What's the latest?
December 2011
PPI, FAO and CIFOR launch a new book; 'Fruit trees and useful plants in Amazonian life' Read the BBC news article, the FAO media announcement, and scroll down for more!
December 2011
A special issue of the International Forestry Review titled 'Forests, Biodiversity and Food Security' includes contributions by PPI Steering Committee members Patricia Shanley and Sarah Laird. Download the issue here.
November 2011
'Wild Product Governance: Finding Policies that Work for Non-Timber Forest Products' Now in paperback!
Scroll down the page for further details.
June 2011. Working with MIMOSZ and several institutes within the State University of Veracruz, PPI held its first intercultural land-use management course at the Universidad Veracruzana Intercultural (UVI), Sierra de Zongolica, Veracruz. Download the course report here. For more information, go here.
New Publications
;)
'Fruit trees and useful plants in Amazonian life' , 2011, P. Shanley, M. Cymerys, M. Serra and G. Medina.
This beautifully illustrated 353-page book-co-produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Center for International Forestry Research (Cifor) and People and Plants International (PPI)- presents detailed profiles of nineteen plant species used as food, medicine and for materials by Amazonian peoples. It also summarizes, always using a highly accessible language, some of the underutilized opportunities and formidable challenges faced by Amazonia's rich bioculutral patrimony. Like its predecesor- a manual published in portuguese in 2005- this updated and expanded translation seeks to help bridge the gap in knowledge between scientists and local people. Its launching was planned to coincide with the end of the International Year of Forests. Download a copy of the book here.
Wise harvest of wild mushrooms: a practical handbook, 2011, David Arora, Tony Cunningham, Wang Xianghua, Yang Yongping and Yang Xuefei.
In partnership with the Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB) in China, PPI is addressing a significant knowledge gap: the economic values and sustainable harvest of mushrooms and fungi. This is an important issue in vast areas of ectomycorrhizal woodlands and forests, including miombo woodlands in south-central Africa, Shorea robusta (sal) forests in India, and the oak and coniferous forests of montane Europe, North America and China. PPI and KIB will produce a methods manual in Chinese and English that will reflect knowledge shared from different places across the world. By producing this manual, PPI hopes to address a key incentive - the values of fungi - for forest conservation. For more information on this project, see PPI's Conservation & Managed Habitats webpage. To download the Chinese version of the manual click here.
Mushrooms in Forests and Woodlands: Resource Management, Values and Local Livelihoods, 2010, edited by Anthony B. Cunningham and Xuefei Yang.
Many mushrooms - or the "fruits of fungi" - are extremely valuable, wild-gathered products which are utilised for both their medicinal properties and as food. In many of the world's tropical and temperate forests, they are the primary source of income for the people who live there.
These forests range from temperate woodlands and small forests to high altitude forests in the Himalaya and tropical miombo woodlands in south-central Africa. In south-west China, over 200 species of wild fungi in 64 genera are commercially traded while in Europe and North America, woodlands and small forests are the source of many highly-prized mushrooms and an essential resource for many small enterprises and collectors. Yet the increased demand for timber has resulted in the rapid expansion of forestry, which in turn has destroyed the natural habitat of many fungi, unbalancing both forest economics and ecology.
Despite the economic, social and cultural values of fungi, there is a general lack of understanding of their importance to local livelihoods and forest ecology. This book aims to fill this gap and extends the People and Plants Conservation Series beyond the plant kingdom into the related world of fungi and mushrooms. It demonstrates the crucial roles that fungi play in maintaining forest ecosystems and the livelihoods of rural people throughout the world while providing good practice guidelines for the sustainable management of this resource and an assessment of economic value. It brings together the perspectives of biologists, anthropologists and forest and woodland managers to provide a unique inter-disciplinary and international overview of the key issues.
Wild Product Governance: Finding Policies that Work for Non-Timber Forest Products, 2010, edited by Sarah A. Laird, Rebecca McLain, and Rachel P. Wynberg.
Part of the People and Plants International Conservation Series published by Earthscan, this edited collection provides technical information on the drafting, content and implementation of NTFP policies, and the broader issues of governance associated with these products. It also develops an analytical framework for understanding the diverse issues and elements that combine to create laws and policies that promote sustainable and equitable management, trade and use of species. Drawing on a wealth of unique case studies that represent many regions of the world, this volume examines experiences with NTFP regulation, including its sometimes unintended consequences. It looks at economic factors, the interface between traditional and scientific knowledge, and relationships between NTFP regulation, land tenure and resource rights, as well as power and equity imbalances. An overview chapter synthesizes these and other experiences, providing a framework for the development of NTFP policy, and the final section makes recommendations for various stakeholders. The volume also includes a review of available literature and resources, plus an annotated bibliography, including key articles, laws and other resources, linked to the People and Plants International website.
'It is high time to move from anecdotes and eclectic studies on NTFPs to democratic and sustainable plans that foster diverse livelihoods and new relationships to nature. In an exciting work of truly global scope -- drawing on experiences from Mexico to India -- Laird, McLain, and Wynberg have done just that, assembling readable and cutting-edge proposals, which link grounded cases with general principles to fundamentally rethink the rules that govern forests around the world.' Paul Robbins, Professor and Head, School of Geography and Development, University of Arizona, USA.
‘This timely book does a terrific job of providing a context for improving policies related to the harvest and trade of wild resources. What are the major issues, what works, what clearly doesn’t work, and what are the best alternatives? There is a lot to absorb - and hopefully apply - here. The editors are to be congratulated for assembling such a thoughtful and informative collection of papers.’ Charles M. Peters, Ph.D., Kate E. Tode Curator of Botany, The New York Botanical Garden.
Purchase a copy here. Now also on paperback!