Its wise and sensitive approach to working with local people will be relevant in situations throughout the world.' ECOS 'The numerous diagrams, tables of data, information flow charts, fieldwork sketches etc. give a great vibrancy to the work... It deserves a wide readership.' TEG News Wild or non-cultivated plants are crucial to the lives of a large portion of the world's population, providing low-cost building materials, fuel, food supplements, medicines, tools and sources of income. Despite their importance, their vulnerability to harvesting and other social impacts is not well understood. Applied Ethnobotany is the first practical guide to be published on how to manage wild plant species sustainably. This detailed manual on wild plant resources sets out the approaches and field methods involved in participatory work between conservationists, researchers and the primary resource users. Supported by extensive illustrations, it explains how local people can learn to assess the pressures on plant resources and what steps to take to ensure their continued availability. For all those involved in resource management decisions regarding plant species and diversity, and in particular those studying or working in conservation, rural development and park management, this guide is invaluable. Published with WWF, UNESCO and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
Author(s): Anthony Cunningham
Series: PEOPLE AND PLANTS CONSERVATION MANUALS
Edition: 1st
Publisher: Earthscan Publications Ltd
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 300
Contents......Page 6
List of Figures, Tables and Boxes......Page 8
The People and Plants Initiative......Page 13
Confusion or clarity in conservation practice?......Page 14
The focus of this manual......Page 16
Why use the term ‘wild’ plants?......Page 17
Problems in conservation......Page 18
People and Plants Partners......Page 20
Acknowledgements......Page 21
Introduction......Page 22
Historical context......Page 24
Management myths and effective partnerships......Page 26
Vegetation change: spatial and time scales......Page 28
Human influence: landscapes and species......Page 29
Local priorities: vegetation types, resource categories and species......Page 31
Choosing the right methods......Page 33
Before starting: attitudes, time spans and cross-checking......Page 36
Taxonomy with all your senses: the use of field characters......Page 53
Potentials and pitfalls: combining skills in inventories......Page 65
Local to international units......Page 72
Introduction......Page 81
Local markets: order within ‘chaos’......Page 84
Location and mapping of marketplaces......Page 85
Characteristics of markets......Page 94
Market schedules......Page 99
Marketing chains and types of seller......Page 103
Inventory and frequency of plants on sale......Page 108
Introduction......Page 117
Measuring diameter, height and bark thickness......Page 118
Methods for ageing plants......Page 136
Harvesting impacts......Page 147
Introduction......Page 165
Plant populations and practical constraints: selecting species......Page 166
Plant life forms......Page 171
Costs and complexity: inventory, management and monitoring......Page 177
Yields: supply versus demand......Page 201
Population modelling using transition matrices......Page 205
Introduction......Page 213
Tools for the ‘big picture’: aerial photographs and satellite images......Page 217
Distribution, degree of threat and disturbance......Page 223
Local knowledge, landscapes and mapping......Page 233
Introduction......Page 243
Conservation and the ingredients for common property management......Page 244
Ecological factors, land use, tenure and territoriality......Page 254
Property rights: land and resource tenure......Page 259
Boundaries and tenure, meaning and mapping......Page 266
Ritual, religion and resource control......Page 274
Who are the stakeholders?......Page 280
Introduction......Page 285
Looking outward......Page 288
Looking inward; examining innovative local approaches......Page 290
Acronyms and Abbreviations......Page 293
Further Reading......Page 295
References......Page 299
Index......Page 316
