[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v205y2023ics0921800922003627.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wild harvesting or cultivation of commercial environmental products: A theoretical model and its application to medicinal plants

Author

Listed:
  • Madsen, Sofia Topcu
  • Smith-Hall, Carsten
Abstract
On average, environmental income accounts for more than a quarter of rural household income in tropical and sub-tropical countries. One way to increase incomes from wild-harvested products is cultivation. In a landmark paper, Homma (1992) identified four phases describing the economic dynamics of environmental product cultivation, emphasising product scarcity. We reviewed literature that applied and/or discussed Homma's model. This suggested that additional factors, beyond resource scarcity, induce the transition to cultivation. We propose an alternative model of the dynamics of environmental product cultivation pathways, emphasising stock size, contextual, harvester, and mediating factors. The model has four possible product-level outcomes: scarcity induced cultivation, economic extinction, abundance with cultivation, and continued sole wild harvesting. We investigated this model empirically through the case of commercial medicinal plant harvesting in Nepal, using harvester interviews (n = 362) and published monthly price data for the most commonly traded products (n = 12) during a nine-year period. We found evidence of all four possible product-level outcomes, with “abundance with cultivation” being the most common. This supports that scarcity is not sufficient to explain cultivation processes; harvester decision-making processes and contextual and mediating factors must also be assessed.

Suggested Citation

  • Madsen, Sofia Topcu & Smith-Hall, Carsten, 2023. "Wild harvesting or cultivation of commercial environmental products: A theoretical model and its application to medicinal plants," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:205:y:2023:i:c:s0921800922003627
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107701
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800922003627
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107701?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Viet Quang, Dang & Nam Anh, Tran, 2006. "Commercial collection of NTFPs and households living in or near the forests: Case study in Que, Con Cuong and Ma, Tuong Duong, Nghe An, Vietnam," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 65-74, November.
    2. Sumitra Paudel & Carsten Smith-Hall, 2022. "Empirically derived typologies of environmental product periodic markets and retailers," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(11), pages 13111-13136, November.
    3. Belcher, Brian & Ruiz-Perez, Manuel & Achdiawan, Ramadhani, 2005. "Global patterns and trends in the use and management of commercial NTFPs: Implications for livelihoods and conservation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1435-1452, September.
    4. Bir Chhetri & Helle Larsen & Carsten Smith-Hall, 2015. "Environmental resources reduce income inequality and the prevalence, depth and severity of poverty in rural Nepal," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 513-530, June.
    5. Jensen, Anders, 2009. "Valuation of non-timber forest products value chains," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 34-41, January.
    6. Rayamajhi, Santosh & Smith-Hall, Carsten & Helles, Finn, 2012. "Empirical evidence of the economic importance of Central Himalayan forests to rural households," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 25-35.
    7. Heubach, Katja & Wittig, Rüdiger & Nuppenau, Ernst-August & Hahn, Karen, 2011. "The economic importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for livelihood maintenance of rural west African communities: A case study from northern Benin," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 1991-2001, September.
    8. Timo Goeschl & Danilo Camargo Igliori, 2004. "Reconciling Conservation and Development: A Dynamic Hotelling Model of Extractive Reserves," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 80(3), pages 340-354.
    9. Angelsen, Arild & Jagger, Pamela & Babigumira, Ronnie & Belcher, Brian & Hogarth, Nicholas J. & Bauch, Simone & Börner, Jan & Smith-Hall, Carsten & Wunder, Sven, 2014. "Environmental Income and Rural Livelihoods: A Global-Comparative Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 12-28.
    10. Swanson, Timothy M, 1994. "The Economics of Extinction Revisited and Revised: A Generalised Framework for the Analysis of the Problems of Endangered Species and Biodiversity Losses," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(0), pages 800-821, Supplemen.
    11. Vedeld, Paul & Angelsen, Arild & Bojo, Jan & Sjaastad, Espen & Kobugabe Berg, Gertrude, 2007. "Forest environmental incomes and the rural poor," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(7), pages 869-879, April.
    12. Sjaastad, Espen & Angelsen, Arild & Vedeld, Pål & Bojö, Jan, 2005. "What is environmental income?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 37-46, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Smith-Hall, Carsten & Piplani, Meenakshi & Pyakurel, Dipesh, 2024. "Theorising and analysing the forest-based bioeconomy through a global production network lens," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oli, Bishwa Nath & Treue, Thorsten & Smith-Hall, Carsten, 2016. "The relative importance of community forests, government forests, and private forests for household-level incomes in the Middle Hills of Nepal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 155-163.
    2. Walelign, Solomon Zena & Jiao, Xi, 2017. "Dynamics of rural livelihoods and environmental reliance: Empirical evidence from Nepal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 199-209.
    3. Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Do, Truong Lam & Bühler, Dorothee & Hartje, Rebecca & Grote, Ulrike, 2015. "Rural livelihoods and environmental resource dependence in Cambodia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 282-295.
    4. Walelign, Solomon Zena & Charlery, Lindy & Smith-Hall, Carsten & Chhetri, Bir Bahadur Khanal & Larsen, Helle Overgaard, 2016. "Environmental income improves household-level poverty assessments and dynamics," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 23-35.
    5. Begazo Curie, Karin & Mertens, Kewan & Vranken, Liesbet, 2021. "Tenure regimes and remoteness: When does forest income reduce poverty and inequality? A case study from the Peruvian Amazon," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    6. C. Hall & J. I. Macdiarmid & R. B. Matthews & P. Smith & S. F. Hubbard & T. P. Dawson, 2019. "The relationship between forest cover and diet quality: a case study of rural southern Malawi," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(3), pages 635-650, June.
    7. Lindy Charlery & Martin R. Nielsen & Henrik Meilby & Carsten Smith-Hall, 2016. "Effects of New Roads on Environmental Resource Use in the Central Himalaya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-20, April.
    8. Dokken, Therese & Angelsen, Arild, 2015. "Forest reliance across poverty groups in Tanzania," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 203-211.
    9. Charlery, Lindy & Walelign, Solomon Zena, 2015. "Assessing environmental dependence using asset and income measures: Evidence from Nepal," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 40-48.
    10. Rasmussen, Laura Vang & Watkins, Cristy & Agrawal, Arun, 2017. "Forest contributions to livelihoods in changing agriculture-forest landscapes," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1-8.
    11. Mohammad Abdullah, Abu Nasar & Stacey, Natasha & Garnett, Stephen T. & Myers, Bronwyn, 2016. "Economic dependence on mangrove forest resources for livelihoods in the Sundarbans, Bangladesh," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 15-24.
    12. Angelsen, Arild & Jagger, Pamela & Babigumira, Ronnie & Belcher, Brian & Hogarth, Nicholas J. & Bauch, Simone & Börner, Jan & Smith-Hall, Carsten & Wunder, Sven, 2014. "Environmental Income and Rural Livelihoods: A Global-Comparative Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 12-28.
    13. Shackleton, C.M. & Garekae, H. & Sardeshpande, M. & Sinasson Sanni, G. & Twine, W.C., 2024. "Non-timber forest products as poverty traps: Fact or fiction?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    14. Mugido, Worship & Shackleton, Charlie M., 2019. "The contribution of NTFPS to rural livelihoods in different agro-ecological zones of South Africa," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    15. Bierkamp, Sina & Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Grote, Ulrike, 2021. "Environmental income and remittances: Evidence from rural central highlands of Vietnam," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    16. Rasmussen, Laura Vang & Mertz, Ole & Christensen, Andreas E. & Danielsen, Finn & Dawson, Neil & Xaydongvanh, Pheang, 2016. "A combination of methods needed to assess the actual use of provisioning ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 75-86.
    17. Bir Chhetri & Helle Larsen & Carsten Smith-Hall, 2015. "Environmental resources reduce income inequality and the prevalence, depth and severity of poverty in rural Nepal," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 513-530, June.
    18. Nerfa, Lauren & Rhemtulla, Jeanine M. & Zerriffi, Hisham, 2020. "Forest dependence is more than forest income: Development of a new index of forest product collection and livelihood resources," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    19. Jiao, Xi & Walelign, Solomon Zena & Nielsen, Martin Reinhardt & Smith-Hall, Carsten, 2019. "Protected areas, household environmental incomes and well-being in the Greater Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 1-1.
    20. Londres, Marina & Schmink, Marianne & Börner, Jan & Duchelle, Amy E. & Frey, Gabriel Ponzoni, 2023. "Multidimensional forests: Complexity of forest-based values and livelihoods across Amazonian socio-cultural and geopolitical contexts," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:205:y:2023:i:c:s0921800922003627. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.