Markets Drive the Specialization Strategies of Forest Peoples
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Issue Date
2004
Editor
Authors
Ruiz-Pérez, Manuel
Belcher, Brian
Achdiawan, Ramadhani
Alexiades, Miguel
Aubertin, Catherine
Caballero, Javier
Campbell, Bruce
Clement, Charles
Cunningham, Tony
Fantini, Alfredo
License
Subject
Commercialization
forest use
market development
nontimber forest products
poverty
resource management
specialization
forest use
market development
nontimber forest products
poverty
resource management
specialization
Abstract
Engagement in the market changes the opportunities and strategies of forest-related peoples. Efforts to support rural development need to better understand the potential importance of markets and way people respond to them. To this end, we compared 61 case studies of the commercial production and trade of nontimber forest products from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The results show that product use is shaped by local markets and institutions, resource abundance, and the relative level of development. Larger regional patterns are also important. High-value products tend to be managed intensively by specialized producers and yield substantially higher incomes than those generated by the less specialized producers of less managed, low-value products. We conclude that commercial trade drives a process of intensified production and household specialization among forest peoples.