Why are non-wood forest products important?
Who uses non-wood forest products?
A basis for sustainable forest management
A range of options
References
In recent years forests
have been increasingly recognized as rich reservoirs of many
valuable biological resources, not just timber. The term non-wood
forest product (NWFP) emerged as an umbrella term to recognize
the products derived from these various forest resources as a
group.
This volume originates from an International Expert Consultation on Non-wood Forest Products, cosponsored by the FAO Forestry Department and the Indonesian government in January 1995. It represents a first step taken by FAO to respond to that meeting's recommendation that FAO prepare guidelines for planners and entrepreneurs to use in developing NWFPs activities.
The definition of non-wood forest products used here is the one which was adopted at that meeting in Indonesia (FAO, 1995):
NWFPs consist of goods of biological origin other than wood, as well as services derived from forests and allied land uses.
This
definition is intended to encourage better accounting of NWFPs,
of both plant and animal origin, as a group and their
contribution to the national economic indexes which policy-makers
use to decide development priorities and policy. As such, it
admittedly does not cover many important cultural and
environmental forest functions. The definition will no doubt
continue to be refined as the field evolves.
For most of recorded
history, people have valued forests not for wood, but for other
products. Ancient writings from China, Egypt and India record a
wide variety of uses for forest plants, and compilations of
botanical knowledge from Western Asia were prized by the ancient
Greeks (Wickens, 1990). Whereas wood products have become major
international commodities in modern times, NWFPs rank among the
oldest traded commodities (Iqbal, 1993). Ancient Egyptians
imported gum arabic from Sudan for use in paints and the
mummification process. International trade in sandalwood oil
dates back to the twelfth century A.D.
Through the experience of forest communities, forestry professionals have recently rediscovered the great importance of NWFPs (ranging from food, fruits and fibres, dye stuffs, flavours and medicines) for meeting people's needs. In recent years, a growing body of scientific research has suggested that, given certain basic conditions, NWFPs can help communities to meet their needs without destroying the forest resource.
The most commonly cited instances come from Latin America, where the term extractive reserves describes a system where forest is set aside for low-impact use by traditional communities in the area. No single model can suit all conditions, however.
Why have
modern science and governments overlooked the importance of this
non-wood forest wealth for so long? The answer is threefold.
First, most of these products are used mainly for rural
subsistence or local markets. They often go unrecorded in
official statistics, which focus on nationally traded goods
(Chandrasekharan, 1994). Second, because modern government
administration has divided these products among forestry,
agriculture and horticulture, statistics do not recognize even
nationally and internationally important non-wood forest
commodities as originating from the forest. The divisions
between, and the lack of clear definition of, agriculture and
forestry have created a large blind spot in the way we reckon our
dependence on forests. Finally, modern forestry has favoured
timber and large-scale enterprises, and has generally regarded
non-wood products as incidental. However, studies show that
forests produce many more types of products than wood products
particularly in some tropical forests. (Toledo et al.,
1992). Small-scale forest-based enterprises in Zimbabwe, which
mostly are based on NWFPs, employed 237,000 people in 1991,
compared to 16,000 employed in conventional forestry and forest
industries for the same year (Arnold et al., 1994).
For most of the world's
rural households, NWFPs provide essential food and nutrition,
medicine, fodder, fuel, thatch and construction materials, mulch
and non-farm income. These products are particularly important in
relieving the "hunger periods" in the agricultural
cycle, and in smoothing out other seasonal fluctuations. Dealing
in NWFPs can provide employment during slack periods of the
agricultural cycle, and provide a buffer against risk and
household emergencies.
Poor households, in particular, depend on these products for their livelihood because they usually have more access to the forest than to other resources.
For the same reason - greater dependence on open-access forests, for lack of other options women usually rely more than men on NWFPs for household use and income. In many places, women are responsible for the household activities that involve forest-based foods and medicine, as well as fuelwood. In this respect NWFPs are particularly important to women, addressing their needs for food security and nutrition.
In local, urban, national and international markets, forest foods and medicines contribute substantially to national economic growth.
NWFPs are therefore important to three main groups:
• rural populations (the largest group) who have traditionally used these items for livelihood and social and cultural purposes;
• urban consumers (a smaller group, but growing faster), who purchase these items;
• traders, and product processors, whose numbers in the NWFP sector increase as urban markets for these products grow.
NWFPs, by complementing
wood-based management, offer a basis for managing forests in a
more sustainable way. In fragile ecosystems, NWFP activities hold
prospects for integrated forms of development that yield higher
rural incomes and conserve biodiversity while not competing with
agriculture (Sharma, 1995). An important concept in realizing
these prospects is adding value locally,
usually through some form of rural processing, to ensure that a
fair portion of a product's market value accrues to the people
who manage the forest resource.
Agenda 21, approved by the UN Conference on Environment and Development (1992) which provides a global plan for action, has recognized the role of NWFPs in sustainable forest management. UNCED highlighted the importance, already recognized by many governments, of informed participation by local communities in all aspects of forest management and planning.
Local participation is important for sustainable management of NWFPs for several reasons: (1) to recognize the full extent of local demands on the forest resource; (2) to fully consider the local knowledge of the resource that has developed over time; (3) to engage nearby communities as stake holders in managing the resource, ensuring their commitment to long-term management goals; (4) to engage the energies of local people in their own economic change, which can include decisions on social and cultural priorities that outsiders do not realize.
Involving
communities in managing local resources is therefore not simply
an equity issue; it is an issue of wise resource use. Failure to
do so has broad consequences. Witness the case of Australia,
which although home to more than 20,000 species of native flora,
until quite recently produced no new food crop except macadamia
nuts (Macadamia species), which were domesticated
elsewhere. This singular failure is probably because European
settlers refused to accept that the indigenous people knew any
plants worth cultivating (Wickens, 1990). For more in-depth
information on community participation, see FAO (1990).
This publication aims to
provide some principles and to outline approaches for action by
producers of NWFPs and by the agencies that support them -
government agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and
research organizations.
It is important to recognize that it is not a choice of either timber or non-wood products. Traditional management systems of forest peoples and modern scientific experience with multiple-use management suggest that, with careful planning and monitoring, forests can yield both timber and non-wood harvests on a sustainable basis.
This publication builds on the premise that forests offer a variety of production activities for improving local incomes that do not jeopardize the forest ecosystem. Forest management for NWFPs can provide a continuing source of livelihood and help to maintain the forest resource for future generations. The focus here is on activities that produce items for subsistence and market use. It also considers several activities, such as ecotourism (environmentally and culturally sound tourism based on local scenic attractions) and environmental data gathering (also called "biodiversity prospecting"), which involve no harvest, just observation.
This volume
points to the varied cultural roles of forests and their non-wood
products, but a full assessment of these is beyond its scope.
Rather, it concentrates on the decisions by which people choose
to manage non-wood forest resources for livelihood purposes.
Arnold, J.E.M., Liedholm,
C., Mead, D., and Townson, I.M. 1994. Structure and growth of
small enterprises using forest products in southern and eastern
Africa. OFI Occasional Paper No 47. Oxford Forestry Institute,
Oxford.
Chandrasekharan, C. 1994. Non-wood forest products: a global view of potentials and challenges. Paper for the International Seminar on Management of Minor Forest Products, Dehra-Dun, India, 13-15 November, 1994. FAO, Rome.
FAO. 1990. The community's toolbox: the idea, methods and tools for participatory assessment, monitoring and evaluation in community forestry. Community Forestry Manual No. 2. FAO, Rome (English, French and Spanish versions).
FAO. 1995. Report of the Expert consultation on Non-Wood Forest Products, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 17-27 January 1995. Non-Wood Forest Products 3. FAO, Rome.
Iqbal, M. 1993. International trade in non-wood forest products: an overview. FAO Forest Products Working Paper Misc/93/11. FAO, Rome.
Sharma, P. 1995. Non-wood forest products and integrated mountain development: observations from Nepal. In Report of the Expert consultation on Non-Wood Forest Products, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 17-27 January 1995. Non-Wood Forest Products 3. FAO, Rome.
Toledo, V.M., Batis, A.I., Becerra, R., Martínez, E., and Ramos, C.H. 1992. Products from the tropical rain forests of Mexico: an ethnoecological approach. In Plotkin, M., and Famolare, L., eds., Sustainable harvest and marketing of rain forest products. Conservation International, Washington, D.C.
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G.E. 1990. What is economic botany? Economic botany
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