id21 insights is a thematic overview of recent policy-relevant research findings on international development. Funded by the UK Department for International Development, it is distributed free to policymakers and practitioners worldwide. This issue of Insights includes the following articles:
- Are NTFPs a way out of poverty? Over the last 30 years, policymakers and conservation non-government organisations have focused on the sustainable production and commercialisation of non-timber forest products (NFTPs). Is this a way forward in tropical forested areas for successful conservation and rural development?
- Walnut fruit forests in rural Kyrgyzstan: Agroforestry is the predominant way of life in forested parts of southern Kyrgyzstan and walnut forests are a major part of the cultural landscape. Local farmers lease forest plots from the state and these provide a wide range of nontimber forest products (NTFPs).
- Sharing science with forest communities in Amazonia: People in remote Amazon villages regularly sell 30 metre fruit trees to log-gers that can produce up to 2,000 nutritious fruits a year. The villagers, who rarely know the market prices, earn the equivalent of two US dol-lars per tree.
- Sal seeds, an untapped resource in India: Across central India, around 30 million forest dwellers, mostly tribal people, depend on the seeds, leaves and resins from Sal trees (Shorea robusta) for their livelihood. Sal seeds are crucial because people collect them in May and June when other sources of income are limited – after Kendu (Diospyros melanoxylon) leaves have been harvested and before the agricultural season.
- Wildlife products and forest livelihoods: Wildlife products are a significant source of food, income and fuel for many people living in tropical forested regions.
- Governing NTFP market chains: Strategies to extract and cultivate non-timber forest products can increase financial returns to poor producers. However, a global study by the Centre for International Forestry Research shows that such strategies have led to resource depletion and inequalities between households and people within the market chains.
- Local processing boosts local earnings: Households rarely generate enough income from gathering NTFPs (non-timber forest products) and selling them locally. Their retail value sold beyond local markets is far higher.
- Rubber market chains in Indonesia: Rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) has generated substantial profits to communities living near forests in many countries. In Indonesia, rubber producers have taken advantage of international demand, national development schemes, and high competition among wholesalers working for processing plants.
- NTFP commercialisation: The commercialisation of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) has been widely promoted as a successful approach to rural development in tropical forest areas. But the benefits of poverty alleviation and natural resource conservation can be hard to achieve.
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