Forest product markets, forests and poverty reduction
Abstract
There is a new and increasing emphasis on poverty alleviation and livelihoods improvement in forestry, representing both
a challenge and an opportunity. This paper briefly reviews the evolution of the ‘livelihoods’ issue, analyzes the concept of
‘poverty alleviation’ and discusses means by which forestry can contribute to livelihoods improvement. It focuses on the
contributions of forest products and markets, questioning the typical timber vs non-timber dichotomy. The role and the
potential of a forest product is determined more by the socio-economic and environmental context of the production,
processing and marketing system than by the physical characteristics of the product itself. This is important as new
opportunities arise through increased control of resources by local people and new markets for forest products. Helping
achieve poverty alleviation through forestry requires protecting poverty mitigation functions, enhancing income and
employment options, and taking advantage of opportunities to build and strengthen local institutions through policies and
project-level interventions.
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Forest-based livelihoods strategies conditioned by market remoteness and forest proximity in Jharkhand, India
Belcher, Brian; Achdiawan, Ramadhani; Dewi, Sonya (World Development, 2015)The study uses a novel method to investigate the role of forest proximity, market remoteness, and caste in determining household income, especially forest income, in an underdeveloped region of India. A high (>50%) ... -
Markets Drive the Specialization Strategies of Forest Peoples
Ruiz-Pérez, Manuel; Belcher, Brian; Achdiawan, Ramadhani; Alexiades, Miguel; Aubertin, Catherine; Caballero, Javier; Campbell, Bruce; Clement, Charles; Cunningham, Tony; Fantini, Alfredo; de Foresta, Hubert; Fernández, Carmen García; Gautam, Krishna H.; Martínez, Paul Hersch; de Jong, Wil; Kusters, Koen; Kutty, M. Govindan; López, Citlalli; Fu, Maoyi; Alfaro, Miguel Angel Martínez; Raghavan Nair, T.K.; Ndoye, Ousseynou; Ocampo, Rafael; Rai, Nitin; Ricker, Martin; Schreckenberg, Kate; Shackleton, Sheona; Shanley, Patricia; Sunderland, Terry; Youn, Yeo-Chang (Resilience Alliance, 2004)Engagement in the market changes the opportunities and strategies of forest-related peoples. Efforts to support rural development need to better understand the potential importance of markets and way people respond to them. ... -
Forests, livelihoods, and conservation: Broadening the empirical base
Wunder, Sven; Angelsen, Arild; Belcher, Brian (World Development, 2014)More than 10,000 years after the Agricultural Revolution started, millions of rural smallholders across the developing world may still derive as much income from foraging forests and wildlands as from cultivating crops. ...