Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Non-Timber Forest Products: Small Matters, Big Significance, and the Complexity of Reaching a Workable Definition for Sustainability

  • Review
  • Published:
Small-scale Forestry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper addresses a broad reading of the literature on Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) in order to highlight key issues of NTFP management, their importance for rural livelihoods, and the implications for forest policy. It demonstrates the complexity of formulating an integrated framework for the understanding of NTFP management, especially as they affect forest policies. The scope is global, but with emphasis on Latin America. Human populations have depended on and used NTFPs for millennia. For a great number of rural (and also urban) inhabitants, particularly the poorest sectors, their use represents an important source of subsistence and income-generation. It has been suggested that the use of NTFPs can generate greater incomes than other productive land use options, such as timber extraction or cattle keeping. Some studies estimate that around 25% of the income of about one billion people around the world comes from NTFPs, although that implies that, by themselves, NTFPs do not represent a sufficient source of household income. Rather, they should be considered as part of a wider spectrum of rural livelihood strategies which include their importance as income safety nets and as reservoirs of cultural values and traditional knowledge. Furthermore, NTFPs have many ecological and social values related to forest ecosystems, well-being and conservation. This diversity of potential benefits has represented an obstacle for the creation of management and conservation policies. The intention of this paper is to tackle some of the most important issues raised in the literature on NTFPs, forest conservation and development, with an entry point in the alternative understandings and definitions of NTFP. The paper highlights some approaches intended to overcome perceived barriers for sustainable management of NTFPs and the well-being of their human users.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agarwal B (2010) Gender and green governance: the political economy of women’s presence within and beyond community forestry. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ahenkan A, Boon E (2011) Non-timber forest products (NTFPs): clearing the confusion in semantics. J Hum Ecol 33(1):1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Albers HJ, Robinson EJZ (2013) A review of the spatial economics of non-timber forest product extraction: implications for policy. Ecol Econ 92:87–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.01.021

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alexiades MN, Shanley P (2004) Productos forestales, medios de subsistencia y conservación. Estudios de caso sobre sistemas de manejo de productos forestales no maderables. Vol. 3 Amerca Latina. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor Barat

  • Arts B, Buizer M (2009) Forests, discourses, institutions: a discursive-institutional analysis of global forest governance. For Pol and Econ 11(5–6):340–347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Angel Campo R (2002) Situación actual del comercio de plantas medicinales en América Latina. Boletin Latinoamericano y Del Caribe De Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas 1(4):35–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Angelsen A, Wunder S (2003) Exploring the forest-poverty link: Key concepts, issues and research implications. CIFOR Occasional Paper 40, CIFOR, Bogor Barat, Indonesia

  • Arnold JE, Ruiz-Pérez M (1998) The role of non-timber forest products in conservation and development. In: Wollenberg E, Ingles A (eds) Incomes from the forest: methods for the development and conservation of forest products for local communities. Center for International Forestry Research, World Conservation Union, Bogor Barat, pp 17–41

  • Arnold JE, Ruiz-Pérez M (2001) Can non-timber forest products match tropical forest conservation and development objectives? Ecol Econ 39:437–447

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arts B, Babili I (2013) Forest and Nature Governance. Forest and Nature Governance 14:111–132. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5113-2

  • Assies W (1999) Amazon nuts, forests and sustainability in Bolivia and Brazil. NTFP research in the Tropenbos programme: results and perspectives. Tropenbos, Wageningen. https://www.tropenbos.org/resources/publications/amazon+nuts,+forests+and+sustainability+in+bolivia+and+brazil

  • Astuti R, McGregor A (2017) Indigenous land claims or green grabs? Inclusions and exclusions within forest carbon politics in Indonesia. J Peasant Stud 44(2):445–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arora-Jonsson S, Colfer CJP, González-Hidalgo M (2021) Seeing the Quiet politics in unquiet woods: a different vantage point for a future forest agenda. Hum Ecol 49: 297–308

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Batagoda BMS, Turner R, Tinch K, Brown KR (2006) Towards policy relevant ecosystem services and natural capital values: rainforest non-timber products. Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE). UK

  • Bauri T, Palit D, Mukherjee A (2015) Livelihood dependency of rural people utilizing non-timber forest product (NTFP) in a moist deciduous forest zone, West Bengal, India. Int J Adv Res 3(4):1030–1040

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • De Beer JH, McDermott M (1989) The economic value of non-timber forest products in South East Asia. Netherlands Committee for IUCN, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Belcher BM (2003) What isn´t an NTFP? Int for Rev 5(2):161–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Belcher B, Schreckenberg K (2007) Commercialisation of non-timber forest products: a reality check. Dev Policy Rev 25(3):355–377. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7679.2007.00374.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blancas J et al (2013) Ecological and socio-cultural factors influencing plant management in Nahuatl communities of the Tehuacan Valley, Mexico. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 9:39. https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-9-39

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Boot RG, Gullison RE (1995) Approaches to developing sustainable extraction systems for tropical forests products. Ecol Appl 5(4):896–903. https://doi.org/10.2307/2269340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown LR, Larsen J, Fischlowitz-Roberts B (2013) The earth policy reader. Routledge, London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315072005

  • Bullock R, Mithöfer D, Vihemäki H (2014) Sustainable agricultural intensification: the role of cardamom agroforestry in the East Usambaras, Tanzania. Int J Agric Sustain 12(2):109–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casas A et al (1996) Plant management among the Nahua and the Mixtec in the Balsas River Basin, Mexico: an ethnobotanical approach to the study of plant domestication. Hum Ecol 24(4):455–478. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02168862

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan KMA et al (2018) Editorial overview: Relational values: What are they, and what’s the fuss about ? Curr Opin Environ Sustain 35:A1–A7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.11.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chandrasekharan C (1995) Terminology, definition and classification of forest products other than wood. In: Report of the International Expert Consultation on Non-Wood Forest Products. Non-wood forest products. FAO, Rome, pp 3:345–380

  • Chazdon RL, Brancalion PHS, Laestadius L, Bennett Curry A, Buckingham K, Kumar C, Moll Rocek J, Vieira I, Wilson S (2016) When is a forest a forest? Forest concepts and defini tions in the era of forest and landscape restoration. Ambio 45(538):550

    Google Scholar 

  • Cocks M (2006) Biocultural diversity: Moving beyond the realm of “indigenous” and “local” people. Hum Ecol 34(2):185–200. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-006-9013-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cocks M, Lopez C, Dold T (2011) Cultural importance of non-timber forest products: opportunities they pose for bio-cultural diversity in dynamic societies. In: Shackleton et al. (eds) Non-timber forest products in the global context. Springer, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17983-9

  • Colfer CJP (2005) The equitable forest: diversity, community and natural resources. RFF/CIFOR, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Convention on Biological Diversity (2014) Nagoya protocol on access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilization to the convention on biological diversity. https://www.cbd.int/abs/

  • Dash M, Behera B, Rahut DB (2016) Determinants of household collection of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and alternative livelihood activities in Similipal Tiger Reserve, India. For Pol and Econ 73:215–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2016.09.012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Del Ángel-Mobarak G (2012) La Comisión Nacional Forestal en la historia y el futuro de la política forestal de México. Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE)- Comisión Nacional Forestal (CONAFOR), Mexico D.F.

  • Delgado-Lemus A et al (2014a) Vulnerability and risk management of Agave species in the Tehuacán Valley, México. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 10:53. https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-10-53

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado-Lemus A, Casas A, Téllez O (2014b) Distribution, abundance and traditional management of Agave potatorum in the Tehuacán Valley, Mexico: bases for sustainable use of non-timber forest products. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 10:63. https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-10-63

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado T (2009) Evaluación de sustentabilidad de los sistemas de producción rural en tres comunidades de la microcuenca Umécuaro-Loma Caliente, Michoacán. Dissertation. Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosi

  • Delgado TS, McCall MK, López-Binqüist C (2016) Recognized but not supported: assessing the incorporation of non-timber forest products into Mexican forest policy. For Pol Econ 71:36–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2016.07.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dembélé U et al (2019) Market value chain of Carapa procera oil and its contribution to income and poverty alleviation in Mali. For Trees Livelihoods 28(4):253–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/14728028.2019.1643793

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Mello N, Rodrigues G, Gulinck H, Van den Broeck P, Parra C (2020) Social-ecological sustainability of non-timber forest products: a review and theoretical considerations for future research. For Pol Econ. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duchelle AE, Guariguata MR, Less G, Albornoz MA, Chavez A, Melo T (2012) Evaluating the opportunities and limitations to multiple use of Brazil nuts and timber in Western Amazonia. For Ecol Manag 268:39–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elias M, Grosse A, Campbell N (2020) Unpacking “gender” in joint forest management: lessons from two Indian states. Geoforum 111:218–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.02.020

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Endress BA, Gorchov D, Noble R (2004) Non-timber forest product extraction: effects of harvest and browsing on an understory palm. Ecol App 14(4):1139–1153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Escobar A (2005) Más allá del tercer mundo. Globalización y diferencia. Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia, Bogotá

  • Essougong UPK, Foundjem-Tita D, Minang PA (2019) Addressing equity in community forestry. Ecol Soc 24(1):9

  • Evans K, de Jong W, Miranda P, Cronkleton P (2006) Evaluating and adapting multidisciplinary landscape assessment in forest-dependent communities in the Northern Bolivian Amazon. Bogor Barat: Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

  • FAO (1999) Towards a harmonised definition of non-wood forest products. Unasylva 50:198

    Google Scholar 

  • FAO (2010) Global forest resources assessment. FAO, Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9825en

  • Falconer J, Koppell CRS (1990) The major significance of ‘minor’ forest products: the local use and value of forests in the West African humid forest zone. FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey GE, Alexander SJ, Chamberlain JL, Blatner KA, Coffin AW, Barlow RJ (2019) Markets and market values of nontimber forest products in the United States: a review, synthesis, and identification of future research needs. J Forest 117:613–631

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • García-Fernández C, Ruiz-Pérez M, Wunder S (2008) Is multiple-use forest management widely implementable in the tropics? For Ecol Manag 256:1468–1476

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gavin MC et al (2015) Defining biocultural approaches to conservation. Trends Ecol Evol 30(3):1–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2014.12.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Godoy R et al (2000) Valuation of consumption and sale of forest goods from a Central American rain forest. Nature 406:62–63

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Godoy R, Bawa K (1993) The economic value and sustainable harvest of plants and animals from the tropical forest: assumptions, hypotheses, and methods. Econ Bot 47(3):215–219. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02862287

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez N, Kröger M (2020) The potential of Amazon indigenous agroforestry practices and ontologies for rethinking global forest governance. For Pol Econ 118:102257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guibrunet L et al (2021) Beyond participation: How to achieve the recognition of local communities’ value-systems in conservation? Some insights from Mexico. People Nat 3(3):528–541. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guleria A, Sharma R, Sharma S, Guleria C (2017) Study of market concentration and inequality measures in nontimber forest products (NTFPs): a case of Harar (Terminalia chebula). Indian J Econ Dev 13(4):773–778

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hainzer K, Best T, Brown PH (2019) Local value chain interventions: a systematic review. J Agribus Dev Emerg Econ 4:369–390

  • Hammond J, van Wijk M, Pagella T, Carpena P, Skirrow T, Dauncey V (2019) Shea butter: a pro-poor, pro-female route to increased income. IN: the climate-smart agriculture papers. Cham, Switzerland: Springer: 215–226

  • Hlaing ZC, Kamiyama C, Saito O (2017) Interaction between rural people’s basic needs and forest products: a case study of the Katha District of Myanmar. Int J for Res. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/2105012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Homma AKO (1996) Modernisation and technological dualism in the extractive economy in Amazonia. In: Ruiz-Perez M, Arnold JEM (eds) Current issues in non-timber forest products research. CIFOR, Bogor, pp 59–82

  • Homma AKO, Nogueira OL, Menezes AJEA, Carvalho JEU, Nicoli CML, Matos GB (2006) Açaí: Novos desafios e tendências. Amazônia Ciência & Desenvolvimento 1(2):7–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Hongge Z et al (2017) Determinants of engagement in non-timber forest products (NTFPs) business activities: a study on worker households in the forest areas of Daxinganling and Xiaoxinganling Mountains, northeastern China. For Pol Econ 80:125–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Illsley-Granich C, Acosta González J, García Bazán J, et al. (2001) Contribuciones al conocimiento y manejo campesino de los palmares de Braheadulcis( HBK) Mart. en la región de Chilapa, Guerrero. In: Beatriz Rendón, et al. (eds) Plantas, cultura y sociedad. Estudio sobre la relación entre seres humanos y plantas en los albores del siglo XXI. UAM Iztapalapa and SEMARNAT, Mexico, pp 259–285

  • Illsley-Granich C, Ibáñez-Couoh I (2012) Diálogo de saberes y sustentabilidad en el manejo campesino de recursos naturales: aprendizajes desde Acateyahualco, Guerrero. In: II Congreso Nacional de Antropología Social y Etnología, Morelia, Michoacán

  • International Society of Ethnobiology (1988) Declaration of Belem. https://www.ethnobiology.net/what-we-do/core-programs/global-coalition-2/declaration-of-belem/

  • Jacobs S, Zafra-Calvo N, Gonzalez-Jimenez D et al (2020) Use your power for good: plural valuation of nature – the Oaxaca statement. Glob Sustain 3:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2020.2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Junninen K, Komonen A (2011) Conservation ecology of boreal polypores: a review. Biol Conserv 144(1):11–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2010.07.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Juutilainen K et al (2014) The effects of forest management on wood-inhabiting fungi occupying dead wood of different diameter fractions. For Ecol and Manag 313(283):291

    Google Scholar 

  • Kimanzu N, Schulte-Herbrüggen B, Clendenning J, Chiwona-Karltun L, Krogseng K, Petrokofsky G (2021) What Is the evidence base linking gender with access to forests and use of forest resources for food security in low-and middle-income countries? A Syst Evid Map for 12(8):1096

    Google Scholar 

  • Kilchling P, Hansmann R, Seeland K (2009) Demand for non-timber forest products: surveys of urban consumers and sellers in Switzerland. For Pol Econ 11(2009):294–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kindt R, Lund G, Sah S, Schreckenberg K (1996) Working group reports: one: assessment and monitoring of non-timber forest. In: Leakey RRB, Temu AB, Melnyk M, Vantomme P (eds) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

  • Klooster D (2002) Towards adaptive community forest management: integrating local forest knowledge with scientific forestry. Econ Geogr 78(1):43–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kyaw Thu M, Junchang L (2016) Economic contribution of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to rural livelihoods in the Tharawady District of Myanmar. Int J Sci 5:2410–4477. https://doi.org/10.18483/ijSci.904

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laird S, Wynberg R, Mclain RJ (2009) Wild product governance: laws and policies for sustainable product use. United Nations University, Centre for International Forestry Research, People and Plants International, Environmental Evaluation Unit, University of Cape Town

  • Lake PS, Bond N, Reich P (2007) Linking ecological theory with stream restoration. Freshw Biol 52(4):597–615. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2006.01709.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lepcha LD, Gopal S, Nazir AP, Vineeta PKP, Sumit C (2019) Contribution of NTFPs on livelihood of forest-fringe communities in Jaldapara National Park, India. J Sustain for 38(3):213–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/10549811.2018.1528158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leff E (2004) Racionalidad ambiental. La reapropiación social de la naturaleza. Siglo XXI Editores. Mexico D.F.

  • Leßmeister A et al (2018) Contribution of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to rural household revenues in two villages in south-eastern Burkina Faso. Agrofor Syst 92(2018):139–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Xu J (2019) Livelihood mushroomed: examining household level impacts of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) under new management regime in China’s state forests. For Policy Econ 98:44–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2018.06.001

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • López-Feldman A (2014) Shocks, income and wealth: Do they affect the extraction of natural resources by rural households? World Dev 64:S91–S100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.03.012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowenhaupt Tsing A (2015) The mushroom at the end of the world: on the possibility of life in capitalist ruins. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Magrach A, Sanz MJ (2020) Environmental and social consequences of the increase in the demand for ‘superfoods’ world-wide. People Nat 2(2):267–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahapatra AK, Shackleton CM (2011) Has deregulation of non-timber forest product controls and marketing in Orissa state (India) affected local patterns of use and marketing. For Pol Econ 13(8):622–629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2011.07.009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahonya S, Shackleton CM, Schreckenberg K (2019) Non-timber forest product use and market chains along a deforestation gradient in southwest Malawi. Front for Glob Change 71(2):1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Mantau U, Wong J, Curl S (2007) Towards a taxonomy of forest goods and services. SmallScale for 6:391–409

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall E, Newton AC (2003) Non-timber forest products in the community of El Terrero, Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve, Mexico: Is their use sustainable? Econ Bot 57:262–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall E, Schreckenberg K, Newton AC (2006) Commercialization of non-timber forest products. Factors influencing success. UNEP, World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Cambridge. www.unep-wcmc.org/forest/ntfp

  • Merino L (2004) Conservación o deterioro: El impacto de las políticas públicas en las instituciones comunitarias y en las prácticas de uso de los recursos forestales. SEMARNAT. Mexico, D.F.

  • Milton K (2000) Ducks out of water. Nature conservation as boundary maintenance. In: Knight J (ed) Natural enemies: People-wildlife conflicts in anthropological perspective (1st ed.). Routledge, London https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203684221

  • Moomaw WR, Law BE, Goetz SJ (2020) Focus on the role of forests and soils in meeting climate change mitigation goals: summary. Environ Res Lett 15(4):045009

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mugido W, Shackleton CM (2019) The contribution of NTFPS to rural livelihoods in different agro-ecological zones of South Africa. For Pol and Econ 109(C)

  • Neumann R, Hirsch E (2000) Commercialization of non-timber forest products: review and analysis of research. Center for International Forestry Research, Bogor. https://doi.org/10.17528/cifor/000723

  • Ngansop MT, Sonwa DJ, Fongnzossie E, Elvire B, Preasious F, Takanori O, Nkogmeneck B (2019) Identification of main Non-Timber Forest Products and related stakeholdersin its value chain in the Gribe village of southeastern Cameroon. Conference Paper. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331950627_Identification_of_main_Non-Timber_Forest_Products_and_related_stakeholders_in_its_value_chain_in_the_Gribe_village_of_southeastern_Cameroon

  • Nikolakis W, Innes JL (2020) The wicked problem of forest policy: a multidisciplinary approach to sustainability in forest landscapes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Obayelu OA, Farinola LA, Adepoju AO (2017) Market participation of the local people in non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in Omo Forest Reserve, Nigeria. Small-Scale for 16:327–345. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-016-9358-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor A, Sunderland TCH (2021) Non-timber forest products from tropical forests. In: Blaser J, Hardcastle PD (ed) Achieving sustainable management of tropical forests. Cambridge, UK: Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing. https://doi.org/10.19103/AS.2020.0074.11

  • Padoch C, Pinedo-Vasquez M (1997) Smallholder forest management: Looking beyond non-timber forest products. In: Pérez MR, Arnold JEM (eds) Current issues in non-timber forest products research. CIFOR, Bogor, pp 103–117

  • Pain A, Marquardt K, Lindh A, Hasselquist NJ (2021) What is secondary about secondary tropical forest? Rethinking Forest Landscapes. Human Ecol 49(3):239–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panayotou T, Ashton P (1992) Not by timber alone: economics and ecology for sustaining tropical forests. Island Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Pascual U, Balvanera P, Díaz S et al (2017) Valuing nature’s contributions to people: the IPBES approach. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 26–27:7–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2016.12.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paumgarten F, Locatelli B, Witkowski ETF (2018) Wild foods: safety net or poverty trap? A South African case study. Hum Ecol 46(2):183–195. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-018-9984-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Penttilä R, Siitonen J, Kuusinen M (2004) Polypore diversity in managed and old-growth boreal Picea abies forests in southern Finland. Biol Conserv 117(3):271–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2003.12.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez MR, Arnold JEM (1997) Current issues in non-timber forest products research. Proceedings of the Workshop “Research on NTFP”, Hot Springs, Zimbabwe: Center for International Forestry Research, Bogor. https://www.cifor.org/publications/ntfpsite/pdf/NTFP-current.pdf

  • Peters C, Gentry AH, Mendelsohn RO (1989) Valuation of an Amazonian rainforest. Nature 339:655–656

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters CM (1996) The ecology and management of non-timber forest resources. World Bank Technical Paper 322, Washington, D.C.

  • Peters CM (2011) Foreword. In: Shackleton S, Shackleton C, Shanley P (eds) Non-Timber Forest Products in the Global Context. Springer, Heidelberg

  • Pierce AR, Emery MR (2005) Use of forests in times of crisis: ecological literacy as a safety net. Forests, Trees Livelihoods 15(3):249–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/14728028.2005.9752525

  • Pullanikkatil D, Shackleton CM (2019) Poverty reduction through non-timber forest products: personal stories. Springer, Cham. pp 3–13. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75580-9_1

  • Raj A, Jhariya MK, Banerjee A, Yadav DK (2019) Non-timber forest products: constraints, prospects and management, implications for combating climate change, and livelihood development. IN: Agroforestry and Climate Change (pp. 279–297). Apple Academic Press

  • Razeto J, Skewes J, Catalán E (2019) Prácticas de conservación, sistemas naturales y procesos culturales: apuntes para una reflexión crítica desde la etnografía. In: Cerda C, Silva-Rodríguez E, Briceño C (eds) Naturaleza en sociedad. Una mirada a la dimensión humana de la conservación de la biodiversidad. Ocholibros. pp 75–106

  • Restrepo Ramírez D (1995) Gender entitlements in Colombian families. Dissertation. University of Guelph, Ontario

  • Rijal S, Adhikari S, Pant RR (2019) Non-timber forest products and livelihood linkages: a case of Lamabagar. Nepal Int J Bus Soc Sci Res 13:326–331

    Google Scholar 

  • Rist L et al (2012) The impacts of selective logging on non-timber forest products of livelihood importance. For Ecol Manag 268:57–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robbins P, Emery M, Rice JL (2008) Gathering in Thoreau’s backyard : nontimber forest product harvesting as practice. Area 40(2):265–277. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4762.2008.00794.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ros-Tonen MAF, van Andel T, Assies W, van Dijk JWF, Duivenvoorden JF, van der Hammen MC, de Jong W, Reinders M, Fernández CA, van Valkenburg JJ (1998) Methods for non-timber forest products research. The Tropenbos experience. Tropenbos Document 14. Wageningen: Tropenbos Foundation. https://www.cifor.org/knowledge/publication/372

  • Ros-Tonen M (2012) Non-timber forest product extraction as a productive bricolage process. In: Forest-people interfaces: understanding community forestry and biocultural diversity 29–48. https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-749-3_2

  • Ros-Tonen MAF, Willemen L, McCall M (2021) Spatial tools for integrated and inclusive landscape governance: Toward a new research agenda. Environ Manage. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01547-x

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ros-Tonen MA, Reed J, Sunderland T (2018) From synergy to complexity: the trend toward integrated value chain and landscape governance. Environ Manage 62(1):1–14

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Rozzi R (2013) Biocultural Ethics: From biocultural homogenization toward biocultural ethics. In: Rozzi R, Pickett STA, Palmer C et al (eds) Linking ecology and ethics for a changing world: values, philosophy and action. Springer, Heidelberg, pp 9–32

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz-Pérez M, Belcher B, Achdiawan, R et al (2004) Markets drive the specialization strategies of forest peoples. Ecol Soc 9(2):4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shackleton S, Campbell B, Lotz-Sisitka H, Shackleton C (2008) Links between the local trade in natural products, livelihoods and poverty alleviation in a semi-arid region of South Africa World Dev., 36, pp. 505–526

  • Scherr SJ, White A, Kaimowitz D (2003) Making markets work for forest communities. Int for Rev 5(1):67–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt L, Widianingsih NN, Kaad AP, Theilade I (2020) The impact of deforestation on collection and domestication of Jernang (Daemonorops spp.) and other NTFPs in southern Sumatra, Indonesia. NJAS-Wageningen J Life Sci 92:100325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartzman S (2019) Extractive reserves: the rubber tappers’ strategy for sustainable use of the Amazon rainforest. In: Browder JO (ed) Fragile lands of Latin America: strategies for sustainable development. Routledge, London, pp 150–165

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Scoones I (1998) Sustainable rural livelihoods a framework for analysis, SLP Working Paper. IDS, Brighton. doi: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.development.1110037

  • Shackleton CM, Pandey AK, Ashok K (2014) Positioning non-timber forest products on the development agenda. For Pol Econ 38:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2013.07.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shackleton CM, Shackleton SE (2004) The importance of non-timber forest products in rural livelihood security and as safety nets: a review of evidence from South Africa. S Afr J Sci 100:658–664

    Google Scholar 

  • Shanley P, Pierce AR, Laird SA, Lopez-Binnqüist C, Guariguata MR (2015) From lifelines to livelihoods: Non-timber forest products into the twenty-first century. In: Laslo P, Köhl M. (eds) Tropical forestry handbook. Springer, Cham, pp 1–50. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41554-8

  • Sharma K, Sharma R, Devi N (2019) Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and livelihood security: an economic study of high hill temperate zone households of Himachal. Econ Aff 64(2):305–315

    Google Scholar 

  • Shyamsundar P, Aileen Sauls L, Zavaleta Cheek J, Sullivan-Wiley K, Erbaugh JT, Krishnapriya PP (2021) Global forces of change: implications for forest-poverty dynamics. For Pol Econ 133:102607

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sierra-Huelsz JA, Gerez Fernández P, López Binnqüist C, Guibrunet L, Ellis EA (2020) Traditional ecological knowledge in community forest management: evolution and limitations in Mexican forest law, policy and practice. Forests 11(4):403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh T, Singh A, Dangwal LR (2016) Impact of overgrazing and documentation of wild fodder plants used by Gujjar and Bakerwal tribes of district Rajouri (J&K), India. J Appl Nat Sci 8(2):804–811

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sippola AL, Lehesvirta T, Renvall P (2001) Effects of selective logging on coarse woody debris and diversity of wood-decaying polypores in eastern Finland. Ecol Bull 49:243–254

  • Southgate D, Coles-Ritchie M, Salazar-Canelos P (1996) Can tropical forests be saved by harvesting of non-timber products? CSERGE, Quito.

  • Stanley D, Voeks R, Short L (2012) Is non-timber forest product harvest sustainable in the less developed world? A systematic review of the recent economic and ecological literature. Ethnobiol Conserv 1(9):1–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele MZ, Shackleton CM, Uma Shaanker R, Ganeshaiah KN, Radloff S (2015) The influence of livelihood dependency, local ecological knowledge and market proximity on the ecological impacts of harvesting non-timber forest products. For Pol Econ 50:285–291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2014.07.011

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sunderlin WD, Angelsen A, Wunder S (2003) Forests and poverty alleviation. State of the World’s Forests 61–73

  • Tapia-Tapia E, Reyes-Chilpa R (2008) Productos forestales no maderables en México: aspectos económicos para el desarrollo sustentable. Madera y Bosques 14:95–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tewari DD (2014) Is big business approach to managing non-timber forest products (NTFPs) benign? Rising unsustainable extraction and looming policy challenges. J Hum Ecol 47(1):87–102. https://doi.org/10.1080/09709274.2014.11906741

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ticktin T et al (2002) Effects of variation on harvest limits for nontimber forest species in Mexico. Conserv Biol 16(3):691–705. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.00372.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ticktin T (2004) The ecological implications of harvesting non-timber forest products. J Appl Ecol 41:11–21. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2004.00859.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ticktin T (2015) The ecological sustainability of non-timber forest product harvest: principles and methods. In: Shackleton CM, Pandey AK, Ticktin T (eds) Ecological sustainability for non-timber forest products: dynamics and case studies of harvesting. Routledge, London, pp 31–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Thammanu S, Han H, Marod D, Zang L, Jung Y, Soe KT, Onprom S, Chung J (2021) Non-timber forest product utilization under community forest management in northern Thailand. Forest Sci Technol 17(1):1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toledo VM, Baron L, Alarcón P (2002) La modernización rural de México: un análisis socioecológico. Primera, SEMARNAT, INE, UNAM, Mexico D.F.

  • Torres I et al (2015) TEK, local perceptions of risk, and diversity of management practices of Agave inaequidens in Michoacán. Mexico J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 11(1):61. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-015-0043-1

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Turner NJ (2001) “Doing it right”: Issues and practices of sustainable harvesting of non-timber forest products relating to First Peoples in British Columbia. J Ecosyst Manage 1:1

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner NJ, et al. (2008) From Invisibility to Transparency: Identifying the Implications. Ecol and Soc, vol. 13, no. 2, Resilience Alliance Inc.

  • UNCED (1992) Agenda 21. United Nations Conference Commission on Sustainable Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11671-008-9208-3

  • UNFF (2006) United Nations Forum on Forests. Report of Sixth Session. United Nations Economic and Social Council, New York, NY. doi: ISSN 1728–0095

  • Uprety Y et al (2016) Traditional use and management of NTFPs in Kangchenjunga landscape: implications for conservation and livelihoods. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 12(1):19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-016-0089-8

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Van Gossum P, Arts B, Verheyen K (2010) From “smart regulation” to “regulatory arrangements”. Policy Sci 43:245–261. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-010-9108-0

  • Vazquez-Garcia V (2008) Gender, ethnicity, and economic status in plant management: uncultivated edible plants among the Nahuas and Popolucas of Veracruz. Mexico Agr Hum Val 25(1):65–77. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-007-9093-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vázquez-García V (2002) ¿Quién cosecha lo sembrado? Relaciones de género en un área natural protegida mexicana. Plaza y Valdés Editores, Colegio de Postgraduados. México D.F.

  • Vedeld P, Angelsen A, et al. (2004) Counting on the environment: Forest incomes and the rural poor. World Bank Environment Department. Washington D.C.

  • Vedeld P, Angelsen A et al (2007) Forest environmental incomes and the rural poor. For Pol Econ 9(2007):869–879

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verma S (2015) Sustaining non-timber forest products (NTFPs) based rural livelihood of tribal in Jharkhand: issues and challenges. Digital Library of the Commons. https://hdl.handle.net/10535/9861

  • Wahlén CB (2017) Opportunities for making the invisible visible: towards an improved understanding of the economic contributions of NTFPs. For Pol Econ 84:11–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2017.04.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WCED (1987) Report of the world commission on environment and development: our common future (The Brundtland Report). https://doi.org/10.1080/07488008808408783

  • West S et al (2020) A relational turn for sustainability science? Relational thinking, leverage points and transformations. Ecosyst People 16(1):304–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiersum KF (1997) Indigenous exploitation and management of tropical forest resources: an evolutionary continuum in forest-people interactions. Agric Ecosyst Environ 63:1–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiersum KF, Ingram VJ, Ros-Tonen MAF (2013) Governing access to resources and markets in non-timber forest product chains. For Trees Livelihoods 23(1–2):6–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14728028.2013.868676

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wollenberg E, Ingles A (eds) (1998) Incomes from the forest: methods for the development and conservation of forest products for local communities. CIFOR. Bogor

  • Wunder S (2001) Poverty alleviation and tropical forests. What scope for synergies? World Dev 29:1817–1833

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wunder S, Angelsen A, Belcher B (2014) Forests, livelihoods, and conservation: broadening the empirical base. World Dev 64:S1–S11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2014.03.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yobo CM, Awono A, Ingram V (2020) Understanding the Coula edulis, Dacryodes buettneri and Irvingia gabonensis non-timber forest product value chains from Makokou, North-East Gabon from a gender perspective. Int for Rev 22(3):339–353

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu L, Lo K (2021) Non-timber forest products as livelihood restoration in forest conservation: A restorative justice approach. Trees for People 6:100130

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

Funding for the first author was granted by CONACyT, Mexico, through its Becas Nacionales de Posgrados de Excelencia, CVU 210252 and by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), through the Programa de Becas de Posdoctorado en la UNAM.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM-Morelia), Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No. 8701, Col. Ex-Hacienda de San José de la Huerta, 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, México

    Tzitzi Sharhí Delgado

  2. Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental (CIGA), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM-Morelia), Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No. 8701, Col. Ex-Hacienda de San José de la Huerta, 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, México

    Michael K. McCall

  3. Centro de Investigaciones Tropicales, Universidad Veracruzana, José María Morelos 44, Zona Centro, Centro, 91000, Xalapa-Enríquez, Veracruz, Mexico

    Citlalli López-Binnqüist

Authors
  1. Tzitzi Sharhí Delgado
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael K. McCall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Citlalli López-Binnqüist
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tzitzi Sharhí Delgado.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest

None that apply.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Delgado, T.S., McCall, M.K. & López-Binnqüist, C. Non-Timber Forest Products: Small Matters, Big Significance, and the Complexity of Reaching a Workable Definition for Sustainability. Small-scale Forestry 22, 37–68 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-022-09517-9

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-022-09517-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation