NWFP Digest-L

No. 08/06

Welcome to FAO’s NWFP-Digest-L, a free e-mail journal that covers all aspects of non-wood forest products. Back issues of the Digest may be found on FAO's NWFP home page: www.fao.org/forestry/site/12980/en

A warm welcome to all new readers and a special thank you to all those who have sent me links to information.

PRODUCTS
1. Bamboo fashion
2. Bamboo in Bangladesh: Initiatives to re-vitalise bamboo products launched
3. Bamboo in China: Shoots make late showing at bamboo wood
4. Bamboo power station in India
5. Birch bark: Prostate cancer treatment?
6. Bushmeat: Heading off the next HIV
7. Chestnuts: Britain's horse chestnut trees under threat
8. Cork: 2006 Cork harvest biggest in latest nine-year cycle
9. Ferns in Australia: Illegal harvesting
10. Medicinal plants: Copaíba as anti-inflammatory
11. Mulberry plantations to be raised in 10,000 acres in Indian State
12. Sandalwood: India loses its sandalwood market
13. Shea butter: ADM, Wilmar to process shea nuts in Ghana
14. Truffles: Black truffles yields 'fantastic’ in Australia

COUNTRY INFORMATION
15. China: Silkworm cocoon production shifts from west to east
16. China to let tourists hunt endangered species
17. Ethiopia: Honey can sweeten country's export earnings
18. India: `Senna and medicinal park' to be established in Tuticorin
19. India: Blame it on bamboo – Armies of rodents' destroy crops in Mizoram
20. India: Create more jobs in export sectors
21. Malaysia: Producing gaharu
22. Nigeria: Niger delta human development report – Pollution by oil companies
23. Nigeria: RMRDC to hand over shea butter processing centre
24. Serbia: An eco-vision for Serbia
25. Sudan to reform Gum Arabic trade

NEWS
26. Equator Prize 2006: call for nominations
27. European Commission tastes camu camu
28. Forests of the Congo Basin
29. Global illegal wildlife trade worth $10 billion
30. Green investments
31. INAFORESTA, “Cocoa agroforestry: improved livelihoods and environmental services to society”
32. Strategic tree planting could save water in dry areas
33. The Forest Restoration Information Service

EVENTS
34. Pagos por Servicios Ambientales (PSA): Una estrategia para conservar los bosques tropicales y su biodiversidad
35. USAID/FRAME Natural Products in Rural Enterprises Workshop

LITERATURE REVIEW AND WEB SITES
36. Other publications of interest

MISCELLANEOUS
37. Forest scent slows global warming
38. First 'Geoblog' featuring 'Chimp Soap Opera'

PRODUCTS

1. Bamboo fashion

Source: Fibre2fashion.com, 19 August 2006

Bamboo fabrics have been featured in several of Canadian fashion icon Linda Lundstrom's spring 2007 groupings in everything from a versatile bamboo jersey skirt that can be worn 10 different ways, to casual bamboo rayon/cotton/Spandex blend leggings, to an elegant Signature design featuring a bamboo jersey slip dress under mirrored Georgette.

Bamboo fashions have a lot of fabulous qualities. Bamboo fabrics stay two degrees cooler than other fabrics and so provide cool comfort. They also have a natural wicking ability: they wick moisture away from the skin. The soft, breathable, knit fabrics also offer an antibacterial function, acting as a natural deodorant.

For full story, please see: www.fibre2fashion.com/news/fashion-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=21825

2. Bamboo in Bangladesh: Initiatives to re-vitalise bamboo products launched

Source: Financial Express.bd, Bangladesh, 16 August 2006

Two international development organisations have launched an initiative to support and upgrade the production and marketing of bamboo-based items in the northern region.

A project named "partnership for agro-products development and marketing access" was jointly initiated by Inter Cooperation and Catalyst. It aims to provide technical assistance to persons engaged in the bamboo industry for modernisation and diversification of their products.

The project's main objective is to make the products exportable, and increase the earning of the bamboo craftsmen through providing access to more profitable markets both at home and abroad and devise attractive designs.

The project's operation has been started in 50 villages of Rajshahi district where 5,000 bamboo workers are engaged in production of different bamboo-based items like basket, book-shelf, cradle, mango bucket, poultry case etc.

A nursery of bamboo saplings was also established under the project with the technical assistance of the Forest Research Institute. The prices of these new varieties of bamboos would be minimum and affordable for the poor craftsmen, said sources.

For full story, please see: http://www.financialexpress-bd.com/index3.asp?cnd=8/17/2006§ion_id=10&newsid=34590&spcl=no

3. Bamboo in China: Shoots make late showing at bamboo wood

Source: Shanghai Daily, China, 15 August 2006

Gardeners at a city garden were taken by surprise last week when they noticed bamboo shoots poking through the earth.

Bamboo shoots usually sprout in the spring, but the ones growing in the bamboo woods at the Shanghai Guyiyuan Garden, Jiading District have proved to be an exception, said Hu Linfu, the garden's director.

Conditions inside the bamboo woods, which are kept cool with fans and water, have created spring-like temperatures for the shoots to grow, according to Hu.

The species of the late-blooming bamboo is known as square bamboo. It was brought to the garden last spring from Anhui Province.

Square bamboo is rare and only grown in China.

For full story, please see: www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/08/15/289113/Shoots_make_late_showing_at_bamboo_wood.htm

4. Bamboo power station in India

Source: All Headline News, USA, 29 July 2006

A north eastern Indian state, Mizoram, is set to make an environment-friendly power station that will run on bamboo. The state, it is claimed, possibly will be the first in the world to use bamboo for producing power.

The project coordinator, Mr. Tlumtea told United News of India, "Our unique power station will use bamboo to generate electricity. This project will not only be cost-effective but also high eco-friendly." He said the power generation formula from bamboo was simple. The harvested bamboo would be dried and processed for feedstock to produce gas. In addition, the project will be based on gas produced by bamboo as feedstock.

For full story, please see: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004369462

5. Birch bark: Prostate cancer treatment?

Source: WebMD, USA, 28 July 2006

The bark of the white birch tree contains a compound that might help fight prostate cancer. That's the early word based on research in mice. The compound, called betulinol, hasn't been tested on people.

Preliminary tests show that betulonic acid, made from betulinol, may discourage human prostate cancer cells from dividing, and spur those cells to die.

Brij Saxena, PhD, who works in reproductive endocrinology at Cornell University's Weill Medical College, and colleagues, conducted the tests.

The study was partly funded by Marc Pharmaceuticals, says a Cornell news release. Cornell's research foundation and medical school collaborate with Marc Pharmaceuticals on research and licensing of betulinol derivatives.

For full story, please see: http://www.webmd.com/content/article/125/116079.htm

6. Bushmeat: Heading off the next HIV

Source: Scott Calvert, The Baltimore Sun, 19 August 2006

Akam, Cameroon. Researchers are working in west-central Africa to spot emerging diseases that could jump from apes to humans through the handling of bushmeat and keep them from spreading around the world.

The glow from the cooking fire danced on the walls of the smoky hut and Luci Mbala knelt on the dirt floor to prepare dinner with the practiced swing of a machete. She was making a favourite meal for her family of 11, deep in the West African forest. Her husband, Junior, had come home holding a monkey. She'll fry up the meat, add some salt, pepper, beef stock and bush mangos, then boil it into a stew.

But first, she paused for science.

With her husband holding a piece of filter paper, she dripped onto it four drops of the monkey's blood. It will be sent to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore as part of a search for viruses that lurk in monkeys or apes and could, conceivably, jump to humans.

Medical research and traditional hunting are converging in west-central Africa, not far from where chimpanzees decades ago planted the seeds of the global AIDS pandemic. The researchers' goal is clear but not guaranteed of success: to spot emerging diseases and keep them from spreading around the world.

Already, a Hopkins team has shown that viruses in Cameroon have leaped to humans more often than previously thought. Among people who are in regular contact with primate blood, the researchers found last year, one in six had exposure to a simian strain of human immunodeficiency virus, the virus that causes AIDS.

The implications for human health are still being explored, but medical researchers see cause for concern as more guns and new logging roads put people and other primates in closer contact.

The Hopkins team warns of the possibility of new types of "emerging HIV infections."

Hunters have been enlisted to help by providing blood spots and details on what they kill. The plan is to create hunter monitoring networks, the kind experts say might have mobilized a quicker response to HIV and saved some of the 25 million lives claimed to date by AIDS.

The researchers are also trying to overcome the villagers' scepticism of authorities and worries that hunting will be curtailed. There is also something in it for the villagers. The researchers, mindful that bushmeat hunting is a way of life and largely legal, are teaching people how to handle monkey blood safely.

There are important new lessons for the men who hunt in the forest and the women who, like Luci Mbala, wield sharp machetes in dimly lit kitchens.

When hunting, men should take careful note of any cuts from thorny bushes. They are being advised to stop slinging dead animals over their backs or putting them in wicker baskets because blood can enter through any cuts in their skin.

For butchering, women are being urged to check their hands beforehand. If they get a cut while butchering, they should stop, wash their hands with soap, tie a bandage and avoid touching the meat or blood. They should let their husband finish the preparation.

Goats, sheep and chickens wander in Akam, but the 125 villagers rarely eat them and do little to nurture the herds and flocks. One reason is that it takes land and feed to support them. Another is that many villagers say they prefer the taste of wild creatures.

Monkeys, porcupines and antelope-like duikers are the primary sources of food in southern Cameroon. Monkeys, far from being seen as a relative of humans, are just meat.

For full story, please see: http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/pdfs/20060819/A19.pdf

7. Chestnuts: Britain's horse chestnut trees under threat

Source: Independent, UK, 24 August 2006

Britain's horse chestnut trees, providers of conkers for generations of schoolboys, are dying in their thousands in the worst case of tree blight since Dutch elm disease 30 years ago.

The horse chestnuts, which often stand in majestic rows in city streets, are being hit by a "triple whammy" of drought, pest attack and disease. On many, the leaves have already withered and shrunk, and conkers, the fruits of the tree, are not being produced at all.

Stands of horse chestnuts in the streets around the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, west London have no conkers this year. This time last year they had a carpet of conkers underneath them - as they have had for decades. For many boys, looking forward to the age-old game, 2006 will be the Autumn Of No Conkers - but the situation is far more serious than that.

The trees are being severely hit in many parts of Britain and according to the Forestry Commission between 40,000 and 50,000 of them may already be affected - about 10 per cent of all the horse chestnuts in Britain - and that figure may be even higher. Of those trees which are seriously affected, having already developed large open cankers, about around half will die.

The disease appears to be having its strongest effect in southern England. Organisers of the World Conker Championships, which take place on Sunday 8 October in Ashton, Northamptonshire, are watching the situation closely. "At the moment we're all right, because we haven't had the moth up here, or the canker, as far as I'm aware," said John Hadman, the secretary of the Ashton Conker Club, the championship organisers. "But if we do go short of conkers, we will have to get them in from elsewhere."

For full story, please see: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1221302.ece

8. Cork: 2006 Cork harvest biggest in latest nine-year cycle

Source: South African Wine News, 25 August 2006

While Europe had another hot summer in 2006, it also had the biggest cork harvest in the last nine years, bringing in a total of 140,000 tons of raw cork, according to Jochen Michalski, president of Cork Supply Group, the nation’s largest provider of premium natural cork wine stoppers.

“The 2006 harvest is well over 50 percent larger than last year,” says Michalski. “This huge increase is welcomed since last year’s harvest was so low.”

This year Portugal, the largest producer of raw cork, will see 110,000 tons, while the number two producer, Spain, will see 30,000 tons.

Cork is produced from the bark of the Quercus suber tree, also called cork oak, which grows predominantly in Portugal and a few other countries about the Mediterranean. The trees are stripped every nine to ten years, when the bark is thick enough to provide viable commercial use. By cycling the production schedule of trees, cork foresters maintain a consistent and reliable source of wood.

Nearly 99 percent of all cork harvested is used for commercial purposes in one manner or another. The highest quality cork is generally reserved for wine stoppers, with lower grades used in a host of products ranging from linoleum and ceiling tiles to auto parts and shoe soles. Protected by the Portuguese government as a renewable resource, the average life span of a cork tree is more than 200 years.

For full story, please see: www.wine.co.za/news/news.aspx?NEWSID=8911&Source=News

9. Ferns in Australia: Illegal harvesting

Source: ABC Online – Australia, 18 August 2006

A man from Narre Warren, south-east of Melbourne, who made about $25,000 from selling illegally harvested ferns, has been given a suspended sentence. The man sold about 2,500 ferns to nurseries across Victoria.

The court heard the ferns were taken from pristine land near the headwaters of the Franklin River, south of Moe. False labels were put on the ferns and customers were told that they came from Tasmania.

In sentencing, the judge told the court that the desire for profit had devastated native fauna, and the crime was worthy of strong condemnation. The man has been given a suspended sentence of two years and six months, and must repay his $25,000 profit.

For full story, please see: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1718342.htm

10. Medicinal plants: Copaíba as anti-inflammatory

Source: Tierramerica, 3 August 2006 in CFRC Weekly Summary 8/3/06

A study conducted by Brazil’s University of Sao Paulo's Ribeirao Preto science department has certified the anti-inflammatory properties of the copaíba plant (Copaifera officinalis).

In testing on mice, this tree native to the tropical regions of Latin America and Western Africa presented anti-inflammation properties twice as strong as diclofenac sodium, a synthetic medication.

To date, copaíba has been used in scents and varnishes, but traditional medicine has used it to prevent scarring and as an anti-inflammatory.

For full story, please see: http://www.forestrycenter.org/headlines.cfm?RefID=88615

11. Mulberry plantations to be raised in 10,000 acres in Indian State

Source: FreshPlaza – Netherlands, 22 August 2006

RAJAHMUNDRY. Plans are afoot to raise mulberry plantations in 10,000 acres this year in addition to the existing 90,000 acres in the State [Andhra Pradesh], according to Sericulture Commissioner Rama Lakshmi. She said that so far eight crore saplings were planted in 3,500. As many as 5,000 metric tonnes of silk was produced from 55,000 metric tonnes of cocoons.

Steps were taken to produce 75,000 cocoons this year. Rama Lakshmi said that the existing production in the country was 14,000 metric tonnes as against a 25,000 metric tonne demand. The Government was planning to start spun silk mills in the State in a phased manner.

The Government was planning to encourage Sericulture through sago waste leaves in the State to provide additional income to the farmers. East Godavari district stood first with 19 metric tonnes of silk production in the State. Steps were taken to increase the target to 25 metric tonnes in the district and 65 metric tonnes in the State, the commissioner said.

For full story, please see: http://www.freshplaza.com/2006/22aug/2_in_mulberry.htm

12. Sandalwood: India loses its sandalwood market

Source: Navhind Times, 21 August 2006

India’s 5000 year old sandalwood industry is in its last gasps, thanks to smugglers who have ensured that the official trade is killed. Sandalwood production in the country has fallen from about 4,000 tonnes/year in the 1960s to less than 1,000 tonnes during the 2000s.

Three years ago India exported 1800 tonnes of hard-core sandalwood, out of the world trade of 6000 tonnes. In 2005 it was a bare 400 tonnes. As a result, India, once the undisputed leader in the 1800 crores-a-year market for global sandalwood exports, has lost its position to suppliers in Australia and Indonesia.

“The large trees have been virtually wiped out,” says Madhav Gadgil, a professor of ecological sciences at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. India’s own local requirements are about 150 tonnes a year, and in 2006 our supplies can continue for just to more years as stocks are on the decline.

A sandalwood tree lives for 60 to 70 years and, when it is brought down for profit, it is never felled like other trees, but uprooted in the rainy season, when the roots are richest in the precious essential oil. The yield of oil is highest in the roots, about 10 per cent, and lowest in chips which are a mixture of heartwood and sapwood (1.5-2 per cent). The oil content of the heartwood varies from tree to tree and is higher for older trees. One tonne of sandalwood yields 40-50 litres of oil. Bulk price at the factory is upwards of Rs 50,000 a litre. On the internet it retails at Rs 1,350 for 10 ml.

Tipu Sultan in the 18th century made sandalwood cultivation a government monopoly and the British continued it. In India, even today you cannot grow sandalwood without permission from the government nor keep more than 20kg of it in your home.

Each tree yields around 30 kg of heartwood. Environmentalists say the smuggling of sandalwood could be well in the region of Rs 500 crore annually.

Marayoor has the best quality sandalwood in the world and it is the only place in Kerala where sandalwood grows naturally. Smuggling of this costly wood is rampant, where a single tree can fetch more than a lakh of rupees. Marayoor, which earlier had over one lakh sandalwood trees, now has only 59,000.

Except in some patches of Kerala and Karnataka forests there are no sandalwood trees left in India and it will be some time before the industry can come up again, as it takes conservatively 50 years before you can uproot a sandalwood tree for its valuable oil. In 1990’s the price was 3 lakhs of rupees per tonne and today in 2006 it is 30 lakhs per tonne.

Who will fill the gap for the requirement of 6000 tonne sandalwood logs required annually for the world trade? Here other nations, mainly Australia with its vast uncultivated lands has stepped in. The greatest advantage Australia has is that, the sandalwood farms are in the private enterprise sandalwood industry. It is already ensuring the topmost security of its sandalwood, and there are no poachers/smugglers.

Today, Australia has become the home for sandalwood plantations with a total annual harvest currently standing at 2,000 tonnes. It has embarked on a long term project for sandalwood tree and the largest sandalwood farm in the world is at Kunnumurra in western Australia, with 12000 sandalwood trees in each of its 300 acre farm segments. The oil content of Australian-grown trees is between 1 and 2 per cent, which compares to 6 per cent from Indian trees. But now plant scientists in Australia have developed a method of extracting sandalwood oil from trees as young as 15 years, unlike in India where we were not touching the trees till they were 40 years old. That means for one extraction cycle of ours, the Aussies do thrice. The Australian scientists are also striving to achieve an oil production figure closer to the Indian trees.

Scarcely two decades old, the Australian sandal wood industry has today the green sandalwood resources available for harvest in excess of 200 000 tonnes and the quantity of dead sandalwood available for harvest was in excess 15 000 tonne. At the same time Australia does not want to flood the market lowering the price and its Ministry of Agriculture has decided to keep exports locked at around 3,000 tonne a year.

Already India is importing hundreds of tonnes of sandalwood from Australia and the famous Australian Red Sanders sandalwood is very well received in India for its oil content. Many Indian companies are also interested in investing in Australian sandalwood plantations and setting up units over there.

For full story, please see: http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=082170

13. Shea butter: ADM, Wilmar to process shea nuts in Ghana

Source: Reuters South Africa, 17 August 2006

Agricultural processing giant Archer Daniels Midland and Singapore's Wilmar Holdings will launch a joint venture in Ghana to process shea nuts into butter and oils, a spokesman for the venture said on Thursday.

Shea butter is perhaps best known as a beauty cream for Hollywood stars, but the new factory will export mainly to Europe's food industry.

The $20 million joint venture, Ghana Specialty Fats, will start production next March, processing up to 25,000 tonnes of shea nuts a year, making it the biggest shea nut processor in the West African country, the world's No. 2 cocoa grower.

"We are doing high quality products no one is doing in West Africa right now. It is not just shea nut crushing, we are producing specialty fats and oils for big food processing companies," a Ghana Speciality Fats spokesman said. "We will be producing oils and fats for food processing, but not as a replacement for cocoa butter," he added.

Shea products can also be used as a cheap substitute for cocoa butter in chocolate, and as a speciality flavour in other foods. Some countries regulate the amount of non-cocoa fats in their chocolate.

Ghana Speciality Fats will buy shea nuts from northern Ghana, part of the shea nut belt which spans 20 African countries between the northern Sahara deserts and the southern tropical rainforests.

Shea nut trees grow semi-wild and women have harvested them for decades, pounding them into butter and oil to use in cooking or as a moisturising cream.

There are several small firms dealing in shea nuts, but few commercial farms in Ghana, from where about 50,000 tonnes of shea nut kernels are exported each year -- a third of West Africa's total shea nut exports of 150,000 tonnes.

The vast majority is used in edible oils, though a growing share ends up being rubbed into the skin of women around the world as skin care lotions and other cosmetics.

More investors could follow in ADM's footsteps, said Vanessa Adams, shea nut expert at USAID's West Africa Trade Hub in Ghana's capital Accra. "I know of one other firm who is interested," she said. "The consumption of chocolate is rising in new market areas, such as Asia, so we do expect there will be increased demand for shea butter," she said.

Some experts also say uncertainty in cocoa-growing Ivory Coast, which has been split in two since a 2002/03 civil war, could also increase interest in shea butter as a substitute or improver for cocoa butter

For full story, please see: http://za.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-08-17T105437Z_01_BAN739264_RTRIDST_0_OZABS-FOOD-GHANA-SHEA-20060817.XML&archived=False

14. Truffles: Black truffles yields 'fantastic’ in Australia

Source: ABC Online – Australia. 25/07/2006

The black truffle industry is enjoying its best ever season.

Low yields have plagued growers in recent years but Tim Terry from Tasmanian Truffle Enterprises says his harvest has tripled this season and it is a similar story around Australia.

"There are certainly some very good yields on the mainland and in Western Australia there have been some fantastic yields of much older plantations of course," Mr Terry said. "But that's great news for the whole industry really because it now means we are going to go from a cottage industry into a real industry which is what we've been aiming to do."

For full story, please see: http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/2006/s1696373.htm

COUNTRY INFORMATION

15. China: Silkworm cocoon production shifts from west to east

Source: Fibre2fashion.com, 22 August 2006

In a bid to improve silkworm cocoon industry, the China Commerce Bureau plans to support nine silkworm cocoon production areas under a project 'West shift of East Mulberry'.

The project includes 200 huge silkworm mulberry bases, which will form nine new silkworm cocoon production areas, focusing on central and west China.

Major provinces include Guangxi, Jiangxi, Sinkiang, Liaolin, Sichuan and others. Guangxi has replaced Jiangsu province to be the first in silkworm cocoon industry.

The Government of China will supply special funds and necessary support to carry out this project.

For full story, please see: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=21925

16. China to let tourists hunt endangered species

Source: Reuters, 9 August 2006 (in ENN News)

China is to auction licences to foreigners to hunt wild animals, including endangered species, a newspaper said on Wednesday.

The government would auction licences based on types and numbers of wild animals, ranging from about $200 for a wolf, the only carnivore on the list, to as much as $40,000 for a yak, the Beijing Youth Daily said.

The auction, taking place on Sunday in Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, would be the first of its kind in Chinese history, it added.

"Some animals are from the first and second category of national wildlife protection, but with the strict limitations in place, the hunting could not destroy wild animal populations," the daily said.

The report made no mention of the endangered giant panda, some 1,500 of which survive in nature reserves in southwestern China.

Five western areas, including Qinghai, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces and the autonomous regions of Ningxia and Xinjiang, are involved in the auction.

Hunting of animals is popular with Chinese who like to eat exotic meats or use animal parts in medicines for their perceived aphrodisiac or medicinal properties.

But the hunting licences would be available only to foreigners, given China's strict rules on gun control, the daily said. "Hunting is not slaughtering," it quoted an official at a wild animal protection department as saying.

Proceeds from the auction would be used for wild animal protection, the report said.

For full story, please see: http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11031

17. Ethiopia: Honey can sweeten country's export earnings

Source: Business in Africa (Johannesburg), 15 August 2006

Ethiopia could export more honey, drastically increasing foreign currency earnings, but the sustainability of the industry needed to be researched first, said the Ethiopian Honey and Wax Producers and Exporters Association. President Haile-Giorgis Demise said that increased interest in the planting of honey, and greater investments in processing machinery, could pay handsomely within a few years.

However, Demise said that before honey farmers joined the international market sustainability needed to be assured. He said government could help sustainability by supporting the industry the same way it supported the flower sector.

Demise's company, Beza Mar Agro Industry, was the first in Ethiopia to use a modern processing plant and was accessing the United States market with the help of USAID and through AGOA.

For full story, please see: http://allafrica.com/stories/200608150352.html

18. India: `Senna and medicinal park' to be established in Tuticorin

Source: The Hindu, India, 15 August 2006

The Shellac and Forests Products Export Promotion Council (SHEFEXIL), a body under the Union Ministry of Commerce, will soon establish a `senna and medicinal park' in Tuticorin, the first of its kind in the country.

It aims to double the exports of `minor forest products' from the country by 2010-11. Presently, the country exports Rs.2,600 crore of MFP per annum.

Speaking to The Hindu, Debjani Roy, Executive Director, SHEFEXIL, said the proposed park would be established on public-private partnership with 60 percent of the project cost to be borne by the Centre and the State and the rest to be raised through private sponsorships.

In addition, the council would promote `lac' development on a large scale in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh involving self-help groups. (Lac is a secretion from an insect called Laccifer lacca, which then turns into a finished MFP product called shellac)

Furthermore, cultivation of `chironji' (Buchnania lanzan), a dry fruit, in the Chindwara district of Madhya Pradesh, would be brought under the organised sector this fiscal to ensure 10-15 percent annual growth.

"We plan to render value-addition to the fruit and export it to the Middle East, where such products are in a great demand," Dr. Roy said.

Dr. Roy said the council planned to promote guar seed cultivation at a cost of Rs.15 crore over three fiscals starting 2006-07, in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, to increase guar gum production.

For full story, please see: http://www.hindu.com/2006/08/15/stories/2006081511390100.htm

19. India: Blame it on bamboo – Armies of rodents' destroy crops in Mizoram

Source: Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai, India, 10 August 2006

AIZWAL: Armies of rodents have started invading paddy fields in the eastern and north eastern parts of Mizoram with the flowering of bamboo, signalling the advent of 'mautam' or the famine caused by bamboo flowering.

James Lalsiamliana, a scientist in the state agriculture department, said that Myanmar border areas near Farkawn in Camphai district were the hardest hit during the past one week where villagers reported massive damage to crops by rodents. He, however, could not ascertain whether the multitude of rodents came from neighbouring Myanmar or inside the state due to eating of bamboo seeds, known for their high reproductive affect on rats.

Lalsiamliana, who is now in Mizoram-Tripura-Assam border areas, educating the villagers on the impending 'mautam' said that increase in rat population had also begun in the western parts even as only sporadic flowering was witnessed there.

"Villagers in the eastern and north-eastern parts of the state informed us that the armies of rats ravaged their paddy stems,'' he said.

Distribution of rodenticides was taken by the state government so far while farmers were earlier asked to cultivate alternative crops which would not be damaged by rats.

Mautam is a strange ecological phenomenon when bamboo flowers and dies in a cycle of 50 years causing immense hardship to the people due to the prolific breeding of rats it ensures.

For full story, please see: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1046453

20. India: Create more jobs in export sectors

Source: Telugu Portal, India, 21 August 2006

Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh Monday called for greater focus on strengthening those export sectors that generate more jobs, especially for women.

Inaugurating a National Consultation on Poor Women's Role in Global Trade, Ramesh said, "While looking at exports, the challenge before us now is not so much the increase in foreign exchange reserves but the generation of employment."

According to a recent study by the Delhi-based think tank, Research and Information System for non-aligned and other developing countries (RIS), the export sector accounted for 9 million direct jobs and 7 million indirect jobs in 2004-2005.

The study estimated that this level of employment could be doubled in the next five years, Ramesh said. He added that about two-thirds of such jobs are in the unorganised or informal sector, with women accounting for 60 percent of the workforce.

In the recent months, the commerce ministry has been trying to integrate employment, exports and women's issues through greater focus on employment intensive sectors like leather, handlooms, handicrafts, agriculture, gems and jewellery, shellac and minor forest produce.

Leather projects in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, lac projects in Orissa, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh and handicrafts projects in Chhattisgarh are being taken up for product development, design and marketing with the help of women's self-help groups.

For full story, please see: http://teluguportal.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=10818

21. Malaysia: Producing gaharu

Source: Malaysia Star, 15 August 2006

Researchers are looking at various inducement techniques to produce aromatic gaharu on a commercial scale.

The Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) began researching in the late 1990s following a surge in market demand for gaharu and is still refining its inoculation technique.

Based on anecdotes from Orang Asli collectors, researchers deliberately wound the tree trunk and indeed, gaharu was produced in varying degrees of formation, suggesting that it can be induced in standing Aquilaria trees by artificial means. But the grade obtained was inconsistent.

Over 100 Aquilaria malaccensis saplings were planted on a 1ha trial plot at the institute’s research station at Bukit Hari between 1998 and 2000. Artificial inducement was carried out after three years but the trees did not respond.

FRIM research co-ordinator Dr Chang Yu Shyun suspects that the trees were not mature enough to produce the resin. "In nature, when a branch or twig is broken, the wound attracts bacteria, fungi and pathogens. In gaharu-producing species like Aquilaria, the tree will produce the resin to contain the infection from spreading, covering the wound and blackening the whitish heartwood. That’s how gaharu is produced.

"The challenge is to come out with high quality or the desired grade and predictable volume to make planting a viable solution to over-harvesting of wild species," says Chang.

The senior research officer in the biotechnology division says the research initially focused on inoculation trials but later expanded to cover the biological aspect, economic value, trade and chemical analysis of the fragrant resin.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Institute of Nuclear Technology (MINT) has applied nuclear irradiation technology to mass-produce plantlets via tissue culture. Seeds were screened for fast-growth and single-bole characteristics at the cellular level and lead researcher Dr Rusli Ibrahim claims he has found the secret formula after one year of experimentation.

Five hundred plantlets are growing in a trial plot near Dengkil. Rusli says two other research groups will look for suitable antagonists to induce the tree and the best extraction technique to yield oil of the desired chemical composition.

The hill within the MINT compound was recently discovered to host 157 matured Aquilaria trees. "At the end of the year, we intend to invite two United States experts to demonstrate to the growers the right way of inoculating these trees," says Rusli.

MINT has submitted four funding proposals under the Ninth Malaysian Plan to support the research work which will also include developing a standard grading system for woodchips and oil extracts.

For full story, please see: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2006/8/15/lifefocus/20060815133850&sec=lifefocus

22. Nigeria: Niger delta human development report – Pollution by oil companies

Source: Vanguard, Nigeria, 15 August 2006

One of the most dramatic effects of oil production activities in the Niger Delta was the sudden rise to prominence of certain towns that became centres of oil production or associated industrial activities.

This period, especially since the mid-1980s when oil overtly replaced traditional economic activities in oil-producing communities, marked the beginnings of the whittling down of the sense of community and traditional authority in the Niger Delta region. Many of the transformations that took place, including the sale of land, land use changes, occupational changes, etc., were individual rather than communal decisions.

Apart from the massive deforestation and destruction of land, the displacement the phenomenal growth in urbanization has had significant social and environmental impacts, while the heightened pace of construction has created huge demands for land and construction materials.

A major socio-political issue in the Niger Delta region today is access to land. Local people complain bitterly about having lost so much land to oil operations.

Traditionally, local people have depended heavily on the non-timber resources of the forests to make a living. They extract a wide variety of forest products for domestic use and for sale in traditional markets. These include fuel wood, fibres, leaves, dyes, fruits and nuts, medicinal plants, barks and roots, spices, palm wine, snails, wild game, etc. The much-reduced forest cover has increased pressure on the remaining forests, which are now suffering from overuse that is further exacerbated by high demand from the expanding towns and cities. It has been well established that wealthier people in urban areas utilize far more forest resource derivatives than the poor who directly depend on them.

People at the grass-roots unfortunately are not benefiting from the increased exploitation of non-timber forest resources. Middlemen package most of the harvest for urban markets, where they make huge gains. Very little returns to the rural economy; in general, there is a net transfer of resources from the rural to the urban areas.

One of the greatest challenges to human development in the Niger Delta region is how to win people back to the traditional livelihoods that sustained them in the past. As in other parts of the country, younger people have left the rural areas.

The fundamental issue is how traditional occupational pursuits can exist with oil production activities in an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and recrimination. Interest in traditional economic pursuits such as agriculture and fishing cannot be promoted as long as easy money flows from the oil companies, albeit on an unsustainable basis.

For full story, please see: www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/viewpoints/vp615082006.html

23. Nigeria: RMRDC to hand over shea butter processing centre

Source: Nigerian Tribune, Nigeria, 28 July 2006

THE Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) will today formally hand over the Shea Butter Processing Centre at Agbaku-Eji-Moro Local Government Area of Kwara State to the Araromi Women Co-operative Society.

The RMRDC, which has been working closely with the society, had upgraded the indigenous technology for producing shea butter at the centre.

For full story, please see: http://www.tribune.com.ng/30072006/news/nc2.html

24. Serbia: An eco-vision for Serbia

Source: WWF International, 3 August 2006

Backi Monostor, Serbia – In efforts to conserve one of central Europe’s most important wetland sites, WWF is working on the ground in Serbia for the first time to promote sustainable tourism and forestry practices.

In particular, the global conservation organization has been focusing its conservation activities in and around Serbia’s Gornje Podunavlje nature reserve, trying to improve habitat protection and restore the country’s biodiversity-rich floodplain forests.

Gornje Podunavlje is situated in northwest Serbia along the left bank of the Danube River, which borders Hungary’s Danube-Drava National Park to the north and Croatia’s Kopacki Rit Nature Park to the west. Like most floodplains, the nature reserve area is home to many bird species. The area contrasts with other parts of the region, where the once very spacious and productive riverine forests are now mostly replaced with uniform and sterile monocultures of poplar trees.

“Serbia is undergoing a profound socio-political transition and traditional forestry practice is still seen as profitable and a means to provide jobs,” said David Reeder, a senior technical advisor with WWF’s Danube-Carpathian Programme. “As a result, nature is suffering from intensive exploitation of forest resources.”

Working with local Serbian NGO Propeler, with support from USAID and the European Centre for Eco-Agri Tourism (ECEAT), WWF recently organized a workshop to help local communities improve the protection of this highly valuable area of floodplain forests through the introduction of better forest management, as well as ecotourism activities to improve local livelihoods.

“We want to widen the stakeholder base by involving local communities in nature protection and decision-making, a process very new in Serbia,” Reeder added. “If ecotourism is successful in a community, the benefits are not only economic. People also gain a renewed sense of their social significance.”

WWF is currently involved in a sustainable tourism project in the village of Backi Monostor, on the edge of Gornje Podunavlje. The project aims to promote ecotourism, through training and marketing, and to ensure that tourism service providers understand that well-managed nature is an economic asset, and to encourage them to take an active part in ensuring that it is effective. Another benefit of such a project will be to improve cross-border cooperation in the floodplains. “These lands represent a single ecological unit and there should be a unified ecosystem management in order to protect, preserve and restore this unique European natural heritage,” Reeder said.

For more information, please contact:

Andreas Beckmann, Deputy Director
WWF Danube Carpathian Programme
Tel: +43 1 524 54 70-21
Email: [email protected]
For full story, please see: www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/index.cfm?uNewsID=77640

25. Sudan to reform Gum Arabic trade

Source: Sudan Tribune, 9 August 2006

(KHARTOUM) — The symposium on Gum Arabic has recommended the setting up of a council meant for mapping out policies that would streamline production and trade of Gum Arabic.

The symposium also called for promoting Gum Arabic research centres and starting a monetary fund that would ensure finance for its production.

The Gum Arabic Company, Ltd., holder of the monopoly position for the export of crude Gum Arabic from the Sudan offered a much-reduced price for the previous crop, because they possessed a very large buffer stock (about 30,000 MT) and faced the lowest prices in more than 10 years.

The Sudanese gum is produced in Kordofan region 49.3%, Kassala region 24.4%, Darfur region 23.4 % and White and Blue Nile region 2.9%.

Gum arabic is a resin that is used as an emulsifier in soft drinks, a thickener in candies and jellies, a binder in special-purpose inks and drugs, even a foam stabilizer in beer. Its name derives from the fact that the gum was shipped to Europe from Arabic ports.

For full story, please see: http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article16994

NEWS

26. Equator Prize 2006: call for nominations

Source: UNDP Equator Initiative (in SciDev.Net Weekly Update: 14 - 21 August 2006)

The Equator Prize is awarded to recognise and celebrate outstanding community efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation of biodiversity. Five prizes will be awarded:

• one for each region of eligibility - Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific;

• one for a community-based project in a UNESCO world heritage site; and

• one for a project that best exemplifies sustainable biodiversity-based business.

In addition to international recognition for their work and an opportunity to help shape international policy and practice in the field, winners will each receive a prize of US$30,000.

Use the contact details below for enquiries about the nomination process.

For more information, please contact:

Equator Initiative,
405 Lexington Avenue,
4th Floor, New York, NY 10174, USA,
Tel: +1 212.457 1709.
Fax: +1 212 457 1370,
Email: [email protected]

www.undp.org/equatorinitiative/equatorprize/EquatorPrize2006/2006-EquatorPrize.htm

For full story, please see: http://www.scidev.net/announcements/index.cfm?fuseaction=readannouncement&itemid=466&language=1

27. European Commission tastes camu camu

Source: FreshPlaza – Netherlands, 11 August 2006

Tholen - Members of the European Commission were given an insight in the quality of fruit from the South-American Andes countries during a recent event in Brussels. It was hoped that the presentation would convince the EC of the quality of fruit and exotics from the Andes, which reside under EU regulation number 258/97 of new food products and have great difficulty to get a foothold on the European market.

Products like camu camu, lúcuma, maca, aguaymanto, maíz morado, uña de gato and algarrobina do have the attention of Peruvian exporters, but first they need to be integrated in the European regulations.

For full story, please see: http://www.freshplaza.com/2006/11aug/1-2_pe_andes.htm

28. Forests of the Congo Basin

Source: WWF News, 27 July 2006

In the heart of Africa, the Congo River Basin forests are a haven for elephants, gorillas and a bewildering array of other amazing wildlife. But today, unregulated and often illegal activities are increasingly threatening this unique and special place.

WWF and its partners are working to introduce practical ways to conserve the forests while satisfying the region’s pressing development needs. So that conservation becomes as natural as the amazing forests themselves.

Discover more by visiting: www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/africa/what_we_do/central_africa/congo_basin_forests/index.cfm (includes short slide show).

29. Global illegal wildlife trade worth $10 billion

Source: Reuters, 31 July 2006 in ENN Media

The global illegal trade in wild animals and plants has exceeded $10 billion a year, becoming the world's third-largest source of illicit income after drugs and guns, a wildlife conference heard on Friday.

Illegal wildlife trade threatens species' survival and leads to ecological damage, said a statement sent by the Beijing office of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).

The closed-door conference, organised by China's Ministry of Public Security, Forestry Bureau and Interpol, ended in Beijing on Thursday.

Poachers and smugglers of endangered species can be fined and jailed for more than ten years in China, but protected plants, furs and other animal body parts are sold in many Chinese cities and rural areas. China police detained a man for trying to sell the fur of a young panda for about $30,000, state media reported on Monday.

For full story, please see: http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10969

30. Green investments

Source: Peninsula On-line, Qatar, 12 August 2006

DOHA. With the environment and its preservation being catchword these days, a Sri Lankan listed company, Touchwood, is offering an opportunity for investors to participate in the Green movement.

The premise is simple, just invest in high-value trees such as sandalwood, mahogany, vanilla and agarwood, the last-named of which is a vital ingredient in attar, a perfume much-favoured in the GCC region.

Touchwood, which had a turnover of $7.05 million in the 2005-2006 fiscal, is due to set up an office here. Plantations are located in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Australia. The Sri Lankan plantations are in Baidulla and Anuradhapura.

According to Dinu De Silva, head of sales for the Doha office: "An investor can buy a minimum of five trees with a lock-in period of 15 years." A person buying a lot of say, six trees, will have to pay $750 as an initial deposit with an annual fee of $75 over the 15-year period. The projected harvest value amounts to $17,448 making for a compound return of 20.3 percent.

The company will ensure that once the tree reaches full maturity, it will be sent to the relevant extraction plants from where its oils would be extracted and then sent on towards making the finished product.

De Silva said that 20 percent of plants have been kept aside for "contingencies". The business is in general, considered a high-risk one, with trees subject to outbreaks of diseases, forces of nature and in Sri Lanka, a fluctuating political situation.

She said: "We are the main suppliers of sandalwood globally. We have 14,000 investors and 400,000 trees."

Established in 1999, Touchwood has 900 employees on its rolls. According to Touchwood it is “a good investment in these times of global warming."

For full story, please see: www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/

31. INAFORESTA, “Cocoa agroforestry: improved livelihoods and environmental services to society”

From: Eduardo Somarriba, CATIE (through Gyde Lund)

CATIE, ICRAF, IITA, Conservation International and Mars, Incorporated working together have launched INAFORESTA, a new specialized cocoa scientific group created to study and improve the relationships between people, cacao, forests, trees and the environment. Researchers, professors, cocoa agronomists, project managers and all cocoa agroforesters are invited to join the group.

INAFORESTA will help to:

• analyze, synthesize and disseminate the literature on those topics,

• advise industry, governments, donors and policy makers on cocoa agroforestry issues;

• promote collaboration among cocoa agroforesters (individuals and institutions) and stimulate the formulation and implementation of joint Research & Development Projects and other ventures.

• lead the scientific endeavour in cocoa agroforestry and agroecology

INAFORESTA will be launched at the XV International Cocoa Research Conference ( http://www.copal-cpa.org), San José, Costa Rica. The first INAFORESTA group meeting will take place immediately after the ICRC, between Saturday 14 and Tuesday 17, October, 2006. The language of the meeting will be English.

Why INAFORESTA and a meeting on cocoa agroforestry? Currently grown on over 7 million hectares by (mostly) small holders in developing countries in the humid tropics, cocoa plays a significant role in the socio-cultural and economic life of over five million households, affecting some 25 million people. Cocoa is an important source of foreign exchange earnings to many developing countries.

Taken from the understory of the Amazon forests and cultivated by smallholders (the majority) or large plantations established under thinned, degraded or pristine natural forests, fallows or crop lands, cocoa cultivation has had sometimes conflicting and sometimes synergistic relationships with forests and shade trees. For instance, the introduction and expansion of cocoa cultivation, along with selective logging and extraction of firewood, contributed to deforestation in West African humid forests and in the Atlantic Forest Region in Brazil. In other instances, the introduction of cocoa cultivation in crop land (such as pastures and bare soil monocrops) has worked to reintroduce biodiversity in human dominated landscapes and to protect endangered biologically rich forests from further degradation. The precise relationship between cocoa cultivation, loss or degradation of natural forests and reforestation and restoration of degraded cropped lands is yet to be studied in all producing countries in the Americas (Brazil, Mesoamerica, Andean region, Caribbean countries), Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, etc.) and Asia.

Cocoa is commonly cultivated in close association with tree species that provide services to the cocoa plant (climate amelioration, soil protection and maintenance of natural fertility), products for home and farm use or for sale (timber, fruits, posts, firewood, medicine, fiber or construction materials, honey, resins, etc.) and services to the household (cultural and aesthetics) and to society (soil, water and biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration and mitigation of climate change). Because of its cultivation in close association with trees and other plant species, cocoa is produced in agroforestry systems that diversify and increase farm income, making it less variable and more resilient to external shocks (such as low cocoa prices).

However, despite the long history of joint cultivation of cocoa and its companion trees, most cocoa shade canopies are sub-optimal in design and management. It is proposed that properly designed agroforestry systems will increase land productivity, give credence to tree crop diversification, increase income stability and reduce financial risk, increase ecological complexity and, in consequence, increase the ecological value of the cocoa agroforestry system.

For more information including how to register, please contact:

Eduardo Somarriba
P.O. Box 108
CATIE, Turrialba 7170
Costa Rica
Phone: (506) 558-2395
Email: [email protected]

32. Strategic tree planting could save water in dry areas

Source: SciDev.Net, 24 August 2006

Researchers say that planting trees in dry regions of the world could make better use of scarce water resources increasingly threatened by climate change. They warn, however, that although planting the right species in the right areas could improve water efficiency, other species could make the problem much worse.

The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) findings, based on 20 years of research in Kenya, were announced at the World Water Week meeting in Stockholm on 22 August.

Many African countries have large plantations of pines or eucalyptus. But ICRAF scientists advise against planting these fast-growing evergreen trees because they need a lot of water.

Instead, they recommend planting deciduous trees in integrated 'tree-crop' systems, in which agriculture and forestry are practised on a single piece of land. Such trees shed their leaves for up to six months of the year, nearly halving the amount of water they need. This enables them to cope with long dry spells and also means they won't compete with crops for water.

ICRAF recommends tree species for specific regions.

A relative of mahogany called Melia volkensii, which produces high-value timber, would benefit semi-arid areas such as those in East Africa, for example.

Water-catchment areas in Central and West Africa, meanwhile, would suit Cordia africana. Small-scale honey producers value the tree because its flowers are highly attractive to honey bees.

Chin Ong, a plant physiologist at ICRAF who led the research, said climate change has made rainfall in southern and western Africa unpredictable and variable — causing many rivers to dry up for months at a time. "Trees are not able to adapt quickly over such a short period," he told SciDev.Net, "We must select trees that are more efficient in their use of water and that can cope with the changing rainfall." He said that without action, 70 percent of rivers would dry up.

ICRAF is trying to encourage policymakers and communities who continue to plant evergreen trees — as sources of pine resin or pulp for paper production, for example — to change their practices.

For full story, please see: http://www.scidev.net/gateways/index.cfm?fuseaction=readitem&rgwid=4&item=News&itemid=3067&language=1

33. The Forest Restoration Information Service

Source: Valerie Kapos, UNEP (in Forest Policy Info List)

The Forest Restoration Information Service (FRIS) is being developed by the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) with support from the UK Forestry Commission, DFID and the School of H.M. King William III and H.M. Queen Emma of the Netherlands Foundation in collaboration with a range of NGOs.

It aims to:

• provide an open-access internet information service to support forest restoration projects world-wide, including site-scale and landscape-scale efforts

• facilitate exchange of knowledge and experience among forest restoration projects, and provide a basis for analyzing factors determining success

• facilitate the prioritization, design and execution of forest restoration efforts by FRIS users

The FRIS includes:

• Definitions of key terms and concepts in forest restoration

• Case studies of forest restoration

• A searchable database of restoration projects and initiatives

• Maps and datasets

• A bibliography of forest restoration publications

UNEP-WCMC seeks collaboration in the further development of FRIS and especially invites FLR list members to contribute case studies or information on forest restoration efforts worldwide. If you have any information on Forest Restoration that you would like to see featured in the FRIS, please contact us at: [email protected] or visit http://www.unep-wcmc.org/forest/restoration

For more information, please contact:

Valerie Kapos
Senior Advisor in Forest Ecology and Conservation
UNEP- World Conservation Monitoring Centre
219 Huntingdon Road
Cambridge CB3 0DL UK
tel: +44 (0)1223 277314 ext 247
fax: +44 (0)1223 277136
email: [email protected]
http://www.unep-wcmc.org

EVENTS

34. Pagos por Servicios Ambientales (PSA): Una estrategia para conservar los bosques tropicales y su biodiversidad

7 agosto al 16 septiembre de 2006

La Paz, Bolivia

El curso tratará de introducir al estudiante el concepto de los Servicios Ambientales como una herramienta para generar mayor valor agregado a los bosques. El curso concentrará una buena parte al discutir el potencial y restricciones de esta herramienta. El mismo será teórico práctico. Durante el proceso se revisará las experiencias exitosas PSA en carbono, agua, biodiversidad y turismo. También revisaremos las propuestas que han fracasado, sobre todo cuando se intenta resolver múltiples objetivos con esta herramienta; la idea es aprender cuando estas iniciativas pueden ser útiles y pertinentes y cuando pueden fracasar desde el inicio.

Para más información, dirigirse a:

CEBEM - Centro Boliviano de Estudios Multidisciplinarios
Calle Pinilla No 291 esq. Av. 6 de Agosto - Casilla Postal 9205
Tels. (591-2) 2432910 - 2432911 - 2434 984
Fax (591-2) 2432910
La Paz – Bolivia

www.redesma.org/boletin/bol_2006/bol_8_10/servicios_contenidos_pg.pdf

35. USAID/FRAME Natural Products in Rural Enterprises Workshop

Washington, DC, USA

3-5 October 2006

Natural products have the potential to spur rural economic growth, reduce poverty, and strengthen local governance as well as conserve biodiversity, but that potential is far from being realized. Please join us at the USAID/FRAME workshop and share experiences and explore innovative solutions being implemented around the world.

Workshop objectives include:

• Catalyzing public-private partnerships;

• Generating strategies and intervention methods to promote competitiveness of natural product value chains in a globalized world and;

• Developing an active international community of practice around natural products and rural development.

For more information, please contact:

Lauren N. Sorkin
FRAME Outreach Coordinator
International Resources Group (IRG)
1211 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036-2701, USA
Tel: +1-202.289.0100
Fax: +1-202.289.7601
E-mail: [email protected]
www.irgltd.com or http://www.frameweb.org

LITERATURE REVIEW AND WEB SITES

36.Other publications of interest

From: FAO’s NWFP Programme

Galatsidas, Spyridon. 2001. Development of an inventory system for non-timber functions of forests in the frame of management inventories: the case of Greece. Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Forstwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg i. Brsg. 141 p.

http://www.freidok.uni-freiburg.de/volltexte/306/pdf/Galatsidas.pdf

Grimes, Alicia P. et al. 2005. Biodiversity Assessment Update for Serbia and Montenegro. USAID FAA Section 119. 46 p. http://pdf.dec.org/pdf_docs/PNADE196.pdf

Haas, Peter J. et al. 2006. An Estimator of Number of Species from Quadrat Sampling. Biometrics 62 (1): 135- (Abstract) http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1541-0420.2005.00390.x

Kanshie, Tadesse Kippie. 2002. Five Thousand Years of Sustainablity? A Case study on Gedeo Land Use (Southern Ethiopia). Treemail publishers. 296 p.

http://www.treemail.nl/download/treebook5.pdf

Mutsaers, Marieke; van Blitterswijk, Henk; van’t Leven, Leen; Kerkvliet, Jap and van de Waerdt, Jan. 2005. Bee products. Agrodok n°42, ISBN 92 90813 05 9

Oudhia, Pankaj n.d. Traditional Medicinal Knowledge about Herbs used in Treatment of Cancer in Chhattisgarh, India. XXII. Interactions with the Traditional Healers of Saraipali Region. http://botanical.com/site/column_poudhia/publish/journal.cgi?folder=journal&next=11351

Panwar, J., and Tarafdar, J.C. 2006. Distribution of three endangered medicinal plant species and their colonization with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. J. Arid Environ. 65(3):337-350.

Serio-Silva, J.C. 2006. Las Islas de los Changos (the Monkey Islands): the economic impact of ecotourism in the region of Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico. Am. J. Primatol. 68(5):499-506.

Shah, N.C. 2005 Cannabis: A source of useful pharma compounds neglected in India.-Express Pharma Pulse,11(21):26.

Shah, N.C. 2005 Nutritional, industrial uses of Hemp Seeds. Express Pharma Pulse 11(22) :39.

Shah, N.C. 2005. Himalayan Horse Chestnut. Herbal Tech Industry 1(4):31-32.

Shah, N.C. 2005. Indian Valerian: An ignored potential commercial herb from the Indian Himalayas- Herbal Tech Industry.1(6):30-32.

Shah, N.C. 2005. Ephedra: The ancient herb of India & China. Herbal Tech Industry 1(8):29-32.

Shah, N.C. 2005. Sadabahar: The herb that cures cancer. Herbal Tech Industry 1(12):22-24.

Shah, N.C. 2005. Conservation aspects of Aconitum species in the Himalayas with special reference to Uttaranchal (India). Medicinal Plant Conservation (Germany) 11 (Aug.) : 9-15.

Shah, N.C. 2005. Ethnobotany and Indigenous Knowledge in Indian context Ethnobotany.17(1&2):64-70.

Shah, N.C. 2006. .Black Soybean: An ignored nutritious and medicinal food crop from the Kumaon region of India. Asian Agri History.10(1):33-42.

Shah, N.C. 2006. Stinging Nettles: Ethnomedicinal & Modern Uses Herbal Tech Industry.2(3):13-18.

Shah, N.C. 2006. Berberine and its commercial sources in India. Herbal Tech Industry
2 (5):13-19.

Shah, N.C. 2006. Ginkgo: An ancient Chinese medicinal tree in India. Herbal Tech Industry.2 (6):13-16.

USFS. 2003. Multiple species inventory and monitoring technical guide. Preliminary draft. 04/15/03. 83 p. http://www.fs.fed.us/research/Monitoring/multiple_species.pdf

Williamson, G. Bruce et al. 2005. How many tropical rain forests? Tropinet. 16(1):1-3. Supplement to BIOTROPICA Vol 37 No. 1 http://www.atbio.org/tnv16n1.pdf

MISCELLANEOUS

37. Forest scent slows global warming

Source: Taiganews, Issue 55, Summer 2006

Swedish scientists have discovered that particles in the air over boreal forests help cool the earth by reflecting the sun’s rays back into space.

The microscopic aerosol particles called monterpines, which also produce the aroma of the coniferous forest, were studied in three locations, two of them above the Arctic Circle.

Scientists from the Air Pollution Laboratory in Stockholm found spruce and pine forests produce sun “dimming” particles in late spring and early fall. They say this discovery will help make more accurate predictions about climate change.

The study was published in the April edition of Scientist.

38. First 'Geoblog' featuring 'Chimp Soap Opera'

Source: Jane Goodall Institute, 27 July 2006 in ENN Media

The 100 million users of Google Earth can now zoom down into the lush canopy of trees in Gombe National Park in Tanzania and read daily updates about the lives of the park's famous chimpanzees.

It is a new kind of wildlife media: stories and photos capturing the daily drama of chimpanzee life, appearing five days a week on the web. Fans say the entries are like a soap opera about wild chimpanzees.

And it is an innovative kind of blog: a Google Earth "geoblog," or weblog that uses Google's Earth's gorgeous spinning globe as its backdrop. When you click on a blog entry, the globe image spins to eastern Africa and then slowly hones in on the 35-square kilometer Gombe National Park, represented by high resolution satellite images. The Jane Goodall Institute was the first to create a Google geoblog.

JGI launched the Gombe Chimpanzee Blog in January 2006 with daily updates from field researcher Emily Wroblewski, who is studying paternity among the chimpanzees. Her entries give us a glimpse of the delights and rigors of chimpanzee field research and an ongoing view of the research program begun by Jane Goodall in 1960. Emily is trying to determine if paternal relatives treat each other in special ways, favouring each other, for example, through grooming or sharing of meat.

Last week, Google Earth laid down new 61-centimeter high-resolution satellite images of Gombe National Park. Previously the images of Gombe were low resolution (15 meters). Viewers could only zoom in so far before the image would blur. The high-resolution images were provided to Google Earth by DigitalGlobe, Inc., of Longmont, Colo.

The new imagery clearly depicts the extent of deforestation in the Gombe region - lush and green inside the park boundaries and desert-like outside. In fact, despite research and preservation efforts at Gombe, the habitat around the park is disappearing at an alarming rate. What was once a vast, flourishing forest with 120 to 140 chimps is now home to some 90 chimpanzees. The deforestation is a critical problem for Gombe chimps who have seen feeding range outside the park shrink. Those feeding areas are critical for long-term survival of Gombe chimpanzees.

Check out the blog: www.janegoodall.org

For more information, please contact:

Nona Gandelman Tel : +1-(703) 682-9220

E-mail: [email protected]

QUICK TIPS AND INFORMATION FOR NWFP-DIGEST-L

This list is for information related to any aspect of non-wood forest products.

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last updated: Friday, August 28, 2009