Is Non-Timber Forest Product Harvest Sustainable in the Less Developed World? A Systematic Review of the Recent Economic and Ecological Literature

Abstract

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) provide material subsistence and cash income to millions of rural people, particularly in less developed countries. This paper offers a systematic review of recent trends (2000-2010) in the ecological and economic sustainability of NTFPs. Of 101 NTFP ecological studies, most addressed harvest consequences at the population-individual level (62.4%), and over half (52.5%) were carried out in Latin America. Nearly two-thirds of research (63.3%) reported that extraction was sustainable or likely to be so, compared to less than one-fifth (17.8%) that found it to be unsustainable. Extractive enterprise in Latin America was most often reported as ecologically sustainable (82.6%), and least often in Asia (58.8%). Because little of the economic NTFP literature identifies whether extractive returns meet the financial needs of extractors, at least on a daily basis, we outline economic sustainability criteria in terms of whether returns surpass an absolute poverty line or alternative wage. Of the 71 articles presenting financial data, over two-thirds met or exceeded the threshold of economic sustainability. Roughly 75% of studies demonstrated that gatherers earned more than USD$2 PPP/day (the international absolute poverty line) or more than a local wage. These positive results do not, however, demonstrate that gathering reduces long-term poverty because forest dependence, and likely tenure security, remains low among these populations. Caution must be exercised in terms of extending these results into the future, as changing economic conditions, rates and sources of habitat modification, and climate change all point to increased extractive pressures on tropical forests and savannas.

Urban Foraging: A Ubiquitous Human Practice Overlooked by Urban Planners, Policy, and Research

“…The impacts of harvesting of natural resources in less transformed, rural, or protected landscapes are the subject of much research globally [73]. Those results are extremely varied, which reflects on the diversity of climates, landscapes, species, plant parts, and governance systems under which harvesting occurs [74].…”

Foraging Wild Resources: Evolving Goals of an Ubiquitous Human Behavior

“…If they could earn higher incomes from the sale of NTFPs rather than from the sale of timber or from alternative uses of the forest, then they would tend to conserve it [44]. Initial optimism was followed by skepticism and subsequently by pessimism, i.e., it became obvious that it was not possible to establish a sustainable economic development on a economic system mainly based on foraging [45][46][47]. Indeed, the optimist belief has been contradicted given any of the three following reasons [37,38].…”

“…From an ecological point of view, a market for NTFPs might contribute to their over-collection, which eventually results in environmental Despite the three reasons previously mentioned, recent studies tend to prove the contrary. Indeed, from 101 NTFP ecological studies, Stanley et al [47] demonstrate that "nearly two-thirds of research (63.3%) reported that extraction was sustainable or likely to be so, compared to less than one-fifth (17.8%) that found it to be unsustainable".…”

Commercialization of Medicinal Plants in Java Island, Indonesia

“…The process of medicinal plants commerce is continuing and being stopped when the end users consume those medicinal plant products. Certain buyers maximize their benefit and minimize transaction cost, so that the price of raw materials more expensive to the next users and by that modus they earn maximum beneficiaries (Stenley et al 2012). In this condition, natural forest plays important role as the main supplier of MPRM and people play as users of those resources (FAO 1995).…”