<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Civility -- it's always so welcome.
Really helps produce constructive outcomes.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"> FYI, I spend a good deal of my
research time documenting the importance of small amounts of income derived
from NTFPs for rural (and not so rural) people.</font>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"><br>
Marla R. Emery, Ph.D.<br>
Research Geographer<br>
US Forest Service<br>
Northern Research Station<br>
705 Spear Street<br>
Burlington, VT 05403-6102<br>
(802)951-6771 ext. 1060<br>
</font><a href=http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/people/memery><font size=2 face="sans-serif">http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/people/memery</font></a>
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<td width=40%><font size=1 face="sans-serif"><b>Jean Giblette <hfg@capital.net></b>
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<p><font size=1 face="sans-serif">04/22/2009 01:14 PM</font>
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<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">To</font></div>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Marla Emery <memery@fs.fed.us></font>
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<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">cc</font></div>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">mpwg@lists.plantconservation.org</font>
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<div align=right><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Subject</font></div>
<td><font size=1 face="sans-serif">Re: [MPWG] NTFP trade in Scotland</font></table>
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<br><font size=3>Dr Emery conjures up a benign picture of nature-lovers
out for a Sunday stroll, plucking and cherishing their little nature token.
While this picture no doubt accurately describes some of the wild-gatherers,
it misses the main point.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=3>Global trade in medicinal plants (and perhaps other NTFPs)
relies on paying people very low wages for goods extracted from nature.
This happens worldwide but also right here in eastern North America,
exacerbated by increasing poverty. (For those of you with good government
jobs -- hello -- yes, more of us are forced to scramble frantically for
cash these days.) </font>
<br>
<br><font size=3>Meanwhile, production costs for those of us trying to
wild or ecologically cultivate medicinals on owned or leased properties
are something like ten times the going rate for extracted goods. This
wage gap is thoroughly documented here:</font>
<br>
<br><font size=1>Burkhart, Eric P. and Michael G. Jacobson, 2008. “Transitioning
from wild collection to forest cultivation of indigenous medicinal forest
plants in eastern North America is constrained by lack of profitability,”
<i>Agroforestry Systems Journal </i>(Springer Science+Business Media).</font>
<br>
<br><font size=3 face="Arial">I'm losing patience with the tactic of begging
the Forest Service to acknowledge value in natural resources, all the while
handsome trade profits are being made on the backs of rural people for
whom an extra $1000 means avoiding the repo man. The only solution
I can figure out is along the lines of the "local food" strategy.
That is, getting the message out to the general public: if
you don't know exactly where your medicinal plants come from -- the entire
value chain, from site or farm, grower, herbalist or product maker -- they're
probably stolen from your children.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=3 face="Arial">Also, we need to go way beyond Fair Trade
to price parity. Growers/wild-cultivators need to organize, support
each other, get certified to the max, and watch out for our own interests.</font>
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<br><font size=3 face="Arial">Jean</font>
<br>
<br><font size=3>On Apr 22, 2009, at 10:08 AM, Marla Emery wrote:</font>
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<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif"><br>
Hello Patricia and all,</font><font size=3> </font><font size=2 face="sans-serif"><br>
<br>
Thanks for sharing the article on NTFP trade in Scotland. I must
say, having done research on NTFPs in Scotland, I'm going to have to check
the sources and reliability of the information reported in the article.
</font><font size=3> <br>
</font><font size=2 face="sans-serif"><br>
Re. NTFP values in the United States, so often nonmarket activities, which
constitute the majority of gatherers -- if not of biomass -- are ignored.
These include creating and reinforcing direct, intimate connections
between nature and humans (there's nothing more intimate than putting something
into your mouth and literally having it become a part of your body). Because
foraging requires careful attention to ecological characteristics such
as weather, habitat, and phenology, especially when engaged in over time,
it leads to a kind of awareness that can be a strong basis for ecologically
motivated behavior and attachment to place.</font><font size=3> Foraging
can also promote </font><font size=2 face="sans-serif">human health by
promoting exercise and access to fresh food, often with high nutritional
value. Interestingly, the latter point was brought home to me most
strongly by my research in Scotland. <br>
<br>
All of this is not to say that there are not significant social and ecological
issues raised by large-scale commercialization of NTFPs, such as the terms
of compensation for landowners. But I do think it is important for
those of us who work in this field to remember that the vast majority of
people who go out to gather nontimber forest products do so for use by
themselves and their immediate social networks. That activity contributes
to development of the kinds of knowledge and attitudes that are recognized
as foundational to support for conservation -- provided we do not alienate
people by demonizing their activities.</font><font size=3> </font><font size=2 face="sans-serif"><br>
<br>
Cheers,</font><font size=3> </font><font size=2 face="sans-serif"><br>
Marla</font><font size=3> </font><font size=2 face="sans-serif"><br>
<br>
Marla R. Emery, Ph.D.<br>
Research Geographer<br>
US Forest Service<br>
Northern Research Station<br>
705 Spear Street<br>
Burlington, VT 05403-6102<br>
(802)951-6771 ext. 1060</font><font size=3 color=blue><u><br>
</u></font><a href=http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/people/memery><font size=2 color=blue face="sans-serif"><u>http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/people/memery</u></font></a>
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<br>
<br><font size=1>Jean Giblette, Director</font>
<br><font size=1>HIGH FALLS GARDENS</font>
<br><font size=1>Box 125 Philmont NY 12565</font>
<br><font size=1>518-672-7365, </font><a href=mailto:hfg@capital.net><font size=1 color=blue><u>hfg@capital.net</u></font></a>
<br><font size=1>www.highfallsgardens.net</font>
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