Definitely the highlight of the issue is
Madhu Duniya,
the largest
Forest Honey event in Asia, held every 4 years, and gathering over 150
participants in total from honey gatherers to scientists, government
officials to private sector players. It was a sweet encounter both in Phnom
Penh and at the field event that followed in Mondulkiri, Cambodia. A new
collective mark around the label “Forest Harvest” may be the new vehicle
to capture increased value of forest honey and engage high potential
markets across Asia.
Other products receiving attention in this issue are bamboo crafts.
We highlight a very productive exchange visit which inspired villagers in
Maharashtra to further define their plans for bamboo craft and furniture
production, not to mention nursery management.
An event that deserves attention is the World Parks Congress (WPC)
held in Sydney, Australia at the close of 2014. NTFP-EP and AMAN, a
members of the Working Group on ICCAs in Indonesia (WGII), were
in attendance with others of the ICCA Consortium. Collectively, they
promoted the message that communities are sound conservation
managers and that traditional knowledge is the foundation for many
effective conservation strategies. This message was eventually endorsed
by the Congress.
In addition to this meaningful ending, another cause for celebration is
the awarding of Damodar Kashyap with the Paul K. Feyerabend award.
His efforts to revive the “thengapalli” tradition of forest protection have
left the Karmari forests in Bastar, India as lush ecosystems with spiritual,
subsistence, economic and conservation value.
In Cambodia a new forest and fisheries livelihood and resource
management project, PAFF, is also set to address conservation and
livelihood concerns in Kratie and Stung Teng Provinces. This is possible
through an innovative collaboration among various conservation and
development partners, supported by the Swiss Agency for Development
Cooperation (SDC).
Finally, as we prepare for the much awaited UNFCCC Conference of
Parties in Paris at the close of 2015, we must also reflect on the critical
discussions in previous meetings. In this issue, we take up the unresolved
issue of shifting cultivation. The article on “Locating Shifting Cultivation
within the Global Discourse” helps us to understand how different types
of management systems work within a landscape approach and that
adjusting and not abandoning indigenous agricultural tradition may be
the solution to addressing goals of cultural identity, sustainability and
food security.

Green Intermediaries