Inventory of non-timber forest products in Western Nepal and strategies for sustainable management

Abstract

Non-timber Forest Products (NTFPs) play an important role as traditional source for food, fiber, fodder, and medicine and offer income opportunities for poverty alleviation especially in rural households in Nepal who engage in a widespread trade of NTFPs. Adequate planning for sustainable use of NTFPs is imperative so we explored the inventory of multipurpose trees and herbs that are being used as NTFPs in Chitwan, Nepal. 70 households from Sukranagar and Mangalpur VDCs of Chitwan district were randomly selected and personal interviews were taken with them as well as focus group discussions were done. The community had been utilizing 49 plant species from the nearby community forest. Implementation of the policy of community forestry was found to have a positive impact on the sustainable production of NTFPs. More than 80% of the respondents believed that indigenous knowledge promoted sustainable NTFP production. Kurilo (Asparagus officinalis) was found to be the best NTFP for the study site.Various policy level reforms are proposed that will help in improving the sustainable production of NTFPs. Better utilization of NTFPs as well as their conservation is possible with proper trainings given to community forest users.

Species Richness of Yapen Island for Sustainable Living Benefit in Papua, Indonesia

“…On the contrary, high frequency of forest access and plant consumption eventually will attenuate the overall potency of forest biodiversity and edible resources in both villages (-0.1405). Therefore, a potential alternative of better forest resource management such as community forest will increase the future prospect of forest sustainability (Dhakal et al, 2016). Mitchell et al (2003) pointed out the negative effect on the ecological landscape and natural regeneration of flowering when the nut and fruits were extracted overtime with the high frequency.…”

Quassia amara L. diameter and total height under different light conditions: implications for the management of agroecosystems

“…The inventories should not only allow the quantification of the species abundance and carbon stock but also of the natural regeneration, seed availability and characterization of light conditions. Proper inventory of NTFP stocks and research on NTFP ecology and sustainable harvest levels has been referred to as one of the eight crucial considerations for positioning NWFP on the development agenda by Shackleton and Pandey (2014), but these are still much less common than desirable around the globe and more so in tropical areas (e.g., Guariguata et al 2010;Dhakal et al 2016;Painkra et al 2017). This work contributes to this cause with a focus on the Quassia amara L. species.…”

Evaluation of NTFPs in the Secondary Forest of Minko’o Village, in the South Cameroon

“…They are vital in adding income to the families, thus improving rural livelihood. NTFP based enterprises that have high foreign demand can contribute to national income as well (Dhakal et al 2016).…”