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Company–Community Logging Contracts in Amazonian Settlements: Impacts on Livelihoods and NTFP Harvests

Mary C. S. Menton, University of Oxford, Department of Plant Sciences
Frank D Merry, Woods Hole Research Center
Anna Lawrence, Social and Economic Research Group, UK Forestry Commission
Nick Brown, University of Oxford, Department of Plant Sciences

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Abstract

As a result of government-sponsored colonization, more than 500 000 km² of the Brazilian Amazon is managed by settlement households. By law, 80% of this land must remain as standing forest. In this study, we examine the potential for timber harvesting through company–community partnerships (CCPs) as a means to increase forest-based revenue without compromising household use of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Using participatory rural appraisal, resource diaries, and household questionnaires, we study the impacts of CCP logging contracts on livelihoods, including household income and NTFP harvests. Our results show that annual household income from the CCP logging is equivalent to more than 8 years of household gross income from agricultural production. We also found that there were no significant differences in NTFP harvests between households with CCP logging and those without. In CCP-logging communities, households caught 11.9 ± 13.6 game animals, totaling 74 ± 88 kg of game meat. In the communities without CCP, households caught 9.5 ± 13.0 game animals, totaling 73 ± 172 kg of game meat. Annual forest fruit harvests averaged 9.8 ± 13.2 kg in CCP-logging communities and 13.5 ± 15.9 kg in non-CCP communities. Overall, the CCPs brought improvements in household income without compromising NTFP harvests.

Key words

Amazonian frontier; non-timber forest products; rural livelihoods; sustainable forest management

Ecology and Society. ISSN: 1708-3087