The data not collected on community forestry

Conservation and development practitioners increasingly promote community forestry as a way to conserve ecosystem services, consolidate resource rights, and reduce poverty. However, outcomes of community forestry have been mixed; many initiatives failed to achieve intended objectives. There is a rich literature on institutional arrangements of community forestry, but there has been little effort to examine the role of socioeconomic, market, and biophysical factors in shaping both land-cover change dynamics and individual and collective livelihood outcomes. We systematically reviewed the peer-reviewed literature on community forestry to examine and quantify existing knowledge gaps in the community-forestry literature relative to these factors. In examining 697 cases of community forest management (CFM), extracted from 267 peer-reviewed publications, we found 3 key trends that limit understanding of community forestry. First, we found substantial data gaps linking population dynamics, market forces, and biophysical characteristics to both environmental and livelihood outcomes. Second, most studies focused on environmental outcomes, and the majority of studies that assessed socioeconomic outcomes relied on qualitative data, making comparisons across cases difficult. Finally, there was a heavy bias toward studies on South Asian forests, indicating that the literature on community forestry may not be representative of decentralization policies and CFM globally

Nut production in Bertholletia excelsa across a logged forest mosaic: implications for multiple forest use

Although many examples of multiple-use forest management may be found in tropical smallholder systems, few studies provide empirical support for the integration of selective timber harvesting with non-timber forest product (NTFP) extraction. Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae) is one of the world’s most economically-important NTFP species extracted almost entirely from natural forests across the Amazon Basin. An obligate out-crosser, Brazil nut flowers are pollinated by large-bodied bees, a process resulting in a hard round fruit that takes up to 14 months to mature. As many smallholders turn to the financial security provided by timber, Brazil nut fruits are increasingly being harvested in logged forests. We tested the influence of tree and stand-level covariates (distance to nearest cut stump and local logging intensity) on total nut production at the individual tree level in five recently logged Brazil nut concessions covering about 4000 ha of forest in Madre de Dios, Peru. Our field team accompanied Brazil nut harvesters during the traditional harvest period (January-April 2012 and January-April 2013) in order to collect data on fruit production. Three hundred and ninety-nine (approximately 80%) of the 499 trees included in this study were at least 100 m from the nearest cut stump, suggesting that concessionaires avoid logging near adult Brazil nut trees. Yet even for those trees on the edge of logging gaps, distance to nearest cut stump and local logging intensity did not have a statistically significant influence on Brazil nut production at the applied logging intensities (typically 1–2 timber trees removed per ha). In one concession where at least 4 trees ha-1 were removed, however, the logging intensity covariate resulted in a marginally significant (0.09) P value, highlighting a potential risk for a drop in nut production at higher intensities. While we do not suggest that logging activities should be completely avoided in Brazil nut rich forests, when a buffer zone cannot be observed, low logging intensities should be implemented. The sustainability of this integrated management system will ultimately depend on a complex series of socioeconomic and ecological interactions. Yet we submit that our study provides an important initial step in understanding the compatibility of timber harvesting with a high value NTFP, potentially allowing for diversification of forest use strategies in Amazonian Perù

Acción colectiva y mercados alternativos para la castaña: análisis comparativo de tres cooperativas en el norte amazónico de bolivia

Las dos últimas décadas han sido testigo de la emergencia de tres cooperativas de productores que representan los intereses de las familias rurales del norte amazónico boliviano: la Cooperativa Agrícola Integral Campesina Ltda. (CAIC), con una larga historia previa al auge de la castaña actual; la Cooperativa Integral Agroextractivista Campesinos de Pando (COINACAPA), y la Asociación de Campesinos Extractivistas de la Reserva Manuripi (ACER M). Al sacar provecho de las oportunidades alternativas de mercado existentes (como aquellas creadas por el comercio justo y la certificación orgánica), estas cooperativas han logrado cambiar ventajosamente la posición de sus miembros dentro de la cadena de producción de la castaña, a través de vínculos más directos con los compradores internacionales, cuyo resultado les ha permitido, en efecto, obtener mayores ingresos de dicho mercado. Este informe examina la historia y evolución de cada una de estas organizaciones para comparar su desarrollo, composición y función. La castaña (Bertholletia excelsa) es uno de los productos forestales más importantes, porque de ella depende económicamente la mayor parte de la población rural y urbana de la región norte de Bolivia. Asimismo, es uno de los productos que representa el mayor índice de exportaciones a nivel nacional de productos forestales, superando ampliamente a los otros productos forestales incluyendo la madera. Aunque las tres cooperativas representan probablemente menos de 10% de los campesinos de la región y contribuyen alrededor de sólo 2% de las exportaciones de castaña, existe oportunidad para la expansión de estos tipos de iniciativas. Si bien la participación de los pequeños productores en las cooperativas puede ser considerada la excepción antes que la regla, estas asociaciones pueden brindarnos lecciones importantes para apoyar los medios de vida de las poblaciones rurales que dependen de los bosques para su sustento