No. 05/02
Welcome to FAO's NWFP-Digest-L. a free e-mail journal that covers all aspects of non-wood forest products.A special thank you to all those who have shared information with us.
1. Non-Wood News
2. First group certification and unique non-timber certification awarded in UK
3. Training Course on Sustainable NTFP management for rural development
4. Wildlife Producer Communities
5. INPI prepares database on indigenous medicinal formulas
6. Project aims at protecting the right to traditional knowledge
7. Biodiversity Rights Legislation (BRL)
8. Indigenous representatives create Intellectual Property Commission
9. Protecting Africa's medicinal plants
10. Tanaduk Botanical Research & Institute of Traditional Tibetan Medicines
11. Folk medicine on rise
12. India gives biodiversity conservation a local touch
13. A new breed of cycad collectors
14. Cambodia: on minefields of Khmer Rouge, wilderness is preserved
15. Basil perfume could save pau-rosa wood
16. Bamboo in winter
17. Mali groups use - and conserve - forest bounty
18. Training Course on establishing certified organic management systems for production, processing and marketing
19. Web sites
20. Workshop report - Endangered Medicinal Plant Species
21. Events
22. Publications of interest
1. Non-Wood News
From: FAO's NWFP Programme
FAO's Non-Wood Forest Products programme has just published the latest issue of Non-Wood News (no. 9), their annual bulletin covering all aspects of NWFP.Special Features in this issue cover Bushmeat, and Biometrics.
Electronic copies of this and all previous issues of Non-Wood News, are available on the NWFP home page: www.fao.org/forestry/FOP/FOPW/NWFP/new/nwfp.htm
For a hard copy, please send an e-mail to: [email protected]
2. First group certification and unique non-timber certification awarded in UK
From: FAO's NWFP Programme
The world's first group chain-of-custody certificate and a unique non-timber chain-of-custody certificate were awarded recently in the United Kingdom by SGS Qualifor.
Forest Enterprise, a UK firm that manages deer populations on forestland in accordance with certification requirements, received chain-of-custody certification for its production of venison, a non-timber forest product. Forest Enterprise intends to market venison from these deer populations with the FSC label indicating its origin in certified well-managed forest.
Independent Forestry, a group of small sawmills and timber merchants, has become the first group of businesses in the world to achieve group chain-of-custody certification. Group certification is designed to provide cost-effective access to certification for small businesses.
(Source: Forest Stewardship Council News and Notes, April 2002)
3. Training Course on Sustainable NTFP management for rural development
From: FAO's NWFP Programme
The 3rd International Training Course on Sustainable NTFP management for rural development will take place from 12 to 28 November 2002 in Bhopal, India.
Awareness about the crucial role that the Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) play in supporting the livelihoods of the forest-dependent communities has grown manifolds in the past decade. Policy makers, funding organisations, governments and voluntary organisations working in the forestry sector are convinced that sustainable management of NTFPs has become an inseparable part of pro-poor forest management. Adequate knowledge about the theory and practice of NTFP resource production, harvesting, processing and marking is a pre-requisite for harnessing the potential of NTFP resources as a means to raise income standards.
Key capacity requirements in this context include: methodologies for continuous assessment of the NTFP resources, management of both formal and informal local knowledge in the NTFP sector, NTFP cultivation and propagation techniques, assessing the feasibility of NTFP-based enterprises and sourcing finance for such initiatives, and developing an understanding of certification and other institutional issues related to NTFPs. This training course has been designed in view of this need for conceptual clarity and skill enhancement in the area of sustainable NTFP management.
Course objectives include:
¿ increase understanding of contemporary issues in Sustainable NTFP Management, including NTFP Production, Assessment, Inventorization and MIS development, Value Addition, Marketing and Certification; and
¿ develop skills in identifying opportunities for NTFP based enterprise development through innovation and tested tools and techniques.
Deadline for receipt of applications: 25 October 2002
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Prodyut Bhattacharya
Course Director
Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM)
Nehru Nagar, P.O. Box 357
Bhopal 462 003, Madhya Pradesh, INDIA
Tel. 91-755-775716, 773799
Fax: 91-755-772878,
Email: [email protected]
www.iifm.org
4. Wildlife Producer Communities
Source: The Herald, Harare, 15 June 2002
Wildlife producer communities under Campfire earned US$22 million last year, providing attractive financial returns for rural communities.
Nearly 90 percent of the income generated by Campfire was derived from sport hunting, which has become one of the fastest growing tourism products.
Sport hunting alone earned Zimbabwe nearly US$70 million last year and prospects for this year's hunting season, which began last month, are brighter.
Zimbabwe has about 150 registered safari operators and some of them operate in Campfire areas.
Although competition was high with South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and to a lesser extent Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania, the country's success lay in the good quality of trophies, reputable hunting operations and access to a variety of hunting areas from State land, private land to Campfire concessions.
Head of Campfire Mr Charles Jonga said the project's wildlife districts exceeded US$2 million annually. "Unlike many other developments or bio-diversity conservation initiatives, Campfire has been underpinned by a viable and growing market for its products. The growth of the trophy-hunting sector within Zimbabwe provides a robust indicator for the global market."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200206170655.html
5. INPI prepares database on indigenous medicinal formulas
From: Amazon News, 25 April 2002 [email protected]
The National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), Brazil, is preparing a database of the medicinal plants used by Indians, in partnership with indigenous communities.
The announcement was made to Xavante leaders in Brasilia on 19 April, National Indian Day. The Xavante leaders were in Brasilia to ask the INPI to patent the medicinal formulas of plants used by indigenous communities, which are being targeted by international biopiracy, often sponsored by large world pharmaceutical companies.
INPI informed the Xavantes that the formulas can only be patented after the Congress resolves the question of Brazil's natural genetic heritage.
IBAMA statistics reveal that Brazil's natural heritage is estimated to be worth R$2 trillion. Specialists in the areas of environmental law and patent law have criticised the lack of legislation regulating the sector.
6. Project aims at protecting the right to traditional knowledge
From: Conserve Africa Foundation [[email protected]] 13 June 2002
The Traditional Ecological Knowledge Prior Art Database (T.E.K.*P.A.D.), a new project at the American Association for the Science's Science and Human Rights Program, aims at protecting indigenous knowledge against inappropriate patents based on this knowledge. T.E.K.*P.A.D. currently contains over 40,000 entries already in the public domain documenting traditional uses of natural resources. The web site cross-references plant names, medicinal applications of these plants, and prior art, and links to United States Patent and Trademark Office and European Patent Office databases. T.E.K.*P.A.D. operates on the principle of "defensive disclosure," which, by describing information in a printed publication or other publicly accessible medium, helps establish as prior art.
T.E.K.*P.A.D. also contains a "News and Events" section as well as a "Biopiracy Hot List." The "Biopiracy Hot List" contains examples of plants targeted by western pharmaceutical companies and corporations. The entries are linked to archived documentation of prior art in the T.E.K.*P.A.D. database. Additionally, traditional knowledge holders can submit their knowledge to the database if they wish to place it in the public domain.
The database can be accessed at: http://ip.aaas.org/tekpad
For further information, please contact:
Stephen A. Hansen
Senior Program Associate
Science and Human Rights Program
American Association for the
Advancement of Science
1200 New York Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20005 USA
Tel: +1(202) 326-6796
Fax: +1(202) 289-4950
Email: [email protected]
7. Biodiversity Rights Legislation (BRL)
From: GRAIN Los Banos [email protected]
GRAIN has just revamped the Biodiversity Rights Legislation (BRL) section of its website. The BRL is a full-text online database of laws and agreements defining rights over biodiversity in developing countries.
The URL is http://www.grain.org/br
8. Indigenous representatives create Intellectual Property Commission
From: Amazon News - 23 May ([email protected])
Lawyers and other indigenous representatives from diverse peoples who participated in Introductory Course on Intellectual Property and the Seminar on the Protection of Indigenous Knowledge have formed the Indigenous Intellectual Property Commission, known as CIPI. The aim is improve cooperation between indigenous peoples in Brazil to discuss the protection of traditional knowledge and intellectual property.
According to Vilmar Guarany, from FUNAI's Coordination for the Defence of Indigenous Rights, the commission will allow indigenous representatives to be included in forums to discuss biodiversity and cultural heritage; "CIPI will establish partnerships with universities, government bodies and international organizations to offer courses to train indigenous leaders to develop mechanisms to defend and protect traditional knowledge".
9. Protecting Africa's medicinal plants
From: Conserve Africa Foundation [[email protected]] , 22 June 2002
Traditional healers and South African hunter-gatherers have long known that the root of the plant Pelargonium reniforme can cure stomach ailments. But the unsustainable and indiscriminate removal of indigenous plants, such as Pelargonium, and the export of these plants abroad, is threatening their survival. New laws are needed to protect traditional knowledge and indigenous plants in South Africa - and to allow Africa to harness its biodiversity for Africa. Full article: www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2002/june/pelarg.htm
10. Tanaduk Botanical Research & Institute of Traditional Tibetan Medicines
Source: IUFRO 5.11 News #2
The Tanaduk Botanical Research Institute is the umbrella organization of the Tibetan Medicinal Plant Research and Cultivation Program. Its purpose is to establish a conservation platform in the west for botanicals used in Tibetan medicine.
The Research Institute's aim is to replant and conserve endangered medicinal herbs used in the Tibetan medical system and developing these medicines for commercial sale. Three specific goals are identified:
¿ maintain biodiversity through conservation measures and through sustainable replanting of medicinal herbs;
¿ offer opportunities for income generation and job creation through production of herb crops, and;
¿ save endangered plants used in ancient art and science of Tibetan medicine and develop these valuable medicines for modern-day use.
For more information on the Institute, contact: Jo York ([email protected] )
11. Folk medicine on rise
From: Conserve Africa Foundation
[email protected],
16 June 2002 quoting NYTimes.com, 17 May 2002
Assigning itself a Herculean task, the World Health Organization took the first step today toward becoming the global watchdog over unconventional medicine.
The organization, a branch of the United Nations, has long focused on Western medicine, but it is looking closely at non-Western treatments, because at least 80 percent of the people in the world's poorest countries use them. Few of those countries can regulate their folk healers or share their plant lore, which may be a miracle cure or a poison.
The group's mission to catalog and give information about such treatments begins as they grow more popular in the West, and as the danger of some folk remedies increases the numbers potentially at risk.
The treatments can be fatal. For example, the Chinese ma huang herb, which contains ephedrine and helps breathing problems, caused heart attacks and strokes among some Americans using it as a diet aid. Kavakava, a Pacific Island anxiety-relieving tea, has poisoned the livers of those drinking a concentrated form. Ginkgo biloba, which stimulates circulation, also stimulates bleeding during surgery.
We must act quickly to evaluate safety, efficacy, quality and standardization," said Dr. Ebrahim Samba, the WHO's regional director for Africa. Not only do patients need protecting, Dr. Samba said, but some native medicinal plants with potentially lucrative new applications might, too.
For example, artemisinin, a compound in a wormwood plant hat has been used as a fever remedy in China for 2,000 years, has become the world's most effective new antimalaria drug. Sutherlandia frutescens, a South African herbal tonic called cancerbush in English, is being tested on AIDS patients to see if it helps them gain weight.
As defined by the WHO, folk medicine - sometimes called traditional and alternative/complementary medicine -includes things from chiropractic care and fad diets in Manhattan to porcupine quill injections in South Africa, shamanistic trances in Siberia, Arabic unani medicine and faith-healing with chicken guts in the Philippines.
Today, the Western-trained doctors who run the health organization acknowledged that they were making a very modest beginning, on a budget of $500,000, less than one-twentieth of 1 percent of the organization's $1.1 billion annual budget.
The group's ultimate goal is to catalog all folk remedies, making sure the plants are saved in botanical gardens and the products patented country by country. It also envisions writing common codes of ethics and training for folk healers.
But for the moment, Dr. Quick's team is simply surveying the way different countries train their practitioners and control their medicines. It is compiling the existing studies and has published papers on 100 of the roughly 5,000 medicinal plants that experts believe are in use.
In China, where 95 percent of hospitals have folk medicine wards, treatments are relatively advanced. But the practice is most prevalent in Africa, where at least 80 percent of people use it, sometimes because it is the only alternative. A WHO survey found that while there was only one medical doctor for every 50 000 people in Mozambique, there was a traditional healer for every 200.
Africa is also the least regulated continent. Physicians in South Africa, for example, angrily describe how their AIDS patients die of kidney failure because a sangoma, a Zulu healer, has given them an enema containing an essence made from powerful roots. Diseases are spread by injections done with dirty razor blades or porcupine quills.
On the other hand, there are African remedies that seem to work on malaria, sickle cell anemia, high blood pressure and some AIDS symptoms, Dr. Samba said. "And for mental illness," he added, "traditional practitioners beat psychiatrists hands down."
Most African healers learn their art by apprenticeship, so education is inconsistent. But some African countries are taking the first step toward regulation by creating healers' associations and offering courses on topics like sanitary practices.
Folk practices are still common in the West, as well. For instance, in France, where homeopathic medicine is popular, 75 percent say they have tried alternative medicines, compared with 42 percent of Americans who responded to a 1997 survey.
12. India gives biodiversity conservation a local touch
From: RECOFTC E-letter 2002.9
Sitting on hand-woven reed mats inside a mud hut still, 25-year-old Laknoo Biddika admits to never having heard of The Hague or big-sounding words like "biodiversity." But he does not underrate what he has to offer the world. "We are 14 village representatives gathered here with a single objective of documenting and promoting our skills and knowledge," he says.
The gathering was organized in Kuruppam district in the southern coastal state of Andhra Pradesh by Sanyasi Raju of Village Reconstruction, a local body in charge of compiling indigenous cultures and livelihoods of the region under India's US$ 970 000 National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). This socially sensitive conservation planning process, underway since 2000, is funded by the Global Environment Fund and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) through the Ministry of Environment and Forests and an NGO called Kalpvriksh (Tree of Life).
"We organize people's representatives who list what they want to do, and then get them together with government officials so that existing government policies can become more effective," says Raju.
There is plenty to document. There are medicinal plants, formulas and healers in an ancient system of Indian herbal medicine, nutritious traditional vegetable and cereal seeds such as red gram, ragi and millet, and a host of marketable forest commodities like honey, nuts and seeds that tribals have used sustainably for centuries.
But exploitation by outsiders, who pay tribal healers a pittance for both formulas and shrubs, has kept the healers in penury, with this oral tradition now practically dying out. Soil degradation and aridity is pervasive due to theft by commercial loggers of almost all the trees in tribal lands, sometimes in collaboration with tribals who have been duped to sell 50-year-old trees for as little as a dollar apiece.
The government's distribution of non-tribal staples like chemically-grown rice and wheat has allowed the neglect of traditional nutritious staples, engendering malnutrition in a community that does not have access to alternative vegetables. "The government prepares schemes for us in their offices without asking us what's best for us," says schoolteacher T. Rama Rao, one of the community's rare graduates.
"The Forest Department is using millions of rupees in the name of Joint Forestry. But they plant all the wrong trees that use too much water or kill other native plants. There is no understanding of the tribal situation," says Lingaraju, secretary of a network of village groups.
Village self-help groups have now begun preserving their own seeds and marketing herbal medicinal formulations and products from the region. Efforts at collective income generation through growing indigenous mangoes and a medicinal garden are also underway.
The government's Integrated Tribal Development Agency as well as Agriculture and Horticulture departments have begun collaboration with self-help groups.
Another ecologically-rich southern state, Karnataka, is the first in the country to draw up a clear and detailed plan that involves making an inventory and monitoring biodiversity with satellite-imagery based mapping in-situ and ex-situ conservation involving schools, higher educational institutions, government departments and the general public.
Its coordinator, Professor Madhav Gadgil of the Indian Institute of Science's Center for Ecological Sciences, hopes the measures will get sustained under the country's Biodiversity Law approved by India's Parliament early 2002.
But with the state's over-riding concern for industrial development projects, many of which are already in conflict with biodiversity interests, conservation remains a sensitive issue. Under NBSAP, the country has been divided into 10 ecosystem regions having 18 subregions. Within this system a complex mesh of micro-planning at village-level then feeds into 33 state-level plans for conserving all kinds of national resources.
Kalpavriksh expects to draw up final plans for state and national-level policies by mid-2002. "Innate wisdom, simple logic, refreshing innocence and indigenous profoundness, I believe our plans must have a combination of all of these together with sound science," says Kalpavriksh coordinator Ashish Kothari.
This explains why the remote foothill village of Neridimanuguda, beautiful with its flowering medicinal shrubs and Terminalia arjuna trees in Kuruppam district, is a part of the NBSAP process.
Home to the Jatapa, Kondadora, Savara and Gadaba tribal communities who were India's original forest inhabitants centuries before the invasion of land-races from its northern borders, this region remains in poverty and illiteracy, unable to keep up with the rest of the state.
http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=10395
13. A new breed of cycad collectors
Source:Mail&Guardian (Johannesburg), 6 June 2002
When illegal collectors began stripping the Mananga Mountain of its indigenous cycads and lilies, the Mpumalanga Parks Board decided to step in and stop the depletion of these critically endangered plants.
Two plants in particular seemed popular with collectorsthe Lebombo Cycad (Encephalartos lebomboensis) and the Swazi Lily (Adenium swazicum). Both plant species are endemic to the Mananga Mountain range in the south-eastern corner of Mpumalanga, bordering Mozambique and Swaziland.
"We realised we would have to include the local community in our plans to conserve the rare plants," says Tommie Steyn, head of the Plant and Conservation Propagation UnitWildlife Services, Mpumalanga Parks Board. "They knew they could make money from illegal collectors so we needed to motivate them to work with us, but still give them the opportunity to earn something from it."
With funding from the Development Bank of South Africa, the Mlambo Cycad Nursery Project was established and four members of the community selected to work in it.
"We taught them to propagate plants from seeds harvested from wild populations, as well as nursery hygiene, maintenance, development and management," says Steyn. "Once the community members developed those skills, we taught them financial management and marketing techniques so they could market the plants. We needed the locals to take ownership of the resource."
By propagating and making seedlings available to the public and the community, they derive an income from their efforts and, at the same time, prevent the extinction of the species.
Seeds were originally harvested from plants growing on the mountain and have been propagated for the past four years. From each batch, new seedlings are kept aside to be replanted in depleted areas in the wild.
Steyn and the Mpumalanga Parks Board knew that if the project was to succeed in the long term, an intensive education programme was required. Schools in the area were included in a broad awareness campaign where children were taught why they need to protect these rare plants. Cultivation blocks were set up at the schools and the youngsters are encouraged to grow and care for the plants. An annual donation of plants is made to the schools and the Parks Board plans to buy back seeds once the plants have matured. For the first time, the public can legally obtain cycads when they buy them from our nursery.
The nursery currently trades with other nurseries and the Kruger National Park recently ordered 1 000 cycad seedlings, hoping to make this an annual purchase.
"The project has created an awareness about the endangered plants," says Steyn. " The local community has elected a representative who serves as chairman of the nursery management committee, and the project has proved to be financially self-sustainable with the potential to improve its financial capacity by exploring new markets."
14. Cambodia: on minefields of Khmer Rouge, wilderness is preserved
From: RECOFTC E-letter 2002.12, quoting New York Times, 18 June 2002
The Cambodian mountains that were the last stronghold of the Khmer Rouge may be turned into a preserve, forming a vital link in a chain of protected areas that would make up the largest green corridor in mainland Southeast Asia.
The central Cardamom Mountains, named for the sweet spice that grows along their slopes, had been avoided by timber companies and settlers because of the rebels who controlled the region through the 1990's, laying minefields and kidnapping or killing interlopers.
But with the Khmer Rouge largely subdued, logging roads have begun advancing into the cascade-laced highlands, which lie along the country's western flank, and thousands of refugees seeking patches of land have been following them. Pressure to prevent logging in the Cardamoms has been coming from international aid agencies and development banks, which provide Cambodia with about $500 million in assistance each year.
In 1993, a decree by King Norodom Sihanouk gave some protection to the western and eastern ends of the range, but the central mountains have remained open to development. Now the Cambodian Prime Minister and his council of ministers are considering a decree of protection for the one-million-acre region.
But the ministers are under pressure not just from the international lenders that want to preserve the land but also from Asian timber companies, some of which already hold logging concessions in the mountain range.
If the preserve is created, the adjacent protected areas would form a 2.44-million-acre path for wildlife in a part of Asia where rain forests have largely been diced into ever-shrinking fragments. The biological bounty in the Cardamoms became evident in 2000, after Flora and Fauna International, a private conservation group in London, conducted surveys that turned up dozens of threatened plants and animals.
In fact, all of the protected areas - those created in 1993 and the new one - exist mainly on paper. The cash-poor country is rife with illegal cutting of valuable hardwood trees and poaching of wildlife. Conservation International started helping to organize and equip forest patrols in 2001, and will continue providing US$500,000 a year for the effort, group officials said.
15. Basil perfume could save pau-rosa wood
From: Amazon News, 23 May
[email protected]
Nilson Borlina Maia is a man with a mission to transform a herb used to season pizzas into perfume thereby saving some of the most threatened vegetable species in Amazonia. Not bad, for the researcher whose work has been selected to be presented at an international congress in Canada. Maia has proved that basil, principally used in Italian cuisine, can be exploited commercially to produce linalol, an essential oil used in the composition of famous perfumes, such as Chanel No.5. Pau-rosa, a threatened species, is currently the only source of linalol for the perfume industry.
"Our aim was to find an alternative source of linalol", said Maia. "We looked for other aromatic plants with linalol in their composition." Among coriander, orange, bay, cinnamon, camomile and lavender, basil does not have the highest quantity of linalol - only 30 percent of its oil is formed by the substance, compared with 86 percent of pau-rosa oil but it is the easiest to cultivate.
"It is a great alternative to increase the income of small-scale producers", said Alfred Le Roy Trujillo, from the Centre for Management and Strategic Studies, who is supervising the research.
Maia is now studying the best conditions of cultivation to increase the levels on linalol and make the oil better suited to the needs of the perfume industry. The technology needed to produce a very pure oil - CO2 supercritical extraction - is not currently available in Brazil and researchers are negotiating a partnership with an American company. The research began in 1999 and has cost just R$4,500, financed by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development. "It is proof that good research does not have to be expensive", said Maia. His work was one of four projects chosen from around the world to be presented at the 26th Congress of the Canadian Scientific Horticultural Society in August.
It is still early to cite figures, but linalol production could reduce the cost of the product, which is used to give fragrance and fix perfumes. To attract the perfume industry, Maia is relying on the product's ecologically correct characteristics. "The price of perfume is so high that the cost of the raw materials does not really matter. Marketing is more important and the economic advantage". After decades of exploitation, pau-rosa has become extremely rare. The oil is processed and sold abroad, driving a millionaire market. It is a classical example of the theft of Brazil's genetic heritage, as the country does not receive anything from the exploitation of the species.
16. Bamboo in winter
Source: INBAR News Magazine, Vol. 8, Issue 2
People tend to think of bamboo as a tropical plant. But there is a bamboo park in Beijing where 100 species of bamboos thrive in a climate where nighttime winter temperatures of -15oC are common. Dr. Fu Jinhe of the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) has been working to produce a species-to-site matching tool. He reports that many species are recorded as tolerating temperatures down to -29oC.
Chinese people have been very aware of the cold tolerance of bamboo for a long time. In fact, they refer to bamboo as one of the "Three Friends in Winter" - noted for their tolerance of cold winds and biting frosts. Bamboo's other friends are the pine tree and the wild plum.
17. Mali groups use - and conserve - forest bounty
From: UNDP Newsfront 24 April 2002
Communities in the Kita district in south-west Mali are selling wood, honey and other products from local forests to increase their earnings while improving forest management to ensure that future generations can enjoy the bounty.
A project supported by UNDP has helped set up more than 90 rural groups to manage marketing of wood from the forests. The groups cooperate closely with the Ministry of Rural Development on sustainable use of forest products. These efforts have helped put more than 110 000 hectares of forest under management and set up seven protected forest areas. The project also aided 15 villages in setting up land management plans.
The International Labour Organization http://www.ilo.org/ is a partner in the initiative, along with the Ministry of Rural Development. The governments of Mali and Norway and UNDP have provided US$1.7 million for the project, begun four years ago.
"The project helps people understand that sustainable management of the forests can add to their income," said Daouda Touré, the mayor of Kita. Their earnings from selling wood go to the local savings and loan association, and "everyone is satisfied," he said.
Dembélé Aïda Mbow, UNDP Programme Officer, calls the project "a good example of poverty reduction in coordination with management and commercial use of the resources of the forests."
Through the initiative, more than 100 women's organizations earn money by producing soap and charcoal, bee keeping, farming, and marketing shea nuts -- used to make shea butter, a cosmetic product.
"We are earning a great deal by capitalizing on the resources of the forest through the sale of fire wood, honey, soap and honey pomade," said Siblem Keita, president of the Federation of Rural Forest Management Organizations. The proceeds have helped finance schools and health centres and provided resources for the savings and credit association that supports the activities of the forest management federation and women's organizations.
The project supports these activities through training -- conducted in Bambara, the local language -- in management, forestry, sustainable charcoal production, and soap making. The project has also provided training for elected officials from local communities and the district in public administration to promote decentralization and natural resources management.
For further information, please contact Oumar Dansogo ([email protected]) UNDP Mali, or Nicholas Gouede ([email protected]) UNDP Communications Office.
18. Training Course on establishing certified organic management systems for production, processing and marketing
From: Selvam Daniel, ENCON [[email protected]]
The 4th International Training Program on Establishment of Certified Organic Management Systems of Production, Processing and Marketing is being organized by ENCON and will take place from 16 to 25 September 2002 in Aurangabad city, Maharashtra state.
ENCON is an active member of International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), and is engaged in the promotion of organic agriculture in Asia and is primarily involved in facilitating organic certification. As one of the strategies in facilitating organic certification, ENCON regularly conducts two training programs every year on "International Training Program on Establishment of Certified Organic Management Systems of Production, Processing and Marketing".
The course has the following objectives:
¿ To develop an understanding in the principles of organic production and processing.
¿ To have an in depth understanding of different organic standards of organic production and processing.
¿ To enable the participants to set up organic systems for individual and group schemes of organic production, processing and marketing in accordance to internationally compatible organic standards.
¿ To expose the participants in depth the organic certification process and develop their understanding in setting of organic units for certification.
For more information, please contact:
Training Division
ENCON - Div of DECP Pvt. Ltd
Sector 3, S-5/1&2, Hindustan Awas Ltd, Gut No: 102, Walmi - Waluj Road, Nakshatrawadi,
Aurangabad, Maharashtra State 431 002
India
Tel.: +91-240-377120 or 376949
Fax: +91-240-376866
Email: [email protected]
19. Web sites
From: FAO's NWFP Programme
AllAfrica.com
AllAfrica Global Media is the leading provider of African news and information worldwide, through news feeds to institutional and agency clients and through allAfrica.com. They post more than 700 new stories daily from over 100 African media organizations and from their own award-winning reporters.
WildCanada
Wildcanada.net is pioneering innovative ways to protect Canada's wildlands and wildlife. Their trademark combination of grassroots outreach, sophisticated on-line action tools and timely information help you protect Canada's endangered species, wildlands, rivers, oceans, forests, and prairies.
For more information, please contact:
WildCanada.net
Box 8145
Canmore, Alberta
Canada T1W 2TB
Phone: +1-403 609 2509
Fax: +1-403 609 2998
Email: [email protected]
www.wildcanada.net/new_site/
20. Workshop report - Endangered Medicinal Plant Species
From: From the Mountain Forum list
The Indian Himalayas are rich reservoir of plant diversity with medicinal plant diversity an important component of that. As one amongst the top repositories of medicinal herbs, the state of Himachal Pradesh in Himalaya is one of the major sources of raw material to the global market. Unsustainable extraction of medicinal herbs has led to the endangerment of its several high value taxa. Ex-situ cultivation through community involvement is looked as a probable solution to meet raw material market demand and diluting in-situ extraction pressure. The urgency of a committed action for the conservation of valuable medicinal resource has been recognized. Conservation of endangered medicinal plants is a priority for Himachal Pradesh.
With this view, and particularly on the occasion of International Year of the Mountains 2002, a workshop on "Endangered Medicinal Plant Species in Himachal Pradesh" was held at G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment & Development, Mohal-Kullu, H.P., India on 18 and 19 March 2002. From India and abroad 40 experts from diverse disciplines attended the workshop. The workshop was funded by the World Resource Foundation through Rothamsted International (IACR, UK), along with sponsorships from G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment & Development, Kosi-Almora, India, and the Centre for Advancement of Sustainable Agriculture, New Delhi.
Issues covered included technical sessions on: (i) Endangered species diversity, characterization and evaluation, (ii) Production through cultivation, (iii) Trade, linkages, and ethics, and (iv) Conservation approaches. Through ex-situ cultivation the prospects and potentials of biobusiness were advocated for the state.The first technical session reviewed knowledge on Himalayan medicinal plants and presentations made on the role of chemistry and molecular genetic techniques for endangered species characterization and evaluation.It was highlighted how superior germplasm for cultivation can be obtained by selecting elite populations in the case of high altitude endangered taxa.
The second technical session on cultivation prospects of endangered medicinal plants, begun with stressing the prospects to enhance soluble anti oxidants crucial to plant defense responses to combat the environmental trigger particularly those that cause increased oxidative triggers.The other presentations focussed on optimizing yield parameters for increased productivity, quality improvement of desired active contents, economic viability, adaptability to a change climate, and establishing appropriate agronomic models along different altitudes. In the context of in-vitro mass multiplication and improved production micro-propagation protocols were also discussed.
The presentations in the third session discussed the many challenges that local and global industries are facing.First hand experiences and status of raw material supply to and from the state were highlighted. Stress was made to traceability, sustainability and transparency of internationally accepted protocols that meet the accepted minimum standards, whether in the form of raw or processed value added products.It addressed the supply trade chain and discussed mechanisms crucial to sustainable income for farmers that will also benefit all stakeholders seeking harmonious work commitments.
The fourth technical session covered indigenous people and their role in the conservation and evolution of better strategies to involve them in ex-situ cultivation programmes. The session covered a wide range of speakers on institutional linkages to the community, evolving mechanisms for participatory models and exploring approaches for funding.
The plenary discussion by all participants was followed by prioritizing endangered medicinal plant taxa for immediate conservation through ex-situ cultivation. Key factors were taken into consideration, viz. technological feasibility, economic viability, ensured marketing and farmers' acceptance for each of the prioritized taxa.Various steps were identified and agreed by various identified partners.
This workshop was highly productive in the sense that it could raise the issues of local and global interests by bringing together different stakeholders and the forum specially stressed the involvement and crucial role of the indigenous community in the conservation of endangered medicinal plants. The proceedings will be available for release soon.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Hemant K. Badola
Convener of the Workshop
G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development
Himachal Unit, Mohal-Kullu 175 126, H.P.
India.
Tel: (91)1902-25329 ext. 24 (O), 25623 (R),
Fax: (91)1902-22720;
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
21. Events
From: FAO's NWFP Programme
International Conference on Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management
22- 26 July 2002
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Hosted by: INAB - Guatemala; sponsored by: FAO, ITTO, USFS and US Department of State.
For more information please contact:
FAO
Forest Resources Division; Forestry Department,
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla ; I-00100 Rome, Italy.
Fax: (39)(06) 5705-5137; Tel. (39)(06) 5705-3841
Mr. Froylán Castañeda: [email protected]
Ms. Christel Palmberg: [email protected]
INAB/Guatemala
Ms. Glenda Lee: [email protected]
Tels: (502) 440 3264 / (502) 472 0746 / (502) 440 2555
ITTO
International Organizations Center;
5th Floor; Pacifico, Yokohama, 1-1-1 Minato-Mirai;
Nishi-Ku, Yokohama 220-0012, Japan.
Tel.: (045) 223-1110,
Fax: (045) 223-1111;
e-mail: [email protected]
Ms. Eva M?ller
Mr. Steven Johnson
2nd Congreso Forestal Latinoamericano: Bienes and Servicios del Bosque Fuente de Desarrollo Sostenible
31 July-2 August 2002.
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Contact:
Julieta Calderón Pontaza; [email protected]
33rd International Symposium on Essential Oils
4-7 September
Lisbon, Portugal
Plenary Lectures will cover:
Scents from rain forests - new results,
Dr Roman Kaiser, Givaudan Dübendorf Ltd., Switzerland
Essential oils: sample preparation and analysis,
Prof. Dr Patrizia Rubiolo, University of Torino, Italy
Biosynthesis of essential oils,
Dr Edward Davis, Washington State University, USA
Biological activities of the essential oils,
Prof. Dr Gerhard Buchbauer, University of Vienna, Austria
Essential oils biodiversity,
Prof. Dr E. Stahl-Biskup, University of Hamburg, Germany
Volatile signals: chemical structures and ecological aspects,
Prof. Dr Wittko Francke, University of Hamburg, Germany
New trends in intellectual property relating to perfumery materials,
Dr Salvaterra-Garcia, Firmenich, Switzerland
A Workshop will be held on the Composition of essential oils and public opinion: Problems and solutions.
Deadline for regular Registration Fee payment: 1 July
For more information, please contact the:
Organizing Committee
33rd ISEO
Faculdade de Ciências de Lisboa
Centro de Biotecnologia Vegetal
Departamento de Biologia Vegetal
C2, Piso 1, Campo Grande 1749-016 Lisboa
Portugal
Tel.: +351217500069
Fax: +351217500048
Email: [email protected]
or
Secretariat
Veranatura / 33rd ISEO
Rua Abel Botelho 17-A
1500-007 Lisboa, Portugal
Tel. +351217786205 (7)
Fax: +351217786199
email: [email protected]
http://biologia.fc.ul.pt/ISEO2002.htm
Special Forest Products Production & Marketing Conference
23-24 August 2002
Sinsinawa, WI, USA
and
25-26 October 2002
Cape Girardeau, MO, USA
The purpose of this conference is to enlighten landowners on the numerous ways to earn income from their woodland other than just growing trees for timber production, and to give them some good background information on what is involved in marketing these products. A key question is: How can one profit with SFPs by meeting the needs of their customers? The answer: Through effective marketing. Marketing is the dominant constraint for most SFP producers either due to a lack of understanding about how to market or simply a failure to realize that developing a market is part of the process.
Presentations will explore the SFP market opportunities for food, floral, medicinal and crafts and address the questions: How does one market SFPs? How does marketing differ for each type of SFP?
http://ilvirtualforest.nres.uiuc.edu/Conferences/SFP_Marketing_Conference.html
Ecological and Economic Benefits of Mountain Forests
15-18 September 2002
Innsbruck, Austria
For more information, please contact:
Robert Jandl,
Forstliche Bundesversuchsanstalt,
Seckendorff,
Gudent Weg 8 A1131, Wien,
Austria
Email: [email protected]
[email protected] - www.fbva.forvie.ac.at/iym/ecology.html
8th International Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology
16-20 September 2002
Addis Abeba, Ethiopia
The International Society of Ethnobiology (ISE) will hold its 8th Congress in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. The theme of the congress is Peoples and Biodiversity emphasizing the role of ethnobiology in promoting the sustainable use of biodiversity. ISE is committed to preserving and using ethnobiological knowledge in order to improve the living conditions and meet the cultural and socio-economic needs of traditional communities and populations.A key feature of ISE is its core commitment to have indigenous people and members of traditional societies as full and leading participants in the Society along with scientists and ethnobiological researchers from formal institutions.This congress will contribute to the core goals of ethnobiological research and the empowerment of traditional and indigenous peoples to maintain and manage biodiversity for better livelihoods, while conserving biological and cultural diversity around the world.It builds upon a strong body of cross cultural understanding and research that has been documented at the seven earlier Congresses.
The congress will cover the following topics:
Biodiversity and Development
¿ Ethnobiology and food security: Chairperson: Dr. Fassil Kebebew
¿ Ethnobiology and regional development: Chairperson: Dr E. Ann Berlin
¿ Sustainable development of Biodiversity: Chairperson: Prof. Maurice Iwu
¿ Participatory biodiversity conservation: Chairperson: Prof. Pei Shengji
¿ Ethnobiology and the "Re-construction of Afghanistan": Chairperson: Dr Evelyne Cudel
¿ Indigenous knowledge, Access and Benefit-sharing
¿ Access and benefit-sharing: Chairperson: Dr. Brent Berlin
¿ Traditional knowledge protecting the values of indigenous and traditional peoples and local communities: Chairpersons: Mr. Maui Solomon and Dr. Tewolde Berhan G/Egziabhair
¿ Intellectual property rights and ethnobiological research: Chairperson: Dr. Tony Cunningham
¿ Ethnomedicine
¿ Ethnomedicine and public health: Chairperson: Dr. Thomas Carlson
¿ Medicinal plant ethnoecology: Chairperson: Dr. John R. Stepp
The official language of the Congress will be English with possible simultaneous interpretations to French and other languages.
For more information, please contact:
Dr Fassil Kebebew
Liaison Officer, ICE- Congress 2002
P.O. Box 30726
Addis Abeba, Ethiopia
Fax: 251-1-627730
Tel: 251-9-211097
E-mail: [email protected]
or
[email protected]
http://guallart.dac.uga.edu/ISE/
Symposium on Tourism and the Natural Environment
23-25 October.2002.
Eastbourne, England.
To explore the interrelationships between the environment, tourism and recreation, with specific emphasis on impacts, management and planning issues.
The symposium is timely as 2002 is proclaimed as the United Nations International Year of Ecotourism and Year of the Mountains<http://www.un.org/events/pap40.htm>with 24 October scheduled as the United Nations Day.
For more information, please contact:
Valerie Burfield
School of Service Management
University of Brighton
49 Darley Road
Eastbourne BN20 7UR
England
Tel: +44 (0) 1273 643633
Fax: +44 (0) 1273 643949
Email: [email protected]
3rd World Congress on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants for Human Welfare
3-7 February 2003
Chiang Mai, Thailand.
There will be coverage of NTFP and related topics.
An International Seminar on Clinical trial of Medicinal plants
December 2003
Madurai, India
The seminar will be organized by the Global Care Foundation.
Abstracts, on the following subjects, may kindly be sent for preliminary evaluation to the above below either through mail or e-mail:
¿ medicinal plants in clinical trials.
· plant medicines
· case studies of medicinal plant treatment.
· phyto chemistry of medicines
· application of medicines and its advantages.
· scope of medicines.
Last date of submission: December 2002.
Full paper submission: March 2003.
Details of the programme will be announced mid-July 2003.
For more information, please contact:
Prof.P.S.Navaraj
Annaiyagam
Meenakshi street
Bank colony
Narayanapuram
Madurai-625014, Tamilnadu
India.
E-mail: [email protected]
or
[email protected]
22. Publications of interest
From: FAO's NWFP Programme
Strengthening Livelihoods: Exploring the Role of Beekeeping in Development
Nicola Bradbear, Eleanor Fisher, Helen Jackson (eds.) Bees for Development, Monmouth UK 2002 (ISBN 1 8988707 01 9)
Beekeeping is an important occupation and part of rural life worldwide.In rural communities where access to income is limited, small-scale beekeeping can contribute significantly to livelihood security, and yet the practice of beekeeping is underplayed in both policy and planning.This book challenges the marginalisation of beekeeping in rural development and asks whether a sustainable livelihoods approach can offer a way forward.Contributions are included from beekeeping development practitioners, development practitioners, and social scientists.Case study examples are presented from around the world, including Tanzania, Zambia, the Caribbean, Cameroon and India.
Copies of the book may be obtained from:
Bees for Development, Troy, Monmouth NP25 4AB UK
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.beesfordevelopment.org
Forestry as an Entry Point for Governance Reform
By David Brown, Kate Schreckenberg, Gill Shepherd and Adrian Wells
ODI Briefing Paper No. 1, April 2002
Tropical forestry provides a useful entry point for governance programs. The very factors which make it a challenging sector for development assistance commend it also as a crucible for governance reform: its inclusive focus, linking the global to the national and local; the high levels of income and other benefits which it generates; its local fiscal base; the centrality of issues of tenure and collective rights; and its importance in rural livelihoods, all reinforce the linkages between good governance, public accountability and poverty alleviation. Ensuring that the forest sector fulfils this brief is a major challenge not just to host country governments but also to the donor community.
www.odi.org.uk/publications/forestry_briefing.html
Community Forestry Case Studies
Forest Communities, Community Forests: A Collection of Case Studies of Community Forestry, compiled and edited by Jonathan Kusel and Elisa Adler, 2002.
This collection of 13 community forestry case studies examines the link between community well-being and forest-ecosystem health in both urban and rural communities and in different regions of the United States.
Copies of the report can be downloaded at: http://fcresearch.org/cfbooktoc.html
or purchased for $6.00 from Forest Community Research, PO Box 11, Taylorsville, CA95983, USA
Berglund, H.; Jonsson, B.G. 2001. Predictability of plant and fungal species richness of old-growth boreal forest islands. J. Veg. Sci. 12(6):857-866. www.opuluspress.se/
Kashio, M. & Johnson, D.V. (eds.) 2001.Monograph on Benzoin (Balsamic Resin from Styrax species).RAP Pub. 2002/21. For more information, please contact: Dennis Johnson at [email protected]
Tyynela, T.M. 2001. Social benefits of natural woodlands and Eucalyptus woodlots in Mukarakate, North Eastern Zimbabwe. In For trees livelyhood. Bicester, Oxon : AB Academic, c2001-. 2001. v. 11 (1) p. 29-45.
Correction to item 19 of NWFP-Digest No. 4/02.
Property rights in the sustainable management of non-timber forest products in British Columbia, Canada. From: Sinclair J Tedder, FOR:EX [[email protected]]
To view an electronic copy of the report go to: http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/HET/Index.htm