THINKING beyond the canopyTHINKING beyond the canopy

Community conservation and

livelihoods: complimentary or

tradeoffs?

13th Biennial Conference of the

International Association for

Study of the Commons

11 January 2011

Hyderabad, India

Governing Forest Commons in the Congo Basin:

Non-Timber Forest Product Value ChainsVerina Ingram Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) & University of Amsterdam

v.ingram@cgiar.org

THINKING beyond the canopy

Background Congo Basin Forests

• High (67%) forest cover, globally 2nd largest intact humid forest, rich &

unique biodiversity, low but increasing degradation & deforestation

• Low levels development, 61% >$2 day, 46% population in/near forests

• High corruption, poor governance, high inequality, difficult business

environment

• Forests economic resource: commercial logging = export revenues

87.5 million US$ (1-6% of GDP), 23% forest cover allocated to timber

leases

• Under valued & unknown contribution of NTFPs: % of household

rural/urban incomes, multiple uses, level of household and ,business

dependence

THINKING beyond the canopy

A Congo cocktail..........• Take Cola (Cola acuminata, nitida & anomala, Garcinia

kola) caffeine rich nuts (a century’s old stimulant): alone or

in Coca-Cola

• Add the strong cultural associations when given &

consumed with palm wine made from indigenous raffia

(Raphia spp.), a traditional alcoholic beverage

• Mix palm wine with forest honey for ‘ntop mimbo‘, a

sweeter, stronger cocktail

• Stir in ground pygeum (Prunus africana) bark to treat

multiple aliments including prostate hyperplasia

• Drink from a bamboo (Yushina alpina) beaker

• Eat with eru (Gnetum spp): popular, nutritious leaves of

ancient vine, (also traditional medicine & wine) and safou

plums (Dacryodes edulis)

• Take bush mango (Irvingia gabonensis) bark and eru

leaves if feeling sick or have a hangover afterwards!

• and safou if you have toothache or diarrhoea

Eru/fumbwa

Gnetum spp.

Cola acuminata

Bush mango

Irvingia spp.

Safou

Dacryodes

edulis

Wax, propolis &

honey

Apiculture

products

Raphia spp.Bamboo

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Issues

Photo: K Stewart

• Despite their economic and cultural importance, recent,

reliable use, trade & income figures almost non-existent

• Values more than just economic: social, cultural, ecological

• Resource stocks largely un-quantified and cultivated stocks

(almost) completely unknown: How can manage what isn’t

measure?

• Despite this lack of data, some products highly regulated,

others in a formal void, others customarily governed

……although changes afoot regionally and nationally

• Conflicting interests: conservation lobby vs. immediate needs

vs. long term livelihood needs

• Fears that some NTFPs may become extinct as shifts from

subsistence to international trade lead to over-exploitation of

wild stocks + low levels domestication

• Market arrangements, especially international trade, appear

counterproductive to sustainable trade

• Lack of information exchange: actors, aspects and issues in

chain unknown largely to each other

Prunus africana

THINKING beyond the canopy

Aims & Research Questions

Gnetum africana

AimExplore interrelationships and impacts of the variety of governance arrangements onsustainable livelihoods of those engaged in forest product market chains originating from theCongo Basin.

Questions1. What do NTFPs contribute to the livelihoods (economic, socio-cultural & environmental) ofactors involved in the value chains? Especially the poorest and the forest based?2. What types of governance arrangements are found in NTFP market chains? and how and whydo they shape and affect NTFP chains, species survival and subsequent livelihoods?

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Key concepts

Governance

Value chains

DETAILLANTS

Marche local BAS CONGO KINSHASA

PRODUCTEURS

GROSSiSTES DETAILLANTS

CONMMATEUR

DETAILLANTSAMBULANTS

MARCHE AUTOCONSOMMATION

DONS

GROSSISTES

Sustainable livelihoods

EconomicsCommons &

Game Theory

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Dacrodyes edulisSafou

Safo

Cameroon

Democratic Republic Congo

Dacryodes edulis

Equateur

Bas Congo

Kinshasa

Cola spp.

Rhapia spp.

Stu

dy s

ites

from

sourc

e…

.

Cameroon

Extreme

North

NW, SW & West

Centre, Littoral, South East

Adamaoua

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Stu

dy s

ites

to fin

al consum

er

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Meth

odolo

gy

Selection•Actor sample and Production zone selection – Stakeholder interviews (2007)

Field work

• Inventory - transects 3 zones (2007-2008)

•Bark regeneration post-harvest study – 4 zones (2009)

VCA

2007-2009

• Structured Interviews (25% sample of actors in chains ) = 3424 actors & 632 consumers

• 40 focus group interviews &7 problem analysis workshops in 4 cities .

• 5 market surveys (2007-2008)

PAR

•Participatory action research: SWOTs, stakeholder analysis, Prunus africana: 6 working sessions stakeholder groups & 1 all stakeholder workshop, participatorily developed Prunus africana management plan. Honey: EU Export HMRP, Geographic Origin Indication , National Union, National honey profiling

•Capacity building events; group organisation, business skills. Harvest, production & processing (honey & Prunus )training, legal framework

Analysis

•Data analysis SPSS and Excel, TIAMA, interpretation satellite images, SWOT, GIS mapping

•Preliminary findings verified in meetings /workshops & peer cross-checked

Outputs

•Value chain maps: Visualisations

•Reports: Problem analysis workshop report, Inventory in NW & SW Cameroon, Guidelines for a National Management Plan for Prunus africana in Cameroon, Assessment sustainable harvest methods, Baseline study of Prunus africana chain, Domestication Guide (ICRAF), Harvest and inventory norms GTZ + CIFOR)

•Actors’ grouping: Prunus Platform, Scientific Group supporting CITES Authority,

•Policy brief: NTFPs in Cameroon & Product sheet: Prunus africana in Cameroon

Review• Literature review; NTFPs in Cameroon and VCsNTFPs in Cameroon & DRC, value chains

, 8 value chain reports, articles, presentations

(Prunus africana)

Apiculture Interprofession

Policy Briefs: DRC and Cameroon Product sheets: 8 in French & English

PAR

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Key findings: Regulatory, institutional, policy framework

• Regulatory framework exists in Cameroon and DRC –

distinguishes between own use and trade, but is:

– Seldom implemented, largely un-enforced and ineffective

– Illogical, inconsistent, NTFPs ill defined confusing

– Not based on resource availability, nor location specific

quotas nor (for majority) any vulnerability assessment

– Highly susceptible to corruption

– Heavily mixed with overlapping layers of customary rules

and land tenure arrangement

• Policy timber focussed, doesn’t address actual situation, and

not aligned to business realities, cross border trade not

harmonised across region

• Institutional framework also timber focused, weakly

devolved & fragile institutions, donor-NGO lead, little

interaction between competent authorities. Although some

business associations in Cameroon and strong traders

unions in Nigeria, few in DRC

THINKING beyond the canopy

Gnetum spp.

Dacryodes

edulis

.

Garcinia kola

.

Irvingia spp.

• Positive impacts on forest based, rural & urban livelihoods

• Large and growing demand for NTFPs in rural, and especially,

urban areas

• Wide variances in sustainability of livelihoods and chains NTFPs

play a role in food security, health and providing cash income to

meet basic needs

• Organisation and efficiency of markets a function of local culture,

product & location, technologies, distance & access

• Lack of knowledge among actors about their chain

• Market information influences vertical integration

• Market Information System & actor Platforms show initial positive

results improving integration marginalised & profits

• Stakeholders shown openness to participate in formulating policy

and regulatory options

• Sustainable harvest techniques & domestication technologies

offer potential to increase profits – but needs wide scale

disseminating and enforcement

Key findings: Social and economic aspects

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Beeswax

Values

Subsistence&

income

Average use of 9 NTFPs in Cameroon & DRC

by harvesters

- 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

% Sold

% Consumed

% given as gifts

% barterd

% Perished

% of total production

Average annual household income from NTFPs

DRC and Cameroon (2007-2009)

- 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

AVERAGE DRC & CAM

Gnetum SW Lit

Apiculture NW, SW, A

Prunus NW SW

Irvingia SW, C, S, L, E

Gum arabic EN

Bamboo

Cola

Rhapia

AVERAGE CAMEROON

Fumbwa

Safou

Apiculture

AVERAGE RDC

NTF

P c

hain

% annual harvester's houshold income from NTFP

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Numbers of actors per regional NTFP market chain

- 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000

Gnetum SW Lit

Apiculture NW, SW, A

Prunus NW SW

Irvingia SW, C, S, L, E

Gum arabic EN

Bamboo NW SW C Litt

Cola NW W E

Rhapia NW W E

TOTAL CAMEROON

Fumbwa

Safou

Apiculture

TOTAL DRC

NTF

P ch

ain

No of direct actors per chain

Annual market value NTFP chains DRC & Cameroon 2007/2008/2009

- 5,000,000 10,000,000 15,000,000 20,000,000 25,000,000 30,000,000 35,000,000

Gnetum SW Lit

Apiculture NW, SW, A

Prunus NW SW

Irvingia SW, C, S, L, E

Gum arabic EN

Bamboo NW SW C Litt

Cola NW W E

Rhapia NW W E

TOTAL CAMEROON

Fumbwa

Safou

Apiculture

TOTAL DRC

NT

FP

ch

ain

Annual market value US$

LivelihoodsEmployment & Production

THINKING beyond the canopy

• Customary rules fill some regulatory voids eg honey, bamboo & Prunus harvesting techniques

• Traditional systems also act as barriers: favouring existing actors and elites

• Technology & market changes however create new opportunities

• Decentralisation introduces new forms of control over resources

• Collective action increases negotiating power and access to information, prices and profits

Impacts of governance arrangements

• Unregulated access to Raphia leads to decreases in quantity and quantity

• Cola is planted upon the birth of the 1st son and trees are often ‘owned’

• Over 52 % of Prunus africana trees inventoried in wild forests are harvested, of which 60% unsustainably – compared to 40% planted Prunus of which 38% unsustainably

• 97% of eru harvesters indicate increasing scarcity & 45% is harvested using unsustainable techniques

• Beekeepers now planting hive material sources and avoiding using Kofia (Lophira lanceolota) as fuel wood to melt wax

Intermediaries and new markets increase honey buying price for honey up to

Illustrations

THINKING beyond the canopy

• Congo Basin NTFP trade under appreciated & insufficiently captured in economic,

employment, food security and health statistics

• Governance arrangements major impact on income equity & distribution, market

access & control and profit margins

• Power, relationships (lobby and government contacts) & tenure critical

• Overlapping & conflicting traditional, regulatory and devolved authorities cloud

governance

• Policy & regulatory extremes & inappropriate legal framework ripe for rationalisation

• Processing & storage important to add value locally (vertical integration)

• Domestication a good indicator of sustainability - cultivation decisive for long term

chain continuation

• Employment & profitability increase when sector professionalized - but access to

most profitable parts of chain may then be limited by powerful/elites

• Importance of business, capital, legal, infrastructure & technical support

• For long lived species, temporal consideration waiting long term impacts of

changing governance arrangements

• Raising awareness and enforcement of new policy regimes (honey, Prunus africana

etc.) will be critical in actualizing changes

Conclusions

THINKING beyond the canopyTHINKING beyond the canopy

The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

is one of the 15 centres supported by the Consultative

Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

Thank you!

www.cifor.cgiar.orgv.ingram@cgiar.org