Resource Development and Market Value for Non-wood Forest Products of the Banyang-Mbo Sanctuary of Nguti, Cameroon

The research begins with a brief history of the Banyang-Mbo Sanctuary (BMS) of Nguti, its demographic and geographic dispersion. Next, we aim to identify and analyze the various non-timber forest products, which range from plants, animals, birds and marine species. With the aid of write-ups from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Cameroon, the spatial distribution of these products, vis-à-vis their proximity to surrounded villages is presented. Effort is equally made to know the activities of the villages and other environmental factors that affect the growth and existence of these products. Three objectives and three hypotheses were formulated to give direction to the study. Convenient and purposive sampling techniques were used in the study with the help of questionnaires for data gathering. The population of the study comprised 141 households in Nguti vicinity and a sample size of 105 respondents obtained with the use of Yaro Yamen’s formula. The statistical tools used for data analysis were frequency, mean and tables of percentages to organize the data collected. The instrument was validated by three experts and reliability justified by a coefficient. The study recommended that education on the development of non-wood forest resources should be practically oriented and existing markets should be sustained while new ones be sought for the sales of the final products.

The Pattern of Cooperation between the Ministry of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia and the Wildlife Conservation Society-Indonesia Programme in Dealing with the Illegal Transnational Trade of Pangolins in Indonesia

Indonesia is home to one of the world’s pangolins species whose status is protected internationally in the Appendix 1 Category of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). This means that pangolins are categorized vulnerable to extinction and are prohibited to be freely traded. However, since 1990, the number of pangolin populations in Indonesia has declined because of the threat of environmental degradation, illegal hunting and illegal trade. In responding the threat of pangolin extinction in Indonesia, the Indonesian government formed a collaborative initiative with International Non-Government Organizations working on wildlife conservation. This study aims to analyze the pattern of cooperation between the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) with the Wildlife Conservation Society-Indonesia Programme (WCS-IP) in dealing with the illegal transnational trade of pangolins. This study used an analysis of interaction patterns of supplementary, complementary, and adversary in a state-non-state actor cooperation approach. The findings in this study showed that cooperation established based on supplementary patterns is carried out by providing capacity building assistance of law enforcement officers from WCS-IP to KLHK. The complementary pattern was by giving mandate to carry out the program from KLHK to WCS-IP, and the adversary pattern was by providing support as well as input by WCS-IP on government regulations and policies. Based on the analysis of the all of the patterns, the cooperation established is more dominated by using supplementary and complementary patterns because of the compatibility of the vision and mission, the intensity of coordination and trust of both parties.

Caring for Xate, caring for Xateros: NGO monitoring, livelihoods, and plant-human relations in Uaxactún, Guatemala

In Uaxactún, a community forest concession inside Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve, three species of xate palm, a non-timber forest product, are at the heart of quickly evolving webs of knowledge, identity, institutional alliances, and livelihoods. Xate palms are simultaneously the "daily beans" for the majority of Uaxactún residents, the object of intense study and regulation, a commodity marketable to international floral markets, a marker of local identity, and a ubiquitous part of the forest landscape. Now, as the result of a series of projects instituted by the conservation NGO, the Wildlife Conservation Society and other institutions, xate in Uaxactún is being transformed from a "natural", exploited part of the landscape to something to actively cuidar, or care for. NGO-driven dynamics of monitoring, study, and other external knowledge-making about the village are central to these ongoing shifts in xate-human relations, and to broader changes in local senses of place and identity. "Care" describes both material and affective relations, including practices and values that strive for a more liveable world without assuming an ultimate goal or a best solution. NGO projects that foster relations of care between villagers and xate palms are also a form of caring for villagers themselves, working as they do towards sustainable shared human/non-human futures. At the same time, however, these projects are "necessary but not sufficient" – caught in the problematic local scale, and failing to address deeper structural problems that keep Uaxactún residents dependent on precarious sources of income.Keywords: Guatemala, Maya Biosphere Reserve, NTFPs, NGOs, environmental knowledge, care