In order to understand the variety of natural resources found in different ecosystems, with particular reference to NWFPs, it is necessary to have a general idea about the plants (vegetable kingdom) and animals (animal kingdom) found therein. The following note on the vegetable kingdom is extracted from the Manual of Indian forest botany by N.L. Bor, Oxford University Press, 1953.
The vegetable kingdom is divided into cryptogams, in which there are no true flowers producing seed, and phanerogams, in which the plants develop flowers or flower-like structures where seeds are produced.
The cryptogams are again subdivided into Thallophyta, Bryophyta and Pteridophyta. Thallophyta are plants that possess a thallus or plant-body that is not differentiated into stem and leaves. To this group belong the algae, diatoms, fungi, bacteria and lichens.
Bryophyta include the liverworts and true mosses that are distinguished from Thallophyta by the possession of female reproductive organs, known as archegonia, and also by the fact that the plant-body is not infrequently differentiated into stem and leaves.
Pteridophyta are fern-like plants. These plants possess vascular strands and there is often a marked differentiation into stem and leaves (Alsophila), the latter often being very large and much divided. The female reproductive organs, the archegonia, are similar to those developed in Bryophyta. In addition to the true ferns this group also includes the horsetails (Equisetum spp.) and the clubmosses (Lycopodium spp.).
The phanerogams include all higher plants, i.e. all present-day groups that exhibit the highest development and that are usually referred to as Spermatophyta. This group is again subdivided into two phyla, namely: gymnosperms and angiosperms.
In gymnosperms, the male and female reproductive organs are not contained in the same flower and the ovules are borne naked on the carpels, which usually take the form of scales. (This phylum consists of seven major family groups including Coniferales.) On the other hand, in angiosperms the ovules are contained in a closed vessel, the ovary, and the male and female elements are usually, but not always, associated in the same flower.
The classification can be shown diagrammatically thus:
| Plant kingdom | Cryptogams | Thallophyta |
| Bryophyta | ||
| Pteridophyta | ||
| Phanerogams | Gymnosperms | |
| Angiosperms |
Angiospermae are divided into two subphyla: monocotyledons and dicotyledons. Monocotyledons consist of six major groups of families, including Palmales and Graminales. The dicotyledons are formed of Lignosae or woody plants (with some 50 groups of families) and Herbaceae or non-woody plants (with 17 groups of families).
Some existing international agreements that regulate international trade may have a considerable impact on marketing of NWFPs. The following are some of the most relevant for certain internationally traded NWFPs.
(Source: Non-wood forest products for income generation and sustainable forestry. NWFP Series No. 7. FAO, 1995.)
The objectives of planting trees and other forest plants are manifold, and the same plantation can serve multiple uses. However, high-quality planting material is needed for the successful establishment of any plantation. Thus, the genetic improvement of forest plants and the propagation and use of improved germplasm sources are urgent tasks not only for trees, which are primarily grown for their wood, but also for forest plants providing other products.
Strategies for the genetic improvement of trees and other forest species for non-wood products differ from conventional tree improvement. For example, main selection criteria used for the identification of superior timber trees are vegetative growth, stem straightness, branching habit, and other traits influencing the production of a commercially valuable bole. Selection criteria for non-wood products are quite different, as the following examples indicate.
Neem (Azadirachta indica) is a small tree native to South and Southeast Asia, planted extensively throughout the tropics. The species is highly valued because of its multiple uses. The trees produce azadirachtin, a biological pesticide, which is of great potential for large-scale application in agriculture. Improvement in the production of this chemical compound will be an important target for future breeding.
The uses of bamboos are also manifold. Depending on the species and its main use, the production of biomass, culm size and number, (edible) shoots, and several other products will be the target of genetic improvement.
Rattans are climbing palms that are mainly used in South and Southeast Asia. Interest in the plantation establishment of rattans is steadily growing since natural resources are rapidly exhausted because of overexploitation. The identification of suitable rattan species, provenances and genotypes for plantation establishment is urgent.
The genetic improvement of forest species for non-wood products is still in its infancy. However, this picture is expected to change soon, if the potential of non-wood forest products for local people and the national development is fully recognized.
The genetic resources of many species used for the production of non-wood forest goods are threatened. This adds to the importance of increasing efforts related to the exploration, use and conservation of genetic resources.
The member countries of the Regional UNDP/FAO Forest Tree Improvement Project RAS/91/004 (FORTIP) in South and Southeast Asia have already realized the potential of the genetic improvement of forest species producing non-wood goods. Neem, bamboos and rattans are among the priority species for project intervention. The evaluation of the genetic resources of these species has been initiated by the project in close cooperation with national institutions of the member countries, related international projects and agencies, and the Forestry Department at FAO headquarters, Rome.
(Contributed by: M. Vivekanandan, Chief Technical Adviser, Project RAS/91/004.)
Non-wood forest products are receiving increasing attention from the scientific community for two main reasons: it is hoped first that the promotion of extraction and trade of NWFPs will improve the livelihood of low-income farmers, and second that the measurable economic value of NWFPs will constitute an important reason for preserving forests from destructive uses or conversion to other land uses. The latter reason carries the implicit assumption that the forests to be conserved through NWFP use are mature natural forests. There are, however, many more forests that are a source of NWFPs: they are often heavily manipulated by people or they may have been planted. Even so, these forests may hold a high diversity of plants, sometimes as high as that of mature natural forests, and they also need to be conserved.
In West Kalimantan, Indonesia, shifting cultivators (Dyak farmers) protect parts of natural forests as communal forest reserves (which can be up to 100 hectares), privately owned forest reserves (from one to a few hectares large), and tembawang, managed forests resulting from the planting of fruit-trees and of many other forest species, such as rattan, bamboo and even timber species, on land that was previously used for rice production. Although a result of human intervention, tembawang can have a high species diversity: in one tembawang, 231 species/hectare were recorded, while the neighbouring mature natural forest had 256 species/hectare. The monetary value of products obtained from such forests can be equal or exceed the monetary value of rice yields. The area of managed forest can be significant: in one village, about a quarter of the 2 000 hectares under cultivation is managed forest, or under some sort of tree planting, of which 72 percent is designated to become tembawang. These forest areas, if they become generators of income, can contribute to re-establishing the balance between forest and agricultural land in the Dyak swidden agricultural system. This is where NWFPs can play a role. Increased tembawang areas must yield marketable products, so that farmers can obtain returns from forests which have a high monetary value, but which also bring in real money. If tembawang are to yield a higher monetary value, then this will probably have a negative impact on species diversity, as was demonstrated in a study of tembawang in villages with different accesses to markets. But even such an intensive exploited tembawang would still hold a much larger species diversity than improved rubber or oil-palm plantations, the alternatives currently proposed by the Government of Indonesia.
(Contributed by: W. de Jong, New York Botanical Gardens.)