It's Not the Availability, But the Accessibility that Matters: Ecological and Economic Potential of Non-Timber Forest Products in Southeast Cameroon

Abstract

This study examined the ecological availability and economic potential of 10 non-timber forest product (NTFP) species. Irvingia gabonensis and Ricinodendron heudelotii produce large quantities of fruits and have higher economic values compared to other species. The number of nuts and kernels harvested and sold was a small percentage of the total annual production in the area. This is likely to be due to the low human population density and the difficulty in increasing the efficiency of gathering the nuts and kernels. Given the affluent ecological availability demonstrated in this study, even when innovations to improve the efficiency of harvesting are achieved, the trees produce more than 10 times the amount of fruits that can be gathered by all the people in the region, even with their maximum labor input. However, because of the forest zoning carried out by the government in the 1990s, the area that local people can harvest, without any concerns, is limited. What is of concern when promoting the use of NTFPs in southeast Cameroon is not the ecological availability of resources but limited accessibility to the resources, due to conflicts between local people and stakeholders, recently introduced under the national and international forest policies.