Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
From the above-cited studies it can be seen that any comparison of the
relative values of forest resources encounters serious dii culties. First,
several of the studies do not consider the full economic value of non-
timber forest products but only of a few selected species. In particular,
none of the studies includes the value of faunal products from the forest.
Second, largely dif ering values were derived for studies that occurred
over the same areas (for example, Peters et al., 1989; Pinedo-Vasquez et
al., 1992) bringing into question the validity of these studies. In addition,
Nations (1992) and Hecht (1992) consider only the gross value of the
resources they estimated, making comparisons with studies that estimated
net values impossible.
Fewer studies have attempted to value wildlife resources in forest or
savanna ecosystems in Africa. Those early studies that attempted to do so
concentrated mainly on animal rather than plant resources, for example,
Martin (1983), Redford and Robinson (1985) and Barbier et al. (1990).
Scoones et al. (1992) reviewed much of the literature on the use and
value of wild resources in agricultural systems. Although much literature
existed about the use of wild resources, it was shown that almost nothing
was known about the value of these products. One of the few studies to
undertake the economic assessment of wildlife resources is that of the
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and
Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands Conservation Programme (HNWCP) (1997).
The principal method of data collection was Participatory Rural Analysis
(PRA), and the extensive report gives a detailed description of the
methods used to obtain the data; which products were used, how they
were harvested, the quantities taken and their value. An overall economic
value is derived for a number of the wildlife resources based on a simple
cost-benei t analysis of value equals quantity sold times price, minus costs
of production. However, no assessment of the value of crops and livestock
is made in this study.
In addition to wildlife resources, livestock resources are also of high
value to the people living in and around many savanna ecosystems. As was
discussed earlier in this report, the value of livestock has frequently only
been seen in their commercial meat production. This has frequently led to
the belief by policy-makers that traditional production systems of livestock
are backward and inei cient compared with those of commercial systems
such as cattle ranching. In recognition of this shortcoming, research was
initiated to attempt to assess the true productive value of traditional forms
of livestock production systems (for example, Cossins, 1985). Scoones
(1992) recognized that to understand the full value of livestock within
agropastoral systems required a detailed study of all of the useful outputs
from the livestock in the system. He dei ned productivity not simply in
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