The Interregional FAO Cooperative Research Network on Nuts was created in 1990 within the terms of reference of ESCORENA (European System of Cooperative Research Networks in Agriculture). The main objectives of ESCORENA are: promotion of the voluntary exchange of information and experimental data on selected subject-matters; joint applied research on selected subject-matters of common interest according to an accepted methodology, agreed division of tasks and timetable; voluntary exchange of resources (e.g. germplasm, technology transfer and persons); establishment of close links between European researchers and institutions working on the same subject and the fostering of a spirit of cooperation to stimulate interaction; and cooperation and transfer of European technological advances to developing countries. The network on nuts has a subnetwork for each species (almond, hazelnut, walnut, pistachio, pecan and chestnut). The establishment of a subnetwork for stone pine has been proposed. Since its establishment, the Interregional Cooperative Research Network on Nuts has carried out various activities. It has organized a meeting (1991) and congress (1995) on walnut, a congress on hazelnut (1992), a congress on almond (1993), two meetings on pistachio (1993 and 1994), a congress on chestnut (1993) and a meeting on pecan (1993). A training course on the production and economics of nut crops was held in 1994 in Spain.
Another important activity of the network is the documentation and exchange of germplasm. Conservation of nut tree germplasm is particularly relevant in countries with important native tree resources, as in most countries in the Mediterranean region. Work in this field started in 1992. Through the subnetworks, questionnaires have been completed on germplasm for each species in various countries. Knowledge of germplasm characteristics varies according to the species; for example, more studies have been made on almond, hazelnut, walnut and pecan germplasm than on pistachio and chestnut. The network is also preparing an inventory of the current R&D programmes of the different species in the participating countries and a directory of the research involved. The network publishes NUCIS, a biannual newsletter.
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Mr F.J. Vargas, Network Coordinator, IRTA, Apartat 415, E 53280 Reus, Spain.Fax: +34 77 344055; or J. Boyazoglu, Regional Officer for Europe, Research and Technology, REU, FAO, Rome.Fax: +39-6-57053152; E-mail: [email protected]The Centre for Economic Botany is a key point for Kew's research into useful and potentially useful plants. Current activities of the centre include, among others: the Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-arid Lands (SEPASAL); the Economic Botany Bibliographic Database; Plantas do Nordeste (PNE), a joint Kew/Brazilian initiative in northeastern Brazil, and the UK Tropical Forest Forum.
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For more information on the project, please contact
Ms Karen Pipe-Wolferstan, Manager, Plantas do Nordeste Project, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AE, UK.
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Ms Jane Thornback, Coordinator, UK Tropical Forest Forum, c/o Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AE, UK.ATI has expanded its NTFP scope with new initiatives:
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Eric L. Hyman, ATI, 1828 L St NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC, USA.Fax: +1-202-293 45 98; E-mail: [email protected]
ANSAB (previously known as Asia Network for Small Agriculture) is an international NGO based in Kathmandu, Nepal, and was started in 1991. In 1995, ANSAB established a Biodiversity Unit dedicated to the conservation of biological diversity and the economic development of non-timber forest products. Support for its establishment was provided by the Ford Foundation and the IDRC office, both in New Delhi. In July 1995, ANSAB and its partner organization, ATI, launched the Nepal Non-Timber Forest Products Network, consisting of more than 100 local and international businesses, producers' associations, researchers, and others involved in the collection, processing and sale of NTFPs. There are long-term plans for the expansion of the network into other areas of the Himalayan region. ANSAB supports the Humla Oil Pvt. Ltd, a new essential oils distillation plant owned and operated by NTFP collectors in Humla, Nepal, with support from the United States-based Biodiversity Conservation Network. ANSAB is also involved in a project in the Garhwal Himalayas, aimed at introducing sustainable harvesting and processing of non-timber forest products through village-owned private enterprises and assisting in revitalizing village resource management institutions, such as forest panchayats, women's and youth committees. ANSAB publishes the ANSAB Newsletter.
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ANSAB, Lazimpat, PO Box 16, Kathmandu, Nepal.Fax: +977-1-411859; E-mail: [email protected]INBAR, supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), is in a transition process to become an independent international organization (see Non-Wood News 2). China has offered to host INBAR headquarters in Guangzhou. A Task Force, established to discuss the transition, invited IDRC to act as executing agency for the new organization. If the board of directors of IDRC agrees, IDRC will take the lead on the necessary actions, including discussions with potential donors and advocates and consultations with China and with other governments, towards establishing INBAR as a legal entity and preparing a medium-term plan. The Task Force recommended that the following programme areas emerge from the current thrusts of INBAR:
INBAR has been active in strengthening ongoing collaboration and building partnerships for future collaboration (examples of collaborating institutions are the DGIS of the Netherlands, ODA, the Forest Research Programme in Oxford, TRADA in the United Kingdom, the Rattan Information Centre-Malaysia, the Bamboo Information Centre-India and the Tropical Forest Research Institute in Madya Pradesh in India).
Other activities included a meeting of the Biodiversity, Genetic Resources and Conservation Working Group in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from 27 November to 1 December 1995. Later in December, a meeting was organized at the INBAR secretariat on the results of the socio-economics case-study in Zhejiang Province, China, in collaboration with CIFOR. A meeting on the role of bamboo in mountain development is being jointly planned with ICIMOD and IPGRI to be held in February/March 1996.
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INBAR, 17 Jorbagh, New Delhi, 110 003 India.Fax: +91-11-4622707In 1994 ICRAF made the policy decision to expand agroforestry into the area of domestication as a means of fulfilling its mandate to alleviate poverty and mitigate against deforestation and land depletion. ICRAF has produced various publications on domestication and tree improvement and organized a conference on "Domestication and commercialization of tree species for NTFPs" in Nairobi in February 1996. The ICRAF 1994 Annual Report has a section on "Domestication of non-timber forest products" with a description of the work being carried out by ICRAF in the humid lowlands of West Africa and the Miombo woodlands of southern Africa.
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Dr R.R. Leakey, Director of Research Division, ICRAF, Nairobi, Kenya.Fax: +254 2 521001; E-mail: [email protected]CTFS is a programme within the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute that joins together a voluntary association of natural and social scientists and institutions around the world. The mission of CTFS is to promote and coordinate long-term biological and socio-economic research within tropical forests and forest-dependent communities, and translate this information into results relevant to forest management, conservation and natural resource policies. CTFS has developed a network of long-term forest research sites, in which its primary involvement is to coordinate and standardize research and provide technical assistance and training at each site. The network will soon be tracking over 2 million individuals of approximately 2 000 tree species throughout the world's tropics. CTFS has initiated collaborative research programmes in peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Singapore, Panama and Puerto Rico. In 1995, long-term research programmes were being set up in Ecuador, Cameroon, Zaire and the Philippines. The activities of CTFS cover, directly or indirectly, the sustainable management of NWFPs.
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Dr Elizabeth Losos, Director, Center for Tropical Forest Science, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, 900 Jefferson Dr., Suite 2207, Washington DC 20560.Fax: +1-202-786-2819; E-mail: [email protected]TRAFFIC is a conservation programme of WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) and IUCN (World Conservation Union). TRAFFIC's special mission is to ensure that wildlife trade is sustainable and in accordance with domestic and international laws and agreements, through the investigation, monitoring and reporting of such trade, particularly that which is detrimental to the survival of flora and fauna and which is illegal. TRAFFIC's reports and advice provide a technical basis for the establishment of effective conservation policies and programmes for wildlife in trade. TRAFFIC has a network of 16 offices distributed among key wildlife trading countries of five continents (regional offices for Europe, Oceania, South America, Southeast Asia, East/southern Africa, and national offices in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, India, Japan, Taiwan (Province of China), the United States, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania). TRAFFIC International, located in Cambridge, United Kingdom, coordinates the network activities. TRAFFIC's research reports, along with its journal, TRAFFIC Bulletin, provide reference materials for law enforcement agents, lawmakers, the media, NGOs and academics all over the world. They are also of importance to the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) Secretariat and the IUCN Species Survival Commission. Increasingly, TRAFFIC is turning its attention to plant and animals not covered by CITES. Some of the TRAFFIC publications issued in the last few years are: Illegal tropical timber trade: Asia-Pacific, 1992; Hard times for hardwood: indigenous timber and the timber trade in Kenya, 1994; Wild plants in trade, 1992; Medicinal plants and plant extracts, 1993; International trade in reptile skins, 1994; International trade in swiftlet nests, with special reference to Hong Kong, 1994; Trade in agarwood (India), 1994; Tortoises and fresh water turtles: the trade in Southeast Asia, 1995; The bear facts: the East Asian market for bear gall bladder, 1995.
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TRAFFIC International, 219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, CB3 0DL, UK.Fax: +44-223-277237As part of a process to develop methodologies for comparative research, and to establish a network of research sites, CIFOR organized a meeting on global patterns and trends of NTFPs in Zimbabwe from 28 August to 2 September 1995. Eighteen experts from various countries discussed the objectives of the network research programme, reviewed the state-of-the-art research and issues, recommended hypotheses and a common set of questions to be included in the framework, reviewed methodologies appropriate to the research and identified the expected outcome of such a programme. A second meeting is being planned for February 1996.
A Consultative Meeting on Research on NTFPs and Community Forestry Research in eastern Africa was held in Nairobi, Kenya on 15 and 16 September 1995. This was a joint effort involving CIFOR and IUCN's Eastern Africa Regional Office. A total of 13 participants attended the meeting.
CIFOR has conducted a survey on NWFP databases and a small workshop of about ten to 15 participants was held in Bogor, Indonesia from 6 to 8 December 1995 to discuss the results and the potential for complementarity of the databases. The report of the findings from the survey and the workshop is expected to be available in 1996.
A joint project, "Contribution of NWFPs to socio-economic development and their potential role in sustainable forest management", with two German universities - the Institute of World Forestry and the University of Freiburg - and two other universities in tropical countries is expected to commence in 1996. The general objective of this project is to contribute to more effective and sustainable use of tropical forest ecosystems by developing and testing a common methodology for comparative research, through integrated socio-economic and biological research. Potential contributions of NWFPs to socio-economic development will be assessed. Strategies for the sustainable use of tropical forest resources will be developed by assessing the impacts of NWFP use on the forest ecosystem.
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Manuel Ruiz Perez, CIFOR, PO Box 6596, JKPWB, Jakarta, Indonesia.Tel.: +62-251-34 36 52; Fax: +62-251-32 64 33; E-mail: [email protected]The Tropenbos Foundation is an internationally oriented organization conducting research and development activities to support the conservation and wise use of tropical rain forests.
It carries out research programmes in Colombia, Cameroon, Guyana, Côte d'Ivoire and Indonesia. It also supports projects in Ecuador and Gabon. Tropenbos has recently published a document entitled Commercial and sustainable extraction of non-timber forest products. Towards a policy and management oriented research strategy by M. Ros-Tonen, W. Dijkman and E. Lammerts van Bueren. The strategy presented in the book is based on the belief that commercial extraction of NTFPs can contribute to the conservation of unique ecosystems in the tropics through the income generated to forest-dwelling people and through the contribution to the national economy. Tropenbos intends to develop a checklist of attributes and requirements for successful and sustainable extraction of NTFPs, and a method to apply this checklist in land-use planning. This will be used to identify areas where commercial extraction of NTFPs seems promising as a conservation strategy. The checklist will be developed as a joint effort with scientists of various disciplines, local population groups, and several institutions in the tropics.
For more information and to order the publication (price: f. 25, excluding mailing charges), please contact
The Tropenbos Foundation, PO Box 232, 6700 AE Wageningen, the Netherlands.