Monetary Valuation of the Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs): Does it Contribute to Determine a Sustainable Management of Those Resources?

Abstract

"Since May 95, a CIRAD project has attempted to achieve a monetary valuation of all nutritious NTFP extracted by a rural village population in the East Cameroon. The village of Goute, where the survey is being achieved, is surrounded by a tropical moist forest. A logging company is established in the area too and can, at any time, exploit this ecosystem. The Cost-Benefit Analysis is an usual means of resolving conflicts between opposite users The purpose of this work is to give an economic value to the NTFP used by the Goute inhabitants and to show that non-marketed natural resources could be integrated into the economic decision making process about tropical forest. So far, more than 130 NTFP have been listed.

"Three economic valuation techniques have been used for these forest products: first, we have resorted to local market prices, whenever they exist, for valuing a few natural commodities. Second, we have used the market price of the nutritious substitute of the non-marketed NTFP. Finally, when none of these prices was available, one can assess the NTFP value by knowing the time spent in forest for its collect by the gatherer. This field work will last one year and will end in next April, when the monetary results are complete. This survey will insist on the specific limits of each technique and will question reliability of such monetary results."