Extraction of non-timber forest products from tropical rain forests. Does diversity come at a price?

Abstract

Tropical rain forests are rich in plant and animal species. The sustainable extraction of non-timber forest products has been advocated as a strategy to best conserve this diversity. However, the development and implementation of such exploitation systems, which aim to reconcile conservation and economic development, are still hampered by the lack of information on the biological sustainability of these systems, the impact of these exploitation systems on the biological diversity and the insufficient knowledge of the role of forest products in the house-hold economy of forest dependent people and hence their prospects for economic development. Whether the exploitation of non-timber forest products from tropical rain forests is sustainable or not is still open to question, but data presently available on the biological, social and economic aspects of these extraction systems point at an interesting question: Does diversity come at a price? Namely, low density of conspecifics - and thus products - and hence low productivity for those involved in the collection of forest resources. The paper will further discuss whether domestication of forest species provide an alternative for some of these species? Species are part of a complex ecosystem and their functioning is partly depended on the presence of other species in the system. What are the attributes of the species which have to be taken into account in order to make domestication of forest species successful? Finally, the paper will return to the question: How to reconcile conservation and use of tropical rain forests? It will present a case for domesticating the forest instead of the species. Or in other words changing the forest composition without changing its structure and functioning, and maintaining acceptable levels of biodiversity.