Delali B.K. Dovie

Direct-use values of woodland resources consumed and traded in a South African village

SUMMARY This paper examines the contribution of secondary resources harvested from a savanna ecosystem to household income in Thorndale village, South Africa. The valuation of these resources provides a key tool for adopting sustainable development practices. The study shows the relevance of the dependence of rural people on secondary resources and implications for social and economic equity. Fuelwood, edible herbs and thatch grass contributed 80.6% (

Rural economy and livelihoods from the non-timber forest products trade. Compromising sustainability in southern Africa?

492.53) of the total gross direct-use value (

Direct-use value of smallholder crop production in a semi-arid rural South African village

559.46) of all the resources per household per annum. The net direct-use value of eight directly harvested resources was

Whose involvement?--can hierarchical valuation scheme intercede for participatory methods for evaluating secondary forest resource use?

455.11 after accounting for the opportunity cost of labour. The value of secondary resources traded amounted to

Towards Rio + 10 – Trend of Environmentalism and Implications for Sustainable Livelihoods in the 21st Century, The Context of Southern African Region

126.62 per household, equivalent to 22.6% of values from direct consumption, suggesting a high degree of dependence of villagers on natural resources harvested for household consumption. There were high relative direct-use values for fuelwood (44%) and edible herbs (25.9%) reflecting the high energy requirement, and substitute for cultivated vegetables, respectively. It was generally perceived that resources were in short supply probably due to the level of dependence, and as a coping strategy.

Sensitivity of health sector indicators' response to climate change in Ghana.

SUMMARY The role of non-timber forest products in sustaining rural economies of the southern African region has been underestimated because of inadequate policy recognition. As a result, factors affecting the sustainability of these important resources are being undermined. The aim of the paper is to examine trade in two selected NTFPs and implications for sustaining the resource base in Zimbabwe and South Africa. In eastern Zimbabwe, baobab (Adansonia digitata) bark is harvested for craft purposes, but in danger of destruction in the short term as a result of harvesting and trade arrangements. Unless appropriate harvesting and marketing mechanisms including harvesting cycles and adaptive management are adopted, the baobabs and livelihoods of humans will be threatened in the next decade. For wood products from communal woodlands in the South African study, uncontrolled trade poses danger to sustaining the natural woodlands. In both case studies, the role of non-resident NTFP dealers is a source of inevitable threat in promoting sustainable harvesting and trade. Market forces of demand and supply factors are identified as opportunities or threats and presented in a conceptualised framework. Additionally, the NTFP sector management will need to include opportunistic improvement of small-scale agropastoralism.

Hydro-climatic stress, shallow groundwater wells and coping in Ghana's White Volta basin

Abstract The monetary value of natural resources used by rural communities for subsistence is important when addressing issues affecting the livelihoods of impoverished rural households. There is therefore the need to attribute monetary values to non-marketed products from smallholder production systems in order to reliably account for resource availability and usage to further sound policy decisions. The objective of this paper is to present an empirical analysis of the direct-use and traded values of crop production by households, and to discuss the implications for policy development. The study was undertaken in combination with an evaluation of other livelihood sectors in Thorndale, a semi-arid rural village in the Limpopo province of South Africa. The net direct-use value of crops was estimated at

Valuation of communal area livestock benefits, rural livelihoods and related policy issues

443.4 per household per annum across the village. Maize ( Zea mays ), watermelon ( Citrullus, vulgaris ), peanuts ( Arachis hypogaea ) and common beans ( Phaseolus vulgaris ) contributed over 90% to the total direct-use value of crops. Maize alone contributed 40% of this value per household at an estimated

The Fuelwood Crisis in Southern Africa — Relating Fuelwood Use to Livelihoods in a Rural Village

652/ha. Marketing of resources was not a common practice, limited to only maize and peanuts. Farming was basically a rain-fed–mixed cropping system with low production inputs. Farmer support services, human capital development and tenure security were major areas identified for policy development.

Harvesting of non-timber forest products and implications for conservation in two montane forests of East Africa

Abstract The participation of local people in projects involving secondary forest resource use in developing countries is examined. Methods and approaches used by research and community development workers for collecting information are revisited. However, the focus is on people-centred methods and approaches relevant for optimising the participation of local people. A case study on secondary forest resource use in rural South Africa is presented. The sustainable use and management of forest resources demand a comprehensive knowledge about the status of the resources through participatory inventory approaches. A hypothesis is tested that the hierarchy of methods and approaches carried out at the household level generate more robust results than communal level approaches for evaluating the availability of secondary forest resources to rural households. Socio-economic factors, institutional arrangements and naturally occurring processes are noted to drive the use of forest resources. The human centred driving forces are better understood through encompassing techniques that capture the knowledge and skill of local people. Such an initiative fulfils the society-nature relationship in the context of the new sustainability science, with challenges that need to be faced with methodological innovations. One of such is the hierarchical valuation scheme that provides the rigour, the confidence and the robustness for assessing and evaluating local resource use as compared to the use of other participatory approaches at communal gatherings. Traditionally, forestry and ecological techniques are used for resource assessments and the prediction of forest resource use. The techniques often neglect local participation, and where local people were integrated, they often provided cheap labour. Traditional ecological inventory techniques are in recent times complemented with methods from social science and development disciplines through participatory learning and action. Participatory rural appraisal is the most commonly used but with its inherent flaw. The importance and use of participatory rural appraisal have been explored and found not to be as robust as previously thought. However, in order to make local participation more liberating and empowering, most weaknesses of participatory rural appraisal have been addressed by the hierarchical valuation scheme. The use of the proposed scheme is explained as a complementary technique for PRA processes, and not providing replacement for any technique.