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P L E C N E W S A N D V I E W S No. 12 APRIL 1999

PRINCIPAL SCIENTIFIC COORDINATOR’S REPORT

The start of the Second Year 1

Departure of PLEC’s Tokyo supremo, Juha Uitto 1

Progress in the Clusters 2

Overcoming problems in Papua New Guinea 5

OVERALL SUMMARY OF THE 1998 GEF WORK: REPORT TO UNEPLiang Luohui, Managing Coordinator

7

PAPERS BY PROJECT MEMBERS

Claim that tenant-farmers do not conserve land resources: counter evidence from a PLECdemonstration site in Ghana

Edwin Gyasi

10

Diversity of upland rice, and of wild vegetables, in Baka, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan

Fu Yongneng and Chen Aiguo

15

Sustainable Management of an Amazonian forest for timber production: a myth or reality?

Miguel Pinedo-Vásquez and Fernando Rabelo

20

P L E C N E W S A N D V I E W SNo. 12 APRIL 1999

PRINCIPAL SCIENTIFIC COORDINATOR’S REPORT

Harold Brookfield

The start of the Second Year

The second year of the GEF-funded projectbegan on 1 March, 1999. This is a year ofthe greatest importance to PLEC, as it isduring 1999 that the field work of PLEC mustbe on its way to a major success. Withinanother twelve months, we have to face amid-term review: there can be no fallingbehind schedule. Progress in the first yearwas very good, as the basic summary fromthe Report to UNEP, printed on p.7, makesclear. The emergent need for guidelines onassessment of biodiversity and agrodiversity

was addressed, and in March 1999guidelines were sent by electronic means toall Clusters. They are printed in a special‘methodology issue’ of PLEC News andViews (#13), which is distributed togetherwith this issue.

PLEC’s second year corresponds veryclosely to the Chinese Year of the Rabbit,just as our first year corresponded with theYear of the Tiger. In this second year, weneed to combine all the cleverness of therabbit with all the fierceness of the tiger if weare going to be successful.

DEPARTURE OF PLEC’S TOKYO SUPREMO, JUHA UITTO

There is about to be a major change in the PLEC coordination office at UNU. Juha Uitto, who hasbeen part of the PLEC team since the beginning of the project, is moving to the GEF Secretariat atthe World Bank. The GEF Council decided to strengthen the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit of theSecretariat by creating a new post of M&E Specialist. Juha will start his new duties in this positionfrom the beginning of May. We hope that PLEC can benefit from his presence in Washington, DC, inthe future. We all owe a lot to Juha for his support and hard work over the years. We will miss hispresence at our meetings. We wish him, and his lovely wife Yoko Takahashi, all success in their newlife in Washington. Juha’s place in general charge of the Project will until further notice be taken byProf. Motoyuki Suzuki, Vice-Rector.

This is what Juha has to say:

‘After almost nine years at UNU in Tokyo, it is time for me to move on. PLEC has been an importantpart of my life since 1992 when we started the development of the project together with HaroldBrookfield. A few grey hairs were added in pushing the innovative PLEC concept, but it has beenmarvellous to see the project’s growth from the modest beginnings to the thriving global network it istoday. I have thoroughly enjoyed working together with PLEC coordinators and scientists, and haveexperienced some of my most cherished moments visiting the clusters in Africa, Amazonia and Asia.In my new job at the GEF Secretariat, I will not be far away, but looking at matters from the otherside. I am also confident that, with Luohui Liang and Audrey Yuse firmly in charge, the UNUcoordination office will continue its efficient work managing the project. I would like to thank all of youfor your cooperation and look forward to keeping in touch with all of my friends in PLEC’.

2 PLEC NEWS AND VIEWS No. 12 APRIL 1999

PROGRESS IN THE CLUSTERS

This report concentrates on three of the fiveGEF Clusters, West Africa, China andAmazonia. Detail on progress in East Africawill be given in PLEC News and Views 14,later in the year. An update on the situationin the Papua New Guinea Cluster is given onp. 5. The following are extracts from Clusterreports, edited by Harold Brookfield.

West Africa: Ghana

In southern Ghana, three demonstrationsites (Gyamfiase-Adenya, Amanase-Whanabenya; Sekesua-Osonson) are nowdeveloped; functional PLEC farmers’associations have been formed in each.Home garden surveys with farmers, andsurvey of plants and soils in Gyamfiaseforest grove were concluded. Workproceeded on: collection of data onagrodiversity; identification of trees that,reputedly, combine effectively with crops;studies of climatic change; demographicconditions, and gender and land tenure, asthey relate to bio-physical conditions and/oragrodiversity. On-farm conservation of trees,nurseries of rare endemic and popular exoticplants, and tree planting, were encouraged inall sites. Experiments were initiated inGyamfiase-Adenya, all with farmers, on theuse of stones, grass and Chromolaenaodorata to check soil erosion, and on use ofCassia in fallow management.

In central Ghana, Jachie developedfurther as a principal demonstration site,unusual in that it is female-led and mostmembers are women farmers. Tano-Odumase emerged as a second major site.Work focused on participatory inventory ofagrodiversity, of butterflies and flora in asacred grove, and on watershedmanagement including restoration ofdiversity in aquatic life. There are plans toestablish a rare food crops arboretum at oneor both sites. Other activities includedestablishment of an arboretum of rare

medicinal plants and community plantnurseries, a survey of home gardens,support for livestock industry and non-traditional forms of farming, and studies offood security, and indigenous wild foodhunting and gathering.

The major general activity was the secondWAPLEC Regional Workshop onConserving Agricultural and BiologicalDiversity for Food Security: ParticipatoryApproaches in West Africa, which broughttogether more than 60 farmers, scientistsand government and non-governmentalofficials from Ghana, Guinea and East Africa.Graduate and undergraduate students wereencouraged to base their theses on aspectsof PLEC basic concern; and trainingsessions were organized for farmers in areasof tree-planting, stone-lining along hillcontours, and raising of small ruminants andpoultry.

A major cross-site development was theexchange of plant species and resourceconservation knowledge through a visit tofarmers in the central sector by farmers fromthe south, and the interchange of farmer-visits among sites in the southern sector. Sixmembers from the Gyamfiase PLEC farmers’association visited the Jachie association incentral Ghana. They stayed four days,exchanging information and experiences,and especially compared mixed-crop farmingmethods between the two regions. Eachside offered advice to the other, and theysuggested that the growing network of PLECfarmers’ associations should develop into anational NGO.

West Africa: Guinea

The Pita demonstration site on the FoutaDjallon now focuses on the villages ofHadjia, Missidé-Héïré, Dianguel, andKollangui. Plant species, and threatenedanimals, were inventoried and their usesidentified. Sampling plots were selectedacross a variety of habitats. Some plantspecies indicating soil fertility were

PLEC NEWS AND VIEWS No. 12 APRIL 1999 3

recorded. In collaboration with farmers, datacollection and analysis continue on physicaland social-economic conditions, populationmovement, main economic activities, landtenure and agricultural production systems.Work has begun on the re-introduction andelaboration of old systems of composting,collaborating with farmers who arespecialists in compost making, at MissidéHéïré and with an NGO which isexperimenting with a modern method atKollangui. Stone cordons were introducedwith three farmers at Dianguel to control soilerosion. Potato and onion wereexperimented with within farmers’ fields toenhance food self-sufficiency. Researchwas initiated at Missidé Héïré to developmethods of in situ conservation of floraresources, including endangered species. Awomen dyers’ group was formed at MissidéHéïré to boost conservation of threatenedanimal and plant species. Moussaya villagenear Kouroussa, in semi-arid northernGuinea, close to the Niger river, was initiatedas a secondary site.

A training workshop was organized from7 to 8 October 1998 at Bantignel to explainthe PLEC objectives, and what has beenachieved, to the people. The prefecture andlocal authorites as well as the farmers of alldistricts attended the workshop. The secondnational workshop was organized from 12 to13 February, 1999 in order to give fullinformation on project progress to a range ofparticipants from Pita and Kouroussaprefectures, the National Directions ofAgriculture, Water and Forestry, Livestock,Environment, Rural Engineering andMeteorology and the national NGO Guinée-Ecologie. This was reported by the radioand television. Three Waplec-Guinearesearchers attended an English trainingcourse for 45 days in Accra (Ghana), and afourth will join the course in future. Fivepostgraduate students attended training inPLEC methodology at the demonstrationsites in Pita and Kouroussa, and in soilsample analysis in the laboratory at Conakry.Two associated researchers in Kouroussaand three in Pita have gained research

experience in data collecting on agro-biodiversity through working with PLEC.

Yunnan, China

In Xishuangbanna Prefecture, both theBaka site (Hani nationality) and the Daka site(Jinuo nationality) were confirmed andcharacterized. A four year plan forsustainable community development wascompleted for each site. Different types andsub-types of land use have been identified inBaka and Daka, and mapped with computer-mapping software. Sample plots acrossthese types of land use have been markedfor long-term monitoring. In Daka, 25sample plots have been surveyed, and 296plant species inventoried within them. AtBaka, 20 varieties of upland rice and 55 wildvegetables together with their features havebeen recorded. Preferred timber treespecies have been inventoried andassessed, 30 by Baka people and 35 byDaka people. The spatial and temporaldifferences of species and varietiescomposition have been analysed. Statisticaldata on the population have been collectedand sketch maps of the villages have beendrawn for Baka and Daka sites. A socio-economic survey has been conducted inBaka village. Household survey has beenconducted in Daka. On-farm design, landand seedling preparation for home gardenelaboration, and a preferred tree speciesplantation have been completed at the Dakasite. At the Baka site, on-farm design, landand seedling preparation of agroforestryhave been initiated for reducing reliance onshifting cultivation: a preferred tree speciesplantation, a firewood plantation and butterflyfarming have also been undertaken.

In Baoshan Prefecture there are twosites, respectively on the eastern andwestern sides of Gaoligong mountain. TheHanlong site (Lisu nationality) and theSabadi (Han and Lisu nationalities) site wereconfirmed and characterized. Different land-use systems at Hanlong have been identified


and mapped with computer-mappingsoftware; 15 sample plots have been markedfor long term monitoring. Home gardensystems have been surveyed at Sabadi.Aerial photogrammetric survey of forestresources and land use was conductedaround the Sabadi and Hanlong sites, and aground pre-survey was carried out in thetarget villages. A land-use map was drawnand ground indicators identified. Researchon firewood resource and consumption inGaoligong Mountain has been done byanalysis of statistical data and results fromsample interviews. It has been found thatfirewood resources within the communityterritory can meet only 47.5% of the totaldemand. Indigenous fuel wood systems(e.g. oak, alder, Lindera and Cassia) wereidentified as potential systems fordemonstration and experiment to solvefirewood shortage in the area.

Household surveys were conducted atboth Hanlong and Sabadi, recording familysize, land resources, economic resources,and agricultural production. A monitoringcard for each interviewed household hasbeen set up for long term monitoring. Basedon traditional successful practices in theregions, agroforestry systems are beingfurther tested on degraded sloping farm-land;and community forests are beingregenerated through proper management.On-farm design, land and seedlingpreparation was commenced for homegarden elaboration and firewood plantationestablishment.

Farmers’ associations on biodiversityconservation have been established in threesites. The farmers’ associations will becomethe main organizers for communityconservation and development of projectactivities, as well as running trainingworkshops at the demonstration sites. Threetraining workshops were held for farmers.For researchers and local officials, a field-oriented workshop on Methods ofParticipatory Planning on SustainableCommunity Development was held inXishuangbanna. A methodology training

workshop was organized for youngresearchers and local officials from31 January–4 February 1999. Two graduatestudents have joined PLEC, and a jointgraduate student training programme withYunnan University is under discussion. Twoyoung researchers are in place inXishuangbanna and one in Gaoligongshanas liaison persons between researchers andcommunity people.

A Cluster working group and advisorygroup meeting was held in Kunming,9–10 June, 1998. In the same month, threeCluster members conducted two shortinformal workshops with Baoshan Prefectureforesters and Tengchong County foresters.A policy recommendation workshop wasconducted on 21 December 1998 to presentUNU/PLEC work on sustainable models, forprovincial level policy makers, and otheracademic researchers in Kunming. ThePLEC model was recognized as an importantapproach for sustainable rural developmentby the policy makers. An annual Clustermeeting was held in Baoshan,29–30 January 1999. 53 participantsattended. 21 reports were presented tosummarize project activities undertakenduring 1998.

Amazonia

On Ituqui island, near Santarém, two typesof demonstration sites for habitat restorationprojects and smallholder agroforestrysystems have been selected and evaluated.An ethnohistorical study of landscapechange in the Ituqui region, including asurvey of local knowledge of plants speciesand their uses, has continued. It hasidentified 101 species that are used by theItuqui population for seven different types ofuses. The present and historical status ofmajor habitats and resources on the islandwere mapped by members of localcommunities. The first phase of a study ofthe ecology and management of waterbuffalo has been concluded. The household


economy was surveyed to obtain economicdata on the principal resource-use activitiesof the household, and the role each activityplays in the household economy.

For the study of várzea land tenuresystems, data from the earlier householdsurvey was analysed to determine thedistribution of farm sizes on the várzea, andthe manner in which residents acquired theland upon which they are living. In additionto the survey, a map has been prepared aspart of the GIS of the Ituqui region now beingconstructed which shows the boundaries ofall Ituqui properties. Communityreforestation of lake margins has made solidprogress. Seedling production and plantinghas proceeded well, including introduction ofPau mulato, a fast growing timber species, toincrease the direct economic potential ofreforestation, in addition to the indirectbenefits via the contribution to the productivityof lake fisheries.

At Amapá, near the mouth of theAmazon, two demonstration site villages,Mazagão and Ipixuna have been furtherdeveloped in association with the farmers’organization. Using farmers’ classification offallow, plant species under different types offallow were inventoried by sample survey.Data from the inventory were evaluated toidentify difference in species compositionbetween the inventoried associations andthe natural regeneration. Information aboutthe social and environmental changes thataffected the sources of household incomeand the status of biodiversity in thelandholdings of smallholders were collectedby interviewing 25 families and by visitingtheir fields, fallows, house gardens andforests.

A course on the ecology andmanagement of floodplain lake fisheries wasorganized, and the fifth of a planned ninemodules has recently been completed. Thecourse has 40 participants representing sixItuquí communities and grassrootsorganizations from three other major regionsof the municipality. In mid-1998 the pilotphase of the project to develop an

environmental education program for várzeaschools was concluded and an agreementwas signed with the municipal secretary ofeducation to expand the program to all thevárzea schools of the municipal schoolsystem. In addition, a training course forprimary school teachers of the municipalityon the várzea is being developed. Two inter-village meetings, eight visits todemonstration sites (2 in Ipixuna and 6 inMazagão) and 2 training courses (encontros)for farmers were conducted. The integrationof the 10 expert farmer families hasfacilitated the execution of training andextension activities. Two NAEA graduatestudents, one at the master’s level and theother at the doctoral level are participating inPLEC. Students involved in PLEC activitiesare also studying at other Amazonianuniversitities. A field trip to Ituqui wasorganized for the first year doctoral studentsunder the NAEA Doctoral Programme.

OVERCOMING PROBLEMS IN PAPUANEW GUINEA

The Papua New Guinea Cluster had morethan its fair share of problems in 1998. Atthe beginning of the year, the nationalCluster leader, Mr Tom Nen, was appointedManaging Director of the PNG NationalForest Authority, and had to leave PLEC justas development of a national group was tohave commenced. For a period, Dr BenoBoeha, Director of the National ResearchInstitute, acted as Cluster leader with thesupport of Dr Colin Filer, head of Social andEnvironmental Studies in NRI. A juniorresearcher in the Institute, Mr RodneyKameata, attended the general Projectworkshop in Uganda in April 1998. PLECwas adopted as a major NRI project, and areplacement for Tom Nen was sought. InJune, Mr John Sowei was appointed, andalmost immediately attended theManagement Group meeting in Tokyo. Thiswas followed by a meeting of most membersof the Cluster in Port Moresby, on 14 July.


The July meeting set up a work-plan forthe project, settling the choice ofdemonstration site areas, of which there arethree, two of them developed mainly by theJapanese and Australian groups who have along record of work in Papua New Guinea.The third was selected by the NationalResearch Institute. The sites are:

1. Two villages in the Dreikikir-Wosera areaof East Sepik Province, to be known asthe ‘Dreikikir site’, and to be the mainresponsibility of the Australian NationalUniversity team;

2. Two villages in the Kilimeri CensusDivision, south of Vanimo town in WestSepik Province, to be known as the‘Kilimeri site’, and to be the mainresponsibility of the National ResearchInstitute team;

3. Two Huli-speaking parishes in the TariBasin in Southern Highlands Province, tobe known as the ‘Tari site’, and to be themain responsibility of the University ofTokyo team.

One of the reasons for selecting theKilimeri site was that NRI already had aresearch project on the Social Context andImpact of the Vanimo Timber Project whichwas funded by the European Union into1999. National and foreign researchersworking on this project had alreadyassembled data on population, land use, andindigenous environmental knowledge whichwas obviously relevant to the aims of thePLEC project. Good relations were alreadyestablished with officials of the SandaunProvincial Government, and with localvillagers.

The three sites are strongly contrasted.Tari is a high-altitude basin in the SouthernHighlands Province, and one of the mostdensely-peopled parts of the country. Anintensive farming system is based on thesweet potato. The other two are both in thenorthwestern Sepik Province, and sago isimportant in both areas. Many people refer

to sago as ‘the backbone’ of the Sepikpeople. Sago is nutritionally very poor, but isa high-energy food rich in carbohydrates.The labour distribution among males andfemales involved in sago processing variesbetween tribes in the Sepik. It is usually thewomen who process sago starch. This canbe processed from harvested palms all yearround and provides food security whengarden crops are in short supply. Itsextraction demands a high level of manuallabour, for it involves pounding the pith,transporting the pounded pith to the watersource, washing the pounded pith andtransporting the wet starch to be prepared forconsumption. At Kilimeri, sago is moreimportant than farming, and hunting remainsa major male activity. The Tumam people atDreikikir are more dependent on gardening,mainly for yams, than on sago as a foodresource.

Substantial basic work has now beendone in each area, in preparation for movinginto the demonstration activities with thevillagers during 1999. However, NRI planshave been put at risk by the decision of thePapua New Guinea government to endfunding of the Institute, at a date not yetdetermined. Thus Project staff can only beappointed on PLEC funds, and planned NRIcounterpart funds cannot any longer berelied upon. This was the context in which aMarch 1999 meeting decided to establish astronger national presence in the Dreikikirand Tari areas. Use of training funds in thebudget makes possible engagement ofnationals as junior Research Officers andAssistants, and these people will residepermanently at or near the sites. They willalso move around between sites from time totime, so as to enhance national familiaritywith all parts of the Project. Some promisingyoung graduates have been appointed. Topublicize the Project, a feature article by theCluster leader was written for the PortMoresby Independent newspaper, andpublished on 8 January 1999.


OVERALL SUMMARY OF THE 1998 GEF WORK: REPORT TO UNEP

Liang Luohui, Managing Coordinator

The four-year project UNU/PLEC underfunding from the GEF formally started on1 March 1998. The first half-yearlycontribution of US$1,286,349.00 from GEFand the second of US$681,699.00 werereceived on 13 April and on 10 November1998 respectively. Implementation at projectlevel and Cluster level has commencedaccording to the Project Document, althoughwith some delays due to late receipt of funds.Under annual contracts from the UNU, theClusters in all participating countries (Kenya,Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Guinea, Brazil,China, Papua New Guinea) have completedtheir first year work by the end of February1999, and have begun to implement thesecond year work. The implementation ofthe first year work was difficult, butsuccessful due to the dedication of allparticipating institutions and people

Major work at project level

While the first year work at project level wascarried out on schedule, special attentionwas paid to planning and assisting the work,providing work guidelines, establishing thePLEC organization, and formulating theframework for project management.

The PLEC General Meeting, and thePLEC Field Meeting for the Americas wereheld, and coordination visits to Clustersmade to plan and assist workimplementation. In addition, a short-termscientific adviser was hired to assist the EastAfrica work

The PLEC General Meeting was hostedby the East Africa Cluster and the Ugandasub-Cluster in Mbarara, Uganda, 29 March–4 April 1998. The main theme of theworkshop was planning the future course ofPLEC, especially in view of the purpose and

methodologies pertaining to demonstrationsites.

The PLEC Field Meeting for the Americaswas held in Portland, Jamaica, 6-8November 1998. The Jamaica sub-Cluster,based at the University of the West Indies,were the local organizers. The Field Meetingbrought together PLEC researchers in theAmericas in order to compare experiencesand disseminate ideas; to assist the ‘cluster-in-formation’ (Meso-America, consisting ofJamaica and Mexico) in developing a viablework programme and choosing appropriatemethodologies; to test agrodiversitymethodologies in a field situation; and tomonitor progress to date, and developconsistent workplans for all Americasgroups.

The PLEC Biodiversity Advisory Group(PLEC-BAG) was formed and met toproduce guidelines on collection andanalysis of agro-biodiversity data. Twomethodology papers on biodiversity andagrodiversity description and analysis, wereprepared to guide the work at demonstrationsites. Lastly, a scientific adviser was hired togive a talk on intellectual property rights inbiodiversity databases.

The PLEC Biodiversity Advisory Group(PLEC-BAG) was established by the PLECManagement Group to ensure the quality ofand develop the methodology of thecollection and analysis of agro-biodiversitydata. It consists of Cluster personnel withexpertise in this field. The PLEC-BAG FieldMeeting was held from 21–28 January 1999,in Yunnan, China, hosted by the PLEC ChinaCluster. Through formal and informaldiscussion, comparison and exchange onexisting approaches to agro-biodiversityassessment during the largely field meeting,PLEC-BAG developed common views onmethod. Subsequently, a methodology


paper has been through several drafts, andwas distributed to all PLEC Clusters on 15March 1999.

Guidelines on Agrodiversity were draftedby Scientific Coordinators Brookfield andStocking, and made available to Clusters inJuly 1998. Following completion of the BAGreport, these have been revised in order tomatch the BAG classifications andrecommendations. Copies of the revisedAgrodiversity Guidelines were distributed toClusters on 23 March 1999. Both the BAGand Agrodiversity Guideline papers are nowprinted together in a special ‘methodology’issue of PLEC News and Views No. 13.

Concerning PLEC organization andmanagement, both the Management Groupand the Advisory Group formed and met.The primary guidelines and procedures forproject management and reporting formatwere formulated. The Scientific Coordinatorsmet fully and made strategic decisions onemerging issues. In addition, facilities forcommunication, research and transportationfor Ghana, Guinea and Tanzania werearranged to improve working conditions.

The PLEC Management Group met inconnection with the General Meeting atMbarara. The PLEC ExpandedManagement Group Meeting was held at theUNU Headquarters, Tokyo, Japan, 2-4 July1998. The objective of this importantmeeting was to discuss and resolveemerging issues of future management ofUNU/PLEC. These included terms of theconduct and reporting of project work,reporting format, rules of financialmanagement of project funds, forwardfinancial planning, guidelines for creation ofan agrodiversity database, dissemination,and training. The record of the meeting setsa framework for future management ofPLEC.

The PLEC Advisory Group Meeting washosted by the UNU Office in Europe atUNESCO premises in Paris, 11 September1998. Because of the difficulty incoordinating the timing, the meeting was

held 6 weeks behind the schedule stipulatedin the PLEC-GEF Project Document. Allinstitutions indicated in the Project Documentwere invited to the meeting at their own cost.Most of the UN agencies, including FAO,UNDP and the World Bank, nonetheless,were not be able to attend. In attendancewere UNEP, UNESCO, several relevantinternational research institutions andinitiatives (ICARDA/FCP, ICRISAT/DMP,ISNAR, TSBF), as well as two bilateraldonors (DFID, SDC) who have taken aspecific interest in PLEC. At the meeting,valuable suggestions were made andinformative contact with other relevantprojects established. One of the suggestionswas that GEF should establish a jointadvisory group that would cover all of thefour initiatives, i.e. PLEC, DMP (the DesertMargins Programme), FCP (the FertileCrescent Programme), and TSBFP (theTropical Soils Biodiversity and FertilityProgramme) in order to assure maximumimpact and coordination.

The PLEC Scientific Coordinators Meetingwas held in London, 13-16 February, 1999.At the meeting strategic decisions weremade on emerging issues around forwardfinancial planning, mid-term review,coordination, publication, and publicity.

PLEC has been disseminated to a wideinternational community through setting upthe provisional PLEC Homepage on theInternet (http://202.253.138.133/plec.htm).PLEC was presented at the FourthConference of Parties (COP4) of theConvention on Biological Diversity,Bratislava, Slovakia, 4-8 May 1998, and atthe second Conference of Parties of theDesertification Convention (COP2/CCD), inDakar, Senegal, 30 November–11 December1998.

Major work at Cluster level

The important achievement at Cluster level isthat 23 PLEC demonstration sites in eightcountries were confirmed. At selected sites,


partnership between scientists, local officialsand farmers is being built up. Inventory ofagrodiversity, analysis of socio-economicand demographic conditions, and outreachand experimental work have started andcontinue. On the basis of traditionalknowledge, different models of agroforestry,soil conservation, and agro-biodiversityconservation are being experimented with byfarmers with assistance from local officialsand scientists.

Planning is essential to smooth projectimplementation at Cluster level. All Clustersand sub-Clusters held formal or informalplanning meetings, detailed their work plansand had annual contracts issued withassistance from the Scientific Coordinators.Some of them formulated relevant guidelinesfor project management. In addition, theWest Africa Cluster and China Cluster heldsuccessful Annual General Meetings toreview the work, exchange experience andto plan forward.

To build local capacity and institutions,farmers’ associations with various interests,such as biodiversity conservation/environment/ agriculture/ special skills wereformed. They play an important role in PLECoutreach and experimental work. Trainingcourses on sustainable agriculture, ecology,income-generating techniques, etc. havebeen organized for farmers and grassrootsorganizations: some courses on researchmethods were for local officials, students andyoung researchers. Other courses wereorganized by farmers’ associationsthemselves, and taught by expert farmers.Training programmes are being developed toinvolve students from universities. 21postgraduates and junior researchers joinedPLEC under training. Moreover, PLECmembership of professionals almost doubledfrom 106 to 197 over the year 1998, andmembers from developing countriesaccounted for 90 %.

FORTHCOMING PLEC MEETINGS

1) The 3rd PLEC Management Group Meeting, 15-18 May 1999, Toluca,Mexico.

2) A 4th Meeting of the Joint UNESCO-UNU-TWAS Programme on ‘South-South Cooperation on Environmentally Sound Socio-Economic Developmentin the Humid Tropics’, 19–24 May 1999, Xalapa, Mexico.

3) The 2nd Meeting of PLEC-BAG, 20-24 May, 1999, New Hampshire, USA.

4) The 2nd General PLEC Meeting is now planned to take place in February,2000, at Macapá, Brazil.

PAPERS BY PROJECT MEMBERS

CLAIM THAT TENANT–FARMERS DO NOT CONSERVE LAND RESOURCES:COUNTER EVIDENCE FROM A PLEC DEMONSTRATION SITE IN GHANA1

Edwin A. GyasiDepartment of Geography and Resource Development

University of Ghana

1 Mr Daniel K. Abbiw, Research Associate, Mr George Larbi, Senior Technician, and Mr J.Y. Amponsah, Technician, allof the Department of Botany, University of Ghana, were instrumental in the identification of the plants presented in thispaper. Their help is gratefully acknowledged.

Introduction

Tenants form a pivot of farming in tropicalAfrican countries. In Ghana, through share-cropping and land renting, tenants play acentral role in food crop farming, just as theydid in the cocoa-farming revolution in the firsthalf of this century (Hill 1963; Gyasi 1994).

Because tenant-farmers do not own theland, but operate it on rental or share-cropping basis, it is often argued that theylack the motivation to conserve andregenerate the land resources, especially thesoils and natural biota. Sometimes thetenant-farmers are accused of exploiting landto the point of destruction.

A telling example of this negative view offarming by tenancy is the Ghana Ministry ofAgriculture’s description of renting of farmland as ‘the most destructive of allarrangements for holding land since thecultivator aims at obtaining a maximum ofreturns in the shortest possible time; and thisobjective transcends the need to adhere togood husbandry practices’ (Division ofAgricultural Economics, Ministry ofAgriculture 1962). Based on observations inthe margins of the southern sector of theforest-savanna mosaic zone near Nsawam,immediately north of Accra, Ghana’s nationalcapital, Varley and White had similarlyconcluded that ‘as a long-term policy this

system [of transient migrant-tenant-farmingon rented land] is bad’ (Varley and White1958: 92), because the tenants cut downmost of the forest trees, carried out intensivemonocropping, ‘moving on when the land isexhausted’ (Varley and White 1958: 120). Inthis way, the tenants had rendered much ofthe area ‘completely useless for farming formany years to come’ (Varley and White1958: 93). A similar adverse situationappears to be developing in an adjacentarea, in Yensiso, an approximately 100 sq.km PLEC pilot study site which is indevelopment into a demonstration site underthe new name Gyamfiase-Adenya, in thesame forest-savanna ecotone. There, PLECstudies carried out in 1995 suggested lessfavourable bio-physical conditions inlocalities farmed by tenants than in thosefarmed by non-tenant, owner-occupierfarmers. In the tenant-farmed localities,there appeared to be: a dominance of grassand non-floral species; fewer trees; greatererosion and exhaustion of soils; less cropdiversity; and other symptoms of greater bio-physical deterioration (Gyasi 1996).

However, whilst moving recently amongvillages in a major PLEC survey of homegardens we unexpectedly encounteredsituations in the Gyamfiase-Adenyademonstration site which appear tocontradict the claim that tenants do not


conserve land and its related bio-physicalresources. The survey is being carried out ina participatory manner with farmers in Ghanato generate information for enhancing therole of home gardens as germplasm banksand a source of food. Among the food-cropfarms invariably operated by migrant Ayigbesettler-tenants [including home gardeners]through land rotation in the bush away fromthe compound house, we noticed a sizeablenumber in which the food crops grewalongside conserved trees, especially youngones, a practice encouraged by PLEC.

We probed this unexpected situationfurther by closer study of the floralcomposition of four of the tenant-farms inwhich trees are conserved in situ, and bydiscussions with the operators of the farmswho may own the trees either exclusively, orjointly with the landlord. The preliminaryfindings are presented below, case-by-case,as a possible basis for a more informedplanned conservation of agrobiodiversity.

Findings

Case 1: Yaw Apeti’s farm at Otwetiri

The farm of Yaw Apeti, a married tenant withchildren, is operated on a parcel of landleased at Otwetiri by the landowner, MadamAkosua Botwe of Akropong, seat of theparamount Chief or Stool of Akuapempeople, the predominant owners of theOtwetiri lands. It, like the others, measuresless than half an acre estimated, as in theother cases, by pacing around the perimeterof the farm.

The plants are summarized in Table 1.They include nine varieties of crops involvingdifferent cultivars. The crops are dominatedby cassava/manioc, which is shared in theratio of 1:1 (abunu) between the tenant andlandowner, and by maize/corn, shared in theratio of 2:1 (abusa) with the higher fractiongoing to the tenant.

Table 1 Plants in Yaw Apeti’s farm

Crop Other plant (sapling\tree)

Local Namein Twi

CommonEnglish Name

Botanical Name Use Local Namein Twi

CommonEnglish Name

Botanical Name Use

Bankye Cassava/ Manioc Manihotesculenta

F Odwen Camwood Baphia nitida M/Fu

Aburow Maize/Corn Zea mays F Akakapenpen ? Rauvolfiavomitoria

M/Fu

Afasew Wateryam Discorea alata F Onyankyren Sandpaper tree Ficus exasperata O

Amankani Cocoyam Xanthosomamaffafa

F Osena/Yooye Velvet tamarind Dialiumguineense

F/O

Brode Plantain Musa paradisiaca F Ankye Akee apple Blighia sapida F/Fu/O

Brofere Pawpaw Carica papaya F Abrewa-aninsu

? Hoslundiaopposita

M/Fu

Abrobe Pineapple Ananas comosus F Osisriw ? Newbouldialaevis

M/Fu

Mmoframorewa

Solanum torvum F/M ? Resurrectionplant

Bryophyllumpinnatum

M/Fu

Mako Pepper Capsicumannuum

F

F: food M: medicinal Fu: fuelwood O: other uses ?: not known


Ten varieties of other plants, includingthose used for medicines and firewood, wereidentified. As in the other cases, there wereweeds, dominated by Chromolaena odoratawhich, although regarded as an obnoxiousweed, has reported soil enriching capabilityand medicinal and other uses.

Case 2: C.K. Avume’s farm at Otwetiri

C.K. Avume and his wife operate farms bothjointly and separately on parcels of land

rented, as in the case of Yaw Apeti, from anAkuapem landowner originating fromAkropong.

Made up of crops and saplings/trees, therelevant plants in Avume’s farm are shown inTable 2. The crops are dominated bycassava and maize, which are raised onshare-cropping basis. The 15 species ofsapling/tree encountered are used variouslyas firewood, food, medicine, andconstructional material.

Table 2 Plants in C.K. Avume’s farm

Crop Other plant (sapling\tree)Local Name

in TwiCommon

English NameBotanical Name Use Local Name

in TwiCommon

English NameBotanical Name Use


F Pepea ? Phylanthusdiscordens

Fu

Aburow Maize/Corn Zea mays F Emire ? Terminaliaivorensis

T

Abe Oil palm Elaeis guineensis F Ofosow ? Fu

Mako Pepper Capsicumannuum

F Osese ? Holarrhenafloribunda

F/C

Aso Cowpea Vigna unguiculata F Osisriw ? Newbouldialaevis

M

Mango Mango Mangifera indica F Owudifoakele

? Anthocleistavogelii

M

Okronoo Red-flowered silk-cotton tree

Bombaxbuonopozense

M

Awonwee ? Olaxsubscorpioidea

M

Opanpan ? ? Fu

Osena/Yooye Velvet tamarind Dialiumguineense

F/O

Nyamedoa Pagoda tree Alstonia boonei M

Akakapenpen ? Rauvolfiavomitoria

M/Fu

Agyama Christmas bush Alchorneacordifolia

M

Odwen ?Camwood Baphia nitida M

Bronyadue Brimstone tree Morinda lucida M

F: food M: medicinal Fu: fuelwood O: other uses ?: not known T: timber C: carving

Case 3: Madam Avume’s farm at Otwetiri

The relevant plants in the farm of MadamAvume, C.K. Avume’s wife, are summarizedin Table 3. The crops and other plants are

similar to those found in the husband’s farm.However, the husband’s shows greaterdiversity.


Table 3 Plants in Madam Avume’s farm


Local Namein Twi

CommonEnglish Name


CommonEnglish Name

Botanical Name Use



M

Aburow Maize/Corn Zea mays F Akakapenpen ? Rauvolfiavomitoria

M

Afasew Wateryam Discorea alata F Ankyo Akee apple Blighia sapida M

Mango Mango Mangifera indica F Agyama ? Alchorneacordifolia

M

Odwen Camwood Baphia nitida M

Emire Terminaliaivorensis

T

Osena/Yooye ? Dialiumguineense

F/O

Adurubrafo ? Maraya micrantha M

Bronyadua Brimstone tree Morinda lucida M

Odwen-dwenua

? Lecaniodiscuscupanioides

O

Atwere ? O

Atuaa Hog plum Spondias mombin M

Case 4: Goha’s farm at Mampong-Nkwanta

Goha is a 29-year-old graduate of apolytechnic institute, who took to farming forwant of what he described as a better

alternative job opportunity. His biodiversefarm is operated on a share-cropping basison land leased out by one of the citizens ofAkuapem-Mampong who own the lands ofMampong-Nkwanta and adjoining villages.

Table 4 Plants in C.Y. Goha’s farm


Local Namein Twi

CommonEnglish Name


CommonEnglish Name

Botanical Name Use



C/Fu

Aburow Maize/Corn Zea mays F Osena/Yooye Dialiumguineense

F/O

Amankani Cocoyam Xanthosomamaffafa

F Odwen Camwood Baphia nitida M

Abo Oil Palm Elaeis guineensis F Osisriw Newbouldialaevis

M

? Cowpea Vigna unguiculata F Kyonkyen Bark cloth tree Antiaris F/O

Ankye Akee apple Blighia sapida F/Fu

Odum Milicia excelsa T

F: food M: medicinal Fu: fuelwood O: other uses ?: not known T: timber C: carving


The five varieties of crop are interplantedwith seven species of tree/sapling havingvarious uses (Table 4). The crops includecowpea, which is not found in any of the firstthree cases presented above but whichoccurs on two farms here, and cocoyamwhich is rare in tenant farms.

Reasons for the conservation of trees

In all four cases, the tenants cited growingscarcity of fuelwood associated withdeforestation as the principal reason for thepractice of tree conservation. Trees areharvested regularly for fuelwood. Otherreasons were that the trees serve the usefulpurposes of providing the following:medicine; supplementary food; wood forcarving, fencing and house construction; andmortar and pestle for pounding fufu, apopular local meal.

Contrary to expectation, the tenantsreportedly started conserving treesspontaneously, independently of the nearlytwo year-old PLEC campaign of treeconservation in the Gyamfiase-Adenyademonstration site. This finding would seemto suggest that there is, inherent amongtenants, environmental consciousness,which PLEC should recognize and use as abasis for its bio-physical conservation drive.

Conclusion

This paper shows that, contrary to popularbelief, tenant-farmers do not in all casesexploit land resources: some of them do, infact, consciously conserve and regeneratesuch resources. The paper alsounderscores a need for PLEC field workersto remain alert for the unexpected. It isessential not to operate solely on the basis ofpreconceived notions or hypotheses, whichmay betray individual prejudices and turn outto be fallacies.

References

Division of Agricultural Economics, Ministry ofAgriculture

1962 A report on a survey of land tenuresystems in Ghana. Ghana Bulletin ofAgricultural Economics 2(1): 1–15.

Gyasi, E.A.1994 The adaptability of African communal

land tenure to economic opportunity:the example of land acquisition for oilpalm farming in Ghana. Africa 64(3):385–405.

Gyasi, E.A.1996 Land holding and its relationship with

biophysical status: case study oftenancy and non-tenancy farming inGhana. PLEC News and Views 7:21–25.

Hill, P.1963 The migrant cocoa-farmers of Southern

Ghana: a study in rural capitalism.London: Cambridge University Press.

Varley, W.J. and H.P. White1958 The Geography of Ghana. London:

Longman.


DIVERSITY OF UPLAND RICE, AND OF WILD VEGETABLES, IN BAKA,XISHUANGBANNA, YUNNAN1

Fu Yongneng and Chen AiguoXishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan 666303

1 This article is drawn from two separate articles by the authors, put together by the editors. Translation is by LiangLuohui, Managing Coordinator of PLEC.

Introduction and methods

This article reports two background studiesin the Xishuangbanna village of Baka, one ofthe four demonstration sites of the ChinaCluster. Baka people are mostly Jinuo,members of an indigenous group numbering18,000 people. In former times theypractised shifting agriculture only, but manyvillages, including Baka, were relocatedcloser to rivers and roads during the period1950–80; most now cultivate some irrigatedlowland rice. The main upland crops includeupland rice, maize and beans. Jinuo used togrow about 100 types of upland rice. Theystill grow about 70 types to meetrequirements of households with differenteconomic conditions, using lands with variednatural conditions.

In the past they also extensively collectedroots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruits ofwild plants. Jinuo still collect more than 200species of plants for food, medicine andother uses. Among them, more than 100species are wild vegetables, accounting for amajor part of collected wild plants. Mostvegetables are from forests, except for a fewthat are planted. Some of the latter arecommon on the market, and include Choucai(Acacia insia), Baihua (Bauhinia variegata),Xiangchun (Toona sinensis), Ciyuantuo(Eryngium foetidum), Shuiqin (Oenanthejavanica), Citianqie (Solanum indicum) andYuxingcao (Houttuynia cordata).

Little has been reported on assessment ofvariety diversity at natural village levelalthough there are some research reports onvariety diversity of the fallow system at thehigher administrative village level. This

study began with inventory. In the field, incompany with the householders, researchersrecorded the local name of different varietiesof upland rice, and later obtained informationabout their sowing time, type, shape, andother characteristics. They moved throughdifferent altitudes from lowland to highlandwithin the village. By discussion andobservation they recorded land-use history,and soil fertility, and found out existingproblems and opportunities for development.

They also noted local names of wildvegetables, and by interview obtainedinformation about their collecting time,frequency, tools used and the parts of plantsthat are collected. A structuredquestionnaire survey was designed to findout specific items such as quantitiescollected, home consumption, and sale. Astatistical analysis on results was thencarried out. The researchers also visited thelocal market and recorded types, quantitiesand prices of wild vegetables on sale.

Diversity of upland rice

The 48 natural villages of Jinuo Townshipgrow about 70 varieties of upland rice. Bakagrows 20, as shown in Table 1. According todifferent standards, these varieties can beclassified into a few large groups:

a) By sowing time, three groups, i.e. early-sown, middle-sown, and late-sown;

b) By variety, two groups, i.e. non-glutinousand glutinous;

c) By colour, three groups, i.e. red, whiteand mixed colour groups;


Table 1 List of upland rice varieties in Baka

No Local name Sowingtime

Type* Shape** Shellcolourcc

Graincolourcc

Taste Yield Temper-ature(resistantto) †

Fertilityof soil

Fre-quency

1 landigu middle G s and t r w b, h low c poor few

2 luoli early G m, r r r g high h fertile many

3 hejieba middle G m, r w r b high c and h poor more

4 liajdaogu early G t and lo w w g, s andf

middle c fertile few

5 diancui early G m, r w w h middle c fertile few

6 bailuogu late Ng lo and L w w g high c and h fertile many

7 maogu late G r, s p r be, f middle c+ poor fewer

8 huagu late G r, s p withw

r be, f middle c+ poor fewer

9 mowanggu early G r, L w w be, fand s

high h fertile few

10 changgu late G t and lo; m w w g, f low c fertile fewest

11 sequoluo early G t and lo w w g, s andf

low c fertile few

12 manyagu late G L and lo p withy

w b, h high c fertile many

13 hebeng middle G L*, r p withy

w g, f middle c fertile many

14 gulala the last Ng t, lo p p g, s andf

lowest c fertile few

15 xiahong middle G lo, m w r b, h high c poor few

16 dahong middle G lo, L withshort awn

w r b, c high c poor few

17 xihong middle G lo, s w r b, h andc

high c and h poor more

18 anene late Ng lo, L y r g high h fertile many

19 langu late G lo, L r w g, s andf

high c fertile few

20 ximongu late G L, r p withw

w g, h andf

high c fertile few

Key:

* G: glutinous; Ng: non-glutinous

** s: small; m: medium; L: large; r: round; t: thin; lo: long; L*: largest.cc r: red; w: white; p: purple; y: yellow.

tt b: bad; g: good; h: hard; s: soft; f: fragrant; be: best; c: coarse.† c: cold; c+: colder; h: hot.

d) By the temperature most suitable for thevarieties, which are respectively cold-resistant, heat-resistant and broadlytolerant. There are two reasons for theco-existence of three groups. One is thatthe village altitude ranges from 600metres to 1250 metres above sea level.Second is that new varieties are easily

introduced as this village is now near theroad.

Difference in planting frequency amongvarieties

Variation in planting frequency has threecauses:


a) Differences in natural conditions. This ismainly due to difference in temperatureat different altitudes. At high altitude,varieties resistant to cold are planted.Baka village has moved down from theheights to the existing site. Therefore,the planting area of some traditionalcold-resistant varieties has decreasedgradually. In addition, households withrelatively more lowland wet-rice land tendnot to go to the uplands for shiftingagriculture. This tendency furtherreduces frequency of planting of somecold-resistant varieties.

As for two varieties, xiahong and dahong(15 and 16 Table 1), local people havefound that it is difficult to thresh them inthe hot lowland, and consequently theyare planted less than before. They havealmost stopped planting changgu (10),which used to be planted at the oldvillage site, since it is not suitable to thetemperature at the new village site.Landigu (1), that produces a relativelyhigh yield on low quality soil in thehighlands, yields less well in the lowland,so it is now planted less than formerly.

(b) Difference in the economic situations ofhouseholds. Some types of upland ricetaste good, but yield poorly. Only richhouseholds plant them. Poorhouseholds prefer the varieties of uplandrice which yield well but taste poorly.Thus, they have enough rice to eat or sellto the local market.

c) Difference in soil fertility. At the old site,per capita fallow land of Baka village was25 mu according to national regulations.Fallow period was 8-15 years since Bakawas sparsely populated. As a result, soilfertility could recover with a long fallowperiod. Soil quality was high at the oldsite. After the community had moveddown from the old site to the new site,3000 mu of fallow land was classified aspart of Nature Reserve in 1978. Percapita fallow land was reduced to 8 mu.The fallow period has to be shortened tomaintain grain production. Soil fertility is

degraded as the fallow period is not longenough for it to recover. Thus, somevarieties such as ximongu (20), whichrequire high soil fertility, were not plantedas often as they used to be at the oldsite. Their sowing area has decreased inrecent years as soil fertility is depleted.

Use of wild vegetables

Due to continuing uncertainties of landtenure, local people collect what they canfind in the mountains, and there is littleattempt to conserve species and varieties.Some people cut canes or trees, even digout plant roots. Wild vegetables of economicvalue or seasonal ones, in particular, are notsustainably collected. This leads todegradation of wild vegetables andinfluences sustainable use of resources. Forinstance, the top shoots of Citongcao(Trevesia palmata) have almost all been cutand collected.

Through a long history of collectingwild vegetables, all nationalities inXishaungbanna have acquired knowledge ofhow to collect wild vegetables regularly andseasonally according to different periods ofgrowth, blossom and seeding. Similarly,they have developed different ways ofcooking wild vegetables, such as toasting,frying, making soup or jam; some are eatenraw. They also have various ways ofprocessing them, including fermentation anddrying. However, little has been recorded onthe assessment of species diversity of wildvegetables at village level.

Results are shown in Table 2, which lists 55species of wild vegetables used at Baka.The fresh stems and leaves of plants aremostly collected. The village is very rich innatural resources of seasonal bambooshoots and mushrooms. Their sales on themarket are large. Both of these two wildvegetables have big potential for furtherdevelopment. Through the sale of wildvegetables in the market, the Jinuo haveincreased considerably their involvement inbusiness.


Table 2 Ethnobotanical Inventory of wild vegetables in Baka, Xishuangbanna

No Chinese Name Latin Name Jinuo Name EdiblePart *

CookingMethod †

CollectionSeason

Habitat § Frequency

1 Jiahaitong Pittosporopsiskerri

Buokuoluo Fr b Jul-Aug pf Often

2 Caijie Callipteris Duokuolu fs, L b, f Apr-May sh or s Often

3 Jia Pege L f, b Mar-May sh or s Often

4 Huoshaohua Mayodendronigneum

Leduolo fo, fL f, t Apr sh or s Sometimes

5 Hongpao Miabosele fo, fL r Nov-Jan sh or r Occasionally

6 Lidoujian Typhoniumdiversifolium

Yeduo fs f, s Nov-May w Often

7 Shutiejie Brainea insignis Duoche fs f, df Sept-Jun sh or s Sometimes

8 Ciwujia Acanthopanaxtrifoliatus

Mame t, s, f Nov-May sh, s, orr

Often

9 Manji Dicranopterisdichotoma

Duo ki a t, s, f Sept-May d or u Often

10 Diannanhujiao Piper spirei Sagang c s Mar-Apr sh, s, orr

Often

11 Gegeili s Dec-May sh or s Often

12 Yeqingcai Oenanthejavanica

Palienei L f, b Apr-May sh, we,or s

Often

13 Xintongzhi Chituoluo L t, f Nov-Apr d or we Often

14 Jieleiyizhong Pteridium sp. Duoge so Jan-Dec s or w Sometimes

15 Beifenteng Cissus repens Kemo Fr r Jun-Aug d or we Often

16 Zhonghuaqiuhaitang Begoniacathayana

Pachele L f, t Sept-Jun s or w Sometimes

17 Fengyanlian Eichhorniacrassipes

Paga L t, f, b Apr wa Occasionally

18 Yeqingcai Brassicachinensis

Letugemo W so, f Apr-May sh or s Often

19 Seche f, b Aug-Sept s or sh Often

20 Neijiangjun Muzhi W f, b Jul-Oct sf Often

21 Shaozhoujun Mubo W f Jul-Oct sf Often

22 Mupoluo b, so Jul-Oct sf Often

23 Dahongjun Mulele W so Jul-Oct sf Often

24 Lajun Mupili W df Jul-Oct sf Often

25 Muer Laokulu W f, t Jul-Aug s, f Often

26 Beisheng Munie W so, f, t Jul-Aug s, f

27 Likeyizhong Digeye W t Nov-Apr ri Often

28 Muguarong Carica papaya Sepu fs, L b Feb-Mar s or f Often

29 Ciyu Lasia spinosa Tai L, Fr b Jan-Dec s or f Sometimes

30 Nuomiye Serobilanthus sp Ejieena fs, L b Jul-Aug s Often

31 Houpirong Ficus callosa Palin fs, L b Mar-Apr fm or w Sometimes

32 Cijiancai Amaranthusspinosus

Yamogeye fL b, f Nov-Apr ri, fi Often

33 Shuimiqi ? Cardamine sp Geginie W so Jan-Dec ri Often

34 Qicai Cardamine sp Geginie W b Jan-Dec ri Often

35 Qianjinteng ? Stephaniaforsteri

Pabu fs, L b Apr-May ri Often

36 Shuiqin Oenanthejavanica

Paniene fs, L f Jul-Aug ri Often


No Chinese Name Latin Name Jinuo Name EdiblePart *

CookingMethod †

CollectionSeason

Habitat § Frequency

37 Zhongyelu Thysanolaena Lebulu fco r, f, df Nov s or f Often

38 Biba Piper longum Geye fs, L r, f, b Apr-May ri Often

39 Huangjiangyizhong Alpinia sp Meibu fs, L f, b Apr-May ri, sh Sometimes

40 Yutou Colocasia fallax mibiabuleduo fs, L b Jun-Nov ri or sh Sometimes

41 Choumudan ? Clerodendrumphilippinum

Shuonie fs, L t, s Nov-Dec ri, sh Sometimes

42 Yeqie Solanumcoagulens

Sekuole fFr f, df, b Mar-May ri, r Often

43 Shuijiecai Callipterisesculenta

Duokuoluo fs, L f Jun-Jul ri Often

44 Huabancai Parabaenasagittata

Padele fs, L f, b Mar-Dec ri or r Often

45 Shuixiangcai Bohuo fs, L f, r Jan-Dec ri or r Sometimes

46 Kuliangcai Solanum nigrumvar.

Geli fs, L f, b Jun-Jul ri or fi Often

47 Nansheteng Celastruspaniculata

Cuopuliualie fs, L b Apr-May m Often

48 Malan Baphicacanthuscusia

Biaobu fo b Mar-Apr s Often

49 Cipao Thladiantha sp Pakuoluo fFr, L f, b Mar-Jun f Often

50 Dayuantuo Eryngiumfoetidum

Pabuoma W r, f, b Jan-Dec f Often

51 Chouyunshi Caesalpiniamimosoides

Pala fs, L b Mar-Aug s or r Often

52 Duanbanhua Brachystemmacalycinum

Kaneipabuluo fs, L t Feb-May ro Sometimes

53 Rouhuihujiao Pipersemiimmersum

Piuge fL t Jan-Dec s Often

54 Liangmianzhen Zanthoxylumnitidum

Akiubutu fL t Nov-Mar shw

55 Shanyo Dioscorea alata Memo R Apr-May

Key:

* Fr: fruit; L: leaf; s: stem; c: cane; f: fresh; fo: flower; w: whole plant; co: core; R: root.† b: boil; f: fry; df: deep fry; t: toast; r: eat raw; s: steam; so: soup.§ m: mountain; ri: near river; fm: forest margin; pf: primary forest; sf: secondary forest; sh: shady; shw: shady and wet; s: near

stream; f: fallow; r: near road; w: near water; du: dry or upland; dw: dry or wet; wa: water; we: wetland; fi: field; ro: nearrock

Other literature

Du Xiting1985 The history of Jinuo nationality (in Chinese).

Kunming: Yunnan People’s Press.Guo Huijun

1994 From natural forests to economy of homegarden—example of the Jinuo people inXishuanbanna (in Chinese). In FengYaoshong and Cai Chuangtao (eds)Chinese farmer’s home garden, pp. 243–250. Beijing: Science Press.

Long Chunlin, Li Yanhui, Wang Jieru and Pei Shengji1995 Crop diversity in swidden agroecosystems of

the Jinuo in Xishuangbanna, China. In PeiShenji and Percy Sajise (eds) Regional

study on biodiversity: concepts, frameworks,and methods, pp. 151–157. Kunming:Yunnan University Press.

Wang Jieru and Long Chunlin1996 Ethnobotanical research on eatable plants of

the Jinuo people (in Chinese). YunnanBotanical Research, 17(2): 161–168.

Xu Jianchu, Chen Shanyan and Li Yanhui1997 Research on diversity of crop species and

variety in Mongson fallow agriculture system.Proceedings of research reports onbiodiversity in Xishuangbanna fallowagriculture system, pp. 44-51. Kunming:Yunnan Education Press.


SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF AN AMAZONIAN FOREST FOR TIMBERPRODUCTION: A MYTH OR REALITY?

Miguel Pinedo-Vásquez1 and Fernando Rabelo2

1 Center for Environment Research and Conservation CERC

Columbia University2 Instituto de Pesquisa Ambientales da Amazonia IPAM

Background

Several researchers have exposed the limitsof forest management for timber productionas a means of protecting biodiversity andreducing deforestation rates in Amazonia(Rice, Gullison and Reid 1997; Robinson1993). The uncontrolled or liquidationlogging practised by loggers is mentioned asone of the reasons why in Amazoniasustainable timber management is a myth.The low density of valuable species such asmahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) andcedro (Cedrela odorata) were found to becorrelated to this kind of logging (Dickinson,Dickinson and Putz 1996; Putz and Viana1996).

Most conservationists use the argumentof high biodiversity as an ecological reasonwhy timber cannot be sustainably producedin Amazonia (Robinson 1993). Researchersalso believe that timber activities, regardlessof where and at what scale they areconducted and who is conducting them,produce loss of biodiversity, fragmentation ofhabitat, and other ecological and economicproblems. Recently, some conservationistspointed out that the dependency ofmahogany and other valuable timber specieson forest openings for regeneration, and theirpoor growth performance in mature stands,are other important reasons why timbermanagement is not an alternative land usesystem that can reduce deforestation andbiodiversity loss in Amazonia (Rice, Gullisonand Reid 1997).

Most ecologists argue against forestmanagement for timber production inAmazonia under the assumption thatselective logging erodes seed banks andgreatly reduces the capacity of valuabletimber species to regenerate naturally (Putzand Viana 1996; O’Connell 1996). Timberextraction is believed to be one of the maincauses of forest fragmentation in Amazonia.This fragmentation is cited by foresters tohave negative effects on the structure,density and distribution of the vegetation,with adverse impact on habitat diversity forwildlife (Roberts and Gilliam 1995).

Researchers also argue that sustainableforest management for timber productioncannot be practised in Amazonia because ofeconomic and political factors. The marketfor Amazonian wood is very selective, anddepends on mahogany and a few other slow-growing species (Plumptre 1996). Investingtime and money in the management ofvaluable slow-growing hardwood species isbelieved to be unattractive because itrequires a long term investment in a veryunstable and risky political environment(Rice, Gullison and Reid 1997). The majorityof governments are believed to be lackingland and resource tenure policies that arenecessary to practise sustainable forestmanagement for timber production (Barbier1995). Experts also mention the lack of taxand other economic incentives for loggersand timber enterprises as another importantreason why sustainable timber production inAmazonia is a myth (Uhl et al. 1997).


Although the economic, political andecological factors are indeed limiting thesustainable production of timber inAmazonia, a close look at the way peoplewho are engaged in timber activities areconfronting these limitations presents a verydifferent picture from that presented by themajority of experts. The question is not ifsustainable forest management for timberproduction can or cannot be practised inAmazonia, but rather who can conduct it,and where, and under what economic,political and ecological conditions: and, mostimportantly, who can produce timber whileprotecting biodiversity. To answer thesequestions we look beyond timber extractionpractised by loggers in unmanaged forest,and into timber activities implemented in theirlandholdings by smallholders living in várzeaenvironments. Despite the common belief ofmost experts, timber activities in Amazoniaare not practised only in unmanaged forests:the majority of peasants plant, protect andextract timber from managed forests(Pinedo-Vásquez 1995).

In this article we examine timber activitiesof smallholders in two regions of theestuarine várzea located in the state ofAmapá, Brazilian Amazonia. We look notonly at how they manage timber but also whythey are engaged in timber activities. Toanswer these questions and measuresustainability, data on current and pasteconomic and political conditions that favouror limit timber production are analysed anddiscussed. We look at how the caboclosystem of timber production can help toprotect biodiversity and whether it can beused as a model for sustainable resourceuse in Amazonia.

Ecological sustainability of the caboclos’model is measured by quantifying the impactof management techniques and extraction onspecies, habitat diversity, naturalregeneration patterns and availability of seedbanks. The economic, market and politicalconditions that favour or limit timberproduction by smallholders are also identifiedand discussed. Inputs and outputs from

timber activities are quantified and analysedin order to determine if smallholder timbermanagement can be promoted in the region.

Site and household selection

Data reported in this paper were collectedfrom 1991 to 1997 by members of the PLECsub-Cluster Amapá within the AmazoniaCluster. All information was collected fromdemonstration sites located in the estuarinevárzea areas formed by the Amazon,Mazagao, Ajudante and Mutuaca Rivers(Figure 1). In 1991, preliminary plantsurveys were conducted in the fields, housegardens, fallows and forests owned by 140households of the total 185 families that livein the area. Members of each householdwere interviewed about their production andmanagement activities, including timber.Data collected on the inputs and outputs oftimber activities began in 1992 in 35households which were self-selected to 12 atthe end of the five-year period of the study(December 1997).

Impact of the methods and techniques oftimber management and extraction weremonitored on the properties of the 12sampled households. Plant inventories andthe evaluation of natural regeneration wereconducted every two years. Changes in logprices and the amount of timber sold by eachselected household were also recorded.Trees selected and protected by each familyas seed producers were counted, measuredand species identified. Past timber activitiesin the region were recorded from thearchives of the municipalities of Macapá andSantana and by interviewing selected long-term residents at the site.

Why smallholder households areengaged in timber activities

We found ecological, economic, social andhistorical information that explains why


Figure 1 Study Sites

várzea peasants are engaged in forestmanagement for timber production. The ruralinhabitants of Amapá identify severalecological and environmental factors thatmake the estuarine várzea an ideal place forpractising timber activities. Among these isthe proximity of forest areas to riverchannels. In addition, most várzea land-forms are easy to reach during high tides.Although the estuarine várzea contains richsoils, crop production is very limited becausemost of the land is exposed to daily tidalfreshwater floods. While tidal floods limitcrop production, they are important naturalfactors that favour the establishment andgrowth of forests. Floods provide the mainvehicle for seed dispersal and source of newsediments whose high nutrient contentfacilitates the rapid natural regeneration of

tree species. The availability of nutrients insediments and water, the adaptability ofmost timber species to flood and otherenvironmental and ecological conditions,make the estuarine várzea one of the mostsuitable environments for timbermanagement in Amazonia.

In the past, based on historical records,the high stock of commercial volume ofcedro (Cedrela odorata), samauma (Ceibapentandra), virola (Virola surinamensis) andmuratinga (Maquira coriaceae) allowed avery important timber industry to flourish inthe region. From the beginning of thiscentury until 1970 seven large sawmills(daily production of 20,000 m3) and fourplywood factories were operating in or nearthe demonstration sites. These industries


closed down or moved to other regionsduring the 1970s and early 1980s, mainlybecause the stocks of the four dominantcommercial species were exhausted inAmapá and neighbouring várzea regions.

The departing timber enterprises leftbehind unemployed people with high skills ofwood processing techniques, sawmilloperation and other timber processingactivities. Although most of these expertsmoved to the cities of Santana and Macapá,those who remained in the area built smallfamily-run sawmills and other timberprocessing plants using mainly recycledmaterials from the abandoned facilities.Because the stocks of the most valuabletimber species were exhausted, the ownersof these small sawmills began to buy andprocess species that smallholders alreadymanaged in their forests, fallows, housegardens and forests for firewood, medicineand fruit production.

The majority of smallholders were alreadymanaging Cedrela odorata and othervaluable species on their land. The family-run small sawmills then created a market forseveral fast-growing species such as paumulato (Calycophyllum spruceanum). Thedemand for these has made forestmanagement for timber productioneconomically attractive to peasant families.In addition, the market created by the family-run small industries produced a change fromthe traditional dependency of the timbermarket on a few slow-growing species suchas Swietenia macrophylla and Cedrelaodorata.

Two other important factors have providednew impetus for farmers to engage in timberactivities. Most regions of BrazilianAmazonia are connected to the developedregions of the South of Brazil: consequentlysmallholders cannot compete with the highquality and low prices of rice, corn, beansand other crops that are produced in thesouth and sold in the urban markets ofAmazonia. Várzea farmers therefore beganproducing bananas as a source of householdcash income. During the last 15 years,

however, the region has suffered from anepidemic of mokko disease that practicallyeliminated banana plantations from theregion and has left farmers with very fewsources of household income. Under theseconditions, smallholders depend greatly ontheir ability to produce timber on their ownland. How are these rural Amazonians doingthis under these ecological, economic andsocial conditions? In this project we havefocused on understanding the strategies andmanagement techniques that are used bythem to answer this and other questions.

Timber management and extraction aspractised by smallholders

Farmers manage timber by maintaining apatchy landscape on their properties, whereforests, fallows, house gardens and fieldsprovide a diversity of habitats andenvironmental gradients suitable for a rangeof regeneration, growth and production offast- as well as slow-growing timber species.They have diversified their traditional land-use systems by combining agriculture,agroforestry and natural forest managementtechniques for the production of timber. Bypractising multiple use management, ratherthan converting their property to a single usesuch as cattle ranching, smallholders notonly reduce the ecological risks but alsomaintain several economic options. Theymanage a range of size, location andsuccession of forests, fallows, housegardens and fields in order to produce bothslow- and fast-growing timber species.

While the size and location of housegardens tend to remain more stable, the sizeand location of fields, fallows and forestsvary. The average size of house garden perhousehold was 2.7 ha. An average of twofields per family, covering an area of 1.4 ha,were made every year from 1992 to 1997.The average area of fields maintained peryear by each family was 3.2 ha during thefive years of the study. Corn, watermelon,


vegetables and sugar cane are cultivated infields for two years.

Farmers cannot produce banana in theirfields, but they manage to produce thisimportant cash crop in fallows by using asophisticated and complex agroforestrysystem and techniques that control thedamage produced by the mokko disease.The average area of fallows was 6.5 haunder different ages (from one to five years).Smallholders manage their fallows for anaverage of five years, after which productionof banana declines. Such patterns of fallowmanagement have led to the establishmentof multi-aged forests where fast- and slow-growing species are found. The average sizeof multi-aged forest within the properties ofthe sampled households was 15.6 ha. Theaverage total area of each property was28 ha. Despite the opinion of most experts,the maintenance of a patchy landscape andfragmented forest favours rather than limitsthe practice of timber management bysmallholder families.

In order to maintain available seed banksto help regenerate timber species, farmersselect and maintain seed producer trees inall four categories of land use areas. Seedproducer trees were of DBH=45 cm andshowed no or very few signs of insect ordisease damage. Each sampled householdkeeps as seed producers an average of ninetrees of eight species in their house gardens,seven individuals of five species in theirfields, 26 trees of 12 species in fallows, and32 trees of 14 species in forests. Amongthese seed producer trees are includedindividuals of Cedrela odorata, Ceibapentandra, Maquira coriaceae, Virolasurinamensis, Carapa guianensis and otherspecies that were over-exploited by loggersin the region.

The number of seed producers andspecies protected in forests is greater than infields and fallows, because seed producersof most fast-growing species are selectedand protected in forests. Seed producingtrees of over-exploited species are mostlykept in house gardens because in the past

loggers working for the timber industriesclaimed ownership of trees withmerchantable volume of these species insmallholder forests and fallows.

Timber management in fields focuses onthe protection of seed producer trees andseedlings that are either naturallyregenerated, transplanted or planted. Fallowmanagement for timber production focuseson the management of juveniles, andremoval of selected individuals of vines,shrubs and pioneer trees to facilitate themaintenance of diverse gradients of light andhumidity for natural regeneration. Smallfarmers focus management on adult trees inforested areas for high growth and diameterincrement. Trees in forest areas aremanaged mainly by eliminating selectedemergent trees from the stands, usinggirdling techniques.

Each of the 12 sampled households areprotecting, planting and managing anaverage of 40 timber species on theirproperties. Of these, 24 are fast-growingand 16 slow-growing species: the majority ofthem (26) produce hardwood and 14produce light wood. Among the slow-growing species are included the over-exploited Cedrela odorata, Ceiba pentandra,Virola surinamensis and Maquira coriaceae.Most fast-growing species are extracted on aaverage rotation of eight years, while theslow-growing are on a rotation of 30 years.

Although smallholders occasionally plantor transplant seedlings, they depend mainlyon the natural regeneration of the 40species. Data on natural regenerationcollected from fields, fallows and forests ofthe 12 sampled households shows that themajority of timber species do not regeneratein either open or closed canopy conditions,but under the different light and humidityconditions of fallows.

Most of the 40 timber species managedby smallholders regenerate in fallows (18)and most species (19) have naturalregeneration equal to or less than 100seedlings per hectare. Two of the over-


exploited species (Cedrela odorata andCeiba pentandra) have the lowest density ofseedlings per area (15/ha). Only fourspecies seedlings have a density of morethan 500 per hectare: pracaxi—Pentachlethra macrolloba (3066/ha),Calycophyllum spruceanum (2110/ha),goiabarana—Bellucia glossularioide (1077per ha) and pracuuba—Mora paraensis(600/ha). Of these four species, Belluciaglossularioide is the only one with lowcommercial value. While Pentachlethramacrolloba and Mora paraensis regeneratein low densities in fallows, Calycophyllumspruceanum regenerates only in fields.Because of the quality, operability anddurability of the wood (0.78gr/cm3) and thecapacity to naturally regenerate and reachcommercial size on average in eight years,Calycophyllum spruceanum is consideredthe eucalyptus of Amazonia.

Smallholders are maintaining high stocksof commercial volume of timber on theirproperties. Each of the 12 sampledproperties contained an average of 525trees/ha (DBH=26 cm) with an average of1103.88m3/ha of standing commercialvolume. Each farm was estimated to containapproximately 14,700 trees with an averageof 30,908.64 m3 standing commercialvolume.

While trees with commercial volume ofmost species (36) were found in forest areasas well as in house gardens, fallows andfields, all individuals with commercial volumeof four over-exploited species: Cedrelaodorata, Maquira coreaceae, Ceibapentandra and Virola surinamensis, werefound only in house gardens and fields. Anaverage of 24 trees/ha with an average of53.98m3/ha standing commercial volume ofthese four species were found in the housegardens and fields. Over the five-year studynone of these trees were extracted by thesampled households, but were protected asseed producers or kept as a security sourceof cash for a time of economic crisis.

The abundance of commercial standingvolume of fast-growing species helps

farmers keep trees with commercial volumeof over-exploited species on their properties.Two fast-growing species alone contain thehighest number of trees/ha and standingcommercial volume: Calycophyllumspruceanum and macucu (Licaniaheteromorpha). Each property in the samplecontains an average of 111 trees/ha with253.31m3/ha, and 92 trees/ha with 352.02m3/ha of standing commercial volume, ofCalycophyllum spruceanum and Licaniaheteromorpha, respectively. These twospecies comprise 39% (5,684) of trees and55% (16,949.24 m3) of the standingcommercial volume estimate on the averageproperty.

An average of 2,324 m3/yr (83 m3/ha) oftimber was extracted per household duringthe five-year study. From these an averageof 37% (860 m3) came from Calycophyllumspruceanum, 23% (534 m3) from andiroba(Carapa guianensis), 12% (279 m3) frommacacauba (Platymiscum huberi) and theother 28% (651 m3) from 26 other species.Farmers did not extract logs of 11 specieswhich include the four most over-exploitedspecies in the region. All logs extracted bythe 12 sampled households during the fiveyears were sold to the owners of smallfamily-run sawmills.

The price per cubic metre of logs paid bythe owners of small sawmills increased threetimes from January 1992 (R$ 4/m3) toJanuary 1996 (R$ 12/m3). Although themanagement of timber in a patchy landscapeand fragmented forests includes direct andindirect costs, all sampled householdscalculate profits from timber extractiondiscounting only direct costs. Most of theindirect cost such as making fields, isdiscounted from agriculture or agroforestryproduction. The most common directmanagement costs of timber production citedby the 12 sampled households are related tothe management of seed producer trees,natural regeneration, juveniles and maturetrees.

The annual net revenue average made byeach household from selling 2,324 m3/yr of


logs during the five-year study was$13,981/year. Since most management andextraction costs are covered by the labour offamily members, the household income isgreater than the estimated net revenue. Inaddition, because the owners of smallsawmills pay yield tax, the state of Amapáprovides tax incentives to farmers to managetimber on their properties. While a moreconventional economic analysis is needed,the results from the standard cost-benefitanalysis shows that timber management is aviable source of household income for theimpoverished caboclo families living in thevárzeas of Amapá.

Discussion

The search for answers on how to producetimber in a sustainable way in tropicalrainforest has produced a large body ofvaried and important ecological, socio-economic and political information. Althoughsuch information is extremely valuable forunderstanding the issues of sustainability,researchers tend to use it to makeirresponsible conclusions. Most of theseresearchers do not see the differencebetween protecting or conserving tropicalrainforest and sustainable forestmanagement, yet most social groups that areusing forest resources can clearly see thedifferences. Generalizations made byexperts limit rather than help to integratesite-specific experience that can help to findsolutions to deforestation and the decline ofbiodiversity in Amazonia.

Most experts are well informed on theactivities of loggers and timber companies,but their knowledge of smallholders’ timberactivities is very limited. They tend torepresent smallholder forest use andmanagement as essentially, if notexclusively, oriented toward non-timberproducts. While non-timber goods areindeed important to many tropical dwellers,results from our study show that timber is avery important output from forest areas that

are managed for multiple-uses by ruralAmazonians.

The ways in which smallholders manageforest for timber production, however, differgreatly from methods used by professionalforesters and industrial timber companies.Management implemented by timbercompanies is based on a single system toyield a single product while smallholdersmanage forests for multiple products using avariety of management systems. Industrialtimber management focuses on speciesexclusion while peasants manage timber byfocusing on the exclusion of selectedindividual trees. By removing selected treesrather than species, biodiversity is preservedin smallholders’ forests. These and othercritical differences between the two systemsof management and industrial timbermanagement are usually not considered bythose experts who argue about why or whynot timber can be sustainably produced inAmazonia. The lack of attention given totimber management by smallholders has ledto considerable misinterpretation andovergeneralization and in turn to theformulation of inappropriate policies. Greaterattention to this important body of knowledgeand practice is encouraged.

Conclusion

Several ecological studies have proved thatAmazonian forests tend to recover aftertimber extraction. In both the short- andlong-term, valuable tree species canregenerate in areas where timber wasextracted if seed banks are left (Boyle andSayer 1995; Heinrich 1995). Although mostresearchers agree that forest openings madeduring timber extraction can indeed produceshort-term ecological damage such ashabitat fragmentation, the main damage isthe removal of all productive adult individualsof valuable species to a degree that they cannot regenerate (Roberts and Gilliam 1995).The adverse impact of the current practicesof timber extraction by loggers, particularly of


mahogany and tropical cedar, is not in theopenings that are created, but rather in theremoval of all adult individuals withoutleaving some trees which are in reproductivestate. Such destructive-extractive methodshave reduced the capacity of these and othervaluable species to naturally regenerate.Although most timber is extracted usingdestructive-extractive methods, there areextractive methods that are not destructive.For instance, the method of selectiveweeding used by smallholders helps them toeliminate vines and reduce damage by treefall.

Research conducted on small-scaletimber management practised bysmallholders in Amazonia and Indonesiashows that biodiversity and habitat diversityincreases in areas of forests that aremanaged for timber production (Pinedo-Vásquez and Padoch 1996). Smallholdersuse diverse and complex techniques toproduce timber using ecosystemmanagement where regeneration materialsare abundant, and different gradients of lightenvironments for the establishment anddynamic function of the vegetation: diversityof habitat is created for seed dispersal(Pinedo-Vásquez 1995). Several importantconservation applications can indeed befound by understanding the diversity, scaleand intensity of timber management that ispractised by smallholders and other groupsin Amazonia and other tropical regions (Lugo1995; Franklin 1993, Bodmer et al. 1992).

Several studies report how smallholdersmanage forest for timber production: butmost of this information is still not used bythe experts who argue in favour ofsustainable timber production in Amazonia.The technical and scientific informationproduced by researchers who do studytimber management by rural Amazoniansshows that sustainable management oftropical rainforest for timber production is notjust a matter of knowing how. There is also aneed to identify and understand thehistorical, ecological, economic and socialfactors that create conditions in which timber

can be sustainably produced. Severalauthors suggest that experts should lookbeyond the ecological factors (Putz andViana 1996).

While there are many ecological factorsthat make it difficult to practise sustainableforest management, socio-economic andcultural factors are mainly responsible forlimiting the practice of sustainable forestmanagement in the estuarine várzeaenvironments of Amapá. For instance, wefound that most rural inhabitants of thevárzeas of Amapá are able to practisesustainable forest management for timberproduction because of the demand for highnumbers of fast-growing timber speciescreated by small-scale sawmills. Ironically,these family-run timber industries wereestablished after timber enterprises movedfrom the region, having depleted the stock ofthe most valuable timber species from theAmapá forests.

References

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