Visual training manuals for women in West Africa: Developing an agroforestry extension tool
Exploring the frontiers of economic analysis
Community forestry and wildlife
Forest volume prediction models
Agroforestry manuals for illiterate women farmers in West Africa. Part I. Tree planting, management and uses: a manual for women farmers in the Gambia. Part II. The design and use of visual training manuals. Oxford, UK, Forestry Research Programme of the Overseas Development Administration. (in press)
In West Africa, a high percentage of rural women are farmers, most of whom are illiterate or semi-literate and rely heavily on indigenous knowledge and extension training for skills development. Women farmers in these areas are showing an increasing interest in tree planting to generate income, diversify crops and mitigate environmental degradation. Many agroforestry projects include rural women in discussions, workshops and training on a range of development and environmental issues. However, there are constraints to women's participation. Training programmes are limited in allotted time, participant numbers and resources, and women may be restricted in their ability to attend by cultural constraints or work demands. Additionally, women are often illiterate or semi-literate and therefore have no access to reference material which could reinforce what they have learned. Unless continued extension support is given, details of techniques and new ideas may be confused, forgotten or not thought through and adapted to perceived local needs. The two manuals develop the use of illustration as an additional extension tool to provide women farmers with instructive visual material which they can then analyse, digest and adapt in their own time.
Illustration is a relatively cheap and often effective means of helping to convey a certain message. However, if the material is not clearly represented or locally appropriate, particularly if there is little or no accompanying text, farmers will inevitably be confused or completely misguided. As a result of such misunderstanding, they often lose interest, completely reject the ideas or, worse, cause harm to themselves, others or to their environment. Misinterpretation generally occurs because illustration alone can give only very limited information about objects and none at ail about movement. If an illustration is to become an "action picture", as is the case of training manuals, the viewer must be provided with sufficient information to be able to "read into" the picture any additional information that may be necessary to convey the message. The manuals therefore suggest ways of portraying objects so they can be easily recognized and actions so they can be perceived as directional movement and part of a sequence of activities towards a certain goal. This requires basic artistic skills but, of equal importance, it requires a detailed knowledge of local tools and materials, including how they are used, as well as an awareness of the cultural, socioeconomic and natural resources of the area.
The first manual has been produced in collaboration with women farmers in the Gambia, West Africa, and is a handbook which provides them with information in the form of a series of illustrations on subjects related to agroforestry. Subject areas include: tree planting and care; useful local species; live fencing; natural methods of pest control; tree produce and vegetables in the diet (recipes and food preservation techniques). It has been produced in black and white and the material can be readily photocopied and therefore reproduced locally.
The second manual is an extension text. It describes the methodology used for developing visual training material for the Gambian women's manual, thereby providing a starting point for extensionists interested in designing their own material. It looks at key points to be considered when adapting existing material to suit other regions. It discusses the dissemination of visual training manuals, giving suggestions for their distribution.
The manuals are being written under research project R6072, funded by the Forestry Research Programme of the United Kingdom's Overseas Development Administration. They are to be completed early in 1996. Initially the manuals will be produced for a one-year field trial period in the Gambia. However, a limited number will be available from the Edinburgh Centre for Tropical Forests (ECTF) to organizations and individuals with a professional interest.
R. Clarkson, ECTF
Valuing tropical forests: methodology and case study of Madagascar 1995. R.A. Kramer, N. Sharma and M. Munasinghe. World Bank Environment Paper No 13 Washington, DC, World Bank.
Although there are many causes of tropical deforestation and forest degradation, an important cause appears to be an undervaluation of forests by markets and governments. One reason for this undervaluation is that many forest products, such as food and medicinal products, are traded in informal markets for which there are little data. Another reason is that many services provided by forests, such as carbon storage, biological diversity protection, recreation and watershed protection, are not traded in markets; hence their economic values are often ignored. Even where environmental values are recognized, they may not be measured or used to promote efficient resource management.
There is clearly a need to increase research on the economic value of tropical forests to help policy-makers take wise decisions on the utilization and conservation of tropical forest resources. This book reports on the first efforts supported by the World Bank to explore the frontiers of economic analysis by applying non-market valuation methods to the environmental services provided by protected forests.
This volume examines some causes of tropical deforestation and explores forest valuation issues in the context of a protected area project. Part A (Chapters 1 and 2) sets out the context of tropical deforestation and loss of biological diversity and provides a framework for examining the economic value of forests. Chapter 1 describes the main functions of forests and the salient facts concerning deforestation. Chapter 2 outlines the three key dimensions of sustainable development economic, social and environmental - and then defines the vital contribution that forests make to sustainable development. An analytical framework is described.
Part B (Chapters 3 to 8) is devoted to a detailed case-study of Madagascar that illustrates the practical application of the techniques of analysis to the valuation of forests described earlier. Chapter 3 describes the case-study area (Mantida Park) and the general analytical approach. Chapters 4 and 5 describe how impacts on the park are valued by two user groups: local villagers and international tourists. The spatial dimensions of linkages between human activity and area ecosystems are explored in Chapter 6. In Chapter 7, existence values of rain forests to North Americans are estimated. Finally, the main findings and conclusions of the work are summarized in Part C.
Valuing tropical forests provides a valuable starting point for developing techniques and methodologies to gain a full understanding of the economic consequences of policy, investment and management choices in forestry and forest management.
What about the wild animals? Wild animal species in community forestry in the tropics. 1995 FAO Community: Forestry Note No. 13. Rome, FAO.
Wild animals, from ants to elephants, represent a natural resource of great significance for most forest-dwelling communities, as well as for those living in many other rural contexts. In spite of this, most development efforts ignore their role in subsistence as well as non-subsistence rural economies. The purpose of this FAO Community Forestry Note is to fill the vacuum left the fact that, in community forestry as well as in agroforestry and other development activities, the contribution of wildlife to rural livelihoods has been greatly undervalued. The intent is to raise wild animals to their rightful value in the community forestry development process and to provide an input for designing projects that are more suited to the reality of most rural people in the tropics.
This document does not seek to make foresters or extensionists experts on wildlife. Rather it seeks to raise issues and expand professional thinking on benefits from learning more about wildlife from local people. By improving wildlife management and integrating it into development programmes, community will be better able to fulfil its dual purpose of improving the wellbeing of communities and simultaneously helping to conserve the diversity of the natural world. This study therefore tries to: provide a framework for community forestry professionals to consider ways to integrate wild animal species into activities they are managing or proposing; document ways in which humans interact with wild animal species in tropical settings; provide a review of ways in which humans have managed animal species; and propose ways in which wild animal species could be successfully integrated into community forestry projects in the tropics.
Chapter 1 investigates the biogeographical and ecological factors that influence the use of wildlife. Chapter 2 discusses the various socio-cultural values of wild animals, including the roles of gender and market forces in their management and harvest. Chapter 3 considers the effects of various property regimes and ownership issues, differentiating between the use and management of wildlife and paying particular attention to the concept of sustainability. Chapter 4 offers guidelines to help project planners decide which types of animals might be appropriate for inclusion in community forestry projects. Chapter 5 provides a series of brief cases of innovative wildlife use and management in three geographical regions - Africa, Latin America and the Southeast Asian and Pacific region. Chapter 6 contains a summary and conclusions.
Tarifas de cubicación e inventario por ordenador. A.P. Rodríguez and A.H Pertierra. 1995. Madrid, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Montes.
This publication, currently available only in Spanish, will be of significant value to foresters, researchers and private entrepreneurs in assessing volumes of individual trees and of forests in a scientific and accurate manner. The book focuses on temperate and boreal forests but, considering its clearly expressed contents and the incorporation of many examples and tables, the sections Forest volume prediction models and Forest inventories will be of value to tropical foresters as well.
The first chapter deals with mathematical formulae for estimating area and/or volume, both of individual trees and of stands, and includes an analysis of the most common systems in use around the world. Particular attention is given to the Spanish formulae in use for Quercus pyrenaica and Populus euroamericana. It is well known that equations for volume prediction simplify field work and can therefore reduce the cost of inventories, while the accuracy of the calculations remains high.
The second part deals with forest surveys, a speciality that permits identification of both the volume and dynamics of forest growth. The book provides conceptual ground for the design and implementation of several modalities of forest inventories and makes reference to special ones, including those used to calculate total biomass, volumes of wood and cork or Quercus sp. under a coppice regime.
The final chapter describes a computer program, called INVENTAR, intended to facilitate the development of fast volume prediction models and the design and implementation of forest surveys. A copy of INVENTAR is provided on diskette with the book. The annex tables and the glossary of forestry terms also bear mentioning.
J. De Pedro
