Markets drive the specialization strategies of forest peoples

Engagement in the market changes the opportunities and strategies of forest-related peoples. Efforts to support rural development need to better understand the potential importance of markets and the way people respond to them. To this end, we compared 61 case studies of the commercial production and trade of nontimber forest products from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The results show that product use is shaped by local markets and institutions, resource abundance, and the relative level of development. Larger regional patterns are also important. High-value products tend to be managed intensively by specialized producers and yield substantially higher incomes than those generated by the less specialized producers of less managed, low-value products. We conclude that commercial trade drives a process of intensified production and household specialization among forest peoples. Copyright © 2004 by the author(s)

Proceedings of Workshop on China Social Economics, Marketing and Policy of the Bamboo Sector, 16-18 June 1999, Beijing

Over the past few years, a number of Chinese researchers have collaborated with CIFOR and INBAR/IDRC in a systematic, two-phase socio-economic study of the bamboo sector in China. This proceedings contains a synthesis from the main research findings from research programs related to socioeconomics, marketing and policy in the bamboo sector of China. The current status and planning in the main bamboo - growing regions and industry systems are addressed. The studies cover strategic objectives, major projects, planning and actions, as well as problems and countermeasures to remedy them. The directions of development and prospects for sustainable development of the bamboo sector into the 21st century are considered

Bamboo forestry in China: toward environmentally friendly expansion

Bamboo, with a long tradition in China, is one of the emerging sectors in the Chinese economy. It is making an increasingly large contribution to farmers' income and playing an important role in rural industrial development. Bamboo products are also being substituted for wood products, a process that has been accelerated by a variety of policy measures. However, the bamboo expansion has come at a cost to the environment. This article discusses the bamboo sector, with particular focus on Anji County (Zhejiang), and reviews the new policies being applied in an attempt to integrate the interests of development and the environment. (YS