| Project
Title |
Review
of the biometrics of non-timber forest product inventory |
| Geographic
Focus |
Global |
| Funder |
Funder
Forest Research Programme (ZF0077) of the Department for International
Development, UK |
| Partners |
ETFRN,
EU & FAO |
There is
a need for biometrically sound NTFP data to underpin sustainable management
and therefore dependant livelihoods. Unfortunately the biological aspects
of NTFP management have often been overlooked. In May 1999 the Forest
Research Programme (DFID, UK) commissioned a review of NTFP resource inventories
in order to determine their biometric rigour and identify researchable
constraints in this aspect of sustainable management.
The study
was conducted as a desk review of anglophone literature concerned with
NTFP resource assessment. The review examined the methods developed for
assessing biodiversity and ethnobiology and described them with regard
to their applicability to NTFP resource assessment. Methods for assessing
resources developed by the social sciences were also appraised with regard
to best practice. Quantitative methods for resource assessment were outlined
for determining resource abundance, product yield and productivity. The
uses of these data for determining sustainable harvesting levels and monitoring
were reviewed. The special case of the use of indicators for monitoring
compliance with certification standards was also taken into consideration.
Based on the review, a number of priority issues and opportunities were
raised and recommendations made for a programme of research to address
them.
The results
of the review were presented in an ETFRN international workshop hosted
by FAO in Rome on the 4-5th May 2000. The workshop agreed that the review
was of interest to a wider audience and it was edited into a FAO NWFP
series publication and translated into French and Spanish for international
distribution.
The workshop
concluded that there is:
- A need
for increased awareness of the desirability of the sound assessment
of NWFP populations and dynamics when considering the utilisation of
these resources
- A clearly
expressed need from field workers for NWFP inventory methods that are
simple and easy to use but are at the same time adequate for the determination
of harvesting levels
- Further
research to develop inventory methods and protocols for NWFPs
- An urgent
need for advice on existing NWFP inventory and analysis methods for
field workers
Following
on from the workshop, FAO commissioned further work on guidelines for
NWFP assessment.
Links
ZF0077
Report - The biometrics of non-timber forest product resource assessment:
A review of current methodology, April 2000
 www.etfrn.org/etfrn/workshop/ntfp/index.html
ETFRN/FAO/DFID
Workshop, 4-5 May 2000, FAO, Rome
www.etfrn.org/etfrn/workshop/ntfp/index.html
Workshop
Report
www.etfrn.org/etfrn/workshop/ntfp/ntfpproceedingsfinal.pdf
Wong
J.L.G., Thornber K. and Baker N. (2001) Resource assessment of non wood
forest products: Experience and biometric principles. NWFP Series 13,
FAO, Rome.
English:
www.fao.org/forestry/fop/fopw/nwfp/nwfp-e.stm
French:
www.fao.org/forestry/fop/fopw/nwfp/nwfp-f.stm
Spanish:
www.fao.org/forestry/fop/fopw/nwfp/nwfp-s.stm
For purchase
or free of charge to developing counties from: Sales and Marketing Group,
Information Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome,
Italy. Fax +39 06 5705 3360 e-mail:publications-sales@fao.org
| Project
Title |
Development
of inventory techniques for non-wood forest products in Africa |
|
| FAO
project number |
GCP/RAF/354/EC |
| Title
of Project |
Sustainable
forest management programme in African ACP countries |
| Contract
Contribution |
Development
of techniques to assess non-wood forest products |
| Geographic
Focus |
African
ACP countries (Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Benin, Cameroon & Central
African Republic) |
| Principal
Funder |
EU |
This contract
ran for three years and was concerned with the development of guidelines
for NWFP inventory in African ACP countries. As part of this work two
meetings of African inventory experts were held in Lusaka, Zambia and
Yaounde, Cameroon. Each meeting commissioned three case studies to address
priority problems in NWFP inventory. The case studies were intended to
provide experience and tested protocols for use in guidelines to be developed
by the project. The six case studies were:
| Country |
Species |
Topic |
Problem |
| Benin |
Kinkeliba
|
Leaf
yield per shrub |
Shrubs
which form a continuous canopy are difficult to count – how
could leaf biomass on a shrub canopy be measured? |
| Cameroon |
Johimbe |
Bark
mass per tree |
Normally,
only the bark on tree boles is measured, but it would be useful to
be able to estimate branch bark volumes – how might this be
done? |
| Central
African Republic |
Poto
(eru) |
Plant
density per ha |
These
lianas are difficult to locate and are loosly clumped in the forest
– how can they be sampled efficiently? |
| Kenya |
Baobab |
Fruit
numbers per tree |
Counting
fruit on large trees is time consuming and difficult – is it
possible to efficiently sample within a tree crown? |
| Malawi |
Edible
mushrooms |
Seasonal
cap yield per ha |
Objectively
chosen sites do not seem to reflect the abundance or variety of mushrooms
in the market – could the use of local knowledge improve on
the representiveness of field monitoring data? |
| Zambia |
Tree
fruit and bulbous herbs |
Plant
density per ha |
What
are the costs and benefits of optimising sampling for specific species
over using a standardised design for all species? |
 |
Reports
FOPW/03/4
Expert meeting for development on inventory techniques to assess non-wood
forest product resources in African ACP countries, Lusaka, Zambia. 15-17
October 2001.
 www.fao.org/DOCREP/006/Y5360E/y5360e09.htm#2
FOPW/03/5
Réunion des experts des pays francophones d’Afrique sur le
développement des techniques pour l’évaluation des
produits forestiers non ligneux. Yaoundé, Cameroun. 15-17 Février
2002.
www.fao.org/DOCREP/006/Y5360E/y5360e09.htm#2
FOPW/03/6
Summary of six case study reports as a contribution to development of
practical techniques to assess non-wood forest product resources.
www.fao.org/DOCREP/006/Y5360E/y5360e09.htm#2
Free of charge
from: Forest Products and Economics Division, Forestry Department,
FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. Fax: +39 0657055137;
Email: non-wood-news@fao.org
The guidelines
document which incorporates lessons from the case studies along with advice
on the design of NWFP inventory is presently in the form of a first draft
and is incomplete.
Reports
are prepared in Adobe Acrobat Software. If you can not view these files,
please download your free copy of this software from the Adobe
web site.
Please contact
Wild Resources Limited
if you would like further information about this project.
|
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