The preservation of the Amazon forest is a globally relevant and urgent issue. Brazil, which had shown impressive reductions in deforestation between 2004 and 2015, has seen the course of progress reversed in recent years. The resurgence of forest destruction with its massive social and ecological consequences clearly shows the urgency of solutions for the preservation of the region and its vulnerable inhabitants. The study assumes that the preservation of natural forests will hardly occur without the active participation of local resource users. They possess and occupy large parts of the remaining forest lands, and have an immediate interest in their conservation. However, one of the prerequisites for ensuring their interest and commitment to forests is the provision of income opportunities. In this context, non-timber forest products (NTFPs) can play a central role in offering a way to reconcile the dilemma between conservation and human development, seeking to achieve solutions both for social and ecological issues. To better exploit the potential of a NTFP-based bio-economy as a basis for sustainable local development, this research invests in generating a realistic understanding of the opportunities and constraints related to a NTFP-based bioeconomy in the Brazilian Amazon, and the possibilities for its effective support. This includes three specific objectives: (i) identify, describe and categorize relevant NTFPs and related informal and formal value chains; (ii) analyze the economic, environmental, and social effects of the identified NTFP value chains from the perspective of the local resource users; and (iii) outline options to select and effectively support promising NTFP value chains. The research is based on three approaches: production-to-consumption systems (PCS), Socio-Ecological Systems (SES), and comparative analysis, and is tested based on empirical reality through a case study, conducted in the Brazilian Amazon. For this analysis, three municipalities were selected in order to enable a comparative approach and to serve as central cases for the analysis of NTFP value chains. |
