Showing papers on "Forest produce published in 2021"

Importance of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) in rural livelihood: A study in Patharia Hills Reserve Forest, northeast India

Abstract: Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) are the forest products derived from both plants and animals whose tangible values are often made to evade reaching a nation's exchequer. Throughout the human history, these products are used by a variety of purposes like food, fodder, fiber traditional medicine, agricultural amenities, domestic materials, construction materials, and the likes. Many traditional beliefs and cultures are also associated with these products. The present study was carried out in Patharia Hills Reserve Forest (PHRF) of northeast India to understand the importance of NTFPs in the daily life of rural people living in the area adjacent to the reserve forest, the economic importance of NTFPs used by them and evaluate the lacunae of government strategies for their preservation. Markets were surveyed to identify the economically important NTFPs and ascertain their values in terms of local currency. 200 respondents were interviewed through a close-ended questionnaire prepared for this to detail the harvesting process and marketing of NTFPs. 14 economic important NTFPs were found in use by the fringe village people. These were variously used for farm products (40%), food (34%) etc. Among plants, herbs were dominantly used (64.28%) followed by shrub (14.28%) and trees (21.43%). Among the various plant parts, mostly the stem was used (50%), followed by leaves (15%) and fruits (14%). About one-fourth of the villagers were found to be dependent on NTFPs for sustaining livelihood to various degrees, out of which 18% were partially dependent, while another 6% were solely dependent on the forest produce. The study revealed that unsustainable harvesting of NTFPs from PHRF is the root cause of species decline and thus recommend that illegal and unsustainable way of harvesting NTFPs should be stopped, and sustainable harvesting economic importance NTFPs under government supervision is recommended to alleviate the poverty of the rural mass.

Applications of Nanotechnology in Forest Management.

Abstract: Relatively a new branch of technology, Nanotechnology has been found effective and applicable in various scientific disciplines. Its effectiveness has attracted many researchers to use it for solving various issues related to the natural resource management. Lots of studies have been carried out so far and published related to the applications of nanotechnology in climate science, forestry, agro-ecosystem, medical science and industrial sectors. Solving climate change issues in forestry sector, development of new nanomaterials for the management of forests from risks like drought, flood, salinity, fire, invasion, pathogen etc., water resource management in forest system, increasing energy efficiency of forests, improved forest produce, applications in forest based paper industries and other potential domains and its application has been reviewed in this paper along with some of frequently used nanomaterials, generally used or have potential to be used. Some industries currently using this technology are also enlisted. It was concluded that the nanotechnology has significant scope in the field of forestry as an enabling technology yet the future directions and requirements of applying nanotechnology in forestry sector are still in budding stage especially in India and may be applied at large scale by facilitating technical and legal institutions, large R&D grants and research collaborations.

Extraction of timber and nontimber forest produce of Southwest Bengal: ecology versus economy

Abstract: Timber and nontimber forest resources are significant sources of livelihoods for forest fringe communities worldwide. We have chosen two districts of Southwest Bengal under Joint Forest Management (JFM) in order to analyze the quantification of forest resources, revenues earned by the government, income of the forest village dwellers from JFM activities, and prediction of possible ecological impacts of such resource extraction. We used nonparametric tests to analyze the secondary data collected from state forest reports. Primary data on nontimber forest produces (NTFPs) was collected from the field by using quadrat method and interviewing locals. Among the NTFPs, leaves were the most harvested plant part followed by seeds, fruits, and flowers. Maximum revenues from NTFPs were earned at Jhargram, whereas Medinipur and Rupnarayan were highest in timber returns and area felled for timber yield. There was a statistically significant increment in share per capita from JFM activities along the observed timescale. We recommend revival of tribal cooperatives, monitoring of existing harvesting techniques, generation of alternative livelihoods by self-help groups, stringent patrolling for prevention of illegal theft of forest resources, and allocation of a substantial time-period for natural regeneration of forests.

Foreign Migrants Trespassing in Sabah Forest Reserves: A Legal Discourse

Abstract: According to Sabah Forestry Enactment 1968, Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sabah is given the power to reserves forests for various purposes including commercial, protection, domestic and others Sabah Forestry Department is entrusted with proper and efficient planning, and implementation of State forest resources management (SFM) to comply with the sustainable forest principles It achieves to manage forest resources towards sustainable and profitable forest governance However, Sabah forest reserves were threatened by illegal trespassing by foreign migrants to possess forest produce unlawfully and to occupy State land illegally This article aims to expose the causes of the invasion of forest reserves by foreign migrants, the offences committed by foreign migrant activities in the forest reserves, violation of specific legislation such as the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Forest Enactment 1968 The qualitative legal research methodology was used to understand the issues at hand, the existing applicable laws and the legal implications for such illegal activities in these forest reserves Secondary data found in the legislation, journals, annual report, and law publication were collected, reviewed, analysed, and discussed to understand its legal implications better Thus, efforts to expose these illegal activities by foreign migrants is essential to ensure Sabah Forest Reserves can continuously be maintained and not destroyed at the hand of illegal foreign trespassers Employers should also be made responsible for their involvement in trafficked or smuggled illegal migrants as workers and simultaneously, conduct illegal activities to deceit the State Forestry efforts and developmental planning in Sabah

Economic dependence of forest fringe communities on threatened and near-threatened medicinal trees of Madhya Pradesh - the largest forest cover state of central India

Abstract: People have a free access to the Non timber forest produce (NTFP) in the State of Madhya Pradesh, India barring only a few NTFP which are monopolized by the state for collection and trade. Because of such free access tenure, people and the policy makers have little appreciation for the provisional ecosystem services emanating from the state’s forests. Hence, a research study was conducted in Madhya Pradesh state of India during 2014-2015.This paper evaluates the dependence of the forest fringe communities on the already Threatened and Near-threatened Medicinal Tree resources (TNMTs) in the forests of the state for their health and livelihood requirements.This study was conducted in all the six eco-regions of the state after selecting the most forested divisions and purposely selected forest compartments and socio-economic surveys were conducted in the villages adjoining these forest compartments. The TNMTs of these compartments were fully enumerated in the selected compartments and their physical conditions were recorded. Focus group discussions and household surveys were conducted to study the dependence of forest fringe communities on TNMTs in the adjoining forests. The results show that contribution of direct forest income to the total annual household income was found to vary from 29.35% to 69.48% in forest divisions located in all the six eco-regions of the state. In all the six eco-regions, the percentage of households found to be dependent on forests for some or the other benefits ranged from 96% to 100%. Almost all the TNMTs encountered during this survey were found facing threat of local extinction due to poor regeneration and many other factors at most of the forest sites. The authors have suggested some corrective measures for sustainable management of forest resources for the benefit of forest fringe community in the article.