MULTIPLE USE MANAGEMENT OF TROPICAL PRODUCTION FORESTS

INTRODUCTION

 The management of land or forest for more than one purpose, such as wood production, water quality, wildlife, recreation, aesthetics, or clean air.

Multiple-Use Forestry is a Concept of forest management that combines two or more objectives, such as production of wood or wood-derivative products, forage and browse for domestic livestock, proper environmental conditions for wildlife, landscape effects, protection against floods and erosion, recreation, and protection of water supplies.

Multiple-Use Management therefore refers to the management of land resources with the objective of achieving optimum yields of products and services from a given area without impairing the productive capacity of the site.

Multiple-use forest management (MFM) is widely considered a prime objective within the sustainable forest management paradigm. Multiple-use forest management systems are certainly a promising and potential answer for how to better integrate and accommodate all stake holders interests in the forestry sector and how to conciliate timber production with other products and services of the producing forests. Although the conceptual and practical underpinnings of MFM in the tropics were laid out more than a decade ago, forest management systems are still dominated by selective logging, while other forest goods and services such as non-timber forest products, hydrological regulation, and carbon sequestration are still poorly considered as potential sources of income in management practices.

On private forest lands, multi-purpose management can be both product-driven and resource-restricted. Multiple revenue streams and uses are possible on certain parcels, as are multiple uses; this requires either a large tract of land or one that holds enough diversity to sustain itself. Many privately owned parcels are too small to contain enough of a variety of habitat for multiple uses. Hence, some private forests can become, in effect, monocultures, whether or not they are plantations or natural stands of trees. 

The forests of the world provide numerous amenities in addition to being a source of wood products. The various public, industrial, and private owners of forestland may have quite different objectives for the forest resources they control. Industrial and private owners may be most interested in producing a harvestable product for a processing mill. However, they also may want other benefits, such as forage for grazing animals, watershed protection, recreational use, and wildlife habitat. On public lands the multiple-use land management concept has become the guiding principle for enlightened foresters.

Multiple-use forest management is considered by many as a preferable alternative to single use (generally timber-dominant) management models. In the Congo Basin, integration of timber and non-timber forest resources plays a key role in the subsistence and market economies of rural communities, enhancing their well-being and reducing economic risk. This is however largely happening as an informal sector economy. Managing for multiple use in “legal” designated land-use types (industrial logging concessions, protected areas or cash crop plantations) appears hampered by the spatial overlap of different interests and bargaining power, the multiple-uses of some favorite timber species, inadequate institutional support, inappropriate policies and incentives, poor law enforcement and unclear (or at least unrecognized) tenure and use rights. This paper explores the main land-use and management models in Central Africa.

Most of the current land-use types and associated management models focus on only one or two goods or services in one management unit while, for the most advanced, trying as much as possible to reduce disturbance and degradation of the other non-managed forest goods and services. The only ‘true’ multiple-use management system appears to be traditional shifting cultivation but this is not a forest land use and it induces important changes in the flora and fauna. A few promising but yet ‘unfinished’ examples of multiple-use management models do exist. We contend however that true multiple-use could be realized through new innovative land-use units, integrated production and conservation territories, allowing a spatial cohabitation of the interests of local people, conservation proponents and extractive industries in the same land-use unit.

 

MULTIPLE USE MANAGEMENT OF TROPICAL PRODUCTION FORESTS

Constraints in making multiple use forest management a more widespread land use type across the tropics still prevail. Technical and managerial capacities usually differ for different forest products, market opportunities and degrees of market knowledge. Local communities or small-scale forest operators face difficulties in adjusting traditional practices to implement official forestry regulations, that are usually drafted with little harmonization of different management objectives and also little consideration of local socio-ecological contexts. Strategies that optimize trade-offs, by nature more complex than trade-offs in single-commodity production systems, have been neglected. Although the available evidence suggests that formal management practices favor specialization over integration, studies that attempted to discern or draw lessons learned seem, to date, limited. This Special Issue is intended to further contribute to the knowledge related to biophysical, institutional, regulatory and socio-economic aspects influencing the design, implementation and effectiveness of multiple use management throughout the forested tropics. A few messages emerge.

Although the constraints impeding the implementation of multiple use of forests differ little from the constraints in plans that only include timber, the required trade-offs in the former are expected to be more problematic. Refining the scientific basis for assessing and minimizing trade-offs at different spatial scales is warranted. As important as it may be to establish multiple use objectives from the outset and involve different stakeholders in the planning process, social learning and multi-stakeholder dialogue in the context of adaptive management are needed to maintain these objectives over time, both from the top down and the bottom up. For managers and practitioners to work on multiple forest use in the tropics they must consider spatial aspects in detail, from the stand to the landscape.

Finally, moving from “concept to reality” will also require new forestry training and education approaches to keep up with the ever-growing methods for valuing and using tropical forests.

NON TIMBER FOREST RESOURCES

"Forest resource" means the various types of vegetation normally growing on Oregon's forestland, the associated harvested products and the associated residue, including but not limited to brush, grass, logs, saplings, seedlings, trees and slashing.

Non-timber forest products (NTFP) are considered as any commodity obtained from the forest that does not necessitate harvesting trees. It includes game animals, fur-bearers, nuts and seeds, berries, mushrooms, oils, foliage, medicinal plants, peat, fuelwood, forage, etc.

Some definitions also include small animals and insects. A few examples of the many thousands of different kinds of NTFPs include mushrooms, huckleberries, ferns, tree boughs, transplants, cones, piñon seed, and Brazil nuts, moss, maple syrup, rubber, honey from bees raised in or near forests, vines, oils, resins, cascara bark and ginseng.

Products are commonly grouped into categories such as floral greens, decoratives, medicinal plants, foods, flavors and fragrances, fibers, and saps and resins.

Other terms synonymous with non-timber forest product include special forest product, non wood forest product, minor forest product, alternative forest product and secondary forest product. These terms are useful because they help highlight forest products that are of value to local people and communities, but that have often been overlooked in the wake of forest management priorities such as timber production and animal forage. In recent decades interest has grown in using NTFPs as an alternative or supplement to forest management practices such as clearcut logging. In some forest types and under the right political and social conditions forests could be managed to increase NTFP diversity, and consequently biodiversity and economic diversity.

USES OF NON TIMBER FOREST RESOURCES

Since pre-history, humans around the world have relied on products derived from forest species for their survival and well-being. Non- timber Forest resources harvesting remains widespread throughout the world. People from diverse income levels, age groups, and cultural backgrounds harvest Non- timber forest resources for household subsistence, maintaining cultural and family traditions, obtaining spiritual fulfillment, maintaining physical and emotional well-being, scientific learning, and earning income. Other terms synonymous with harvesting include wildcrafting, gathering, collecting and foraging.

Non- timber Forest resources serve as raw materials for industries ranging from large-scale floral greens suppliers and pharmaceutical companies to micro-enterprises centered on basket-making, woodcarving, medicinal plant harvesting and processing, and a variety of other activities.

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF NON- TIMBER FOREST RESOURCES

Estimating the contribution of Non- timber Forest resources to national or regional economies is difficult due to the lack of broad-based systems for tracking the combined value of the hundreds of products that make up the various Non- timber Forest resources industries.

In tropical forests Non- timber Forest resources can be an important source of income that can supplement farming or other activities. Their economic, cultural, and ecological value when considered in aggregate makes managing for Non- timber Forest resources an important component of sustainable forest management and the conservation of biological and cultural diversity.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion multiple-Use Forestry is a Concept of forest management that combines two or more objectives, such as production of wood or wood-derivative products, forage and browse for domestic livestock, proper environmental conditions for wildlife, landscape effects, protection against floods and erosion, recreation, and protection of water supplies.

Non-timber forest products (NTFP) are considered as any commodity obtained from the forest that does not necessitate harvesting trees. It includes game animals, fur-bearers, nuts and seeds, berries, mushrooms, oils, foliage, medicinal plants, peat, fuelwood, forage, etc.

Non- timber Forest resources also serve as raw materials for industries ranging from large-scale floral greens suppliers and pharmaceutical companies to micro-enterprises centered on basket-making, woodcarving, medicinal plant harvesting and processing, and a variety of other activities.

REFERENCES

Emery, Marla and Rebecca J. McLain; (editors). 2001. Non-Timber Forest

Products: Medicinal Herbs, Fungi, Edible Fruits and Nuts, and Other Natural Products from the Forest. Food Products Press: Binghamton, New York.

Guillen, Abraham; Laird, Sarah A.; Shanley, Patricia; Pierce, Alan R.

(editors). 2002. Tapping the Green Market: Certification and Management of Non-Timber Forest Products. Earthscan

Jones, Eric T. Rebecca J. McLain, and James Weigand. eds. 2002. Non

Timber Forest Products in the United States. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.

Delang, Claudio O. 2006. The Role of Wild Food Plants in Poverty

Alleviation and Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Countries. Progress in Development Studies 6(4): 275-286

Mohammed, Gina H. 2011. The Canadian NTFP Business Companion:

Ideas, Techniques and Resources for Small Businesses in Non-Timber Forest Products & Services. Candlenut Books: Sault Ste Marie, Ontario