The RedLANM!

The RedLANM is short for the “Latin American NTFP Network!”

Latin America is not only known for its sassy salsa dancers nor its “havaiana” flip-flops, but it is also home to many non-timber forest products or “productos forestales no maderables” (PFNM) in Spanish, that you and I may have consumed without even knowing it!

One such NTFP is the “chicle.” Chicle is a natural gum that consists of the latex of the sapodilla, chicozapote, or naseberry, tree (Manilkara zapota), a tropical American fruit tree native to Central America, from which chewing gum was made first by companies based on its prehispanic use. Like many NTFPs, the dawn of cheaper synthetic products has minimized the use of chicle globally, except in Japan.

The RedLANM is trying to involve producers, governments, NGOs, scientists and researchers of NTFPs in Central and South America into an effective network that can provide a useful exchange of information, build capacities and improve the value of NTFPs, especially for local communities.

The network is still in an early phase, but it is growing fast. RED LANM maintains a general coordination at the RAISES office in Oaxaca, Mexico, though there are three (3) different clusters, nodes in the region. This is necessary considering the expansive nature of Latin American nations. One cluster is in Mexico itself and this is facilitated by RAISES. The other nodes are in Central America, facilitated by ACICAFOC and then in Amazonia facilitated by CTA. NTFPs that partners are working on cover quite a range from the mezcal, a distilled alcoholic beverage made from the agave plants, with species related to the one good tequila is wholly made of, to xate palms used for decorative flower arrangements to brazil nut, as we know it in our favorite Cadbury chocolate bar!

The RedLANM, through meetings and consultations, has prepared a strategic plan for the network. This will be the basis for the network actions in the future. Some of the interesting ideas emerging in the short term are making participatory videos on NTFP development and advocacies, doing a comparative analysis of NTFP policies across countries in Latin America, and possibly facilitating exchanges on NTFPs with the NTFP-EP for South and Southeast Asia. Now that would be exciting!

In the meantime, when you eat your next Cadbury bar, or take your next sip of tequila or dance a salsa, remember RedLANM!

For more information, you may email Ana Ortiz Monasterio, who has been the RedLANM general coordinator at redlanm.mexico@gmail.com