[MPWG] Fw: NWFP-Digest-L 13/05
Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov
Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov
Thu Dec 22 08:58:59 CST 2005
Below is the full table of contents from this month's FAO NWFP-Digest-L.
In order to reduce the file size, I included only the summaries on the
articles concerning medicinal plants at home and abroad, as indicated by a
double asterisk in the table of contents. Enjoy!
==============================================================
Welcome to FAO’s NWFP-Digest-L, a free e-mail journal that covers all
aspects of non-wood forest products. Back issues of the Digest may be found
on FAO's NWFP home page: www.fao.org/forestry/site/12980/en
Our on-line survey closed on 30 November with over 630 replies. A special
“thank you” to all those who participated.
Since this is the last issue of 2005, we would like to wish all our readers
a very happy and healthy 2006.
==============================================================
NWFP-Digest-L
No. 13/05
IN THIS ISSUE:
PRODUCTS
1. Acorn abundance could reduce this year's deer
harvest significantly**
2. Bamboo-fuelled power plants in Assam, India
3. Bamboo charcoal textile products
4. Bamboo flavone for prostate patent approved**
5. Bark: UN recognises bark cloth as world heritage
6. Bushmeat: Thai zoo's lion and elephant meat
banquet angers Kenyans
7. Chestnuts: Just as sweet as a chestnut
8. Medicinal plants: Scientists turn to traditional
medicinal plants to find new tools for fighting malaria**
9. Medicinal plants: New drug mix against malaria is
announced**
10. Medicinal plants: Wonder plant to cure diabetes**
11. Medicinal plants: Artemesia shows “potential” in
preventing breast cancer**
12. Mulberry: Ugandan farmers take on mulberry
cultivation to produce silk
13. Mushrooms as fuel?
14. Truffles: Oregon event to celebrate hidden delicacy
COUNTRY INFORMATION
15. Angola: Forests play key role in country's
development
16. Australia: Leatherwood honey under threat by logging
17. Brazil: Project receives US$440.000 to develop
forest management in Santarem
18. Brazil: Forestry products gain market during Sao
Paulo event
19. Cameroon: Boosting Non-timber Forest Products
20. Cameroon: Promoting traditional medicine**
21. Canada: Quebec creates first boreal-forest park
22. China: Bamboo forests increase by 120 000 ha
annually
23. India: bamboo markets in the north
24. India: Mizoram to give thrust on minor forest
products
25. India: The Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forests
Rights) Bill, 2005”
26. India: Sericulturists go natural, experiment with
lac and neem
27. India: Conserve biodiversity to eradicate poverty
28. Iran's forests' destruction rate worries experts
29. Liberia: Community Forestry Practicable in Liberia?
30. Malaysia: Gaharu thefts in Johor forests
31. United States: Scientists trying to resurrect
American chestnut trees**
NEWS
32. Biopiracy: Andean nations seek U.S. patent
protection for native medicines**
33. Bioprospecting in the Pacific region: who gets to
benefit?**
34. Ecotourism: Conservation can bring in 'more dollars
than it costs'
REQUESTS
35. Natural gum suppliers in Africa
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
36. Community Forestry Research Fellowships**
37. WWF National Coordinator for Gabon**
EVENTS
38. Conservation and the Agricultural Frontier:
Integrating Forests and Agriculture in the Tropics**
39. The 1st IFOAM Conference on Organic Wild Production
**
40. 9th European Forum on Urban Forestry: Urban Forestry
Bridges**
LITERATURE REVIEW AND WEB SITES
41. Forests, Trees & Livelihoods**
42. Women's Empowerment: Measuring The Global Gender Gap
43. Other publications of interest**
44. Web sites and e-zines**
MISCELLANEOUS
45. Developing world 'faces greatest extinction threat'
46. India says it busts major tiger poaching ring
47. Promoting sustainable hunting in Russia
PRODUCTS
1. Acorn abundance could reduce this year's deer harvest
significantly
Source: Jim Low, Kansas City infoZine - Kansas City, USA, 21 November 2005
Biologists can't predict when bumper crops of acorns will appear, but they
know hunters kill fewer deer in years of acorn abundance.
Each year the Missouri Department of Conservation (USA)
conducts a survey to determine the abundance or scarcity of acorns. This is
important because a wide array of wildlife relies heavily on the fruit of
oak trees for food. Acorn counts from thousands of trees give biologists
valuable information about how ducks, squirrels, deer and turkeys will fare
in the coming year.
The annual survey covers the portion of the state where forest
dominates the landscape, roughly half the state. The result is a series of
acorn-production indices broken down by region and oak tree type--red or
white. Over the past 46 years, the overall index for all oak trees
throughout the survey area has been 133. Last year, the number was 116.
This year's overall index is 152 – producing a bumper acorn crop.
The news is similar throughout most of the survey area. The
only exceptions are white oaks in the Ozark west and the Ozark Border at
the western edge of the survey area. Even in those areas, the overall acorn
crop was above average. In the eastern Ozarks, white oak acorn production
is up 55 percent compared to the average of the last 46 years.
All this would be little more than scientific trivia except for
one thing-the upcoming firearms deer season. In autumn, deer gorge on
high-energy foods in preparation for winter. In forested areas, this means
acorns. When acorns are scarce, deer flock to trees that did produce
acorns. This simplifies hunters' work. If they can find acorns, they will
find deer.
Hunting is much tougher in years of acorn abundance. Deer don't
have to travel far to find their favourite food, so they spend less time on
the move, and they are scattered unpredictably throughout the forest.
This effect already is showing up in early deer harvest
statistics. The Conservation Department's deer management expert said he
expects this year's deer harvest to be low on account of the superabundance
of acorns.
The Conservation Department experts do not know all the factors
that led to this year's acorn bounty. Annual data point to some
correlations between weather and acorn production. The number of red oak
acorns seems to be higher two years after abundant spring rainfall, and
white oaks are more productive in years with mild spring weather.
Oak trees are divided into white and red families. Acorns on
white oaks mature in one year, so unfavourable conditions during the
flowering or growing season effect that year's crop. Red-oak acorns take
two years to mature, so the results of bad conditions are not apparent
until the following year.
For full story, please see:
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/11507/
4. Bamboo flavone for prostate patent approved
Source: Tramford International Press Release, 23 November 2005
Tramford International Limited (Nasdaq: TRFDF - News; ''Tramford'' or the
''Company'') announced that the patent of ''bamboo flavone application in
anti-prostate disease drug" developed by Future Solutions Development Inc.
(''FSD''), the newly acquired subsidiary of the Company, was approved by
China's State Intellectual Property Bureau in November 2005. Along with
this approval, the same patent also received approval from Patent
Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the international patent registration and
administration organization. The Treaty makes it possible to seek patent
protection for an invention simultaneously in each of a large number of
countries by filing an "international" patent application. FSD filed this
patent under PCT for China, U.S. and Japan. The approval is the first step
for FSD to enter into the markets in U.S. and Japan.
The scientists at FSD discovered that bamboo flavone is
effective in relief symptoms of inflammation due to prostatitis, prostatic
hyperplasia and prostate cancer.
About 50% of all men are affected by prostate illnesses during
their lifetime. Many patients develop chronicle symptoms. The bamboo
flavone, as a natural extract ingredient, poses no long-term side effects
and is a viable option in fighting the illness.
For full story, please see:
www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-23-2005/0004221980&EDATE
=
8. Medicinal plants: Scientists turn to traditional medicinal
plants to find new tools for fighting malaria
Source: The Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (Dakar), Press Release, 14
November 2005
East African scientists have translated new findings regarding the
anti-mosquito properties of indigenous African plants into a low-cost and
effective mosquito repellent that could play a role in reducing malaria
transmission. Their research, to be presented this week at the Fourth
Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM) Pan-African Malaria Conference, is
indicative of a surge of scientific interest in the anti-mosquito
properties of indigenous plant life.
Scientists from Kenyatta University and The International
Center for Insect Physiology & Ecology (ICIPE), both in Nairobi, working
with investigators from other East African research institutions, tested
oils extracted from 150 East African plants for their ability to repel
malaria-carrying mosquitoes and found that 20 of them appeared to be
effective. They then formulated a mixture of the oils into a topical cream
that is now being sold under the brand name Mozigone. Tests showed the
cream was more effective than DEET, the chemical found in most widely used
consumer brands of mosquito repellent and cheaper to produce as well.
The discussion of the scientific process that lead to the
development of this new, plant-based repellent is one of many presentations
at the MIM conference exploring how modern research is turning to
traditional plants to find new weapons for the fight against malaria.
Scientific efforts to derive new malaria medicines from indigenous plants
have intensified since an extract of the wormwood plant, artemisinin,
emerged as the leading drug for fighting the disease.
"There are certainly many opportunities for the use of
traditional herbal medicines for malaria control," said Merlin Willcox,
coordinator of an international network known as the Research Initiative
for Traditional Antimalarial Methods (RITAM). But there are obstacles as
well. "The main problem is that policy makers are not open to this idea,"
he said, "because they are trained only in modern medicine. Also, they
demand good quality evidence, but it is hard to find funding for the
research needed to produce this evidence."
Willcox will be hosting a symposium, sponsored by the
government of Cameroon that will consider the potential use of traditional
plants in national malaria control programs and the research needed to spur
their adoptions. For example, scientists will discuss the potential for a
Brazilian plant known as "Indian beer" to prevent malaria. Willcox said
laboratory studies have shown the plant can kill the malaria parasite early
in its lifecycle before it matures and does the most damage to the human
body. Officials from Cameroon's Ministry of Health also will discuss new
developments in policies affecting traditional medicine.
Other presentations considering the anti-malarial properties
plants include the following:
Souleymane Sanon of the Centre National de Recherche et de
Formation sur le Paludisme (Burkina Faso) will present data on two plants
used by traditional herbal practitioners in Burkina Faso to treat malaria.
Used in combination, Pavetta crassipes and Mitragyna inermis exhibited
antimalarial properties when tested against a laboratory culture taken from
a drug resistant form of the malaria parasite. "The synergistic effect of
the two plants suggest their use in association with malaria treatment,"
the authors state.
In the search for new malaria medicines derived from natural
sources, West African and U.S. Army researchers have collected and
identified plant materials used in traditional medicine for the treatment
of infectious diseases, including fevers and drug-resistant malaria. Their
study investigated the anti-malarial activity of 1200 plant extracts
belonging to 80 plant families and 253 species. Investigators say 53
percent of the extracts, some of which had never before been tested against
the most deadly strain of malaria, P. falciparum, showed remarkable
activity.
Edith Ajaiyeoba of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, tested
the antimalarial activity of methanol extract of Adansonia digitata
(African baobab tree) in mice infected with a rodent form of malaria. The
traditional use of baobab as a malaria treatment is well known throughout
the West Africa region. The results of the test indicate that A. digitata
bark extract was able to reduce malaria parasites in the mouse.
For full story, please see: http://allafrica.com/stories/200511140247.html
9. Medicinal plants: New drug mix against malaria is announced
Source: New York Times, 13 December 2005 (in Amazon News 15.12.05)
Two simpler, cheaper formulations of anti-malaria drugs will be available
next year, a public-private partnership announced yesterday.
The cost will be about half of what the current pills cost and
the new pills will mix large doses of two drugs into one pill, so adults
will take only six pills over three days instead of the current 24 to 32,
said Dr. Bernard Pécoul, executive director of the Drugs for Neglected
Diseases Initiative.
They will also be made in low-dose pills that can be dissolved
in water for infants.
There about 500 million cases of malaria worldwide, and the
disease kills more than a million people each year, many of them young
children.
The new drugs will combine forms of artemisinin, a relatively
new malaria drug developed in China from the sweet wormwood plant, with one
of two established drugs, amodiaquine and mefloquine, which act more slowly
but linger in the blood.
The same drugs are available now as separate pills packaged
together in plastic blister packs, Dr. Pécoul explained. But patients in
many poor countries have discovered that the artemisinin-based pills taste
better and lower fevers faster, so they take only the ones they like. That
encourages the growth of drug-resistant strains of malaria, he said.
Combining them into one pill required a pharmacological
breakthrough, he explained. The older drugs tended to release water, which
broke down the artemisinin.
Solving that problem and testing the new pills required several
million dollars, which was provided by the European Union, the Swiss
government, Doctors Without Borders, and in-kind contributions by some
pharmaceutical companies, he said.
Sanofi-Aventis, the world's third-largest pharmaceutical
company, has agreed to produce the amodiaquine-artemisinin combination and
Far-Manguinhos, Brazil's state pharmaceutical laboratory, will make the
mefloquine one.
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative was founded by
Doctors Without Borders, the Pasteur Institute of France, the World Health
Organization and research institutes in Brazil, India, Malaysia and Kenya.
For full story, please see:
http://www.amazonia.org.br/english/noticias/noticia.cfm?id=190808
Related story:
http://www.scidev.net/dossiers/index.cfm?fuseaction=dossierReadItem&type=3&itemid=440&language=1&dossier=23&CFID=971801&CFTOKEN=21401771
10. Medicinal plants: Artemesia shows “potential” in preventing
breast cancer
Source: World Science, 20 December 2005
An extract of the sweet wormwood plant used for centuries to fight malaria,
and shown to target and kill cancer cells, may help prevent breast cancer,
researchers have found. The two bioengineers with the University of
Washington in Seattle, Wash., found that the substance, artemisinin, seemed
to prevent breast cancer in rats that had swallowed a cancer-causing
chemical. The study appears in the latest issue of the research journal
Cancer Letters.
The reason for artemisinin’s apparent preventive effect may be
twofold, the researchers said. The substance may kill precancerous cells,
which also tend to use more iron than ordinary cells, before those cells
become a tumour. Artemisinin also may block angiogenesis, or a tumour’s
ability to grow networks of blood vessels that allow it to enlarge.
Because artemisinin is widely used in Asia and Africa as an
anti-malarial, it has a track record of being relatively safe, Lai said.
The results “indicate that it may be a potent cancer-chemoprevention
agent... additional studies are needed to investigate whether the breast
cancer prevention property of artemisinin can be generalized to other types
of cancer.”
For full story, please see:
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/051220_artemisinfrm.htm
11. Medicinal plants: Wonder plant to cure diabetes
Source: Financial Express - Bombay, India, 27 November 2005
Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana), a high value medicinal plant whose dry leaves
can be used by diabetics, has been successfully cultivated in Debang valley
district of Arunachal Pradesh and is ready for commercial harvesting.
PB Kanjilal, head of medicinal plant division of Regional
Research Laboratory (RRL) of Jorhat, said the laboratory had adopted
several villages at Roing in Debang valley to motivate 300 farmers to
cultivate the plant whose leaves are far sweeter than sugar and can be used
by diabetics. The particular area was selected as the climatic condition
there was ideal for the cultivation of stevia, he said.
RRL had provided technical assistance to the villagers besides
acting as a facilitator to help them find marketing opportunities through
tie ups with businessmen from as far as Hyderabad. Stevia plants yield
2,500 kg dry leaves per acre per annum and 1kg green leaves can fetch Rs
125.
In Arunachal Pradesh, nearly 30 species of medicinal plants had
been identified whose cultivation had been found to be commercially viable.
Mr Kanjilal also said that nearly 7,000 farmers were cultivating various
medicinal and aromatic plants in north-eastern states, including 30 to 35
big entrepreneurs who were mainly tea planters.
For full story, please see:
www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=109906
COUNTRY INFORMATION
20. Cameroon: Promoting traditional medicine
Source: Cameroon Tribune (Yaoundé), 8 December 2005
The Cameroon Ethnobotany Network (C.E.N.), on Tuesday began organising its
second International Symposium. Discussions were based on the theme,
"plants to treat man and his environment". The main aim of the symposium is
to promote and portray the richness of Cameroonian plants in medicinal use.
Explanations were given on how a plant like the 'aloe vera' could be used
in treating hypertension and diabetes. Exposés were also presented on how
science could be used in the promotion of locally made medicine.
Other sub-themes such as, "how plants can be used for medicinal
purposes, as condiments and as ornaments", were discussed. According to the
president of the C.E.N., Pr Bernard-Aloys Nkongmeneck, the symposium will
create room for partnerships between tradi-practitioners and scientists to
promote the transforming of traditional medicine into modern drugs. An
example of such a partnership he said is the existence of a traditional
medicinal hospital constructed in Melong in the Moungo. In the hospital
tradi-practitioners and scientists work together.
For full story, please see: http://allafrica.com/stories/200512080272.html
31. United States: Scientists trying to resurrect American chestnut
trees
Source: Scripps Howard News Service, 16 November 2005
Chestnut trees were as plentiful in the Eastern United States as oaks and
maples are today. About 25 percent of forested land, stretching from Maine
to northern Georgia, was composed of chestnuts. They were a big,
substantial tree, some surviving 400 years, often measuring more than 8
feet in diameter and reaching 120 feet into the sky, filled with nuts,
long, thin green leaves and, starting around mid-June, tiny blooms.
But the tree known as the "redwood of the East" because of its
resistance to rot and value as lumber is now an extremely rare treasure in
a region where it was once abundant. Sometime in the late 1800s, a
different variety of chestnut trees, perhaps from somewhere in Asia, was
imported into the United States carrying blight. The affliction wasn't
discovered until 1904, and it soon was determined that the American
chestnut was not resistant to the disease.
Over the next 50 years, 4 billion chestnut trees, about 99.9
percent of the Eastern population, succumbed.
The loss proved tragic on several levels. Residents of
Appalachia lost a steady income from the lumber and the trees' nuts -
chestnuts at one time produced about 50 percent of the entire forest nut
crop. Wildlife also suffered because that once-bountiful food supply all
but disappeared.
But now, more than 50 years after the tree bordered on
extinction, an effort is under way to bring back the chestnut. Scientists
are working to develop a blight-resistant strain in the rolling hills of
southwestern Virginia, and there is hope that sometime toward the middle of
the century the chestnut tree will come home. "Our goal is to restore the
American chestnut to the Eastern forest," said Case, the president and
chief executive officer of the American Chestnut Foundation.
Accomplishing that ambitious objective is going to take time,
Case acknowledged. The foundation is in the third year of what stands to be
a 30-year project. But results thus far show promise and Case is optimistic
that the venture ultimately will become the most successful nature
restoration program in the nation's history.
For full story, please see:
http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=CHESTNUT-11-16-05&cat=AN
NEWS
32. Biopiracy: Andean nations seek U.S. patent protection for native
medicines
Source: Bloomberg – USA, 17 November 2005
Colombia, Ecuador and Peru are turning the tables on U.S. trade negotiators
accustomed to winning tough safeguards for drug patents by demanding
similar protections for traditional therapies such as roots and leaves.
Demands for protections against what these nations call the
misappropriation of traditional knowledge will be one of the most
contentious issues during trade talks this week and next in Washington,
Ecuadorian trade minister Jorge Illingworth and other officials say.
The Andean nations want ``minor'' protections for their native
plants and the ways they are used, such as a rule requiring companies to
inform indigenous tribes of any patent applications based on traditional
knowledge and negotiate payment, according to Carlos Correa, a Buenos
Aires-based consultant to those nations.
“Existing rules protect things that are made in labs, not
things taken from the wild or cultivated over generations,'' said Renee
Marlin-Bennett, chairwoman of the Global Intellectual Property Project at
American University in Washington. The proposed changes would “redirect the
rules to rectify some of the embedded imbalance'' between rich and poor,
she said.
While it's difficult to quantify the magnitude of the issue,
the nations are moving to catalogue it. Peru's government created a
commission on so-called biopiracy that has identified 10 plant species of
local origin over which patents have been granted or applied for in the
U.S., Europe or Japan, according to Manuel Ruiz Muller, director of the
Lima-based patent association Programa de Asuntos Internacionales y
Biodiversidad.
In 2001, New Jersey-based Pure World Botanicals Inc. won a
patent for an ingredient in the Peruvian plant maca and is now marketing it
as a ``natural Viagra.'' The Peruvian commission is preparing a legal
challenge, Ruiz said. Chris Kilham, a consultant for Avignon, France-based
Naturex, which now owns Pure World, said the company's patents are
legitimate. Still, he said Pure World erred in not sharing the patent
rights with Peruvian communities.
In 1988 the U.S. issued a patent to Austrian scientist Klaus
Keplinger for an alkaloid that can treat tumours. The basis of that was a
plant called Uncaria tomentosa, or cat's claw, that Peruvians use to treat
inflammation, according to a letter sent by the Sierra Club and other
environmental groups to U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman in July.
These examples are isolated but are likely to grow as more
prospectors head to out-of-the-way destinations to search for new drug
breakthroughs.
The U.S. says it has investigated most of the frequently cited
examples of biopiracy and found little supporting evidence.
The U.S. has ``significant concerns'' about the explicit
notification proposal, and instead is offering compromises that will guard
against patent abuses, a U.S. trade official said.
``We all share the objective of having a patent system that
works well,'' said John Stubbs, a spokesman for the U.S. trade office.
Representatives of pharmaceutical companies such as New
York-based Pfizer and Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck oppose
acceding to the Andean nations' demands, saying their solution addresses a
problem that doesn't exist. “Right now there is no evidence of biopiracy,''
said Mark Grayson, a spokesman for Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America in Washington, a lobbying and marketing group that
represents drugmakers.
The Andean nations' demands for prior notification and
negotiated payment have been picked up by India and Brazil, which want
similar provisions written into a broader World Trade Organization
agreement.
For full story, please see:
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=abSfNYoY8Yfg&refer=news_index
33. Bioprospecting in the Pacific region: who gets to benefit?
Source: Island Business - Suva, Fiji,
In the Verata district of Fiji, people turn to their Community Trust Fund
for scholarship support for local students. In Faleaupo, Samoa, the cost of
construction of a primary school was donated by a foundation in return for
the community's conservation of their rainforest. Both the trust fund and
the school's construction were made possible by bioprospecting.
Bioprospecting is the collection of plants and/or marine
organisms by scientists looking for medicines that could be derived from
the chemicals in the collected material.
Plants that have been used for traditional medicines, in many
cases for thousands of years, are targeted. Evidence has shown that
scientists have more than 10 times the chance of finding an active chemical
in a medicinal plant than in a randomly collected one.
The process of drug discovery takes about 15 years from sample
collection to having a marketable drug. It is estimated that only one in
10,000 chemicals investigated ends up as a saleable drug and the cost of
coming up with one drug is US$800 million.
Who gets the benefits?
A major issue related to the work of bioprospecting is who benefits if
medicines are found. In the past, plants and marine organisms were often
collected from developing countries by Western researchers and the source
country received little in return.
This neo-colonial “open access” policy was turned on its head
by the 1993 Convention on Biological Diversity, which gave sovereign rights
of biodiversity to the source country but encouraged them to allow access
to outside researchers under mutually agreed terms.
Pacific countries have been slow to develop this so-called
“access and benefit-sharing” legislation.
In the examples cited at the start of this article, it was the
collecting group working with the local community who ensured that a wide
range of benefits were made available to the source area. Responsible
scientists understand the importance of preserving the biological diversity
from which the chemicals come, and to further this preservation, they seek
partnerships that will allow source communities to undertake conservation
efforts.
No chemical derived from a Pacific organism has yet been fully
developed into a marketable drug. But several are showing promise.
· A medicinal tree from Samoa called malamala (
Homalanthus nutans), has been found to be active against HIV. United
States scientists are trying to identify the gene that tells the
plant to make the chemical.
· A district in Fiji has licensed plants and
marine organisms for testing in Japan and set up a conservation trust
fund of US$30,000 with the proceeds.
· An orange sponge (Jaspis coriacea) and the
makita tree (Atuna racemosa) in Fiji have produced chemicals for
medical research. The US company involved is giving 2-5% of the
proceeds from sales to support further research in Fiji.
· A chemical from a medicinal tree in Fiji has
been patented as an anti-diabetes drug.
The Universities of the South Pacific (USP) and Papua New
Guinea (UPNG) are playing leading roles in the development of biodiversity
by the use of biotechnology, having set up local enterprises to increase
local ability to perform the work.
Both universities have received a prestigious International
Cooperation in Biodiversity Grant given by the United States government to
partnerships of US and overseas universities working to discover drugs and
conserve biodiversity.
USP is working with the Georgia Institute of Technology and
UPNG with the University of Utah, with funding of about US$3 million over a
five-year period.
Collaborations such as these are helping to bring benefits to
the people of the Pacific and, ultimately, to the people of the world.
For full story, please see:
www.islandsbusiness.com/islands_business/index_dynamic/containerNameToReplace=MiddleMiddle/focusModuleID=5504/overideSkinName=issueArticle-full.tpl
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
36. Community Forestry Research Fellowships
Source: Nepalese Foresters list, 7 December 2005
The U.S. Community Forestry Research Fellowship Program provides
fellowships to graduate students to support their field work in communities
in the United States. The awards are up to $15,000 for dissertation
fellows, up to $7,000 for master’s fellows, and $2,000 for pre-dissertation
fellows.
The program accepts proposals dealing with the broad array of
issues and resources in community forestry, including, but not limited to,
collaborative processes and conflict resolution, social networks, political
ecology of forest communities, urban forestry issues, watershedrestoration, park creation and management, forest labour issues, non-timber
forest product production (floral greens, basket-making materials, wild
mushrooms, maple syrup, etc.), and revitalization of local life ways and
cultures. Questions concerning issues of social justice and equity are
especially welcome.
Deadline: Applications must be received by February 1, 2006.
For more details about the program and information on how to
apply visit the website at http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/community_forestry/
or contact: Carl Wilmsen, CFRF Program Coordinator College of Natural
Resources ,101 Giannini Hall #3100,University of California, Berkeley,
Berkeley, CA 94720-3100
Tel: (510) 642-3431; Email: cffellow at nature.berkeley.edu
BACK TO TOP
37. WWF National Coordinator for Gabon
Source: WWF (http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/jobs/index.cfm?uNewsID=52241)
WWF is providing support to the Government of Gabon in the implementation
of its forest and conservation policy, through a large portfolio of
projects in Libreville, as well as in the field in the management of sites
of exceptional biodiversity in the north (Minkebe Forest Block) and in the
south-west (Gamba Complex of Protected Areas) of the country, and in
sustainable management of the productive forestry sector.
Under the supervision of the Representative of WWF Central
Africa Regional Programme Office, the National Coordinator will be
responsible for the implementation, coordination and development of WWF
Gabon Programme, and will represent WWF in its contacts with the national
authorities, conservation partners, private sector and donors.
The required qualifications include:
- A Bac+5 degree or equivalent,
- Minimum ten years professional experience in the management of
conservation and/or development programmes, or in another similar function
including management responsibilities,
- Thorough knowledge of the issues related to biodiversity conservation and
sustainable management of natural resources,
- Strong competence in finance and administration management with excellent
organisational skills,
- Solid interpersonal skills with all partners, and proven competence in
writing reports and other project documents,
- A proven track record in negotiation, fundraising and interaction with
donors,
- Excellent command of French and English, and advanced computer skills.
The position is located in Libreville, Gabon, with frequent
missions in the field.
Interested candidates should send a motivation letter and a
C.V. by 22 December 2005 to Ms. Brigitte Carr-Dirick, National Coordinator
a.i., WWF Gabon - B.P. 9144 Libreville or BCarrDirick at wwfcarpo.org.
EVENTS
Conservation and the Agricultural Fronteir: Integrating Forests and
Agriculture in the Tropics
7-8 April 2006
New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Call for Papers
Is agriculture responsible for deforestation? In discussions of forest
conservation, the debate over the impact of forest clearing by small-holder
farmers is of long standing. While some argue that the effects of
traditional agriculture are mild and reversible, others suggest that
smallholder forest clearing – especially in the context of population
expansion – has drastic negative impacts on ecosystem integrity. Recently,
the dimensions of this debate have expanded in light of research showing
that large-scale agricultural development projects, including as plantation
farming and ranching, may be changing the world’s forest cover with
previously un-acknowledged speed and extent. Faced with the linked
challenges of livelihood maintenance, forest degradation, and sustainable
development, what’s a modern-day tropical forester to do?
Can initiatives along the agricultural frontier contribute to
the ongoing and sustainable use of forest resources? In recent years,
initiatives integrating agricultural production and forest management have
proliferated in the tropics. Projects grounded in agroforestry, and the
management and harvest of timber and non-timber forest products, have been
offered up as compromises between the challenges of poverty, development,
and sustainable forest management. However, challenges remain, not only in
assessing the effectiveness of these initiatives, but also in determining
where, when, and how their lessons can best be scaled up in policy,
legislation, and practice.
The Yale Chapter of the International Society of Tropical
Foresters invite academics and practitioners from both the social and
natural sciences to submit abstracts addressing current trends in research,
policy, and implementation along the tropical forest/agriculture frontier.
We hope the conference will stimulate debate on a range of topics,
including but not limited to such questions as:
· How can timber and non-timber forest product harvesting be
integrated into agricultural management schemes? What impact do
markets for these products have on ecosystems and livelihoods?
· Do income generation schemes integrating agriculture and
forest management have the potential to reduce poverty? Or do they
further trap resource users inside of the poverty net?
· What potential do agroforestry systems hold as a “middle
ground” between agriculture and forest conservation? What
institutional strategies have successfully motivated farmers to
implement agroforestry systems?
· How does the legitimacy of biodiversity conservation in
agricultural landscapes vary among actors, across regions, and across
systems of government? How does perceived legitimacy play into
conflicts on the agricultural frontier?
· What methods exist to pinpoint the collateral effects of
agriculture-related activities indirectly threatening biodiversity
conservation, such as local development plans, market liberalization,
and/or illicit crop production?
· How do local communities measure success at integrating
conservation and agriculture? How do these standards compare with
guidelines generated by policy-makers, researchers, conservationists,
or other communities?
We encourage abstracts based on primary research, or personal or
institutional experience. Selected participants will present full papers at
the conference, and typically have the opportunity to publish in a special
issue of the Journal of Sustainable Forestry. Abstracts should be a maximum
of 500 words, and all correspondence will be addressed to the principal
author.
Please send abstracts to the following address or email address
by 7 January, 2006: Yale ISTF Conference c/o Tropical Resource Institute
Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies 210 Prospect Street, New
Haven, CT 06511
Email: istf at yale.edu
http://www.yale.edu/istf/
The 1st IFOAM Conference on Organic Wild Production
3 and 4 May 2006
Bosnia and Herzegovina
There is significant trade in “organic” wild products, including products
for direct consumption, such as berries, mushrooms and a wide variety of
herbs. There is also a growing interest in organic wild products by the
body care medicinal herb sectors. Statistics for this type of production
are vague, and parallel to the “organic” market, other concepts such as the
Non-Timber Forest Product scheme of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
and other company-specific schemes have been developed.
This conference will focus on the harvesting of wild vegetable
products from forest, “natural” lands, pastures and uncultivated land in
the agriculture landscape. It will concentrate on current production that
enters the organic market stream, but will also extend to other concepts,
such as Fair Trade, sustainable forest management certification and Good
Manufacturing Practices.
“Wild harvested production” as a concept is very broad, and
also encompasses commodities used for fibrous or industrial production. It
could even include some types of animals (e.g. snails). Wild products may
also come from the sea (shellfish) or from lakes (wild rice). The term
“wild” is not fully appropriate, as many so-called wild products are
collected in areas such as pastures, commons and marginal or uncultivated
agricultural land. Additionally, the concept of “wild” implies a lack of
management, although in reality almost all land is managed, and the
collection of “wild” products themselves should be subject to sustainable
management. Nevertheless, for lack of better alternatives, the word “wild
harvested production is used here. It is also a term used in the IFOAM
Basic Standards. Other systems use other terms to describe similar
production, e.g. natural/biodiversity products, Non Timber Forest Products,
Non Wood Forest Products or minor forest products. Some products that are
“wild” can also be cultivated. This conference will not focus on such
cultivation; however one session will address it.
General objectives of the conference
· Establishment of the state of the art in
organic wild production, the volumes, the participating countries and
communities
· Clarification of terms and definitions
· Increasing the understanding of the various
initiatives for NTFP, NWFP, wild collection, etc.
· Exploring the possibilities of bringing
initiatives together
· Identification of challenges and opportunities
for the sector
· Information exchange and networking between
actors in the sector, including forging commercial links
· Increased visibility of wild production
· Addressing sustainability in wild harvesting
· Initiating further development of quality
assurance and standards
· Assisting IFOAM to further develop the concept
of wild harvested production
For the host country, the conference also has the additional
objective of promotion of the country in general and its wild collection
sector in particular.
Target groups: Producers of wild plants
· Communities involved in collection of wild
harvested products
· Processors of wild plants
· Buyers and users of wild plants
· Developers of standards and certification
systems for wild plants and their collection
· Governmental or intergovernmental organizations
involved in the sector
· Service providers to any of these groups
(consultants, researchers etc.)
Exhibition
An exhibition will be linked to the conference. It is expected that
exhibitors are will be producers, buyers/processors and service providers
(consultants, certification bodies, institutes). Sponsors and partners may
also wish to exhibit.
Further Information
Inquiries can be directed to the Agriculture Institute Banja Luka,
polj.institut.bl at blic.net or to Gunnar Rundgren, gunnar at grolink.se
http://www.ifoam.org/events/ifoam_conferences/IFOAM_Wild_Conference.html
9th European Forum on Urban Forestry: Urban Forestry Bridges
22-27 May 2006
Florence, Italy
Reflections and actions about the Urban and Peri-urban Environment comprise
multifaceted spatial-time scales. Urban Forestry is, by definition,
foreseen as a multidisciplinary domain aimed towards the optimal planning,
design, and management of forests and other tree-dominated vegetation in
interaction with urban societies.
But Urban Forestry very often looks beyond the urban forest and
requires inputs or contributes to a wide range of domains in Human and
Ecological sciences and approaches.
“Building bridges” is a daily experience of the Urban Forester
as well as a constant concern of the researcher that aims to outline the
character of Urban Forest places. So, why don’t we focus on the “bridging”
aspects that Urban Forests raise? Whenever we approach any particular topic
related to urban forest and urban greening we have to connect people and
lifestyles, cultures, techniques, demands, values… We could write an
endless list of styles and attitudes that need to be bridged in the frame
of urban forestry.
The basic idea of the forum is to highlight Urban Forestry’s
“bridging” spirit and experience; something essential to every researcher
or practitioner should acting for and thinking about urban forests.
For more information, please contact:
Fax +39 055 575724
E-mail: efuf2006 at libero.it
LITERATURE REVIEW AND WEB SITES
41. Forests, Trees & Livelihoods
From: FAO’s NWFP Programme
The latest issue of Forests, Trees and Livelihoods (Vol 15-4) includes
articles on:
· Turning Straw into Gold: Specialization among
Damar Agroforest Farmers in Pesisir, Sumatra
· Variation in natural regeneration of Shorea
robusta in the vicinity of a cement factory
· Church forests in North Gonder Administrative
Zone, Northern Ethiopia
· Poplar agroforestry systems of Western Uttar
Pradesh in Northern India: a socio-economic analysis
· Lessons learnt in promoting MPTS on farmers’
wastelands in a semiarid rain-fed region of India
A Special Issue (Vol 16-1) entitled “Tree domestication –
progress towards adoption" with Guest Editors Roger R.B. Leakey and T.
Page, is due in January 2006. This will be the second Special Issue on the
topic of forest fruit tree domestication (the first was published in Vol.
12 No. 1 & 2, 2002). It will cover contributions to the Tree Domestication
sessions of the 1st World Agroforestry Congress held in Orlando Florida,
USA in July 2004.
For more information, please contact:
Michael.S.Philip
Editor, Forests, Trees & Livelihoods
Luton Cottage
Bridgeview Road
Aboyne, Aberdeenshire
AB34 5HB, UK
e-mail: philipfor at aboyne93.fsnet.co.uk
http://www.foreststreesandlivelihoods.co.uk/index.htm
43. Other publications of interest
From: FAO’s NWFP Programme
Duchok, R., Kent, K., Khumbongmayum, A.D., Paul, A., and Khan, M.L. 2005.
Population structure and regeneration status of medicinal tree Illicium
griffithii in relation to disturbance gradients in temperate broad-leaved
forest of Arunachal Pradesh. Curr. Sci. 89(4):673-676.
Predny, Mary L. and Chamberlain, James L. undated. Goldenseal (Hydrastis
canadensis): An Annotated Bibliography. The Southern Research Station, US
Forest Service
Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), a member of the buttercup family
(Ranunculaceae), is an herbaceous perennial found in rich hardwood forests
throughout the Northeastern United States and Canada. Originally used by
Native Americans as both a medicine and a dye, the herb was eventually
adopted by the settlers and eclectic physicians1 in the 19th century. The
alkaloids in goldenseal have been found to have antibiotic,
anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, and tonic effects. Scientists and
physicians continue to expand on the knowledge of the clinical applications
and disease-fighting potential of the plant. Growing awareness of possible
medicinal benefits has increased worldwide consumption, which, combined
with a continual loss of habitat, has greatly reduced wild populations.
Goldenseal has been listed under the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II protection
since 1997. Demand for cultivated roots has increased as wild populations
become scarce, motivating research into propagation and cultivation
techniques. More attention should be focused on: educating consumers about
the appropriate uses of the herb in order to reduce overconsumption;
working with growers to increase the profitability of cultivation and
reduce pressures on wild plants; and identifying and tracking wild
populations to determine the most effective management and conservation
practices.
A searchable database and an electronic version available at:
www.sfp.forprod.vt.edu/prodarea/goldenseal.asp
Hard copies can be obtained from the Southern Research Station, P.O. Box
2680, Asheville, NC 28804, USA or Jim Chamberlain, Ph.D.,CF, Research
Scientist, Non-Timber Forest Products Coordinator, Research Group 5.11
(Non-Wood Forest Products), IUFRO U.S. Forest Service, SRS-4702 1650 Ramble
Road Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA
Fax: +1-540-231-1383
Email: jachambe at vt.edu or jchamberlain at fs.fed.us
44. Web sites and e-zines
From: FAO’s NWFP Programme
Career.edu
Job board for the academic and research community.
http://www.career.edu/index.php
Herbs from Nature
www.herbsfromnature.com
PLANTS Database
The USDA NRCS maintains this database to provide information and generate
reports in specialized areas. The PLANTS Database provides standardized
information about the vascular plants, mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and
lichens of the U.S. and its territories. It includes names, plant symbols,
checklists, distributional data, species abstracts, characteristics,
images, plant links, references, crop information, and automated tools.
http://plants.usda.gov/index.html
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