Recent concerns regarding non-timber forest product (NTFP) management are focused on raw material production. But NTFP ought to be viewed from the perspective of ecological processes, cultural heritage, livelihood of local people, economic values and incentives for forest management. This broader role for NTFP cannot be realised by simply domesticating a few species. Integration of NTFP in forest management is necessary in order to achieve sustainable forestry. Because forestry technologies are developed with timber values uppermost, it is vital to develop forest management technologies that take into account both timber and non-timber values. Global examples show that traditional knowledge could play a vital role while developing silvicultural regimes, and in situ experimentation will strengthen the regimes. Guidelines for ethnobotanical studies are briefly presented.Key words: cultural heritage, ecological processes, ethnosilviculture, livelihoods, non-timber forest product, sustainable forestry Les produits forestiers non ligneux (PFNL) ont attiré récemment l'attention en foresterie. Malgré que l'intérêt principal des PFNL ait porté dernièrement sur les ressources brutes, l'importance des PFNL doit être visualisée selon la perspective des processus écologiques, de l'héritage culturel, des habitudes de vie, des valeurs économiques et des mesures incitatives d'aménagement forestier. Une telle importance ne peut se refléter par la simple domestication de quelques espèces. L'intégration des PFNL en aménagement forestier est nécessaire pour atteindre la foresterie durable. Même si les technologies forestières sont généralement développées pour tenir compte seulement des ressources ligneuses, il est nécessaire d'élaborer des techniques d'aménagement forestier qui considèrent autant les ressources ligneuses que non ligneuses. Les instances mondiales indiquent que les connaissances traditionnelles pourraient jouer un rôle vital dans l'élaboration de ces technologies, par ex. en fournissant une assise à la recherche scientifique. Des méthodolo-gies sont suggérées en se basant sur de récentes études ethnobotaniques.Mots-clés : héritage culturel, processus écologiques, ethnosylviculture, modes de vie, produit forestier non ligneux, foresterie durable
Reconciling the multiple roles of forest resources is one of the unresolved challenges for sustainable forestry, but forest management practices are still focussed on timber production. The urgent need for the integration of non-timber forest products into mainstream forestry has, however, been widely acknowledged. Ethnosilvicultural knowledge from Canadian Aboriginal communities and community forest users of Nepal is assessed in the context of multiple-product forest management. Both cases reveal a wealth of such knowledge, indicating the opportunities for integrating non-timber forest product management in mainstream forestry. It is argued that ethnosilviculture is valuable in sustaining ecological processes as well as cultural heritages and traditional rural livelihoods. Broad guidelines for acquiring ethnosilviculture knowledge are also suggested.
Himalayan Journal of Sciences 2(3): 55-58, 2004
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.