Seeing the wood for the trees: the role of woody resources for the construction of gender specific household cultural artefacts in non-traditional communities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

There is a growing wealth of data capturing the direct-use values of the environment and recognition of forests and wild resources as representing ‘‘the poor man’s overcoat’’. This focus has however resulted in an emphasis on the utilitarian values of wild resources for rural livelihoods and has for the most part overlooked their cultural values. In tangent to these developments within the field of anthropology there has been increased attention directed towards the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity over the past decade. This has resulted in the recognition of what the Declaration of Belem calls an ‘inextricable link’ between biological and cultural diversity. The term bio-cultural diversity has been introduced as a concept denoting this link. Consequently there is a need for more elaborate assessments of the various ways in which different groups of people find value in biodiversity. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the cultural significance of wild harvested plant resources for the maintenance of two gender specific cultural artefacts for amaXhosa people in South Africa, to assess the persistence of these practices in rapidly modernizing communities. We demonstrate the endurance of these ancient cultural artefacts in present-day peri-urban communities and suggest that they point to the need for improved understanding of the significance of bio-cultural diversity. The findings of the study should not be interpreted as illustrating stagnation in the traditional past, but rather as pointing at the need for improved understanding of the significance of bio-cultural diversity in a dynamic sense

Sustainable management of African rain forest 210 NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCT RESOURCES: ABUNDANCE, DISTRIBUTION, AND THE IMPACT OF TIMBER EXPLOITATION

SUMMARY The integration of NTFP resource management is regarded as an important dimension of multiple use forest management. It should focus on securing local needs, conservation of forest resources and the development of extraction. Moreover, effective resource management should take into account the balance of competitive forest utilisation, especially commercial timber exploitation. This paper examines the interests of logging companies and of local people for certain forest resources, as well as the impact of logging on the NTFP plant resource base. It is argued that logging does not always affect the availability in negative sense. Ecological data demonstrated a good regeneration of the majority of species after logging operations, as well as the appearance of other frequently used species. Many important NTFPs are provided by highly productive species reaching their maximum densities in secondary forest types. Some of these species even prefer the habitat of logged-over forest. A clear negative impact, however, may be expected for those species that occur in very low densities. Sustaining the production levels and effective control of damage of logging with an emphasis on rare species are proposed as management directions for natural forests, whilst the development of extraction should focus on anthropogenic vegetation types. Keywords: Non-Timber Forest Products, resource inventory, logging, forest management, Cameroon. RESUME L'intégration des produits forestiers autres que le bois (NTFP) dans la gestion des ressources forestières est perçu ici comme une dimension importante de cette gestion à visage multiple. Elle doit s'intéresser à la sécurisation des besoins locaux, à la conservation des ressources forestières et au développement de l'extraction. De plus, une gestion efficiente des ressources doit tenir compte du caractère conflictuel des besoins vis-à-vis de la forêt, en particulier en ce qui concerne l'exploitation du bois d'oeuvre. Cette communication examine les intérêts des compagnies forestières et des populations locales au point de vue de certaines ressources forestières, de même que l'impact de la coupe du bois d'oeuvre sur la production des ressources autres que le bois (NTFP). Il est démontré que l'exploitation forestière (bois d'oeuvre) n'a pas que des effets négatifs sur la disponibilité des autres ressources. D'après les données écologiques, la majorité des espèces se régénèrent d'ailleurs bien après exploitation, de même que l'installation d'autres espèces fréquemment utilisées. De plus, des espèces hautement productives et atteignant leur densité maximum en milieu forestier secondaire 1 Tropenbos-Cameroon Programme, BP 219, Kribi, Cameroon. Present address: Forest policy and management group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 342, 6700 AH Wageningen, the Netherlands. 2 Forest policy and management group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 342, 6700 AH Wageningen, the Netherlands. Part I: Workshops 211 sont sources de production de nombreux NTFP. Quelques-unes unes de ces espèces s'installent de préférence en forêt déjà exploitée. Cependant, on peut s'attendre à ce que l'exploitation forestière affecte négativement les espèces productrices des NTFP qui ont une très faible densité par unité de surface. Des propositions sont faites en matière de gestion de la forêt naturelle, en vue de maintenir une production soutenue et un contrôle effectif des dégâts d'exploitation. Une attention particulière est accordée aux espèces rares pendant que le processus d'extraction doit se focaliser sur la végétation de type anthropogénique

Biocultural diversity : a novel concept to assess human-nature interrelations, nature conservation and stewardship in cities

Biocultural diversity is an evolving perspective for studying the interrelatedness between people and their natural environment, not only in ecoregional hotspots and cultural landscapes, but also in urban green spaces. Developed in the 1990s in order to denote the diversity of life in all its manifestations. biological, cultural and linguistic. co-evolving within complex socio-ecological systems such as cities, biocultural diversity was identified in the GREEN SURGE project as a response to recent challenges cities face. Most important challenges are the loss of nature and degradation of ecosystems in and around cities as well as an alienation of urban residents from and loss of interaction with nature. The notion of biocultural diversity is dynamic in nature and takes local values and practices of relating to biodiversity of different cultural groups as a starting point for sustainable living with biodiversity. The issue is not only how to preserve or restore biocultural practices and values, but also how to modify, adapt and create biocultural diversity in ways that resonate with urban transformations. As future societies will largely diverge from today's societies, the cultural perspective on living with (urban) nature needs careful reconsideration. Biocultural diversity is not conceived as a definite concept providing prescriptions of what to see and study, but as a reflexive and sensitising concept that can be used to assess the different values and knowledge of people that reflect how they live with biodiversity. This short communication paper introduces a conceptual framework for studying the multi-dimensional features of biocultural diversity in cities along the three key dimensions of materialized, lived and stewardship, being departure points from which biocultural diversity can be studied.Peer reviewe

A Behavioral Change Perspective of Maroon Soil Fertility Management in Traditional Shifting Cultivation in Suriname

In Suriname, the Maroons have practiced shifting cultivation for generations, but now the increasing influence of modern society is causing a trend of decreasing fallow periods with potentially adverse effects for the vulnerable tropical soils. Adoption of appropriate soil fertility management (SFM) practices is currently slow. Combining methods from cultural ecology and environmental psychology, this study identifies two groups with divergent behavioral intentions which we term semi-permanent cultivators and shifting cultivators. Semi-permanent cultivators intend to practice more permanent agriculture and experiment individually with plot-level SFM. Shifting cultivators rely on traditional knowledge that is not adequate for their reduced fallow periods, but perceive constraints that prevent them practicing more permanent agriculture. Semi-permanent cultivators act as a strong reference group setting a subjective norm, yet feel no need to exchange knowledge with shifting cultivators who are in danger of feeling marginalized. Drawing on a political ecology perspective, we conclude that cultural ecological knowledge declined due to negative perceptions of external actors setting a strong subjective norm. Semi-permanent cultivators who wish to enter the market economy are most likely to adopt SFM. We conclude that any future SFM intervention must be based on an in-depth understanding of each group’s behavior, in order to avoid exacerbating processes of marginalization