Wild Product Governance Finding Policies that Work for Non-Timber Forest Products People and Plants International Conservation Series

Products from the wild, also known as non-timber forest products (NTFPs), are used as medicines, foods, spices, and a multitude of other purposes. They contribute substantially to rural livelihoods, generate revenue for companies and governments, and have a range of impacts on biodiversity conservation. However, there is little information available for those seeking to develop effective policy frameworks and regulation.

This book addresses that shortage with information and recommendations on the drafting, content and implementation of NTFP policies, and the broader issues of governance associated with these products. It reviews the diverse elements that combine to create laws and policies that promote sustainable and equitable management, trade and use of species. Drawing on a wealth of unique case studies from around the world, this volume examines experiences with NTFP regulation, including its sometimes unintended consequences. It looks at economic factors, the interface between traditional and western knowledge and legal systems, and relationships between NTFP regulation, land tenure and resource rights, as well as power and equity imbalances. The volume includes a review of available literature and resources, plus an annotated bibliography linked to the People and Plants International website (www.peopleandplants.org).

Published with People and Plants International

Introduction. 1. Changing Policy Trends in the Emergence of Bolivia's Brazil Nut Sector Peter Cronkleton And Pablo Pacheco, Center For International Forestry Research (CIFOR) - Case Study A: In Search Of Regulations to Promote the Sustainable Use of NTFPs In Brazil. 2. Bringing Together Customary and Statutory Systems: The Struggle to Develop a Legal and Policy Framework for NTFPs in Cameroon - Case Study B: Policies for Gnetum spp. Trade in Cameroon: Overcoming Constraints that Reduce Benefits and Discourage Sustainability - Case Study C: Regulatory Issues for Bush Mango (Irvingia Spp.) Trade in South-West Cameroon and South-East Nigeria. 3. NTFPs in India: Rhetoric and Reality. 4. Policy Gaps and Invisible Elbows: NTFPs in British Columbia. 5. NTFPs in Scotland: Changing Attitudes to Access Rights in a Reforesting Land. 6. From Barter Trade to Brad Pitt's Bed: NTFPs and Ancestral Domains in The Philippines. 7. From Indigenous Customary Practices to Policy Interventions: The Ecolocal and Socio-Cultural Underpinnings of the Non-Timber Forest Trade on Palawan Island, The Philippines - Case Study D: Overregulation and Complex Bureaucratic Procedure: A Disincentive for Compliance? The Case of a Valuable Carving Wood in Bushbuckridge, South Africa. 8. Overcoming Barriers in Collectively Managed NTFPs in Mexico. 9. Fiji: Commerce, Carving and Customary Tenure. 10. One Eye on the Forest, One Eye on the Market: Multi-Tiered Regulation of Matsutake Harvesting, Conservation and Trade in North-Western Yunnan Province. 11. Managing Floral Greens in a Globalized Economy: Resource Tenure, Labour Relations and Immigration Policy in the Pacific Northwest, USA. 12. NTFP Policy, Access to Markets and Labour Issues in Finland: Impacts of Regionalization and Globalization on the Wild Berry Industry. 13. Navigating a Way Through Through Regulatory Frameworks for Hoodia Use, Conservation, Trade and Benefit Sharing. 14. Laws and Policies Impacting The Trade Of NTFPs. 15. The State of NTFP Policy and Law. 16. Recommendations. Appendix: The NTFP Law And Policy Literature: Lay Of the Land and Areas For Further Research.

Sarah A. Laird is the Director of People and Plants International and its Policy and Trade Programme, co-author of The Commercial Use of Biodiversity (2002) and editor of Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge (2002).

Rebecca McLain is Co-Director of the Institute for Culture and Ecology, in the US.

Rachel P. Wynberg is a senior researcher, based at the Environmental Evaluation Unit, University of Cape Town.