by J D Keita,
Regional Forestry Officer,
FAO Regional Office for Africa, Accra, Ghana.
1- Introduction
2- Definitions of non-wood forest products
3- The importance of non-wood forest products
4- The way ahead
5- Conclusion
Bibliography
"Early Man's interaction with and dependence on the forests was, for many years, almost exclusively centred on Non-timber Forest Products.
Somewhere down the course of history, timber and timber products assumed such major importance in human affairs that they appeared to be the only significant out-put of the forests. They dominated in national and international trade statistics, were promoted rigorously in all sorts of media, adapted readily to the changing tastes of urban consumption, and generally basked in an exagerated measure of self importance.
For most rural populations, however, this prominence is ill founded. For those who come face to face, without relief, with the harrowing experiences of ill health, hunger and other forms of deprivation, the reality is the enormous contribution Non-wood Forest Products, in all their varied forms, make to all aspects of their lives." (John François, December 1991, Accra).
This declaration seems to be a fair reflection of the truth, especially in the tropical belt where no obligation of heating homes during severe winters did confer to timber any early credentials of nobility. Yet it is hard to give proof of the importance of these Non-wood Forest Products (NWFPs), because of lack of reliable sources of information.
Most of the forest management systems, now applied throughout the World, generated in the temperate zone and are based on the principle of sustained yield of timber production, considering NWFPs as secondary, even "minor" products.
Changing this patern of the forest production is not just changing the technical prescriptions of the management systems, but also putting in more interactions between the forest systems and the communities using the resources.
The main objectives of this overview are:
- to review the definitions commonly accepted of goods and services other than timber, provided by the forests;- to review a few sources of information, in view of ascertaining the importance of these goods and services in the life of the rural folks, especially in Africa;
- to suggest some steps on the way ahead, in promoting the NWFPs to the same rank as timber products in the forest management systems to provide more benefits to communities.
In one of its last publications on the subject, (FAO Forestry Paper n° 97, March 1991), the FAO gave the following list of NWFPs: "the products include, the use of plants for food, beverages, forage, fuel and medicine, animals, birds, reptiles and fishes for food, fur and feathers, and their products such as honey, lac, silk, etc... and the services of land for conservation and recreation". In this definition, NWFPs are divided into products sensu stricto, and services; products are themselves grouped into animal products and plant products.
However, FAO would prefer a definition which will make mention of the sustainability of the supply of these products and therefore, NWFPs are defined as all goods and services for commercial, industrial and subsistence use derived from forests and their biomass which can be sustainably extracted, i.e. extracted from a forest ecosystem in quantities and ways that do not alter its basic reproductive functions.
A meeting of the Joint Working Party on Forest Economics and Statistics of the Timber Committee of the Economic Commission for Europe and the FAO European Forestry Commission, to prepare a study on the outlook for the Non-wood Goods and Services of the forests in Europe, gave a preliminary classification. In this attempt, mention is made of Goods and Services with greater emphasis on Services grouped into environmental services and social and cultural services.
Specifically, the Group mentioned that, "as a result of UNCED Agenda 21, the Conventions on Biodiversity and Climate Change, internationally agreed priorities had already been given to services of the forest such as biodiversity and carbon storage and the exchange of CO2 between forests and the atmosphere"
Considering however the rural communities in Africa, one can wonder if it is not more appropriate to define the NWFPs by calling the functions they play in rural households and agro-forestry and community forestry production systems and therefore sustaining rural life. These functions are: food production and food security, forest medicines, house construction materials, agricultural production equipment, income generating by gathering, processing and trading extractive products such as gum, resin, oils, leaves, fruits, etc... It is only that way that it will be possible to really ascertain the significance of the non-wood forest resources for rural communities and therefore, determine what priority should be given to the different products and services which play an important role in the very subsistence life of people.
3.1- Even though some of the NWFPs are used and traded on long distances inside as well as outside Africa, since a long time ago, it is still very difficult to come across reliable figures concerning their production and trade. Some of these products like tree gums, shea butter, rubber, cola, tamarind, ivory, etc..., were the first most important products traded between Africa and the other continents.
After the end of the slave trade, it was the trade in Arabic gum that fuelled the trade between France and West Africa, leading to the signing of the first "Traités d'Amitié et de Libre Circulation et de Commerce", with the States along the Senegal River, later transformed into "Traités de Protectorat" and the whole process ended finally with the colonial conquest.
Arabic gum, (Acacia senegal and other Acacia spp.), is still traded in Mauritania, Senegal and Mali, but, data concerning it, are now aggregated with Miscellaneous items. However, it is still a very important commodity for Sudan where a production of about 40,000 T. was registered in 1987; its export represented a value of 267.1 million Sudanese Pounds, (18% of Sudan total export in value).
The shea nuts and butter, (Butyrospermum paradoxa, Gaertn. f var. Parkii), had also retained its status of traditional export commodity in most of the countries located in the Sudano-Guinean belt in West Africa; data are however often aggregated with Miscellaneous exports in official statistics. In Burkina Faso, one of the least developped countries, 70,000 T of shea butter and nuts were traded in 1985/86, earning 4.9 billion CFA Fr., (175 million US Dollars). This trade represented 1.16% of the GDP and 11.5% of the total export earnings of the country that financial year.
The trade of cola nuts, (Cola nitida, Scott and Endl), between the forest belt of West and Central Africa and the Sudano-Sahelian belt, is at the very origin of the creation of major States and Kingdoms. Merchants in this trade helped a lot in building links between tribes and clans as well as regions, thus creating conditions to build Up larger economic environments and finally setting into motion the process of creating political states.
Official statistics mention the cola trade in non-formal trade commodity and generally, only estimates are available. In Ghana, it was estimated that cola export amounted to 740 T in 1990, which is very far from the reality. In Cameroun, estimates gave a production of 22,500 T in 1981 and an export of 1,100 T earning 122.6 million CFA Fr.
3.2- When it comes to locally traded NWFPs, it is even more difficult to get quantitative figures on their production trade and value. However, there is already an abundant literature on the trade of game meat, known also as bushmeat, particularly in the forest belt, (Ghana Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Zaire), but also in some parts of southern Africa (Botswana, Zimbabwe, etc...).
In Central African Republic, surveys revealed that 197 traders, (out of whom 177 are women), are registered in Bangui as only bushmeat traders; the total sale of bushmeat amounts to 730 T. per year. It has also been found that the national average consumption of bushmeat in the whole country reaches 25 kg. per person per year. The contribution of bushmeat to the GDP of Central African Republic, is 37 billion CFA Fr which represent a little more than 10%.
Another survey conducted in Bukavu, Zaire, (1987), indicated that 72% of the population in the town consume bushmeat regularly and that about 400 T. represent the yearly bushmeat consumption of the town.
Similar studies were conducted in Ghana, Nigeria and Botswana leading to some reliable figures on the intake of wild animal protein in these countries; some studies focused their interest on the importance of cash income from sale of bushmeat, (Nigeria).
3.3- Many other NWFPs are traded locally but their shares in the local economies are significant, even though they are often products of very local nature. There are already a lot of studies on them; some of these studies are recorded in an FAO Community Forestry Series, (n° 6).
In a study in Southern Ghana, it is for instance noted that Marantaceae leaves play a very important role in Ashanti region in the industry of wrapping "vegetables, fish, cola nuts, soap, and salt and are the only material used to wrap cooked foods, notably rice, yam, beans, kenkey, (fermented maize dough), and fried plantain". Out of 300 food sellers interviewed in Kumasi market, only one uses alternative material to wrap food, especially cooked food. Marantaceae leaves give better flavor to food and withstand boiling.
The report goes on giving quantitative information on the number of people, (generally women and children), engaged in gathering the leaves, quantity of leaves gathered and value; information on the traders and the trade pattern are also recorded.
The same report mentions the trade in Chewstick, which involves the production of about 4-20 million bundles sold in Kumasi for a value of 280 million cedis monthly. The chewsticks "provide the main means of dental care for more than 90% of the people in Southern Ghana".
Medicinal products from the forests are among the locally traded products with low value in monetary terms, but play a fundamental role in the rural production systems by providing almost the entire health care to the people. It is therefore easy to have an indication of the real value of these medicinal products by estimating the opportunity cost. If, for instance, the whole population of Ghana would have to rely on modern medicine, it will be necessary to multiply the national bill for drug supply by 90, as almost 90% of the population, rural as well as urban, rely on traditional medical treatments, mainly based on natural products from the forests.
3.4- Apart from this fundamental health care function, NWFPs play a major function in food production and food security, the scale of which however varies; NWFPs provide food and cash income by gathering, processing and trading them; they provide in some cases, the only source of cash in the rural areas. Food security was defined as "the economic and physical access to food, of all people, at all times". Forest foods are the only ones rural dwellers have direct and free access to and therefore, are the first to be called upon in cases of emergencies, (drought, famines, etc...). Forest foods are also generally dietary supplement, providing the bulk of supply in minerals and vitamins. While the Pygmies of Central African Republic get all their food supply from the forests, the Ferlo desert herdsmen in Senegal, get their vitamin requirements and indispensable salts from the perennial shrubs like Boscia senagalensis, (Barbara Becker, 1983).
There are presently a lot of local studies on this subject of forests contributions to food security, giving interesting figures on foods produced by the forest ecosystems and the NWFPs' contributions to the cash economy in rural areas. Added to that, but may be most important, is the large array of services rendered to the agric sector by trees and forests, which improve the food production: soil improvement, water conservation, fodder production for livestock, etc... These services are more and more tapped to develop agroforestry technologies and other low cost and environment friendly production systems. The development of these technologies gives hope to setting up sustainable agricultural production systems.
It may be interesting to mention here the case of the relation between milk production and the availability of green leaves of trees and shrubs in the ranges in arid and semi-arid areas. During the dry season in these areas, grasses are completely dry and do not contain any caroten, the nitrogen elements represent only 1% of the dried matter; thus the only source of digestible nitrogenous matter comes from the leaves of trees and shrubs. It is therefore easy to imagine the importance of trees and shrubs in the ranges for these pastoral communities where milk is one of the most important staple foods.
3.5- There are other very important services which, even though very newly promoted, forests are rendering to humanity as a whole. These are, firstly the overall regulating function of life on the Earth and secondly, the preservation of the biodiversity and therefore the gene store function forests are playing.
It is a well known fact that life on Earth is possible as a result of a balanced combination of certain gases in the atmosphere around the Planet. Carbon dioxide, (CO2), is one of them. With the recent tremendous development of human activities, the release of more carbon dioxide is causing anxiety. Forests have the ability to absorb but also to release CO2, and therefore, can be used in the regulation process of the content of this gas in the atmosphere.
Retaining all the genes and forms of life is also one of the greatest service forests can render to humanity. It is obvious that progress that man could, and in fact must make, so as to improve his living conditions, will greatly depend upon the gene reservoir constituted by the forest ecosystems.
We are not however going to dwell on these two special services; we are not even going to pay too much attention to traditionally mentioned services such as the diverse forms of support given to agricultural production systems by forests and trees, nor forest contributions to leisure and tourism industries. Rather, we are more concerned here with the goods and services the supply or deficit of which have direct impact on rural communities. These are: the food products from the forests, the role it plays as food insurance store and food supplement to improve the quality of diet, materials for building and construction, products to be gathered, processed transformed and traded for cash income, etc...
The ideal situation would be for mankind to harvest all these goods and enjoy the benefits of these services on a sustained basis. It will be of course difficult to attain this on the same land; the solution will be therefore to find diverse appropriate combinations to harvest locally valued goods, but at the same time, cater for the needs to preserve the Earth's diversity.
4.1- We are here going to limit ourselves to two questions:
- First, how to manage forests in order to obtain a sustainable yield of products, i.e. timber, fuelwood and/or the multiplicity of NWFPs.- Second, how to organize the cooperation between countries and Regions so that knowledge and experiences could be shared.
The first question should be tackled locally. It is in essence at three levels: it is social, i.e. the communities should be involved in the full process of forest resource management and land ownership or land tenure agreements should be granted; it is technical, ecological knowledge and sustainable resource management; it is economic, i.e. incentives should be given to encourage and improve methodologies for natural resource valuation and accounting. These problems have a common denominator, it is a political issue.
The second problem is an institutional and communication issue. Networks could be an appropriate mechanism or tool to monitor and evaluate progress at national, regional and inter-regional levels.
4.2- Let us first concentrate on the problem of people's and communities' participation. It is finally the most important and of course the most difficult one. As already stated, most of the forestry management systems applied throughout the World, were born in the temperate regions, where winter temperatures compelled the people to build and heat their homes, using timber, the most appropriate and available resource. Later on, management systems of the forests were set up to secure the supply of the timber. This management system, looking at only one product, the timber, is finally very simple.
In the Tropics, timber is on the contrary, a secondary product of the forests, in fact the less utilized resource; for communities in the Tropics, the most valued resources of the forests are the non-wood products like the forest foods, the medicinal plants, the land for agriculture, etc...
It is not therefore surprising that communities in the Tropics did not understand the logic of the temperate zone style of forest management systems and, in fact, activities of foresters in the tropical belt, generated a lot of controversy. However, one has to credit the foresters for the fact that they realized themselves very early that they were venturing into a more difficult terrain and that they have, more than in the temperate zone, to involve the communities in the more complex management systems which they should promote. This is why they come out with a lot of conceptual frameworks, all of them geared towards involving in one way or the other, people and communities: community forestry, rural forestry, participatory forestry, "foresterie villageoise", "bois de village", agroforestry, etc....
However, the main objective, (but hidden), of all these promoted concepts, was in fact, to get communities involved in preserving the forest reserves. They foccused on creating forest resources outside the established Forest Estate by plantation and natural forest management programmes, in view of allowing communities to continue using forest resources without any kind of "disturbances" in the forest reserves.
4.3- Recently, some other conceptual approaches were designed, but are yet to be implemented. Among them is the "collaborative forest management" system. It is one of the programmes of the Forest Resources Management Project, (FRMP), of Ghana. "It is taken to mean all forms of interaction between local people and the Forestry Department which enhance the management of the resources and improve the flow of benefits to local people".
This approach is in fact very flexible. "It encompasses a range of initiatives. It may begin with simply talking to people living near reserves about Forestry Department activities or occasional liaison on specific resource use issues. It could take the form of negotiations with user groups over NWFPs permit rates or the incorporation of local knowledge into silviculture of an NWFP. Alternatively, a local community might formally accept responsibility for developping a resource in return of guaranteed rights of access. The potential is there for collaboration to assist the Forestry Department in its efforts to sustainably manage the forest estate. The form the interaction will take will depend on local circumstances....". Foresters therefore, become partners of all those interested in the uses of NWFPs of the forests.
4.4- The very end result of the collaborative management is the concept of "common property" approach to forestry management, (gestion patrimoniale des forêts), where the unit responsible for the management is composed of groups, each of which considers the resource as their common property. Resource management, forest operations and Use of common property rights need consensus of all stakeholders who will have to implement his part of the activities freely, but towards a common goal. Negotiation will be favoured rather than confrontation over ownership rights and duties.
The result will be of course a more complex forest management system; it will need more research into technical, ecological and economic problems, as well as social and political ones. Once again, one has to emphasise on the complexity of forest management systems based on sustainability of non-wood goods production. This is due to the multiplicity of products, their actual uses, the uncertainty on their future uses the biological diversity of the systems and finally, the anthropogenic influences.
4.5- It is essential to encourage and help countries to implement projects dealing with the problem in all its various forms, to test promising approaches and mechanisms, to promote applied research in developping improved silvicultural management systems, to set up a proper monitoring and evaluation system of all programmes and projects implemented to promote NWFPs.
It will be important that experiences gained be known by and benefit the people concerned. Countries should be encouraged and helped to establish data banks to store all valuable information and organize networks among institutions, (governmental and non-governmental), and experts working on NWFPs, to share the experiences gained.
The search for information and experiences on NWFPs should concern two aspects: sustainable resource management and resource valuation.
Concerning the problem of resource valuation, it has been already mentioned that a lot of information has been generated on the subject. However, it may first be necessary to design and formulate methodological guidelines for quantitative surveys of the products and for exercises aiming at giving them economic values; The use of the already existing data will be facilitated and of course, gathering and disseminating the information will be facilitated by simplifying and uniformizing the methodologies. The use of the information will be more productive if there are possibilities of comparison between results.
Concerning sustainable resources management, the process will not be very different: collection of data from available experiences, review and evaluation of them, designing and formulating guidelines to orient future actions.
4.6- The survey and evaluation of the socio-economic importance of the NWFPs and the technical evaluation of experiences on forest management based on the sustained production of NWFPs, should lead to the building up of data banks at national, regional and inter-regional levels, managed by corresponding networks.
For a start, databanks and networks should cater for socio-economic as well as management problems. However, different guidelines should be designed for valuing the socio-economic benefits of the NWFPs and for the management of the resources. It will also be usefull to establish two lists of experts with a high degree of competence, one on socio-economic aspects and one on sustainable natural resource management systems.
To improve the knowledge and skills of people engaged in promoting the NWFPs through sustainable resource management systems, it will be very usefull to organize good exchanges of experience: study tours, workshops and seminars designed to make in-depth analysis of some success stories and failures.
NWFPs are caracterized by their multiplicity and the fact that they are products generally of very local significance. It is difficult to make quantitative surveys and value their roles and functions for the communities, particularly in terms of economic importance. It will be therefore a very difficult task to establish resource management systems providing a sustained flow of these products. While their multiplicity does make technical problems more complicated, especially combining in an optimum manner the biological forces, the uncertainty surrounding their future uses for the human societies concerned and other anthropogenic factors which can interfere in the process, will call into question the objectives of resource management programmes.
However, these constraints should be considered opportunities for actions and should stimulate research in developing the NWFPs sector. There is now a growing concern about communities participation in conservation and management of the natural resources and the massive presence of the non-governmental organisations represent good opportunities in dealing with some of the grassroot level problems to which governmental agencies are desperately confronted. The recent UNCED meeting has further raised awareness among Governments, on the importance of NWFPs, thus giving good momentum to activities related to sustainable natural resource management.
The following activities can be recommended:
a)- to undertake a classification of NWFPs,b)- to develop a standard method for the inventory of NWFPs,
c)- to undertake studies in order to acquire information on the sustainable harvesting levels of NWFPs,
d)- to review and propose, if necessary, appropriate harvesting techniques,
e)- to undertake social and economic evaluation of NWFPs; (this is one of the best ways to gain political and financial support),
f)- to undertake studies on marketing and market information systems,
g)- to organise, on a continuous basis, the gathering and sharing of indigenous knowledge, data and experience through studies, databanks and networks,
h)- to develop, on a partnership basis, with rural communities and local existing institutions, guidelines and tools for assessing their needs, involving them in the decision-making and in the implementation process of managing their resources,
i)- to undertake studies in the area of applied research in the field of agro-forestry and community forest management systems.
Finally, it should be recommended to avoid any precipitation and ill-considered extrapolation.
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