Extraction of non-timber forest products from tropical rain forests. Does diversity come at a price?

Tropical rain forests are rich in plant and animal species. The sustainable extraction of non-timber forest products has been advocated as a strategy to best conserve this diversity. However, the development and implementation of such exploitation systems, which aim to reconcile conservation and economic development, are still hampered by the lack of information on the biological sustainability of these systems, the impact of these exploitation systems on the biological diversity and the insufficient knowledge of the role of forest products in the household economy of forest dependent people and hence their prospects for economic development. Whether the exploitation of non-timber forest products from tropical rain forests is sustainable or not is still open to question, but data presently available on the biological, social and economic aspects of these extraction systems point at an interesting question: does diversity come at a price? Namely, low density of conspecifics, and thus products, and hence low productivity for those involved in the collection of forest resources. The paper will further discuss whether domestication of forest species provides an alternative for some of these species. Species are part of a complex ecosystem and their functioning is partly depended on the presence of other species in the system. The attributes of the species which have to be taken into account in order to make domestication of forest species successful are considered. Finally, the paper returns to the question of how to reconcile conservation and use of tropical rain forests. It will present a case for domesticating the forest instead of the species or, in other words, changing the forest composition without changing its structure and functioning, and maintaining acceptable levels of biodiversity

Rat bite fever.

Rat bite fever (RBF) is a bacterial zoonosis for which two causal bacterial species have been identified: Streptobacillis moniliformis and Spirillum minus. Haverhill fever (HF) is a form of S. moniliformis infection believed to develop after ingestion of contaminated food or water. Here the infectious agents, their host species, pathogenicity (virulence factors and host susceptibility), diagnostic methods, therapy, epidemiology, transmission and prevention are described. Special emphasis is given on information from the field of laboratory animal microbiology and suggestions for future research

The New Face of Debt-Peonage in the Bolivian Amazon: Social Networks and Bargaining Instruments

The debt-peonage system is an agreement between patrons and laborers in different economic activities worldwide. A common feature is social exploitation of laborers that generate profits to the patrons. In recent literature it has been argued that debt-peonage can be an economically sound arrangement that secures the needs of actors. The paper evaluates to what extent traditionally strong debt-peonage in forest-dwelling communities in the Bolivian Amazon, has developed in a way that better secures the needs and economic interest of multiple actors. Case studies in sixteen communities yielded qualitative information on debt relations between peasants, traders and former patrons. Debt-peonage changed from a mechanism to provide and keep workforce indebted to new social relationships, equitable commercial links, opportunity to access work capital and production chain diversification. This rapid shift was caused by important changes in land and forest regulations

Temporal and spatial dynamics in the extraction of non-timber forest products in the Northern Bolivia Amazon

For more than a century, northern Bolivia has had a tradition of commercial forest exploitation. For several decades into the twentieth century, the extraction of rubber and Brazil nuts was combined with subsistence agriculture, resulting in an agro-extractive cycle that fostered a sedentary lifestyle of forest dwellers. The extraction of rubber and Brazil nuts used to be organized in a debt-peonage system, often leaving extractivists in debt to the patron. The decline of the Bolivian rubber market during the 1980s induced the breakdown of the agro-extractive cycle. Most people left the patron-controlled extraction areas (barracas), and either established themselves as farmers in independent communities close to urban areas or migrated to the cities where the processing of forest products had increased job opportunities. About half the Brazil nut collectors are now seasonal migrants, mainly from the cities. Depending on access to land, forest resources, and markets, extraction-based income can contribute to more than 50% of the overall household income, especially in the more remote forest settlements. Some processing plants gain direct access to tbe Brazil nut resource base through vertical integration, thereby increasing their control of the production process. These large enterprises partly take over the role of the former patrons (e.q. on making advance payments to the Brazil nut collectors). The increasing demand for Brazil nuts and the increased in-country processing in Bolivia has benefited all participants in the production process, including the collectors. Especially the collectors from independent communities manage to get a higher price for the nuts they collect. Even so, an unequal exchange continues to be characteristic of many non-timber-forest-products-based (NTFP-based) production systems. In addition, more recent extractive activities (e.q. logging and palm-heart extraction) are threatened by depletion of the resource area. None of the extractive activities thus fulfills all the criteria of sustainable developmen

Η ελληνική αντιπροσωπεία για τον καταρτισμό του συντάγματος της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας ; the Greek representation for the formation of the constitution of the Cyprus Government

Η ελληνική αντιπροσωπεία δια τον καταρτισμόν του συντάγματος της Κυπριακής Δημοκρατίας κατα την επίσκεψη της παρα τω κυβερνήτη

Livelihood strategies and forest dependence : new insights from Bolivian forest communities

Total income and income from forest resources among rural dwellers in tropical forest regions are influenced not only by market access, prices, but also organizational, institutional, and social factors. These factors influence the diversity of resources to which the poor have access and result in specializations in livelihood strategies. We analyzed the relation between forest dependence and livelihood strategies in the Bolivian Amazon, applying the SLF. We tested for the differences across strategies with respect to financial, human, physical, social, and natural livelihood assets. Results show that forest income is highly related to cash income from Brazil nut, while income from agriculture and timber exploitation is associated with higher levels of education. Brazil nuts serve as a safety net and start-up capital for certain livelihood strategies in our study region. Livelihood strategies that are based on the commercialization of multiple products from forests and agriculture and services inside and outside communities depend less on forests. Livelihoods can be supported by investing in sustainable livelihood asset endowments. Our results demonstrate that activities that aim to support community forest management and to enhance household income should explicitly consider a differentiated support for different strategies. This will result in a more effective outcome of development efforts from which the poorest people would benefit most