ATBC 2008 - Bulkan
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Symposium
Non-Timber Forest Products in Tropical Rainforests: Main Challenges for Future Research in Forest Ecology and Forest Livelihoods
Organizers : Janette Bulkan (janette.bulkan -at- yale.edu)
Recent publications on Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs), including from Elaine Marshall, Kathrin Schreckenberg and Adrian Newton from 2003 and from CIFOR (Manuel Ruiz-Pérez, Brian Belcher, et al. 2004; Doug Sheil and Sven Wunder 2002), have tempered the initial hype generated by the publication in Nature of the paper by Chuck Peters, Alwyn Gentry and R.O. Mendelsohn in 1989. These and other studies suggest that institutional and social barriers to development tend globally to predominate over technical (including ecological) issues for artisan-scale NTFP management. There is greater recognition also that small-scale production does not necessarily equate with sustainable off-take.
The ATBC will include a symposium on non-timber forest products in tropical rainforests, and invites papers (*) on (a) overcoming barriers to better harvesting and marketing of NTFPs, and (b) prospects for improved local livelihoods from managed NTFPs. Papers should be precise as to whether they are addressing particular points alone, or the entire, forest-to-market chain. Papers (**) on silvicultural aspects of tropical NTFPs are also welcome.
The sobering reality check on the possibilities of sustainable harvesting of forest NTFPs over the past two decades must now be translated into practical recommendations to promote a more ecologically- and socially-friendly tropical silviculture.
This symposium aims to present the main results of studies on NTFP harvesting and impacts on livelihoods, and forest dynamics. Three main thematic areas will be illustrated by 18 oral presentations and posters. These thematic sessions are the following:
- Impacts of NTFP management on sustainable livelihoods (*).
- Long-term impact of NTFPs management on forest stand (dynamics, floristic composition) , and species ecology (species ecology, rare species, dispersion) (**)
- Impact of logging on fauna, tree breeding systems, and seed dispersion of NTFPs (**)
Each presentation should answer the following questions:
- What are the developmental impacts already verifiable from the research?
- What has been the main progress of research in the issue presented? – what does this mean? Since what date? Does this mean a synthesis of knowledge?
- What are the main challenges for the future?
- Based on our present knowledge, what are the practical and policy recommendations that have been proposed to improve NTFP management?
Palm heart (Euterpe oleraceae) (top), Crabwood oil, soap and seeds (Carapa guianensis) (middle) and Indigenous habitat at Waini river habitat, North-West Region, Guyana (below).