Role of Traditional Ethnobotanical Knowledge

In recent decades, species extinction has increased sharply. Most species in the world are discovered in tropical forests – covering more than 10% of the planet. Sustainable management and conservation efforts must include local communities and their traditional knowledge. The traditional use of forest resources, especially non-timber products such as medicinal plants, not only has deep roots in indigenous populations, but is also practiced in a broad segment of culture. Using medicinal herbs is often a costly alternative to modern medicine that is economically inevitable. This traditional use's basic knowledge is carried from one generation to the next. Medical use in particular reflects an extremely vibrant, ever-evolving process in which fresh knowledge is constantly acquired and connected to traditional methods. An instance from West Bengal's West Midnapore district in India is used to illustrate the impacts of an integrated strategy to preserving biodiversity and culture.

Increasing Mass Timber Consumption in the U.S. and Sustainable Timber Supply

Mass timber products are growing in popularity as a substitute for steel and concrete, reducing embodied carbon in the built environment. This trend has raised questions about the sustainability of the U.S. timber supply. Our research addresses concerns that rising demand for mass timber products may result in unsustainable levels of harvesting in coniferous forests in the United States. Using U.S. Department of Agriculture U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data, incremental U.S. softwood (coniferous) timber harvests were projected to supply a high-volume estimate of mass timber and dimensional lumber consumption in 2035. Growth in reserve forests and riparian zones was excluded, and low confidence intervals were used for timber growth estimates, compared with high confidence intervals for harvest and consumption estimates. Results were considered for the U.S. in total and by three geographic regions (North, South, and West). In total, forest inventory growth in America exceeds timber harvests including incremental mass timber volumes. Even the most optimistic projections of mass timber growth will not exceed the lowest expected annual increases in the nation’s harvestable coniferous timber inventory.

Genealogy and the contemporary of “orang rawang”: hidden population mapping on forest and land resource control practices in South Sumatera

The issuance of rights to manage and use forest and land resources by the government to large corporations usually incurs costs for the state and society. One of them is the emergence of hidden populations, namely people who are marginalized and even oppressed by development programs. Using the hidden population mapping method, this study reveals that hidden populations are born from the issuance of management and use rights on land they have relied on for their livelihoods. In this study, Orang Rawang is used as a term to represent a hidden population which the amounts is approximately about 30% of the population of Perigi Village and 35% of the population of Riding Village. The formation of Orang Rawang can be associated with a long-standing social stratification process that can now be identified from assets and survival strategies. Most of them do not have assets in the form of land ownership on mineral lands. Their main livelihood is fishing and collecting wood and non-timber products. Social networking in the community is carried out horizontally by dividing collective space for roaming areas, and vertically by forming patron-clan relationships with the Orang Risan and Orang Sungai.

Comparative wood anatomy of 15 Malagasy Diospyros species (Ebenaceae)

Diospyros L. (Ebenaceae) is an important source of ebony, a precious wood used for several economically important timber products. Species are overexploited in many regions, including Madagascar, for both the national and international trade, but little is known about their wood anatomy, despite its importance for forensic identification. Wood anatomy has a major role to play in ensuring the sustainable and equitable utilization of Diospyros species that are not threatened by extinction, and in law enforcement to protect threatened species from illegal logging. This study aims to identify, describe, and test the usefulness of anatomical features to support a taxonomic revision of the genus in Madagascar and to enrich databases for wood identification. Ninety-nine wood specimens were collected from the various bio-geographical regions of Madagascar, representing 15 endemic species (twelve previously described and three new) of large trees (reaching DBH ⩾ 20 cm and/or height ⩾ 20 m) were investigated. Standard methods for wood anatomical studies were used. Statistical analysis of the data using Factorial Analysis on Mixed Data was performed for 14 wood anatomical characters. Detailed descriptions and comparisons of the wood anatomy of the 15 species are provided, along with a wood identification key. Analyses showed that all the characters are highly significant () in the separation of the species studies.

Understanding the Use of Timber in Semi-Arid Regions: Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a Case Study

The use of timber in the building industry has expanded in many countries over the last 20 years due mainly to its light weight, low adverse impact to the environment, and fair mechanical properties. Despite the development of the construction industry in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq (KRI) in recent years, timber product utilization is still very limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of further utilizing timber-based products in the building industry in semi-arid regions using the KRI as a case study. A review of timber product utilization in the region was conducted first and the general properties of timber products were followed. Based on this, a survey focusing on the current situation and suitability of localized grown timber products was carried out to study the feasibility. This article concludes that the use of timber-based products in the KRI presents different barriers, with the availability in the market and technicality of construction with the material being the strongest ones. The article recommends that it is imperative to further research how to promote timber’s utilization in the KRI to be in line with sustainable development.