnobotanical value and economic uses of Malagasy bamboos.

Does anyone know about small- or large-scale bamboo plantations in Madagascar, about charcoaled bamboo, about the general bamboo market there, about bamboo species introductions to Madagascar, about master’s or doctoral theses on Malagasy bamboos? (If you can help, please contact: Norbert Drese [Landscape Architect], Belgium; e-mail: [email protected] )

Boreal foods

I would like to take the opportunity to ask: What do you do with all those mushrooms? Indeed, what do you do with all NTFPs from the boreal?

At the Winnipeg meeting in 2002, a decision was taken to produce a Boreal Cookbook. I offered to collect recipes and compile the initial booklet. It would be wonderful to have it ready for the next biannual meeting in September 2004. I know there are a vast number of recipes. Please send recipe ideas to me. If you have any photos/illustrations or humorous stories relating to your experiences with boreal foods please send those too. (Feja Lesniewska at: [email protected])

Forest foods

Forests house an abundance of edible NWFPs, such as nuts, fruits, berries, mushrooms, leaves, herbs, spices and condiments, insects and bushmeat.

These forest foods have an important role in food security. NWFPs supplement the daily diet of rural communities and provide a wider variety of food types.