Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Non-timber forest products in the community of El Terrero, Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve, Mexico: Is their use sustainable?

Productos forestales no Maderables en la comunidad de “El Terrero,” reserva de la Biosfera Sierra de Manantlán, Mexico: Es su uso sustentable?

  • Published:
Economic Botany Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to rural income was examined in a highland community in the Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve, Jalisco-Colima, Mexico. Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) techniques were used to interview 70% of households in the community of El Terrero. Of the nine plant species identified as NTFP sources, the two principal species traded by the community were tila (derived from the flowers and fruits of the tree Ternstroemia lineata), and blackberry (Rubus spp.). Collecting and selling of NTFPs was almost exclusively undertaken by women, with 80% of respondents participating. NTFP sale ranked as the most important source of cash income for 30% of women interviewed, and either second- or third-most important for the remainder. The research examined harvesting impact on populations of T. lineata, an understory tree species characteristic of cloud forest, which this was assessed in the four most-frequented collecting sites. Our results suggested that current harvesting approaches appear to be sustainable, although 95% of the women interviewed reported a decline in resource availability within the last 15 years, apparently resulting from illegal cutting. Suggestions are made with respect to the sustainable development of NTFP resources to help alleviate poverty within the Reserve.

Resumen

Se evaluó la importancia de los productos forestales no maderables (PFNMs) en el ingreso familiar de un ejido ubicado en una zona montañosa de la reserva de la biósfera de Manantlan, Jalisco—Colitna, México. Se utilizaron técnicas participativas como entrevistas al 70% de las familias de el ejido “El Terrero.” De las nueve especies de plantas identificadas comofuentes de PFNMs, las dos más comercializadas por la communidad fueron tila (órganos frutales del arbol Ternstroemia lineata) y zarzamora (Rubus spp.) La colecta y venta de PFNMs fue casi exclusivamente llevada por mujeres, con una participation del 80%. La venta de PFNMs fue la principal fuente de dinero para el 30% de las mujeres entrevistadas, y el segundo o tercero en importancia por las demás. La investigatión examinó el impacto de la extractión en poblaciones silvestres deT. lineata (una especie de bosque nublado), la cual fue evaluada en cuatro de los sitios de colecta más frecuente. Nuestros resultados sugieren que el nivel y manera de extractión parecen ser sustentable; aunque el 95% de las mujeres entrevisada han notado que en los últimas 15 años la cantidad de recursos naturales ha bajado a causa de la extractión ilegal. Se hacen sugerencias en cuanto al desarollo sustentable de estos PFNMs, para ayudar a disminuir la pobreza dentro de la reserva.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature Cited

  • Abbot, J., and Guijt, I. 1998. Changing views on change: Participatory approaches to monitoring the environment. SARL Discussion paper. No. 2 International Institute for the Environment (IIED), London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allegretti, M. H. 1990. Extractive reserves: an alternative for reconciling development and environmental conservation in Amazonia. Pages 252–264 in A. B. Anderson, ed., Alternatives to deforestation: steps towards sustainable use of the Amazon Rain Forest. Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arizpe, L.,and C. Botey. 1986. Las políticas de desarollo agrario y su impacto sobre la mujer campesina en México. Pages 136–137 in M. León, and C. Deere, eds., La mujer y la política agraria en América Latina.: Siglo XXI editores de Colombio Ltda, Bogotá, Colombia.

  • Baden, S.and K. Milward. 1995. Gender and poverty, BRIDGE Report No. 30, IDS, Sussex.

  • Benz, F. B., J. E. Cevallos, E. M. Munoz, and F. M. Santana. 1996. Ethnobotany serving society: a case study from the Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve. SIDA 17(1):1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boot, R., and R. E. Gullison. 1995. Approaches to developing sustainable extraction systems for tropical forest products. Ecological Applications 5(4): 896–903.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Branney, P. 1994. Thumb rules for assessing the sustainability of harvesting by forest user groups. Nepal-UK Community Forestry Project and LTS International Ltd, Edinburgh, UK. NUKCFP Internal Document.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, J. 1996. Recent approaches to participatory forest resource assessment. Rural Development Forestry Network, Overseas Development Institute, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambers, R. 1993. Challenging the professions: frontiers for rural development. Intermediate Technology, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clay, J. W. 1992. Some general principles and strategies for developing markets in North America and Europe for non-timber forest products: lessons from Cultural Survival Enterprises, 1989–1990. Advances in Economic Botany 9:101–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1988. Indigenous peoples and tropical forests: models of land use and management from Latin America. Cultural Survival Report #27. Cultural Survival, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Counsell, S., and T. Rice, eds. 1992. The rainforest harvest. Sustainable strategies for saving the tropical forests? Friends of the Earth Trust Ltd., London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, A. B. 1993. People and wild plant use: Mgahainga Gorilla National Park—an investigation into past, current, and possible future utilisation of wild plants, and appropriate resources substitution around Mgahainga Mgahainga Gorilla National Park, Uganda. CARE International, Kampala.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Beer, J. H., and M. J. McDermot. 1989. The economic value of non timber forest products in S.E. Asia. Second Edition, Netherlands Committee for the IUCN, Amsterdam.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Jong, W., and R. Utama (1998). Planning for non-timber forest product development and conservation in E. Wollenberg and A. Ingles, eds., Methods for NTFP Development and Conservation. Centre for International Forestry Research, Bogor, Indonesia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Falconer, J. 1992. Non-Timber forest products in southern Ghana: a summary report. ODA Forestry Series Number 2, ODA, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1996. Developing research frames for non-timber forest products: experience from Ghana. Pages 143–160 in M. Ruiz Pérez, and J. E. M. Arnold, eds., Current issues in non-timber forest products research. Centre for International Forestry Research, Bogor, Indonesia.

    Google Scholar 

  • FAO. (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations). 1991. Restoring the balance: women and forest resources. Pages 67–90 in S. Southeimer, Women and the environment: a reader. Crisis and Development in the third world, Earth-scan.

  • FAO. 1995. Non Wood Forest Products for rural income and sustainable forestry. NWFPs 7, FAO, Rome.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fontana, M., S. Joekes, and R. Masika. 1998. Global trade expansion and liberalisation: gender issues and impacts, BRIDGE Report No. 42, IDS, Sussex, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Godoy, R., and K. S. Bawa. 1993. The economic value and sustainable harvest of plants and animals from the tropical forest: assumptions, hypotheses and methods. Economic Botany 47:215–219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, P., and K. Bawa. 1993. Methods to assess the impact of extraction of non-timber tropical forest products on plant populations. Economic Botany 47(3):234–247.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hellier, A., A. C. Newton, and S. Ochoa Gaona. 1999. Use of indigenous knowledge for rapidly assessing trends in biodiversity: a case study from Chiapas, Mexico. Biodiversity and Conservation 8: 869–889.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobley, M. 1996. Participatory forestry: the process of change in India and Nepal. Rural Development Forestry Study Guide No.2. ODI, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyman, E. L. 1996. Technology and the organisation of production, processing and marketing of non-timber forest products. Pages 197–218 in M. Ruiz Pérez, and J. E. M. Arnold, eds., Current issues in non-timber forest products research. Centre for International Forestry Research, Bogor, Indonesia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivan-Smith, E, N. Tandon,and J. Connors. 1988. Women in Sub-Saharan Africa, Minority Rights Group Report no. 77, London.

  • Jardel, P. E. J. 1992. Estrategia para la conservation de la Reserva de Biosfera Sierra de Manantlan. Universidad de Guadalajara, México.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jardel, P., and E. J. Pelaez 1997. Programa de manejo de la reserva de la biosfera Sierra de Mana-tlán. Secretaria de medio ambiente recoursos naturales y pesca. Instituto National de Ecologia. Ela-borado por El Instituro de Manantlán de Ecologia y Conservatión de la Biodiversidad Centra Univ-ersitario de la Costa Sur. Universidad de Guadalajara, Autlán, Jalisco.

    Google Scholar 

  • Konstant, T. L., A. C. Newton, J. H. Taylor, and R. Tipper. 1999. The potential for community-based forest management in Chiapas, Mexico: a comparison of two case studies. Journal of Sustainable Forest Management 9(3/4):169–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leakey, R. R. B., and A. C. Newton, eds. 1994a. Domestication of ’Cinderella’ species as the start of a woody-plant revolution. Pages 3–6 in R. R. B. Leakey, and A. C. Newton, eds., Tropical trees: the potential for domestication and the rebuilding of forest resources. HMSO, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • —,and A. C. Newton, eds. 1994b. Domestication of tropical trees. MAB UNESCO Digest no. 17. UNESCO, Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, G. J. 1995. A methods manual. A people and plants conservation manual. WWF International, UNESCO, and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Chapman and Hall, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthews, J. D. 1989. Silvicultural systems. Oxford Science Publications. Clarendon Press and Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Molnar, A. 1989. Rapid appraisal. Community Forestry Notes 3, FAO, Rome.

    Google Scholar 

  • Narayan, D. 1996. Toward participatory research. World Bank Technical Paper, The World Bank, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nepstad, D. C, and S. Schwartzman. 1992. Non timber products from tropical forests: evaluation of a conservation and development strategy. Advances in Economic Botany 9, vii-xii.

    Google Scholar 

  • Padoch, C. 1992. Marketing of non-timber forest products in western Amazonia: general observations and research priorities. Advances in Economic Botany 9:43–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peluso, N. L. 1992. The rattan trade in east Kalimantan, Indonesia. Advances in Economic Botany 9: 115–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, C. M. 1994. Sustainable harvest of non timber plant resources in tropical moist forest: an ecological primer. Biodiversity Support Programme. Corporate Press, Washington, DC, USA.

    Google Scholar 

  • -. 1996. The ecology and management of non timber forest resources. World Bank Technical Paper 322. Washington, DC, SA.

  • Pijl, Y. H.,van der. 1996. Women’s roles and gender differences: the case of the ejido El Terrero. Dept of Sociology of Rural Devlopment, Wageningen Agricultual University, Netherlands.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plotkin, M. J., and L. M. Famolare, eds. 1992. Sustainable harvests and marketing of rain forest products. Conservation International—Island Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodda, A. 1993. The role of women. Pages 47–79 in Women and world development series. Zed Books, London and New Jersey.

  • Rosales, A. J. J.,and M. S. Graf. 1995. Indicadores de bienestar de la poblacion en las comunidades agrarias con terrenos de la unidad de conservación, utilizando datos de INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, Geografia e Informatica) 1990. Instituto Manantlán de Ecología y Conservatión de la Biodiversidad (IMECBIO). Informe técnico. Univ-ersidad de Guadalajara, Avenida de Independencia 151, Autlán, Jalisco, Mexico.

  • Rzedowski, J. 1978. Vegetatiòn de México. Limusa, Mexico City.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, R., J. K. Berry, and J. C. Gordon, eds. 1999. Forests to fight poverty: creating national strategies. Yale University Press, New Haven and London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, P. J. 1992. Fringe benefits: minor forest product collection within buffer zones as a potential tool for conflict resolution in the impenetrable (Bwindi) National Park—Uganda. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, Agricultural University of Norway NLH.

  • Upton, C, and S. Bass. 1995. The forest certification handbook. Earthscan, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wollenberg, E. 1995. Social dimensions of sustain-ability. In R. Prabhu, ed., Testing criteria and indicators for the sustainable management of forests. Annex to main report. CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wollenberg, E., and A. Ingles. 1999. Incomes from the forest: methods for the development and conservation of forest products for local communities. CIFOR; IUCN, Bogor, Indonesia.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Elaine Marshall

    Present address: Dryland and Freshwater Programme, UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 219 Huntingdon Road, CB3 ODL, Cambridge, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecology and Resource Management, University of Edinburgh, Kings Buildings, Mayfield Rd, EH9 3JU, Edinburgh, UK

    Elaine Marshall & Adrian C. Newton

Authors
  1. Elaine Marshall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Adrian C. Newton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adrian C. Newton.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Marshall, E., Newton, A.C. Non-timber forest products in the community of El Terrero, Sierra de Manantlán Biosphere Reserve, Mexico: Is their use sustainable?. Econ Bot 57, 262–278 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1663/0013-0001(2003)057[0262:NFPITC]2.0.CO;2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1663/0013-0001(2003)057[0262:NFPITC]2.0.CO;2

Key Words

Search

Navigation