Request for information

I am curious to know whether anyone has references of studies of plant populations and harvesting studies. I am interested in looking at single species harvesting as well as looking at complexes of plants within a population, and the harvesting of multiple plants from those sites. I am familiar with Gagnon's work. (Trish Flaster, Botanical Liaisons, 1180 Crestmoor Drive, Boulder, CO 80303, USA. Fax: +1 303 494 2555; e-mail: [email protected])

NTFP inventory plots

Isabelle Gambetta is looking for literature and/or experience on inventory and analysis of data (multivariate) regarding NTFPs on transects plots of 20 x 50 m, every 150 m, on the foothills of the Ecuadorian Amazon. She inventories quantitatively about ten different products (ferns, fruits, fibres) and notes the presence or absence of many other products. She has found a lot of literature on one-hectare inventory, but is looking for information covering all vegetation of one community (multiple plots), i.e. secondary vegetation, pasture, virgin forests, to be able to make a comparison with her results and methods.

She would be grateful to receive any advice/literature/results on this theme since part of her Ph.D. covers the importance of non-timber forest products for some communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon (availability, market and consumption). If you have information to share, please contact Isabelle at: [email protected]

Economic valuation of biodiversity: case studies in Brazil

This is to announce the availability on the Web of my recently concluded survey for Brazil's Ministry of the Environment, Economic valuation of biodiversity: case studies in Brazil. The study summarizes more than 50 biodiversity valuation studies on Brazilian biomes as a contribution to the national Strategy for Biological Diversity Conservation and Sustainable Use. The survey (in Portuguese with an English executive summary, soon to be published by MMA in hard copy) can be downloaded from: www.mma.gov.br/chm/publicacoes/valoracao
_biodiv/valoracao_biodiv.pdf

Other recent publications available on the Web include: Corporate roles and rewards in promoting sustainable development: lessons learned from Camisea, published at http://socrates.berkeley.edu/erg/Pages/wp_98_1.html as Working Paper ERG-99-I, by the University of California at Berkeley Energy and Resources Group, downloadable in pdf format. A study of the Shell Group sustainability strategy has been published in pdf format, Corporate incentives and environmental decision-making: case studies and workshop report, September 1999 (see Royal Dutch/Shell case study), as part of a HARC/NAS Private Sector Initiatives project.

I welcome your comments and criticisms. (Peter May. E-mail: [email protected])

Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd

I am working in New Delhi as Deputy General Manager with Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd (Trifed), a national-level cooperative federation fully supported by the control of the Government of India, having joined in 1988. The basic objective of our organization is to help the tribals/indigenous people of India by procuring their NTFPs through our branches and members network in India and marketing the same, in turn, assuring fair economic/remunerative prices to the tribals. Their total population in India is 67 millions. Marketing NTFPs is their main source of livelihood but it is facing a variety of problems - institutional, logistic and financial as well as on policy fronts. There are opportunities for research that could lead to enhanced inccome for the tribal peoples on a sustainable basis. Some outstanding issues requiring priority attention could be resolved by adequate research work.

May I seek your assistance in finding out the names of other institutes which could help me to take up a research project in areas concerning non-timber forest products; participatory forest management; institutional management in India; regulatory/policy framework on NTFPs for ethical trade initiative. (M.M. Lohia, Deputy General Manager, Trifed, 2nd floor, NCUI Building, August Kranti Marg, New Delhi 110016, India. E-mail: [email protected]; www.trifed.net)

Biodiversity in India

India is one of the 12 countries in the world that are rich in biodiversity. It holds 70 percent of world species diversity and has about 45 000 known plant species. According to the World Health Organization, about 80 percent of all therapies in use are made from herbs, with estimates that place the value at US$12.6 billion worldwide. In the United States, industry experts estimate that sales of herbs and herb supplement products now exceed US$3 billion, accounting for about one quarter of the world's total.

People for Animals is a charitable trust formed to campaign the cause of animal welfare, biodiversity and the environment. The main aims of our society are to: encourage innovative programmes on the wise management of the earth's natural resources; reduce deforestation and to encourage efficient renewable use of natural, human and human-made resources; enhance the quality of life through the conservation of the environment; promote marketing techniques that can provide income for community-based groups; undertake research in the conservation of the natural environment and the sustainable utilization of the natural resources of Madhya Pradesh.

(Dr R. Sugandhi, Coordinator (Medicinal Plants) and President, People for Animals Bhopal, 179 Kalpana Nagar, Bhopal 462021, M.P., India. E-mail: [email protected] )