SPECIAL FEATURE
Multiproduct forest management planning - the case of timber and bilberry production
Jari Miina and Mikko Kurttila
Wild forest berries, including bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), are important non-wood forest products in many European countries (Turtiainen and Nuutinen 2012). Berries are harvested for both household use and sale. Recently, wild berries’ use and popularity has increased due to new consumption trends in which their nutritional and health effects have been acknowledged. Their use in health products has increased. Besides environmental conditions, forest management affects the abundance and yields of forest berries. Therefore, many forest owners want to know how incomes from forests are affected if berry yields are taken into account in forest management. Such knowledge on management for producing simultaneously both timber and berries can be obtained by utilizing modern forest management planning systems. + READ MORE
INTERVIEW: Eduardo Brondizio on the acai berry
“Through the hands of local producers, acai fruit has become the largest agroforestry economy of the Amazon, leading regions such as the Amazon estuary-delta to a productive forest transition today….. The value-aggregation of acai should happen in the region and through the hands of the Amazonian population!” + READ MORE
INTERVIEW: David Yarborough, Wild blueberry specialist
“Wild blueberries in Maine are unique in that it is a managed wild crop. The wild crop is now more than one third of the total North American crop of both the cultivated and wild blueberries combined.” + READ MORE
REGIONAL DISPATCHES
Brazilian Peppertree: From noxious weed to a source of medicine?
Amelia Muhs and Cassandra L. Quave
 Schinus terebinthifolia Raddi (Anacardiaceae), more commonly known as the Brazilian Peppertree, is a large shrub or small dioecious tree native to Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. Although native to South America, S. terebinthifolia can be found in over 20 subtropical countries and is considered to be an invasive species in the southeastern United States, particularly in Florida where it has colonized most of the state. It was first introduced to southern Florida in 1898 where it thrived and eventually became classified as an invasive species. The plant has proven to be a successful colonizer as it can tolerate both shade and periods of drought. Its successful colonization of a variety of habitats may be due in part to its allelopathic effects, or ability to inhibit the growth of other species in the vicinity. Its main pollinators include flies and wasps, while birds, such as mockingbirds and catbirds are thought to be responsible for long-distance dispersal of seeds. + READ MORE
Photo credit: ©Cassandra L. Quave
Himalaya: Wild fruits and berries - Potent source of nutritional supplements
Indra D. Bhatt and R.S. Rawal
 Diversity of wild edible plants has traditionally played a great role in meeting significant part of the nutritional and mineral requirements of indigenous communities all across the globe. However, with changing socio-economic scenarios, the interest of inhabitants on these resources has declined over time. As a result, the knowledge and understanding on such a diverse food base has weakened considerably. This decline of knowledge base, especially at times of resurgence of global interest on natural food and medicine, has wide ranging implications. Recognition of this fact has lead to increased realization to rejuvenate people's interest on these resources through effective demonstration of values as they contains array of bioactive compounds and proven nutritional and pharmaceutical potential. + READ MORE
Photo credit: ©Indra D. Bhatt
Finland: Organic wild berries on the rise
Birgitta Partanen
The bulk of the land territory of Finland is forested, offering a range of low input ecological resources e.g. berries, mushrooms and other natural raw materials. Organic certification is becoming an important road in Finland to guaranteeing quality of wild forest products, including berries.
Forests cover more than 86 % of Finland's land area. This equates to a collecting area of 26,2 million hectares, which produces wild berries, mushrooms and herbs without inputs. (3) At present, about half (13 million hectares) is certified organic picking area and the certified area continues to increase.
Why organic? The aim is to prove these wild products are free of chemical inputs. There is no real need for pesticides because many pathogens and noxious insects are not able to survive winter in the low temperature. (1) Also the use of the fertilisation in organic wild product is minor, and only a few fertilizers allowed in organic production, such as ash fertilisers, are applied. The organic label is also needed for international marketing purposes. + READ MORE
Tunisia: Value chain analysis of essential oil of Myrtle (Myrtus communis)
Lokman Zaibet
"North Africa is not a highly forested area, and the potential for timber production is low. The only way to preserve the remaining forests is through the development of NWFPs and related value chains."
- Abdel Hamid, Senior Forestry Officer, FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa
A recent FAO study in Tunisia examined NWFPs of major importance in the country where forest resources are scarce and growing attention is being placed on NWFPs such as fruits, bark, roots, tubers, corms, leaves, flowers, nuts, gums, sap, resins, dyes, honey, mushroom, medicinal and aromatic plants and wild animal products both for livelihood improvement and as a means to protect the scarce existing forest resources. Locals have for millennia used these products for their domestic daily needs as a source of food, fodder, medicine and for income generation. However, the actual production of the majority of NWFPs remain a small fraction of their potential production in most countries of the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. As such, their full potential for poverty reduction, livelihoods improvement, environmental sustainability and food security has yet to be harnessed. Local producers, moreover, remain at the sidelines and get a small commercial margin as compared with other actors. + READ MORE
Colombia: Cape gooseberry, a yellow wild berry
Mary Luz Olivares Tenorio
Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L) is considered an exotic fruit in with potential health-promoting compounds in Colombia. This fruit has been part of Andean countries culture because usually the plants grow wild at high altitude. Since the 80s, the production has been commercialized and at the moment the cape gooseberry is available in different countries of Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania. The cape gooseberry value chain faces certain constraints in its development. The fruit is highly perishable and there are several factors in cultivation and postharvest conditions that threaten the quality. There are also governance issues such as low integration of actors and scarce knowledge about consumer preferences that make the chain inefficient. As a result of the diversification of the value chain, processed products have emerged such as jams, sauces, snacks, among others, giving alternatives to consumers for cape gooseberry consumption, also under the premise of the health-promoting compounds contents related to them. + READ MORE
PRODUCT WATCH
Maqui berry (Aristotelia chilensis)
 There has been growing interest in the scientific community in recent years in the nutraceutical compounds of native plant species growing predominantly in Chilean forests, including Aristotelia chilensis, known popularly as the Maqui berry. A. chilensis is an evergreen species endemic to Chile, growing naturally and forming wild populations named “macales”. Its small, purple bright berries have been of great interest to consumers due to their high antioxidant activity, which is why it has been dubbed “superfruit.” A new study compiles the nutritional information of the maqui berry and other native Chilean fruits, together with their association in the prevention of key diseases. + READ MORE
LITERATURE
Banu Yucel, Erkan Topal and Mustafa Kosoglu. 2017. Bee Products as Functional Food, Superfood and Functional Food - An Overview of Their Processing and Utilization, Prof. Naofumi Shiomi (Ed.), InTech,. (available at: www.intechopen.com/books/superfood-and-functional-food-an-overview-of-their-processing-and-utilization/bee-products-as-functional-food).
Bhatt, I.D., Rawat, S., Badhani, A., Rawal, R.S. 2017. Nutraceutical potential of selected wild edible fruits of the Indian Himalayan region. Food Chemistry 215, 84-91.
Caplins, L. & Halvorson, J. 2017. Collecting Ophiocordyceps sinensis: an emerging livelihood strategy in the Garhwal, Indian Himalaya. Journal of Mountain Science, Vol.14, Issue no.2, pp. 390--402. (available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11629-016-3892-8).
Cunningham, A., Anoncho, V. F., & Sunderland, T. 2016. Power, policy and the Prunus africana bark trade, 1972-2015. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. Elsevier Ireland Ltd. (available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2015.11.042).
Gianotti, A.G.S., Hurley, P.T. 2016. Gathering plants and fungi along the urban-rural gradient: Uncovering differences in the attitudes and practices among urban, suburban, and rural landowners. Land Use Policy, Vol. 57, pp. 555-563. (available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.06.019
Gorriz-Mifsud, E., Secco, L., Da Re, R., Pisani, E., & Bonet, J.A. 2017. Structural social capital and local-level forest governance: Do they inter-relate? A mushroom permit case in Catalonia. Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 188, pp.364-378.
Ichikawa, M., Hattori, S., & Yasuoka, H. 2016. Bushmeat Crisis, Forestry Reforms and Contemporary Hunting Among Central African Forest Hunters. In A. Pyhälä & V. Reyes-García (Eds.), Hunter-Gatherers in a Changing World (pp. 59–76). New York. US: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42271-8_4.
Ingram, V., Ewane, M., Ndumbe, L.N., & Awono, A. In press. Challenges to governing sustainable forest food: Irvingia spp. from southern Cameroon. Forest Policy and Economics. (available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2016.12.014).
Kombiok, E., & Agbenyega, O. 2017. The characteristics of financing arrangements for the production and marketing of shea ( Vitellaria paradoxa ) butter in Tamale in the Northern Region of Ghana. Southern Forests: A Journal of Forest Science, 1–8. (available at: https://doi.org/10.2989/20702620.2016.1255403).
Mukul, S.A., Rashid, A.Z.M.M., Uddin, M.B., Khan, N.A. 2016. Role of non-timber forest products in sustaining forest-based livelihoods and rural households’ resilience capacity in and around protected area: a Bangladesh study. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 59: 628-642.
Mumcu Küçüker, D., & Başkent, E. Z. 2017. Sustaining the Joint Production of Timber and Lactarius Mushroom: A Case Study of a Forest Management Planning Unit in Northwestern Turkey. Sustainability, 9(1), 92. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9010092
Pieroni, A., Sukand, R., Quave, C. L., Hajdari, A., & Mustafa, B. 2017. Traditional food uses of wild plants among the Gorani of South Kosovo. Appetite, 108, 83–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.09.024
Silva, R. R. V., Gomes, L. J., & Albuquerque, U. P. 2017. What are the socioeconomic implications of the value chain of biodiversity products? A case study in Northeastern Brazil. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 189(2), 64. (available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-5772-2).
Sraku-Lartey, M., Britwum Acquah, S., Samar, S. B., & Djagbletey, G. D. 2017. Digitization of indigenous knowledge on forest foods and medicines. IFLA Journal, 034003521668132. (available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0340035216681326).
Wanessa Almeida da Costa, Mozaniel Santana de Oliveira, Marcilene Paiva da Silva, Vânia Maria Borges Cunha, Rafael Henrique Holanda Pinto, Fernanda Wariss Figueiredo Bezerra and Raul Nunes de Carvalho Junior. 2017. Açaí (Euterpe oleracea) and Bacaba (Oenocarpus bacaba) as Functional Food, Superfood and Functional Food - An Overview of Their Processing and Utilization, Prof. Naofumi Shiomi (Ed.), InTech, (available at: www.intechopen.com/books/superfood-and-functional-food-an-overview-of-their-processing-and-utilization/a-a-euterpe-oleracea-and-bacaba-oenocarpus-bacaba-as-functional-food).
NEWS
FAO takes steps to improve data collection on NWFPs in new report
A new FAO report takes steps to improve data collection on non-wood forest products (NWFPs) in order to better understand their contribution to lives and livelihoods. The report, Non-wood forest products in international statistical systems, seeks to ultimately improve the overall availability and quality of international statistics for evidence-based decision-making. + READ MORE
TECA moderated discussion: aspects of honey adulteration - how to prevent the fraud
Honey is a nutritious natural food produced by bees. However, recent reports have shown that an increasing amount of honey traded internationally is adulterated. From 14 April to 14 May 2017, TECA Beekeeping Exchange Group will look into this issue and try to address the following questions: How big is the problem? What are the consequences for the beekeeping sector? What can be done? Join the discussion! + READ MORE
Forests provide a nutritional boon to some communities, research shows
Until recently, scientists hadn’t systematically compared the levels to which different groups of people across the tropics depend on nearby forests for food. New research shows that, though forest usage varies widely between and even within countries, the nutrients provided by wild fruits, vegetables, game and fish are critical to the nutritional health of some communities and should play a role in decisions about land usage. + READ MORE
Nepal's rich indigenous medical knowledge is under threat
Nepal is a diverse demography with over 125 ethnic communities. It is equally rich in biodiversity. The diverse ethnic communities have a rich repertoire of knowledge related to the use of the herbs and animals for medicinal purposes. A recent research article published in Journal of Institute of Science and Technology explores indigenous knowledge systems in the Darai community living in the Chitwan Valley in Nepal, some 200 kilometres southwest of capital Kathmandu. The article, available online on the NepJOL platform supported by INASP, describes this community's usage of animal and plant products to treat various diseases and ailments as a result of rich indigenous knowledge. + READ MORE
Quebec's maple syrup producers seeking global domination
Maple syrup isn't just for pancakes anymore, thanks to a group of maple syrup producers in Quebec who are trying to turn a cottage industry into a global empire. The idea that maple syrup could indeed be seen as the world's best sugar is the driving ambition of the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers. The Federation and its efforts have helped turn a provincial cottage industry into big business. + READ MORE
Tenure and trade: How to make a living from the forests of Nepal
Nepal is a world leader in returning forest tenure rights to local people. But restrictive regulations continue to undermine communities’ attempts to establish sustainable businesses from forest products, experts say. A new study from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) examines the successes and challenges faced by a number of community forest enterprises in Nepal, which provide a range of products and services including ecotourism, timber, essential oils, handmade paper, and juice made from forest fruits. + READ MORE
Articles express the views of their authors, not necessarily those of FAO. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this e-publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the FAO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
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