Valuing the rain forest: Economic strategies by small-scale forest extractivists in the Amazon estuary

The current interest in non-timber forest products as an economic option for the Brazilian Amazon represents a radical departure from the policies that have guided development in the region during recent decades. Despite this interest, little is currently known about the forms of resource management or economic strategies practiced by populations dependent on such resources. In this study, we measured the annual income and expenditures of ten households on Combu Island, located in the Amazon estuary near the major port city of Belém; in addition, we documented local uses and management of natural resources on the island Average annual income per household was found to be over U.S. $4000, derived primarily from the harvest and sale of non-timber forest products. The results of this study show that the combination of proximity to a major market and appropriate resource management can lead to high and apparently sustainable economic returns.Formerly Senior Researcher at the Museu Paraense Emílio GoeldiFormerly Student Fellow at the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi     

Effects of Forest Type and Human Presence on Bonobo (Pan paniscus) Density in the Salonga National Park1

Our study elucidates how forest type characteristics and human presence influence bonobo (Pan paniscus) densities and assesses whether the Salonga National Park harbors a substantial bonobo population. We searched 11 locations in the Salonga for the presence of bonobos and sampled 9 study sites using line transects to estimate relative bonobo nest density, the proportion of forest types, and the intensity of human activity. We classified forests into broad types by overstory and understory composition, canopy cover, and hydrology, and calculated encounter rates for bonobo, human, and large mammal signs. Bonobo signs occurred in 8 of 11 locations but varied widely in frequency. Mean density was 0.72 nest-builders/km², but density was not uniform across sites (range=0–2.8 nest-builders/km²). Of 11 forest types encountered, the most common were mixed mature forest with an herbaceous (Marantaceae) understory (36.8%), with a woody understory (23.6%), and old secondary forest with a Marantaceae understory (10.5%). Nest sites occurred only in these forest types, called nest-forest types. Bonobo density was highest in locations comprising >80% nest-forest types. Nests occurred more frequently in the mixed mature/Marantaceae forest. Nest-site density correlates positively with the nest-forest patch length we encountered on transects, implying that forest patch size and consistency may influence bonobo density. Mean nest group size correlates positively with proportion of nest-forest types found at a site, suggesting that increased resource availability—nesting sites and food—allows larger group size. A significant inverse association existed between bonobo density and human presence. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Implications of Livelihood Dependence on Non-Timber Products in Peruvian Amazonia

The present and future well-being of the world’s forest dwelling populations depends on their ability to gain livelihood resources from their immediate environment. Sustainable extraction of non-timber forest products has been promoted by conservationists and development agencies as a feasible strategy for forest dwellers that does not compromise the resource base. Yet surveys of actual resource use suggest that for poorer resource-dependent communities without access to markets, non-timber forest products can only ever represent a safety-net activity and a supplementary income source. Others argue that resource availability, in terms of the diversity and productivity of the forest, is the key parameter in realizing a contribution of forest products to well-being. This paper examines the scope and heterogeneity of forest product use to reveal whether resource availability necessarily provides the context for significant contributions to well-being of forest dwellers. We present data from an area of tropical rainforest, close to Iquitos in Peru, which was previously shown to have high potential value. We find, through a census survey of households within a forest reserve area, that non-timber forest products provide only a relatively small portion of income and that only a small proportion of available products are actually commercialized, despite apparent market availability. We show that the low rates of commercialization can be explained by unequal access capital assets used for extraction, to natural resources themselves, and to product markets. They are also explained by the concentration of capital-poor households on subsistence gathering activities. The value of destructive uses of forests, both logging and agriculture, remain higher than returns from non-timber products. This research demonstrates that although non-timber forest products are an important livelihood source, market integration and commercialization is not everywhere an appropriate or realistic strategy.     

Reconstructing Anthropogenic Disturbance Regimes in Forest Ecosystems: A Case Study from the Swiss Rhone Valley

Anthropogenic disturbances of forest ecosystems are increasingly recognized as fundamental ecological processes with important long-term implications for biogeochemical cycles and vegetation patterns. This article aims at reconstructing the extent and intensity of the two most common types of traditional forest uses—forest litter collecting and wood pasture—in the Swiss Rhone valley (Valais) by (i) identifying the spatiotemporal patterns, and (ii) modeling the biomass removal through these practices. Detailed information on agricultural practices and socio-economic context were essential to develop reliable estimates of anthropogenic disturbance regimes. In the Valais, predominately goats and sheep grazed in the forests. The intensity of grazing was a function of the number of grazing animals and the available grazing area. Forest litter was used as bedding for farm animals during the winter. Key factors determining the intensity of litter collecting were the number of animal units, the amount of available substitute products (straw), and the area where litter raking could be practiced. The results show that wood pasture and forest litter collecting were practiced on a significant proportion of the forested landscape in the Valais up to the second half of the 20th century. Until the implementation of forest management plans in the 1930s, almost half of the forests in the study area were affected by wood pasture and/or forest litter collecting. The regulations in the management plans led to an essential reduction of the area available for these traditional practices but likewise to an increased pressure on the remaining areas. The results suggest that the notion of a slow but steady disappearance of traditional non-timber forest uses and the associated effects on forest ecosystems is oversimplified. Quantitative reconstructions of biomass output resulting from these practices confirm the importance of traditional non-timber forest uses for ecosystem development in this region. Furthermore, it is very likely that similar effects have been widespread throughout regions with similar natural and socio-economic context, for example, throughout a significant proportion of the European Alps. This study underlines the importance of environmental history for ecological sciences as well as for forest management and conservation planning.     

Community-based Monitoring of Natural Resource Use and Forest Quality in Montane Forests and Miombo Woodlands of Tanzania

A community-based monitoring system that focuses on natural resource use and forest quality in montane evergreen forest and miombo woodland areas was developed and implemented in 23 villages in 2002 as part of a participatory forest management regime in Iringa District, Tanzania. The scheme was developed to suit the needs and capacities of locally-elected natural resource committees managing and monitoring natural forests. Rather than measuring biodiversity, the monitoring is focused on resource extraction and disturbance. High levels of commitment to the monitoring were displayed by village level managers, and the preliminary feed-back indicates that the monitoring scheme provides them with the relevant information needed to suggest appropriate management interventions. While external support has been essential to cover development costs, natural resource revenue generated at village level can provide most of the running costs. Once developed, the scheme can, however, be transferred to similar areas at significantly lower costs that can be met by Tanzanian District budgets. Natural resource revenue generated from montane forests is generally much lower than in woodland areas due to restrictions on resource extraction imposed as a consequence of national and international interests. Opportunities to provide economic incentives for montane forest managers through direct utilisation of the resource are limited and it remains to be seen whether other non-economic incentives can sustain long term commitment in these biodiversity rich areas. Findings indicate that the key elements of this local resource utilisation monitoring scheme are simplicity, incentive mechanisms, transparency and accountability, and autonomy for local managers. However, the methods may not provide sufficient data on changes in biodiversity values in the high value forests and may need to be augmented by conventional monitoring by scientists funded by national or international institutions. Elements of the scheme are now being institutionalised within the forestry sector in Tanzania.     

Huckleberry abundance, stand conditions, and use in western oregon: Evaluating the role of forest management

Huckleberries are major components of the understory vegetation in coniferous Pacific Northwest forests of the United States. Vaccinium species also have a long history of human use. However, little research has been done to ascertain how they respond to common forest management practices. We used data obtained from old-growth, young thinned, and young unthinned Douglas-fir stands in western Oregon to evaluate how forest management could potentially influence species abundance and product supply. Our analysis focused on three species: Vaccinium ovatum, V. parvifolium,and V. membranaceum. Results were variable, but indicate that overstory stand conditions and forest management can affect huckleberry species abundance. However, to assess fully the effects of forest management on these species, studies specifically designed to target areas where people harvest these products are needed. Measuring relevant product attributes such as commercial productivity is also critical.     

Transaction costs of community-based forest management: empirical evidence from Tanzania

Levels of transaction costs in community‐based forest management (CBFM) in four communities adjacent to the Ambangulu mountain forests of the north‐east of Tanzania were assessed through questionnaire responses from 120 households. Costs and benefits of CBFM to the rich, medium and poor groups of forest users were estimated. Costs of CBFM were participation in forest monitoring and time spent in meetings. Benefits included forest products consumed at household level. Transaction costs relative to benefits for CBFM were found to be higher for poorer households compared with medium income and richer households. Higher income groups obtained the most net benefits followed by medium and poorer households. Community involvement in forest management may lower the transaction costs incurred by government, but a large proportion of these costs are borne by poorer members of the community. Transaction costs are critical factors in the success or failure of CBFM and need to be incorporated into policies and legislation related to community‐based natural resource management.     

Spatial dynamics,social norms,and the opportunity of the commons

The most important message of Levin (Ecol Res 21:328–333, 2006) is that “Ecologists and economists have much incentive for interaction.” Recent studies that account for evolutionary processes and local interactions support this view by obtaining results that run counter to conventional wisdom within resource economics. A second major message of the article is that to meet environmental challenges, humanity must develop social norms that enhance cooperative responses. Successful examples of resource management systems back up norms with economic incentives: rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad. Economic incentives are especially important if rapid and large changes in human behavior are desired.     

Carbon balances of bioenergy systems using biomass from forests managed with long rotations: bridging the gap between stand and landscape assessments

Studies report different findings concerning the climate benefits of bioenergy, in part due to varying scope and use of different approaches to define spatial and temporal system boundaries. We quantify carbon balances for bioenergy systems that use biomass from forests managed with long rotations, employing different approaches and boundary conditions. Two approaches to represent landscapes and quantify their carbon balances – expanding vs. constant spatial boundaries – are compared. We show that for a conceptual forest landscape, constructed by combining a series of time‐shifted forest stands, the two approaches sometimes yield different results. We argue that the approach that uses constant spatial boundaries is preferable because it captures all carbon flows in the landscape throughout the accounting period. The approach that uses expanding system boundaries fails to accurately describe the carbon fluxes in the landscape due to incomplete coverage of carbon flows and influence of the stand‐level dynamics, which in turn arise from the way temporal system boundaries are defined on the stand level. Modelling of profit‐driven forest management using location‐specific forest data shows that the implications for carbon balance of management changes across the landscape (which are partly neglected when expanding system boundaries are used) depend on many factors such as forest structure and forest owners’ expectations of market development for bioenergy and other wood products. Assessments should not consider forest‐based bioenergy in isolation but should ideally consider all forest products and how forest management planning as a whole is affected by bioenergy incentives – and how this in turn affects carbon balances in forest landscapes and forest product pools. Due to uncertainties, we modelled several alternative scenarios for forest products markets. We recommend that future work consider alternative scenarios for other critical factors, such as policy options and energy technology pathways.     

Nontimber forest product extraction, utilization and valuation: A case study from the Nilgiri Biosphere reserve, southern India

We evaluated the diversity, social, and economic aspects of nontimber forest product (NTFP) collection in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve (NBR), in southern India. The NBR is a region known for its floral andfaunal diversity, as well as an area with increasing human pressure. Fifty to 75% of the households (HH) in rural areas gather a diversity of forest products. Dominant NTFPs contributed 25–60% of the average annual per capita household income from NTFPs. The mean annual per capita household income from NTFPs ranges between Rs. 134 and Rs. 4955. The mean annual income per hectare ranges from Rs. 93 in the montane zone to Rs. 3780 in the moist deciduous. NTFPs contribute 15–50% of the annual per capita income of rural households. Ethnicity plays an important role in the collection of NTFPs and ethnic tribes derive a large proportion of their annual per capita income from NTFPs.     

面向生态系统服务的森林生态系统经营:现状、挑战与展望

森林生态系统是地球陆地生态系统的主体,它具有很高的生物生产力和生物量以及丰富的生物多样性,对全球生态系统和人类经济社会发展起着至关重要和无可替代的作用。伴随着人口的不断增长和经济社会的迅猛发展,对森林资源和森林生态系统服务的需求不断高涨,而且人类对森林资源价值的认识也发生了很大程度的改变。推进森林资源可持续经营,增加森林总量、提高森林质量、增强生态功能,已成为中国林业可持续发展乃至推进中国生态文明建设和建设美丽中国的战略任务。本文全面综述了森林生态系统经营发展历程,分析了森林生态系统经营的现状和存在问题,在此基础上,提出整合基于生态系统管理与满足现代人类福祉对森林多重需求的新的森林生态系统经营理念,面向生态系统服务的森林生态系统经营理念是未来的发展趋势。森林经营发展战略表现为:1)从单纯的森林面积数量扩张,转变到提高单位面积的森林生产力和森林质量;2)从单一追求木材生产逐步转变为多目标经营,将森林林产品单一的经营目标转变为广泛的生态、经济和社会等多目标经营;3)森林经营重点从林分水平转变为森林景观的经营,强调森林景观的时空异质性和动态变化,权衡和协同多种生态系统的服务功能,倡导森林景观的多样性和连通性,提高森林与其它土地利用模式镶嵌构成的复合景观的可持续性和稳定性,增强森林生态系统对气候变化影响的适应能力;4)森林生态系统经营将从依赖传统经验的主观决策转变为信息化、数字化和智能化的决策,发展森林生态系统经营决策支持系统和森林景观恢复与空间经营规划系统。     

Exploiting fruits of a threatened palm to trigger restoration of Brazil's Atlantic Forest

Recent global commitments to forest and landscape restoration in the tropics call for new management approaches that benefit both biodiversity and livelihoods of forest‐dependent people. The sustainable use of wild forest products is a promising pathway, but requires clarity about harvested species' demography and harvesters' rights. Here, we explored how the exploitation of fruits of the threatened palm Euterpe edulis, a key fruit source for wildlife in Brazil's globally important Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot, could trigger local community involvement in restoration. This palm has both non‐destructive (fruit) and destructive (palm heart) culinary uses, each with unique biological and resource‐use conditions. We quantified all demographic stages of this species in multiple agroforests, secondary forests, and protected areas to parameterize demographic projections of palm populations, harvest profitability, and fruit provisioning to wildlife under different management scenarios. Field observations showed a clear depression of adult palm populations in protected areas, likely due to palm heart poaching, and of intermediate size classes in agroforests, probably from weeding by farmers. Field data and demographic models reveal that in this region, agroforests and secondary forests can successfully conserve this species while providing lasting profits for farmers under most scenarios. These findings demonstrate a clear case where local stakeholders both contribute to and benefit from restoration through harvest of wild products and also highlight a potential source of income from regenerating tropical forests.     

林地确权、政府管制与资源异质性农户林业管护行为——基于湖南省7年连续观测数据

新一轮集体林权制度变迁后农户成为集体林区商品林和公益林的经营管护主体,本研究基于林地资源属性差异将农户分为商品林农户与公益林农户,阐释了林地确权与政府管制作用于两类资源异质性农户林业管护行为的影响及差异。研究表明：林地确权能有效激励两类资源异质性农户林业管护意愿和管护强度;林木采伐管制对商品林农户林业管护行为没有产生消极影响,但对公益林农户林业管护行为有显著消极影响;林权抵押贷款管制消极影响公益林农户林业管护行为;生态补偿不能直接促进公益林农户林业管护行为,但其能有效弱化林木采伐管制和林权抵押贷款管制的消极影响,促进公益林农户林业管护行为。本研究对深化集体林权制度改革、进一步完善林改配套政策有重要意义。     

Flexibility in Diet and Activity Patterns of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Macaca tonkeana</Emphasis> in Response to Anthropogenic Habitat Alteration

I examined how Sulawesi Tonkean macaques (Macaca tonkeana) respond in terms of their diet and activity patterns to anthropogenic habitat alteration in Lore Lindu National Park, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Anthropogenic habitat alteration comprised clearing of forest for agriculture and small-scale forest product collection. I quantified the diet and activity of 2 groups (CH and Anca), occupying habitats with different levels of alteration, via scan sampling. Tree abundance, key food specific density, and fruit production were greater in the minimally altered habitat (CH), substantiating the characterization of the group’s habitat as higher quality. For the group in the heavily altered habitat (Anca), alternative foods, e.g., insects, fungus, young and mature leaves, shoots, and stems, accounted for a significantly greater proportion of the diet. Dietary diversity is significantly lower in the Anca group, with 52% of their diet being palm fruits from Arenga pinnata. The activity patterns of the Anca group—more time foraging, less time moving, and more time resting than the CH group—reflect the lower resource availability in their habitat and their reliance on more alternative food items, coupled with their extremely small group size (6–9 individuals). The group may be at the optimal size in which foraging efficiency is maximized for the habitat, a response, in conjunction with dietary and behavioral flexibility, to alteration of their habitat. The results are contextualized with respect to the conservation value of human-modified landscapes.     

Salal Harvester Local Ecological Knowledge, Harvest Practices and Understory Management on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Despite growing interest in traditional and local ecological knowledge for conservation and resource management, the role of migrant resource users is largely unexplored. Challenging many assumptions about what constitutes “local knowledge,” migrant and immigrant harvesters of non-timber forest products on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington possess useful ecological knowledge of overstory–understory relationships and how forestry practices affect understory biological and commercial production. Harvesters of salal (Gaultheria shallon), a shrub used in the multi-million dollar floral greens industry, were interviewed in Mason County, Washington in 2001–2003. Interviews revealed that harvesters possess different kinds of resource management knowledge depending on whether they are experienced harvesters or more recent newcomers to the area. These differences may also correlate with differences in their harvesting practices. Understanding how resource management knowledge differs between experienced and newcomer harvesters can inform forest managers in their efforts to develop effective management and permitting policies for floral greens and other non-timber forest resources in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

Conservation and human livelihoods at the crossroads: Local needs and knowledge in the management of Arabuko Sokoke Forest

Arabuko Sokoke Forest is the largest remaining single block of indigenous dry coastal tropical forest in Eastern Africa. Households within a 5 km buffer zone depend heavily on the forest for their livelihood needs, and the pressure on forest resources is on the increase. In May 2015, 109 households were interviewed on resources they obtain from the forest, in terms of the self‐reported level of monthly income. We found household income and farm size significantly positively correlated with benefits from the forest, highlighting the possible influence of household wealth in exploiting forest resources. A large proportion of households (32%) had limited knowledge of local birds, while human–bird conflict was reported by 44% of the households. While many households were keen to participate in conservation projects that maintain the forest, 44% had no knowledge of the forest management plan, and 60% of those interviewed had no idea of how forest zones were designated for particular activities. Drivers for local community participation in conservation projects appear to be sustainable income and fulfilment of basic household needs.     

Coping with Complexity and Organizational Interests in Natural Resource Management

To cope with the daunting challenges posed by system complexity while maximizing their organizational interests, resource management institutions must implement strategies aimed at reducing some of the particular dimensions of complexity. Virtually all of the recent initiatives to improve resource management—ecosystem management, adaptive management, stakeholder negotiation, disturbance prevention, multiple mandates for resource management agencies, resource homogenization, restoration ecology, the creation of protected areas, the restoration of local-user rights, and algorithmic resource exploitation rules—are vulnerable to inappropriate interest-driven simplifications, many of which result from patterns of perverse learning. A research agenda designed to identify better means of coping with complexity and the effects of organizational interests could help to improve resource and environmental management. Received 4 October 2000; accepted 15 June 2001.     

Managing water-use trade-offs in a semi-arid river delta to sustain multiple ecosystem services: a modeling approach

Managing trade-offs among water uses in a river basin to sustain multiple ecosystem services is crucial for adaptation to changing river flow regimes. Here we analyze the trade-off between irrigation and fisheries in the Amudarya, a semi-arid river basin in Central Asia, using an optimal control and an agent-based modeling approach. With the optimal control approach (OCA), we identify the economic and ecological conditions for water sharing in a regime where a social manager controls water withdrawals and fish harvesting. With the agent-based model (ABM), we relax some of the assumptions of the OCA to investigate how localized, individual agents with varied water use histories adapt their water use activities to local resource conditions. Variation in the farmers’ initial labor allocations to the two activities results in regimes with only one activity or both. Global returns and income equality are highest in a mixed regime. The mixed regimes also are more robust to water variability because fishing activities can compensate for decreased agricultural performance in the midstream regions. Thus, allowing for multiple uses can improve the coupled social-ecological system’s performance and its resilience. We also observe a lock-in effect similar to the current situation in the Amudarya, where agriculture is the dominant water use and transition to a more balanced allocation has proven to be extremely difficult. As in the ABM, this can to some extent be attributed to the difficulties of achieving sufficient revenues from fishing when agricultural activities upstream are high. Regulations or incentives are needed to overcome those barriers, and to facilitate progress towards integrated water management.     

Identifying practical indicators of biodiversity for stand-level management of plantation forests

Identification of valid indicators of biodiversity is a critical need for sustainable forest management. We developed compositional, structural and functional indicators of biodiversity for five taxonomic groups—bryophytes, vascular plants, spiders, hoverflies and birds—using data from 44 Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) and ash (Fraxinus excelsior) plantation forests in Ireland. The best structural biodiversity indicator was stand stage, defined using a multivariate classification of forest structure variables. However, biodiversity trends over the forest cycle and between tree species differ among the taxonomic groups studied. Canopy cover was the main structural indicator and affected other structural variables such as cover of lower vegetation layers. Other structural indicators included deadwood and distances to forest edge and to broadleaved woodland. Functional indicators included stand age, site environmental characteristics and management practices. Compositional indicators were limited to more easily identifiable plant and bird species. Our results suggest that the biodiversity of any one of the species groups we surveyed cannot act as a surrogate for all of the other species groups. However, certain subgroups, such as forest bryophytes and saproxylic hoverflies, may be able to act as surrogates for each other. The indicators we have identified should be used together to identify stands of potentially high biodiversity or to evaluate the biodiversity effects of silvicultural management practices. They are readily assessed by non-specialists, ecologically meaningful and applicable over a broad area with similar climate conditions and silvicultural systems. The approach we have used to develop biodiversity indicators, including stand structural types, is widely relevant and can enhance sustainable forest management of plantations.