Use and Management of Non-Timber Forest Products Community Forestry - Module 2.3 Forestry Training Institute, Liberia

Learning Objectives Describe the local importance of NTFPs in terms of culture, food and nutrition, fodder, medicinal uses, etc. Understand the uses of NTFPs in generating income as part of local, regional, and international trade. Describe how management of NTFPs can serve dual roles in conservation of biological diversity and development of sustainable livelihoods within community forestry management plans.

NTFPs: Definition Non-Timber Forest Products: Resources or products that may be extracted from forest lands and are utilized within the household or are marketed or have social, cultural or religious significance. These include plants and plant materials used for food, fuel, fiber, storage and fodder, medicine, bio-chemicals, as well as mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes and invertebrates. ---Community Rights Law (2009)

NTFPs in Liberia Concerns regarding income generation underpin calls for the development and support of small and medium-size enterprises in the forest sector. Considering the potential role of forests in income generation, development partners to the government of Liberia have called for greater recognition and valuation of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). The government, however, had limited appreciation of the economic value of these products at the local level. Many communities are also unaware of the economic potential of specific NTFPs. Forest communities often consider commercial logging to be the sole forest activity with economic value. Accordingly, they believe that deriving economic benefit from the sector requires involvement in commercial logging.

Women & NTFPs Women are often the primary harvesters, processors and marketers of NTFPs from tropical forests. The labor for various activities involved in getting NTFPs from the forest to the market is commonly divided between genders, though not in an easily generalizable pattern. Despite women’s active roles in harvesting and use, they often do not have direct control of the income derived from commercial NTFPs and therefore may not directly benefit from increased commercialization. There is a general pattern of women being displaced by men when new labor-saving technologies for NTFP processing are introduced. NTFP commercialization projects that explicitly focus on women’s participation can have the effect of increasing women’s political and economic power vis-à-vis men

NTFPs and Poverty There is no doubt that NTFPs play a significant and often critical role in providing subsistence and cash income to a large part of the world’s population. Studies from tropical regions indicate that it is often the poorest households in rural communities that are most directly dependent on NTFPs. From the literature, we can identify three basic reasons why poor people engage in NTFP extraction. 1.NTFP extraction generally requires very little capital investment. 2.Forests are geographically remote from the centers of economic and political power. The significance of this fact is that geographical and economic marginalization are often mutually reinforcing. 3.The poor engage in NTFP extraction in the absence of alternative income sources. To use the terminology of economics, the opportunity costs of poor households are low.

NTFPs and Poverty Although NTFPs are extremely critical for the rural poor as a livelihood strategy, and often provide the means to close the income gap with wealthier classes, they rarely provide the means of socio-economic advancement. The profitability of NTFP extraction and marketing is highly dependent on multiple costs, including labor, specialized technology, advertising and transport, which are rarely fully quantified in project studies. Proximity to markets is one of the most important factors determining the profitability of NTFP extraction and marketing enterprises and therefore one of the most limiting factors for commercialization initiatives

NTFPs & Community Forestry NTFPs are important forest products for rural communities, but gaps exist in market information regarding local communities’ access to markets, and between regulations and reality. The legal framework for local communities to collect and trade NTFPs from community forests has been recognized in Liberia’s Community Rights Law (2009).

NTFPs & Community Forestry When income opportunities are limited, over- exploitation, illegal logging and wildlife poaching may be the only option for rural communities. Technical and financial support (e.g., microcredit) for small local businesses may reduce negative activities and safeguard natural resources. In selecting NTFP species for development, local capacity, optimum growing conditions, potential pests and diseases, seed sources, costs and markets must be taken into consideration.

NTFPs & Community Forestry Failure to provide the necessary training and technical support for the community, in the short and long-term, may render any efforts futile. Processing raw NTFPs into marketable items (value-adding) can help increase economic benefits for local communities, however, new skills, tools and management skills may be required. Concentrating on skills rather than costly tools (for handicrafts) is preferable.

The fundamental questions that foresters and Community Forest Management Bodies (CFMBs) should be able to answer while planning sustainable management of NTFP at operational levels are: – What is the existing growing stock and the productivity per unit of time and area? – What is the quantity or amount of sustainable yield that can be prescribed for harvesting? – What specific sustainable harvesting techniques in terms of seasons, methods and tools are appropriate for each of the products in question?

Participatory Actions to Improve Local Management of NTFPs -- Boissière et al. 2013

Discussion Questions What are the relationships between NTFP harvesting and community and household welfare? What are the interactions between NTFP harvesting and community forest management practices? What are the relationships between NTFP harvesting and land and resource tenure?