The Impact of Economic Development on the Extraction of Non-Timber Forest Products by the Sumu Indians of Nicaragua

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Economic development in the tropics has led to wide-spread destruction of rain forests largely through commercial logging and clear cutting for ranching and agriculture. Less dramatically but just as importantly, non-timber forest products (NTFP) such as medicinal plants, fish and game animals, and certain vegetable resources (e.g., Brazil nuts) are strongly effected by economic development. Therefore, it is important to understand the local and global forces advance or retard the destruction of biodiversity in tropical forests. The goal of this project is to measure, for the first time, the impact of economic development on the extraction of non-timber forest products by the Sumu Indians of Nicaragua. The researchers hypothesize that economic development through increases in income: (1) encourages foraging specialization (i.e., harvesting of wild resources), resulting in the extraction of fewer NTFP; (2) increases the share of household income from non-foraging occupations; (3) produces a yearly value from NTFP extraction of about US$ 50/hectare; and (4) produces depletion of NTFP entering commercial channels and sustainable extraction of NTFP facing cheaper industrial substitutes. To test these hypotheses a multidisciplinary team of researchers (a botanist, zoologist, and anthropologist) will conduct field research over the course of 2.5 years in a poor and in a rich Sumu village to collect data on resource collection, ecological sustainability of foraging activities, household economics, and the value of NTFP. These villages were specially selected based on pilot research conducted in 1992. This research should provide us fundamental information on the human, ecological, and economic impact of development in the rain forest. The researchers hope to provide an explanation of why and how people's use of both forest plants and animals changes as an economy modernizes. They will provide the first rigorous, quantitative estimate of the yearly value of the forest from foraging. Finally, they will provide one of the first direct measures of the short-run sustainability of human foraging in the tropical rain forest. ts meeting ! ! ! F v v ( Times New Roman Symbol & Arial ? " h i abstract for ashton godoy abstract godoy ashton godoy abstract Raymond Hames Raymond Hames