Local Livelihoods and Protected Area Management: Biodiversity Conservation Problems in Cameroon

Chapter 6 - Contribution of Non-Timber Forest Products to Household Revenue: In Forest-Adjacent Communities

99 Chapter 6 Contribution of Non-Timber Forest Products to Household Revenue: In Forest-Adjacent Communities Case Study: Takamanda Forest Reserve Summary The use of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in the tropical rainforest management has received greater attention over the past two decades. They are collected from a wide range of ecotypes such as high forest, farm fallows, otherwise disturbed forest, and farmland for use as medicine, food and barter. People throughout the tropics rely on their harvest and sale for their economic well-being. The chapter uses a combination of primary and secondary data to enhance an understanding of the evolutionary process in non-timber forest product collection and the factors that contribute to the intensification of the harvesting of products, the ethnobotanic and socioeconomic characteristics, the factors affecting availability, and sustainability. The chapter concludes that non-timber forest product production is mainly limited to extraction from natural forests although there is a growing interest to domesticate and cultivate the most economically viable species. The intensification of collection and the tendency towards domestication depends on both supply and demand factors. Supply factors include seasonality, regeneration rates, the population of individual species in various ecotypes, ease of access to collectors, as well as access to labour. The demand factors include access to markets and the prices of products. The chapter posits that these factors influence the dynamics of non-timber forest product production and management. The current rate of harvesting economically viable species exceeds the ability of the species to regenerate, and the harvest of a number of species can be regarded as unsustainable. It therefore examines the constraints pertaining to their sustainable and equitable exploitation. Key Words: Non-timber forest products, availability, harvest, intensification, domestication, sustainability, rainforest. 100 Introduction Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) have emerged as a vital incomegenerating activity in many parts of the world. This has raised concerns of their ecological sustainability (Tewari and Campbell, 1995). Since the early 1990s increased attention has been given to the extraction of non-timber forest products from natural forests as a means of reconciling rural development and environmental conservation (den Hertog and Wiersum, 2000; Bhatt et al., 2000). Consequently, evaluation of the socio-economic characteristics of non-timber forest product production and assessment of the potential of non-timber forest product extraction for sustained management of natural forests has become an important focus of research (Ros-Tonen et al, 1995); Ruiz-Perez and Arnold, 1996). Non-timber forest products are materials derived from forests – excluding timber but including the following: bark, roots, tubers, corms, leaves, flowers, seeds, fruits, sap, honey, resin, fungi, and animal products (Sunderland et al., 2003). To enhance understanding of the evolutionary processes in non-timber forest product collection and the factors that contribute to intensification of the harvesting of products, a case study of the ethnobotanic and socioeconomic characteristics of non-timber forest products in Takamanda rainforest is presented here. The study identifies the different plant nontimber forest products, plant organs exploited, contribution to the household income, marketing channels and the factors affecting availability and sustainability. The study therefore seeks to identify the major non-timber forest products, the plant parts exploited and their contribution to the household economy. It examines the basic hypothesis that the extraction of non-timber forest products is a first stage in a process of the gradual domestication of these species which presently suffer from seasonal availability and are threatened by unsustainable harvesting. Domestication is therefore a response to the problem of the availability of these products in the wild. There is a need to regulate the collection of these products and to promote their integration in local farming systems. Cameroon extends from 20 N to 130 N latitude and between 80 25’E and 160 20’E longitude. The study area is located in the South West Province of Cameroon and is part of the Guino-Congolian forest which has an approximate land surface area of 2.8 million km2 . Rainfall in this vast forest varies from 1500 to 10.000mm per year, giving rise to a variety of vegetation floristic regions (White, 1983). The region contains 84% of known primates, 68% of known African passerine birds, and 66% of known African butterflies (Groombridge and Jenkins, 2000). For this reason, the Guino- 101 Congolian rainforest is an important focal point for conservation efforts in Africa (Sunderland et al. 2003). Takamanda forest is located between latitudes 50...