An inventory of Non- Wood Forest Products used by people living in the buffer zone of a national park in the Amazonian Peru : assessment on subsistence and ecology

Nedanstående innehåll är skapat av Mimers Brunns besökare. Kommentera arbete

This study is made in the buffer zone of a newly created national park in North-eastern Peru named Cordillera Azul. Here local organizations and Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) are working together with the communities to find alternative methods than to clear new land by burning forests for mainly agriculture. The study contributes to their work by identifying the Non Wood Forest Products (NWFP) collected by the people in one of the communities. The main focus is on the plant kingdom and the situation today for the products used the most by the people. Animals and fish are also recorded in the inventory but not analyzed further. During the 6 months survey a total number of 138 plant species representing 54 plant families, 85 animal and bird folk species and 25 fish species, were recorded by the farmers participating in the study. The most important NWFP for the survival of the people are different kind of game and fish, further medicinal plants and construction material. The most economically important species was the fibres from the palm tree Piassava. The income from the Piassava seems to exceed the incomes from the agricultural products. Of the forest products (from the plant kingdom) used the most, the Piassava, Aphandra natalia the Yurachuasca, Arrabidea sp. (a liana used mostly to make baskets) and Tamshi, Heteropsis sp. (roots from an epiphyte (liana) used in construction of the traditional houses) seem to need some restrictions of use today, as they are harvested unsustainably and according to the farmers have a slow regeneration. Further studies on these species are necessary to be able to work out management plans together with the community. Management plans could help the situation for these important species as one can see a shortage of them today. The results in this study provide some indication of the threat to some plant species that the people use much in the buffer zone of the Cordillera Azul and the need for future research. It is obvious that the forest...