Domestication of Trees or Forests: Development Pathways for Fruit Tree Production in South-east Asia - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 78

4. Changed socio-political conditions, e.g. population growth and migration,
increased interaction with other (ethnic) groups, changed tenure conditions
including gradual privatization or nationalization of forest lands, development
of state organizations for forest management and rural development.
These changes increase pressure on forest and tree resources. In several
cases this has resulted in deforestation and forest degradation, but in other
cases farmers have reacted by modifying their management strategies, e.g. by
intensifying or reducing the cultivation of valuable tree species (Belsky, 1993;
Dove, 1994; Arnold and Dewees, 1995). Recently, it has been noted that in
several forest and homegarden systems such intensification has resulted in a
gradual transfer from mixed-species multistoreyed cropping systems towards
more uniform systems (Belcher et al. , 2005). However, the process of change
in these systems is not always uniform, and detailed studies have shown that
whereas some smallholder cultivators gradually change their 'intermediate' fruit
tree production systems towards more specialized arboricultural practices, other
smallholders maintain these systems, although they modify the species
composition and/or specific management practices (Peyre et al. , 2006).
The dynamics of the fruit exploitation systems demonstrate that many local
communities have been actively engaged in domesticating tree species as well
as production systems, and gradually adapting these to their household needs.
Berkes et al . (2000) have characterized such locally evolved coevolutionary
processes as an excellent example of adaptive management. It may be
suggested that research to stimulate domestication of fruit tree species as a
context-specific process, rather than a standard biological process, will be most
successful if it is built upon such locally evolved domestication processes
(Wiersum, 1996). An intriguing question then becomes what the future scope is
for the 'intermediate' production systems such as forest and homegardens.
4.4 Forest Gardens as a Target for Domestication of Fruit Trees
In the past, in research programmes on tree production, two common options
were normally considered: improved methods for harvesting from natural
stocks or domestication in specialized plantations. Recently, it has been argued
that more attention should be given to the scope for conservation and
development of 'intermediate' tree production systems such as forest gardens.
Rather than considering such systems as a temporary development stage in a
linear process of change from exploitation of tree resources from natural
vegetation to modern tree production systems, they should be considered as a
true domestication of forest ecosystems (Michon and De Foresta, 1997). This
opinion mirrors the increasing attention being given to innovative tree
production systems that are both multifunctional and ecologically responsible,
and that can contribute to biodiversity conservation (MacNeely and Scherr,
2003). Several recent concerns may have a positive impact on the social
appreciation of forest gardens as a fruit tree production system that meets
current human requirements (Wiersum, 2004; Michon, 2005):