Terry Sunderland Faculty of Forestry University of British Columbia BARC, Beijing, 27th June 2018

1. Ecosystem services and rattan systems
Terry Sunderland
Faculty of Forestry
University of British Columbia
BARC, Beijing, 27th June 2018

2. What are ecosystem services?

3. Forests and ecosystem services
• One billion+ people rely on forest products for consumption and
income in some way (Agrawal et al. 2013)
• Safety-net during times of food and income insecurity (Wunder et al.
2014)
• Wild harvested meat and freshwater fish provides 30-80% of protein
intake for many rural communities (Nasi et al. 2011; McIntyre et al.
2016)
• 75% of worlds population rely on biodiversity for primary health care
(WHO, 2003)
• 40%-80% of global food production comes from diverse smallholder
agricultural systems in complex landscapes (FAO 2011; IFAD 2016)
• Long tradition of managing forests for food – e.g. shifting cultivation
(van Vliet et al. 2011)
• Forests sustaining agriculture through ecosystem services provision
(Foli et al. 2014; Reed et al. 2017)

4. Rattans
• Rattans are climbing palms in the sub-
family Calamoideae, characterised by a
scaly pericarp
• Ca. 600 spp. occurring primarily in SE
Asia and tropical Africa
• Widely utilised throughout their range for
a range of goods and services
• Often an integral component of rural
livelihood strategies
• Also contributes to thriving global
commodity market

6. Percentage of rural households involved in rattan-
related activity by country

7. Rattan items fabricated for auto-consumption or sale in
Cameroon

8. Nutrition and diets??

9. Indigenous management systems
• Rattan agroforestry is an ideal production
system
• Multi-strata system, managed for a range
of goods and services
• High carbon value
• Highly resilient to economic and
environmental shocks
• Rooted in strong cultural values and
traditional knowledge
• However, emerging economic
opportunities are undermining these
traditions (incl. demography, migration)

10. “When the national and international contexts clearly influence
farmers’ decisions, local people appear very responsive to
economic opportunities. They do not hesitate to change their
livelihood system if it can increase their income. Their cultural
sentimental attachment to the forest is not sufficient to prevent
forest conversion.”
“Oil palm is by far the most profitable, followed by rattan
gardens. Rubber production, at current prices, is not
profitable.”

11. “Our findings show that although
the cultivation of these resources
has proven economic and ecological
potential, particularly in multi-
agroforestry systems, farmer
adoptability has, until now, proven
to be low due to the influence of a
wide range of socio-economic
factors, notably land and resource
tenure issues and the reluctance of
farmers to try new, untested, crops.”

12. Gender considerations

13. Future markets?

15. Rattan systems and the SDGs

16. terry.sunderland@ubc.ca
t.sunderland@cgiar.org