Vitellaria paradoxa, Launaea taraxacifolia et Prosopis africana. Les principaux critères utilisés par la communauté pour évaluer les espèces sont: i) la valeur marchande, ii) la valeur nutritive, iii) le nombre d'usages complémentaires et iv) la disponibilité de la ressource. Des critères additionnels comme la précocité, la résistance à la sécheresse et aux maladies et la forme de vie sont aussi listés. Cependant, malgré l'appréciation des menaces sur les espèces, il y a très peu d'initiatives de conservation de la part des collecteurs. Au vu de ces résultats nous avons exploré les besoins de recherche pour une conservation durable des plantes alimentaires de cueillette.
Mushrooms, berries and other Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFPs) are an important part of forest recreation, rural income and of cultural heritage. Due to poor data on their collection and use, they are often ignored in forest policy and management decisions, which could impair those livelihoods that depend on NWFPs as an income source. We conducted a survey involving 17,346 respondents from 28 European countries to estimate which and how much of these products are collected. Our results show that 26% of European households collect NWFPs and that collection rates and quantities increase from Western to Eastern Europe. Previous studies focused mainly on marketed NWFPs, but our findings suggest that marketed NWFPs represent only a small share and that 86% of the collected weight is selfconsumed. The total value of NWFPs collected each year amounts to 71% of the value of annual roundwood production, much more than previously estimated. Our results point to the need to consider co-production of wood and NWFPs, especially in Central Europe where their value per hectare is the highest.
Many have asserted that Sacred Natural Sites (SNS) play an important role in nature protection but few have assessed their conservation effectiveness for different taxa. We studied sacred groves in Epirus, NW Greece, where a large number of such SNS have been identified. Based on historical, ethnographic and ecological criteria, we selected eight of these groves and matching control sites and in them we studied fungi, lichens, herbaceous plants, woody plants, nematodes, insects, bats and passerine birds. Our results reveal that the contribution of SNS to species conservation is nuanced by taxon, vegetation type and management history. We found that the sacred groves have a small conservation advantage over the corresponding control sites. More specifically, there are more distinct sets of organisms among sacred groves than among control sites, and overall biodiversity, diversity per taxonomic group, and numbers of species from the European SCI list (Species of Community Interest) are all marginally higher in them. Conservationists regard the often small size of SNS as a factor limiting their conservation value. The sizes of SNS around the globe vary greatly, from a few square meters to millions of hectares. Given that those surveyed by us (ranging from 5 to 116 ha) are at the lower end of this spectrum, the small conservation advantage that we testified becomes important. Our results provide clear evidence that even small-size SNS have considerable conservation relevance; they would contribute most to species conservation if incorporated in networks.
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