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| Some Facts on NTFPs |
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· NTFPs are products of biological origin but do not include wood derived from forests and wooded lands.
· In European Russia – Each year, the forest of the Arkhangelsk Region have the potential to provide the local population with approximately 27 kg of berries and 13 kg of wild mushrooms per capita. However, these resources are considered to be grossly under-utilized, as recent berry harvests have not exceeded 2 kg per capita, suggesting that non-timber forest products are a largely untapped resource (Chibisov & Demidova, 1998).
· In the Russian Far East – Approximately 55% of the flora of the Russian Far East have documented human uses, the vast majority of which have been traditionally used in Russian, Chinese, Tibetan, Arabian, Indian and western European medicine. After medicinal plants, food plants and edible/medicinal mushrooms are the other most common categories of NTFP. Despite this enormous potential, few species are being actively harvested or have official standards governing their sale. This lack of government involvement makes it very difficult to quantify to economic impact of non-timber forest products, but one-estimate projects that non-timber forest products have the potential to inject 23.6 to 32.5 million US dollars into the Primorsky Region alone (Zakharenkov, 2003).
· In Canada – In the Yukon alone, country foods (meat procured through hunting and fishing, berries, wild eggs, mushrooms and native vegetables) were found to contribute $10 million (CAN) to the local economy (Henry, 2002).
· In Scandinavia – The harvesting of non-timber forest products, berries in particular, has a long history in Scandinavia and has long been associated with the principle of “everyman’s right,” which excludes berries, mushrooms and other natural products from the rights of the property owner. For example, approximately 60% of all Finnish households engage in berry picking and, harvesting a total of 56.5 million kg or an average of 25.8 kg per household. While most of this picking was for personal use, 27% of the total harvest was for commercial purposes (Saastamoinen & Kangas, 2000).
· In Scotland - In the recent past NTFPs played an important role on a variety of levels. "Oak and birch bark, for example, were formerly gathered in large quantities for the tanning trade, and juniper berries were once exported to Holland for making gin." On the domestic level, "...woods provided significant supplies of food (e.g. game, nuts and berries), medicine (e.g. wild garlic), dyes (e.g. alder bark) and other essentials for rural dwellers until well into the 20th century." (Reforesting Scotland, 2005)
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