A well-documented environmental threat in the Amazonian region of Loreto, Peru involves harvesting the fruit from the dominant palm Mauritia flexuosa by chopping fruit-bearing females growing in carbon-dense peat swamps. Numerous conservation interventions have been proposed to protect the swamps, such as encouraging harvest of fruits by climbing the palms to preserve the resource instead of cutting them. These efforts have produced mixed success; some communities have embraced sustainable harvest methods, while others have not, despite the obvious benefits of climbing and the simple technology required. In this study, we aim to understand why some communities opt to harvest fruit sustainably while others do not, and to assess whether the experience of communities sustainably harvesting offers broader lessons for ecosystem management. Nine communities were visited in Loreto, where in-depth interviews were performed to identify economic, institutional, and cultural elements linked to fruit extraction practices. Field measurements were produced to evaluate ecological characteristics in harvested swamps nearby communities that mostly climb or mostly chop. The five communities that mostly climb placed high importance on the fruit, had resource management rules, and derived significant material benefit from the fruit. In contrast, the four communities that mostly chop derived only a marginal economic benefit from the fruit and tended to face obstacles to building systems of sustainable management of common property, such as poverty and problems associated with pollution from the oil industry. One community embraced climbing 30 years ago and observed remarkable social, economic, and environmental benefits. Through sustained support from NGOs and the regional government, this community was empowered to build a system of sustainable resource management on its own terms. Its capacity to develop and enforce its rules of harvest, ensured through robust communal trust, was key to its success.
Tag: harvesting
Landscape rehabilitation of degraded tropical forest ecosystems: case study of CIFOR/Japan Project in Indonesia and Peru
Tropical forests are decreasing at the rate of 16.9 million hectares per year due mainly to clearing for agriculture and shifting cultivation. Timber harvesting results for more than 5 million hectares of tropical forest becoming degraded looged-over forests every year without any adequate management. The decrease and degradation of tropical forests caused by anthropological activities affect not only the sustainable production of timber but also global environments. The clarified scientific information on the rehabilitation of degraded tropical forest ecosystems enables managers to devise silvicultural systems which enhance soil properties and forest resources important to sustainable production and minimise deleterious effects associated with harvesting impacts and short rotation of plantation. Rehabilitation is aimed to improve biological diversity, increasing commercial value for timber and non-timber products, increasing forest functions, improve soil fertility. Technically developments are expected for reducing logging impacts, accelerating natural regeneration, species selection, enrichment, sustainable site management, catalytic plantation, site evaluation and classification. Socioeconomic developments are also expected for local community participation and socio-economic acceptability. Following research activities have been considered (1) evaluation of forest harvesting impacts on the forest ecosystems: (i) evaluate logging and yarding methods on disturbance of forest ecosystems, (ii) analyse the demography of regenerated tree population, (iii) model a/de-gradation processes in forest ecosystems, (2) development of methods to rehabilitate logged-over forests and degraded forest lands: (i) treatments accelerating natural regeneration, (ii) development of enrichment planting methods, (3) development of silvicultural techniques on degraded forest lands: (i) development of species-site matching methods, (ii) management options for sustained productivity, (iii) social and economic acceptability of management options. In Indonesia, CIFOR co-operates with Universitas Mulawarman, and looks at (a) evaluation of forest harvesting impacts on the forest ecosystems, and (b) evaluation of forest harvesting and fire impacts on the forest ecosystems and development of methods to rehabilitate logged-over forest and degraded lands. The site is Bukit Soeharto Education Forest, a mixed Dipterocarp forest logged by INHUTANI I in 1976. The forest has been heavily burnt in 1998 after experimental treatment. The approach to rehabilitation has been through the “taungya system” whereby farmers are allowed to grow annual crops among the newly-planted trees. With the Instituto Nacional de Investigacion Agraria (INIA), Peru, the project is trying out re-vegetation of abandoned fallow fields after agricultural use. There is specific interest to select tree species having high economic value that can adapt and grow rapidly in abandoned agricultural land and on infertile soils. Sites are all located in the Ucayali region of the Peruvian Amazon. After the first two years, results are pointing to specific promising species that can be recommended. The project involves small farmers in silvicultural activities and even species choice takes into account their preferences.
Analyzing economic performance and value added distribution in the Luong bamboo value chain: A case study of Thanh Hoa province, Vietnam
With 1.5 million ha of bamboo forest, Vietnam ranks 4th among the world’s largest bamboo producers. The bamboo sector has significant development potential in the context of national and international impacts to build a bio-economy and increase the use of biogenic renewable resources. The bamboo industry in Vietnam is considered to have great development potential, with a potential production value of USD 1 billion. However, a number of factors currently significantly limit this potential. For example, the bamboo resource is overexploited and mismanaged; the level of horizontal and vertical cooperation among actors in the Luong bamboo value chain is weak; the utilisation rate of material bamboo is low; high-value bamboo products have not been developed; and benefit sharing among chain actors is unequal. As chopsticks and votive paper are the most common semi-industrial products in Vietnam, this paper analyses the characteristics of chain actors and compares the financial and economic performance of different actors in the chopstick and votive paper value chain (VC) in Thanh Hoa Province. Data were collected through interviews with eight key informants, 12 bamboo producers, five traders, one votive paper company, one chopstick company and six focus group discussions. The results show that the utilisation rate of raw material in the chopstick VC is low at less than 20 %. The net profit per ton of finished product for the processing company is much higher than the net profit for the farmers and traders. The total value added is USD 182.5/ton in the chopstick VC and USD 244/ton in the votive paper VC. The value added by farmers and traders is very low (less than 10 % of the total value added). Possible options for promoting cooperation between chain actors and improving the performance of chain actors are discussed.
The Dynamic Habitat Indices (DHIs) from MODIS and global biodiversity
Field Visit report to ICRAF BMP demonstration sites for Agroforestry and rainwater harvesting in Kenya
Implementation of three activities in Somalia. Report
The IGAD BMP implemented by ICRAF has successfully supported three project activities in Ras Kamboni, Somalia. The three activities are honey value chain development, rainwater harvesting and training and capacity building on natural resource management. The report provides the achievements and next steps for each of the three activities.
Tree–crop interactions: manipulation of water use and root function
This paper describes recent research findings on tree–crop interactions in the semiarid tropics focusing on the potential of agroforestry systems to improve the efficiency with which land and water are currently used; the trade-offs between crop productivity and environmental function, and strategies to manipulate tree root function. There is strong evidence that agroforestry has potential for improving water use efficiency by reducing the unproductive components of the water balance, i.e. run-off, soil evaporation and drainage. Examples from India and Kenya show that simultaneous agroforestry systems could double rainfall utilisation compared to annual cropping systems, largely due to temporal complementarity. Where soil loss through erosion is a serious problem, contour hedgerows can provide a viable alternative to conventional soil conservation measures. However, even though soil losses can be dramatically reduced, whether beneficial effects on crops will develop is often unpredictable and usually insufficient to attract widespread adoption of contour hedges. Strategies to reduce the trade-offs between crop and tree interactions or environmental function include the use of high value trees or trees which provide direct benefits to farmers.Recent reviews on root research indicate that there appears to be limited scope for spatial differentiation in rooting between trees and crops (i.e. spatial complementarity) in water-limited environments, unless ground-water is accessible to tree roots. Instead, it is argued that it is more worthwhile to manage below-ground competition by shoot and root-pruning. Pruning of lateral roots could redirect root function and be a powerful tool for improving spatial complementarity, provided that there are adequate resources at depth. However, the downward displacement of functional tree roots following root-pruning must not be allowed to affect their safety net role in the interception of nutrients leaching from the zone of crop rooting and the long-term hydrological implica
Chemical property of soil and mycorrhizal status in Allanblackia floribunda Oliver (Clusiaceae)
The objective of this study was to describe the type of mycorrhizal fungus that is associated with A. floribunda and evaluate the effect of soil chemical properties on its rhizosphere, its mycorrhizal dependency in its natural range in four populations of the species (Mouanko, Yalpenda, Nkenlikok and Mbalmayo), two land use systems (disturbed and undisturbed), two age classes (circumference less than 50cm and up to 50cm). Results obtained so far demonstrated that A. floribunda is colonized by arbuscular mycorrhizas. Root colonization was significantly (P < 0.01) different in the targeted populations with the highest observed in Yalpenda (53.63 ± 1.33%). Land disturbance significantly (P < 0.01) affected root colonization. Unperturbed soils displayed the highest root colonization (35.29 ± 0.70%). Age classes had significant (P < 0.001) influence on root colonization and trees with circumferences up to 50 cm had the highest percentage (35.45 ± 0.72%). There was no significant correlation between root colonization and phosphorus (R2 = 0.437, p = 0.563), in contrary to root colonization and copper (R2 = -0.934, p = 0.046). These results constitute a prerequisite for the inoculation phase and molecular analysis of roots already begun.
Variation of alkaloids in the Kenyan Zanthoxylum gilletii (De Wild Waterman)
Zanthoxylum gilletii is an African indigenous deciduous tree which is important for its medicinal use in many communities to treat a wide range of ailments. This study was conducted to identify the alkaloids present in the bark, root and leaves of the Kenyan Z. gilletii. The plant materials were randomly sampled, dried at room temperature, powdered and subjected to thin layer chromatography (TLC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analyses for the alkaloid confirm atory tests. The bark, root and leaf extract contained peroxysimulenoline, sanguinarine, fagarine I, norchelerythrine (dihydroavicine or demethylnitidine), trans-fagaramide, 8 – methylnorchelerythrine and dihydronitidine alkaloids. The distribution of the alkaloids appeared to be quite variable within different plant parts and different regions. The identified alkaloids have been documented to be useful for their medicinal value in humans and also protect the plants against predation. The medicinal value of Z. gilletii may be due to its contents of varied alkaloids. The information on alkaloidal variation in the species has potential value and practical applications in chemotaxonomy, toxicology and pharmacognosy. The present findings may be useful in optimizing the processing and wild-harvesting of these alkaloids.
Rainwater harvesting for enhanced biodiversity management. Tangeni Community- Based Runoff Pond System, a case study
The biodiversity of the original coastal forest belt is preserved in a number of protected areas. Witu Forest Reserve in the south is drastically decreasing in size owing to immigrants illegally settling along its buffer zones and gradually encroaching into the forests for livelihood support that include timber, traditional medicine fuel wood and charcoal burning. The forests in and around Boni and Dondori National reserves has also been shrinking in size due human settlements who engage in slash and burn agriculture.