This article was originally written in Dutch by Onno Havermans and published at Trouw.
Rattan, popular in the 1960s and 1970s, is making a comeback. As a natural product from the rainforest, it it’ usually assumed to be sustainable. But is that right? And what are the things you should pay attention to?
That old armchair in which grandma was dozing, the bench in the garden, the laundry basket, the lampshade, the flower pots: wicker furniture and baskets take many readers who were young in the sixties and seventies back to their childhood. Rattan (and wicker) was extremely popular in the second half of the last century. Cafés built their terraces with fashionable chairs, and in many living rooms the heavy oak took on a light hippie-like rattan counterpart.
Though the material fell out of fashion in the 1990s, rattan is now making a comeback. As a natural product, it is usually assumed to be sustainable though that is not always true. Rattan is a liana-like palm that grows in tropical rainforests. The tough stems are harvested and often peeled as wicker cane. During large-scale industrial harvest, parts of the rainforest disappear.
New quality mark
“It’s too sad for words how much rainforest is being cut down, really depressing,” said Gerard van der Sar, director of an import company under his own name, with a factory in Indonesia that makes baskets from rattan that has been sustainably harvested in the rainforests of Kalimantan. At the beginning of March, Van der Sar was the first company in the world to receive the new quality mark for sustainable rattan: PGS ROLES.
“The rainforest has to be spared, so we ask our harvesters to limit their harvest so that the plants can regrow. We pay them for that,” said van der Sar.
The label was developed by the Non-Timber Forest Products – Exchange Program (NTFP-EP) and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in Indonesia, with support from the Dutch branch of the International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN). It is a so-called participatory guarantee system, which offers the participating farmers both nature conservation and an income and social well-being.
“Both the rainforest and the local communities benefit, not the market dominated by large producers,” explains Evelien van den Broek of IUCN.
“We are very enthusiastic about this quality mark, because it comes from the bottom up. It is hoped that a furniture maker will now also want to join in,” said van den Broek.
Van der Sar also hopes that other companies will follow his example: “I want to help them with that.”
By-product of timber plantations
Recently, there is therefore a quality mark for sustainable rattan. Yet consumers will not notice much of this yet, van der Sar expects.
“Sustainability is more than just hanging a label on a basket. We supply to the specialist trade: florists, garden centres and wholesalers. They must sell sustainable products, the customer must be willing to buy them. Our quality mark is not yet visible to the consumer,” said van der Sar
Wilco de Glee of rattan specialty store C&J Rotan in Hilversum is not yet aware of the quality mark. He hardly ever gets questions about the durability of his furniture. “But if there’s something we need to do, we’ll do it,” he says.
According to De Glee, the material from which the furniture is made in his shop is a by-product of wood plantations, so there is no extra felling necessary. The wood has the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) quality mark.
Van der Sar has tried to include his rattan production line under FSC as well. But timber harvesting involves many more hectares than rattan, which makes the costs too high. Moreover, the local people will benefit more from the new ROLES label.
“They now have year-round work and weekly income,” says van der Sar.
“Roles is not an expensive international benchmark”, adds van den Broek in IUCN. “The system is cheaper for the farmers, but the products become more expensive because they earn more from it and harvest sustainably.”
Buy second hand
Certified rattan is now produced in three areas: Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and Central Sulawesi. However, for those who want to know whether the rattan chair, mat or basket that they want to buy is made sustainably, it is of little use. Whether the rattan from which they are made has been sustainably harvested or not is difficult to determine. Van den Broek has advice for people who already want to be sure of a sustainable product: buy second-hand.
After the interview, Van der Sar adds: “You made me think. Now, after four years of hard work, we have sustainable, certified products, and then we forget about the consumer! From September 1, there will be a ROLES logo with information on every basket we bring to the market.”
When it comes to protecting biodiversity and ensuring climate stability, this cannot be overstated: forests are vital.
They are the home to millions of indigenous peoples that rely on forests for sustenance, shelter and income. But economic activities such as large-scale plantations, extractive industries, migration and other factors have depleted our natural forests, and the damage is fast becoming irreversible.
The race is on to find solutions to keep forests intact. While economy-oriented solutions seem to be a an acceptable means of addressing this issue, such solutions need to be defined with the participation of the people and communities who most depend on forests. More importantly, there needs to be a fair and equitable distribution of benefits of such solutions.
If forest-based communities and their enterprises, governments and the private sector can collaboratively find solutions to saving forests, then perhaps the hope for a better, sustainable future is not yet lost.
For example, in Indonesia many farmers, especially indigenous peoples, harvest from the forest to earn a living. Many harvest rattan, a climbing vine utilized artisans across Southeast Asia for furniture, housewares and fashion items. Harvesting rattan used to provide an important source of livelihood for forest-based communities. Unfortunately, government policies and other economic factors have kept the price of rattan cane low and thus many are abandoning their gardens and forests for other work.
Around 10 years ago, civil society organizations including NTFP-EP Indonesia, government representatives, rattan producers and artisans in Indonesia got together to establish a mechanism to ensure that rattan is not only harvested sustainably, but that farmers are able to get a good price for their rattan as an incentive for them to keep forests intact. This system is called PGS ROTAN LESTARI or ROLES for short. Rotan lestari in Bahasa Indonesia means “sustainable rattan.”
PGS ROLES is a participatory certification mechanism which ensures legality, traceability, production and ecological sustainability, and social welfare for rattan producers.
This certification mechanism applies an appropriate, effective, cost-efficient scheme to certify rattan harvested by community-based farmer producers based on sustainable standards and criteria that have been developed collectively. Over time, this scheme was further developed and have been piloted with the view to help companies and farmers to be audited against the standards and criteria. In turn, they will increase their credibility and marketing values, thus resulting in the conservation of forest and increased benefits for rattan producers.
PGS Rotan Lestari or ROLES is one of the alternative and innovative solutions towards the sustainable management and equitable use of forests and the consumption of forest resources such as non-timber forest products. Most importantly, it highlights that any solution for environmental issues should include the voices from the ground, from those who know the situation first hand and whose lives and futures are intrinsically linked to their livelihood.
Nothing will come if we continue to act alone and on our own interests. Healthy forests and sustainable lifestyles ultimately benefit everyone, and as such we all need to pitch in together as one for a just future.
Stay tuned for further updates on the official launch of PGS ROLES next week
How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour, And gather honey all the day From every opening flower!
How skillfully she builds her cell! How neat she spreads the wax! And labors hard to store it well With the sweet food she makes.
— Excerpt from ‘How Doth the Little Busy Bee‘ by Isaac Watts
Be(e)lieve it or not
Think of the apple you ate for breakfast paired with honey drizzled bread, or maybe the pumpkin soup you had for dinner, these are examples of healthy meals that give us nourishment, which is all possible because of bees. Bees are pillars of human health and food security. In fact, they pollinate thirty-five percent (35%) of all crops and plants. Bees also provide livelihoods for farmers and honey gatherers.
Presently, declining bee populations are gravely affected by human action, climate change, parasites, loss of habitat, and a variety of threats. This situation sets the stage for initiatives like the Madhu Duniya (Translation: A World of Honey), the crafting of the ASEAN Guidelines on Sustainable Harvest and Management Protocols for select NTFPs, and the recent Apis cerana workshop.
Here we highlight the story of the ASEAN Forest Honey Producers consultation and Collective Labelling discussion, held last 22 September 2021, co-organized by NTFP-EP Asia and the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity (ACB).
On your marks!
The program began with opening remarks from Dr. Luu Hong Truong (NTFP-EP Vietnam, Southern Institute of Ecology), where he talks about the value of honeybees, the pressing issues that exist, and the vision of expanding bee products while improving product quality and camaraderie throughout the ASEAN.
Crissy Guerrero (NTFP-EP Asia) then gave an introduction to the NTFP-EP network and an overview of honey and beekeeping history. The spotlight of this topic was the history and present development of the Forest Harvest Collective Mark (FHCM).
The FHCM is a labeling process that interweaves sustainability with holistic values. What started in 2013 has now bloomed into a collective mark that has its first pilot testing in Sumbawa, Indonesia. Through the efforts of NTFP-EP and programs like the ACB’s BBPs (Biodiversity Based Products), the FHCM aims to collaborate with stakeholders from all over Asia to share insights and work together towards achieving long-term outcomes of sustainably sourced high-quality honey.
A Tale of Two Bees
The following topic was the Introduction of emerging standards and protocols for Apis cerana honeybee by Dr. Phung Huu Chinh (Mountainous Bee Development Centre).
Dr. Chinh shared the five systems of production with Apis cerana which includes honey gathering and various types of beekeeping (sedentary and migratory). He then recounts the results of the rich discussion from the Apis cerana Expert Consultation and Workshop last August 20, 2021. The consultation yielded six vital themes such as the Threats, Legality, Traceability, Sustainability, Good Quality, and Socio-cultural & Ethical of Apis cerana honey.
The conversation continued with Diana San Jose (NTFP-EP Asia) sharing an Introduction to the FHCM Apis dorsata standards and protocols and self-assessment form. The three main parameters mentioned in the form are (1) Origin, (2) Quality, and (3) Sustainability which is observed in various on-site stages of harvest. Organoleptic tests, laboratory tests, and the processing & bottling methods are verified to ensure that FHCM standards are met.
Bee Talk! – Open Forum
Participants from all over Asia mainly Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia had rich interactions during the open forums held in between the main topics.
Sugar, Honey, Honey
A question asked by a participant on honey quality sparked a discussion on crystallization. Dr. Chinh and Eric Guerin gave insights into the mystery and misconceptions on honey crystals.
One key learning from the experts: just because honey crystallizes does not mean it is ‘fake honey’. Crystallization is a natural process affected by temperature, the type of flower, sugar content, and water content. Honey can crystallize, some more than others, and this is caused by the amount of sugars in the honey (specifically the sugar called ‘glucose’) which makes the crystallization process faster.
The Dangers of Hybrids
Dr. Chinh stresses that the import of queen bees should be avoided as the genetic diversity of bees could be negatively affected along with competition with local bees and reduced native biodiversity. While Eric Guerin shares the example of Europe losing their native bees and the consequences of imported bees. He cautions by saying “on the short term we may produce more honey, we may be happy (with imported queen bees) but in the longer term, we might cry.”
Make a Beeline to Align
The FHCM aims to align with the PGS (Participatory Guarantee System) process as both have complementary processes.
Certifications like the FHCM takes time, money, and energy. One may ask, why do we do this? Eric Guerin notes that the honey market is global and the ‘honey’ often offered in these markets are laced with pesticide, and often takes little notice of fair trade and sustainability.
Femy Pinto (NTFP-EP Asia), during her closing remarks, called the FHCM “an emblematic representation of the product”, it signifies integrity along the value chain and provides the comfort that the honey products that consumers buy are high quality, sustainably sourced, and traceable.
The program ended on a hopeful note with rich and buzzing discussions and a sense of excitement moving forward with various initiatives while fostering connections and conversations throughout Asia and ASEAN.
Article by Grant Barraquias, for NTFP-EP Asia.
The ASEAN Forest Honey Producers Consultation and Collective Labelling Discussion is part of an ongoing discussion that will continue this 13-14 October at the CBNE Forum 2021: A Season of Learning. Visit www.forestharvestforum.com to learn more about the event.
Work in the nursery for wild food plants are on-going. Wild food plants have been raised or cultivated in the nursery from seed and are housed at the Adukkam Resource Centre. These include the very little known plants Olax scandens and Cansjhera rheedii, as well as some bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus). Some of these food plants are ready to be planted in other forest sites with the help of indigenous communities.
These months the effort has been to introduce lesser known plants that can be harvested from the wild. These include: Caralluma (stems), Costus (rhizomes), Eryngium/Celastrus/Bauhinia/Solanum/Amaranthus (leaves), as well as bulbils of Dioscorea. Some of these photos are available and attached in this report.
Some effort was also made to leave behind some food sources for birds, especially the vulnerable Common Grey Hornbill, and the Hill Myna (Gracula religiosa). These foods sources are essentially species of Ficus, Syzigium and Grewia.
Due to the COVID-19 situation, the students were limited. The pandemic, along with incessant rains in the areas, have prevented further workshops with the Adivasi people. The team plans to conduct workshops within the next months.
We invite you to watch this video about the Adukkam Resource Centre and the impact of the wild food gardens, nursery work and training that have been conducted thus far. Such exchanges among women, youth and Adivasi people on lesser-known food plants strengthen knowledge, systems, and practices and have rejuvenated forest food traditions among Adivasi communities.
Support our work with Adivasi women
We continue to solicit support to further our work on nurseries and support Adivasi women’s activities on inter-generational learning. To date, we have raised $2,020 for the project. Donations are most welcome to help in our work with Adivasi women training youth on forest foods. Your contribution will help us cover training materials and costs for work in the nursery and the planned workshops.
Please visit our pageto learn more and to find out how you can be part of this on-going initiative on forest foods in India.
Written by Madhu Ramnath, with Ashish Kumar – NTFP-EP India
There is no debate regarding climate change: it’s real, it’s already happening at an alarming rate, and urgent action on an international scale is needed to mitigate its effects.
But another debate divides the climate movement: do individual actions such as behavioral and lifestyle changes actually do anything meaningful, compared to advocating for systemic changes from state governments and corporations?
Critics of personal lifestyle changes, like purchasing reusable products, riding bicycles or conserving water and power at home, say that this “eco-consumerism” is merely a way to excuse and shift responsibilities away from governments while being ineffective at addressing the roots of climate change. They say that promoting individual responsibility actually paralyzes actual change, because people will be content at making lifestyle changes rather than demanding systemic changes.
But what the debate misses is that choosing between individual lifestyle changes and advocating for systemic climate action are not mutually exclusive. More importantly, the climate emergency is an ongoing reality, to speak of its effects in the future tense misrepresents the situation we are currently in. If we frame our discussions towards hoping for an abstract concept of “systemic action” in the future, by then it will have already been too late.
Ultimately, individual actions are something that we can do immediately, from which we build upon a bigger and more impactful climate action. But how do we go about doing just that?
Inconsistency and unreliability
While states and corporations have the authority and resources needed to implement systemic changes, their track record in doing so leaves a lot to be desired.
International state action and regulation, at least on paper, appears to be the most effective form of tackling the climate crisis. Such efforts have already yielded successes, like when the 1987 Montreal Protocol effectively phased out ozone-depleting substances from global use and set the course for the restoration of the ozone layer within the next few decades.
But state governments can be inconsistent in their policies, and at worst, are themselves also responsible for much environmental damage due to mismanagement, misguided policies, and complicity in infrastructure projects that threaten indigenous ancestral lands and key biodiversity areas. They can also suddenly show disregard for international agreements, as demonstrated by the United States when they pulled out of the Paris climate agreements under the Trump administration and pledged support to the coal industry. In more drastic cases, governments have outright used state forces to harass, detain and even murder environmental activists and land defenders by the hundreds. Even supposedly “liberal” governments such as Canada have been called out for their hypocrisy in promoting climate action on the world stage, while also continuing to expand its oil sands operations in Alberta which have been dubbed the world’s most destructive.
Industries and corporations on the other hand, are also unreliable as they tend to misuse environmental and climate advocacies as nothing more than public relations tools. Despite advertisement campaigns from companies like Shell or Exxon promising to take significant actions to make their companies “greener”, in reality a report by the Global Gas and Oil Network has shown that the fossil fuel industry as a whole is investing US$1.4 trillion in new oil and gas extraction projects for the next few years. The same report has also shown that almost all major international oil companies have approved new oil/gas projects that are not compliant with the Paris climate agreements.
Thus, it is difficult to completely trust state governments alone to be completely invested in advocating for climate action, when they themselves have acted as obstacles towards the environmental cause. The nature of international policy-making, rife with vested interests, constantly changing regimes, and the lack of a guarantee for ensuring compliance, makes relying on states to do the heavy lifting in climate action a slow, unwieldy, and ultimately unreliable method of climate action. It is unlikely we can also expect to see corporations, especially in the fossil fuel industry, to budge from their profit-seeking nature when the cause for protecting and restoring our Earth is diametrically opposed to their short-term business model.
Interlinked struggles
Mainstream, individualist and capital-oriented climate initiatives tend to focus on small-impact actions like reducing household power consumption, practicing “reduce, reuse, recycle” and purchasing “green” products. Critics have pointed out, though rightfully, that even doing all of these consistently still has limited effects in mitigating climate change. Some higher impact actions demand greater sacrifices for individuals, among them eating plant-based diets, not driving a car, avoiding international flights, and having fewer children (or no children at all.) While individuals who commit to these are commendable, the reality is that we simply cannot expect that a significant part of the population (across different cultures, environments and socio-economic backgrounds) will commit to these sacrifices, at least not within the urgent time frame that climate action demands. The climate emergency is happening today; we need action now, not later.
But as individuals, there are ways we can act that will ripple across and have the greatest benefit to those that need it.
For example, one way to tackle climate change is by supporting low carbon-emitting community forest enterprises (CFEs), which research and experience has shown are highly effective at protecting the forests and empowering the communities that depend and care for them. Fighting climate change involves forest conservation, and that is impossible to do without the support of the indigenous and forest communities who live in, feed from and guard the forests that they depend on. To do so, their economic needs must be met so that they will not be forced to migrate to urban areas for employment or be forced to plant cash crops just to make ends meet.
Some examples of CFE products include woven rattan bags, fair trade coffee, wild honey and textiles.
Consuming wild foods is another often overlooked way that people can help reduce their carbon footprint from the food they eat. While deforestation and land-use change from food production is a major contributor to climate change, supporting wild foods contributes to robust food systems that are inherently resilient towards climate shocks. They also contribute to the food security and health security of forest-based communities, who in turn take a leading role in protecting key agrobiodiversity areas through sustainable indigenous conservation practices.
Another issue that people almost never associate with climate change is gender equality. For climate action to be effective, we need to recognize that women, men and children experience the impact of climate change differently based on where they live, their livelihoods and their roles in families and communities. The dominance of patriarchal structures around the world means that women are often more significantly impacted by the effects of climate change. As individuals, we can play our roles in fighting for gender equality and providing platforms for women to take part in decision-making and leadership, which has shown to improve the outcomes of climate related policies and projects.
Individual action on climate change need not be confined to discussions of just directly reducing one’s own carbon footprint. It can also be done through indirect means that, when combined with advocacy, solidarity and direct action, can net us the systemic changes we desire.
Reconnecting the individual
The false dichotomy between individual and systemic climate action needs to end. Yes, even the most concerted individual efforts would barely move the needle in reducing overall carbon emissions compared to systemic changes. But that shouldn’t be the goal of individual action: it should be all about creating meaning and connections for our climate situation.
Today, very few people can claim to be unaware of climate change and its causes. We already know that fossil fuels, deforestation and land use conversion are among the biggest contributors to climate change. But people aren’t clamoring to trade in their vehicles for electric, hybrid or biofuel alternatives, nor are we rushing to close down all coal and oil-fired power plants. People aren’t protesting en masse to halt major infrastructure and extractive projects that damage entire swathes of land. People seem to treat news of indigenous groups being denied their basic rights with relative apathy, at least relative to news involving crime or celebrity controversies. Somewhere along the way, we became too disconnected to even react. We worry with bated breaths over increasingly grim news of climate disasters, but we’ve somehow resigned that this is some other person’s problem, not ours. And that is what the individual can act on: to re-introduce the lost relationships we had with our land and with our fellow humans regardless of who they are and where they are.
Sure, not everyone of us can become climate scientists, or climate-aware lawmakers, eco-conscious entrepreneurs, or full-time environmentalists or development workers. But all of us can become climate advocates and communicators in our own ways. Not in the sense of big internet or media influencers with thousands of followers, but one that communicates climate advocacies to our families, to friends, to colleagues and our local communities as a way to connect our efforts towards a common goal.
Before Greta Thunberg became the household name of Gen Z climate activism, she was an ordinary teenager whose first goal as an environmental activist was to convince her parents to make lifestyle choices that reduced their carbon footprint. Then, after school, she would stand alone outside the Swedish parliament with nothing more than a few words in black paint on a whiteboard signboard: “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (School strike for climate.) A year later, the movement she started has ballooned to millions of youth participants and caught the attention of the world.
But what truly made her the voice of an exasperated generation was also her blunt (or as others would say, ‘rude’) way of talking, especially towards world leaders. Whereas others would speak formally and with respect, Greta opened the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit by berating and scolding an entire assembly of senior diplomats and state representatives with the now iconic “How dare you!” and telling them outright that they have failed and betrayed her generation. The effectiveness of her message and approach cannot be understated. Despite going against popular notions of “effective climate-change communication” that suggest talking about hope and action items, her blunt and straightforward approach might just be what is needed to reconnect people with messages of climate action.
Perhaps more than any sector, the youth have the most right to speak frankly and gravely about the climate crisis as many of them have been born into a world already beset by the consequences of the actions of generations prior.
In the Philippines, Marinel Ubaldo was the teenage daughter of a fisherman when Typhoon Haiyan struck in 2013, killing thousands of people in her province and destroying everything her family owned. Practically overnight, she was forced to confront the reality of climate-associated disasters to the most vulnerable sectors of society. Which is why in 2019, she went alone to the Manila headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell, stood opposite a line of corporate security guards, and demanded climate justice from the fossil fuel giant. She has since organized several youth climate strikes and testified as a witness in human rights investigations on corporate responsibility in climate change.
In India, nine-year-old Ridhima Pandey filed a court case against the Indian government, arguing that the country has not acted on its promises as a signatory of the Paris Agreement specifically on regulating and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A child from Uttarakhand in northern India, Ridhima witnessed how extreme weather in her region triggered floods also in 2013 that killed several thousand people. While her case was eventually dismissed Indian courts, she later joined Greta and 14 other young activists in filing a complaint with the UN against Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey in 2019 for infringing on the rights of children by failing to act with urgency to address the climate crisis.
Climate activists are now as young as they can be, mainly because they see it necessary to fight for a future that they deserve. In an ideal world, the youth should be enjoying their carefree years instead of butting heads with corporations and governments to seek climate justice. Their struggle is a necessary one if we hope to push individual climate action towards more and more people. In doing so, we can ensure that greater pressure is placed on governments and industries to clean up their act and take the climate emergency seriously. Every individual convinced to take action for the climate is another voter and another customer that puts eco-conscious decisions to the forefront when it matters most to politicians and corporations.
So if it only takes one, will you step up?
Article and illustration by Robin Bustamante, NTFP-EP Asia.“Trump Digs Coal” photo by Tammy Baker (CC BY 2.0).
The current global and industrial food system is not only a major driver of deforestation and environmental destruction, it is also nature-poor. Nowadays, 75% of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and 5 animal species. The greatly reduced diversity of food crops results in the loss of resilience of agricultural ecosystems and also comes at a high cost for nutritional quality and benefits for human health. Moreover, it brings about the vanishing of local wisdom and traditional knowledge linked to agricultural and food practices.
This is in stark contrast with traditional agriculture and farming practices of local and indigenous people that exhibits high biodiversity as a salient feature. Many of the edible plants that we consume have originated from the forests and other ecosystems. They have been domesticated by the ancestors of local and indigenous farmers over time and have traveled across continents to become staple food. It was the active experiments and practices of local people that have often shaped the variety of cultivars and diversity of food plants of our planet
This agro-biodiversity is largely a product of intense agroforestry, local enrichment and experimentation by communities. It is also the result of a very different idea of food production that embraces wild foods and natural ecosystems like forest as an integral part of the agricultural system, embedded within and reinforced by the surrounding nature. In fact, these systems have overall proven resilient and sustainable, food secure and less vulnerable to climate change and other natural disasters. Very importantly, these traditional systems, contrary to the global model of food production, have been able to conserve the key pillars of agriculture like soil fertility, local seeds and cultivars, and clean water.
In this time of COVID-19, traditional practices that are based on use of wild foods and extensive knowledge of how to use and process plants and natural resources have proven more resilient. In the Krayan Highlands, North Kalimantan, Indonesia, farmers, women and men, have ensured food security for their communities in times of restrictions and lockdown by actively maintaining diversity of varieties and species in their fields. The presence of a staggering number of forest fruit varieties that grow on the forest edges is another example of traditional food production where the wild is part of the cultivated. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the farmers of the Krayan Highlands have intensified the use of wild plants, produced brown sugar locally and processed mountain salt from the many salt springs, following old traditions and techniques. The combination of a thriving traditional knowledge and access to the wild foods of healthy forest have guaranteed their food security and sovereignty in hard times.
Cristina Eghenter joined WWF Indonesia twenty years ago and has focused on strengthening and mainstreaming social equity, indigenous peoples’ rights, and sustainable development in conservation with a special focus on equitable natural resource governance and local and indigenous food systems. She is an honorary member of the ICCA Consortium and is active with the Working Group ICCAs Indonesia.
Laos sits at the heart of mainland Southeast Asia, bordering Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Thailand and Vietnam, with the Mekong River connecting all six and providing a lifeline for the entire basin.
The Global Association for People and the Environment (GAPE) is a non-profit organization, established in 1999 in Lao PDR. We focus on food security, environmental sustainability and preserving cultural traditions through global and local interconnections.
Approximately 70% of Lao citizens live in rural areas (Rural Population Growth, 2020). Many rural families struggle to make a living on small plots of land, with some resorting to unsustainable techniques. Deforestation along with threats to biodiversity has also created substantial negative impacts to the land and livelihoods. Consequently, many families are unable to afford nutritious food. Malnutrition is a critical issue, with stunting affecting over 30% of children under five years old.
GAPE supports vulnerable and poor communities for equitable and sustainable development through livelihood adaptation with improved food security, effective natural resources management and utilization. We do this by assisting people in developing their own potential in an ecologically sensitive and socially just manner. We implement and coordinate community development and environmental conservation programs by facilitating people-centered learning through community based education programs, with an emphasis on ecological issues.
Many farmers rely on the natural resources including non-timber forest products (NTFPs), wildlife and aquatics for consumption and income. Each year, there are various wild species of NTFPs harvested including vegetable, fruit, rattan, rattan shoot, cardamom, Yang resin, bamboo shoots, mushrooms and Malva nuts. Certain NTFPs have similar and diverse values and usages.
Malva nuts (Scaphium affine)are known in Lao as Mak Chong.Itis very popular and useful for rural people, especially the communities where I have worked within the Xepian National Protected Area including Chantor Village, which is located in the Sanamsai District of Attapeu Province.
Currently, the six minority tribes of Jru, Oy, Jeng, Brao, Ta Oy and Lao Loum Tribe live in this village. They speak two different languages: Jru and Lao. Through GAPE’s community based programs, they live in harmony with nature and their neighbors, and they have learned to control their resources and ensure they are managed sustainably and in an environmentally sensitive manner.
There are abundant Malva nut trees in their forest area and the villagers say that the Malva nut tree originally grows in the dense forest because it needs shade to help it grows quickly when it is young’.
The Malva nut tree starts blossoming in January, and the seeds are harvested in April. They trees grow to about 25-30 meters high.
“It depends on the weather conditions to make the malva nut tree blossom and give seeds well, if some year it is so drought, it affects to malva nut seeds decreased. He said that there can be more than a thousand seeds on a tree,’’ said Mr. Visien, a harvester and one of the Village Authority members.
The raw seeds are smooth and green while the dried ones are brown and have rough skin, with the size almost equal to an adult finger. The dried seeds are used in Lao traditional medicine, traditional Ayurveda Indian medicine as well as a coolant in traditional Chinese medicine. It can be used for gastrointestinal disorders and soothing throats by soaking the Malva nut into the water for 5-10 minutes, then drinking it. In addition, it is delicious food for making Laap and desserts.
Due to its diverse uses, it is collected as a major NTFP in Laos for both domestic and international markets. In 2020, villagers harvested more than two tons, which is sold for 4 USD per kilogram.
“Malva nut is very important for my community, especially myself because I can use it as food and for income generation, my family got about 200 USD from selling it. I can use this money to help the education of my children and buy essential things,” said one of the villagers.
Due to high market demand, some local people over-harvested forest products because there were no regulations to control and manage it. There were also some outside villagers who irresponsibly cut down trees to illegally harvest the nuts. But recently, entire communities have established regulations and Village Co-Management Committees (VCMC), which were facilitated by GAPE, to control and manage it sustainably. The village allows appropriate harvesting by outside villagers for a fee of 1.5 USD and the Village Authority will levy a 350 USD fine for improper forest harvesting. This money is put into the village fund and used for village administration, especially for VCMC patrolling.
Because of Malva nut’s importance, villagers say that they will protect and conserve it for the next generation by harvesting and using it sustainably.
Sinthavong Phuangchampa is an environmentalist and a conservationist in Lao PDR. He was born in Donetalath Village, Champasak District, Champasak Province. He has been working for Global Association for People and the Environment for 4 years as a field coordinator. Mostly, he works with community and government partners. Many activities have been done to support the communities, such as raising awareness in terms of forest protection. He also facilitates farmers to do integrated farming to improve their livelihoods. He has expertise in birding, so, he sometimes contributes his knowledge to the communities and his colleagues on how to identify the birds.
Antidesma bunius is a fruit tree from the family Phyllanthaceae and commonly called Bignay in the Philippines.
I first encountered Bignay in Los Banos, Laguna during a fieldwork class in Mt. Makiling. At that time, I did not know much about the tree since the one I saw was not fruiting yet.
Photo by Grant Barraquias
My second encounter with Bignay was at home in Paranaque in Metro Manila. I opened the refrigerator and saw a small jar which had the words Bignay Jam printed on it. Being hungry, I ate the jam with bread. I would describe the jam as tarty with a sweet sour taste. It’s definitely a different taste from the usual sweet strawberry jam I was used to.
The third Bignay encounter was during a visit to a biodiversity farm in San Pablo, Laguna. They shared the story of how they would harvest fruits of Bignay from the trees they have around the farm. The Bignay fruits are then processed into a special wine. My friends and I were able to taste the wine during our visit to the place.
Photo by Johannes Pelayo
The fourth encounter and most recent was buying a postcard set which surprisingly featured an illustration of the Bignay fruit. Through the art, I was able to find out that Bignay is considered a native Philippine tree!
Looking back, these unexpected encounters with Bignay made me appreciate the tree even more. Discovering the variety of ways to enjoy its fruits from food to art was a unique experience I am thankful for.
Grant Barraquias is a graduate of BS Forestry, Major in Social Forestry from the University of the Philippines Los Banos. Currently, she is an intern for NTFP-EP Asia. With a variety of hobbies and interests, she loves reading and listening to stories and being in both the great outdoors and the warm indoors. From blue sea to blue sky, from deep sea to deep sky, a child of the Universe she is.
Most of us know of duhat that blooms and fruits during the summer time. It is so common that many of us think it’s native to the Philippines, but it’s not. Lipote, on the other hand, is a staple to the summer days of those in Isabela, Quezon and Palawan. It is a relative of duhat, but one that is found in the Philippines and only in the Philippines!
Photo by Abi Garrino
Its pink buds bloom profusely into a white cluster of flowers that eventually turn into fruits! As they ripen, the fruits exhibit a number of colors from white, mild yellow, pink, red, purple, maroon and black. Once ripe, the fruits attract a number of animals such as ants and… humans! The fruits are used to make jams and wines but they can also be eaten raw as is, or by adding a mix of salt and sugar and eating it ala #ShakeShakeFries.
Photo by Abi Garrino
Despite being endemic to the Philippines, lipote is not considered an endangered species. However, it has been included in Dr. Domingo Madulid’s list of “Rare and vanishing fruit trees and shrubs in the Philippines”. Indeed, we are lucky to have this on campus!
Originally written by Abi Garrino for The UP Wild.
Abigail Garrino is a research associate at the Biodiversity Research Laboratory (BRL), University of the Philippines Diliman. Her work aims to generate information on forest dynamics, restoration and conservation of the Philippines’ remaining forests.
We trekked to an Alangan village in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro on a very hot afternoon for a mapping activity. Upon reaching the place, I felt nauseous. I decided to stay in a hut and just wait for my colleagues who went on to go to a site to get GPS coordinates. Thankfully, the village elder allowed me to rest in their house as I was not really feeling well.
I fell asleep while sitting in a corner and after a while an elder woke me up and offered me nami. She was so apologetic while explaining to me that she can only offer me boiled nami and not rice or any other snack, because food was hard to come by since it was drought season. She told me it was the only available food in her house. At my state at that time, I remember thinking that the taste of nami wasn’t that pleasant for me, or perhaps my palate was just not used to it. I was touched at her thoughtfulness and kindness because she still offered me something to eat even though times were hard. When my other colleagues came back from their trek, she also offered them nami.
I was amazed at how willingly she offered this food to us, even taking from her reserved stock despite the hard times. Later on, I learned that nami is a famine food staple for most of the Mangyan and takes days to carefully prepare and dry to thoroughly remove its toxins. Much time and preparation was done before I could eat this snack!
Many years have passed, and I may have forgotten the taste of nami, but I still remember that day so clearly. At that time, it was not only my stomach that was filled, but also my heart. The village elder’s gesture of offering me food and eating with me was food not just for my body, but also my soul.
Photo by Portia Villarante/AnthroWatch.
Marian Rica O. Lodripas is a full-time development worker based in Quezon City, Philippines. She has Bachelor’s degrees in Sociology and in Anthropology from the University of the Philippines. She was part of a five-year consortium project in Occidental Mindoro and one of the assigned project staff to assist the Mangyan IP groups in their CADT applications and community development planning.
