BUILDING BIODIVERSITY INTO ALLANBLACKIA INITIATIVES: FOREST AND AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE OPPORTUNITIES.

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BUILDING BIODIVERSITY INTO ALLANBLACKIA
INITIATIVES FOREST AND AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE
OPPORTUNITIES.

• By
• Samuel Kofi Nyame
• IUCN, GHANA
• 23-27/10/2006

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Outline of presentation

• A. Brief overview of existing work / knowledge
  Distribution, Inventory and description
• Allanblackia Project in Ghana
• Development and use of harvesting guidelines
• Objectives
• Challenges or management issues
• AB Biodiversity Conservation - FLR
  Agricultural LS approaches.
• B. Key lessons for practical deployment
• C. Important gaps where further work needed

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A. Brief overview of existing work / knowledge

• Description
• Family Clusiaceae - contains 40 genera
  worldwide, but appears to consist of nine tree
  species, all restricted to Africa.
• Genus Allanblackia Taxonomy - appears somewhat
  complex, with some species having numerous
  synonyms, and the divisions between taxa are
  indeterminate
• - molecular genetic studies are currently
  underway, though no results are available yet, to
  help delineate the relationships and boundaries
  between species.
• All members of the genus are apparently dioecious
  (separate male and female trees),
• Tree single stemmed, up to 40 m tall, with
  whorled branches, long-lived and long-fruiting,
  and the biggest fruit of all plants in African
  rainforest (particularly A. stuhlmannii)

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Distribution

• Allanblackia species are mainly distributed in
  the wet evergreen rainforest (and, sometimes,
  surrounding farmland) of the lowlands of Sierra
  Leone, along the Gulf of Guinea, through the
  Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to the
  uplands of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania.
  

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Names and distributions of the nine species of
Allanblackia
Species Distribution Status of species (IUCN)
A. floribunda Nigeria - DRC Not listed
A. gabonensis Cameroon, Gabon VU, habitat loss degrad.
A kimbilensis DRC (Kivu), Uganda Not listed
A. kisonghi DRC Not listed
A. marienii DRC Not listed
A. parviflora Sierra Leone-Ghana Not listed
A. stanerana Angola, Cameroon, DRC Not listed
A. stuhlmannii Tanzania (Eastern Arc) VU, habitat loss degrad.
A. ulugurensis Tanzania (Eastern Arc) VU, habitat loss degrad.
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Inventories

• Densities of Allanblackia trees through the range
  of the genus are patchy and surveys are ongoing.
• But at some sites for which data are currently
  available, species can (especially in wetter
  areas) be found at high stand densities
  (including of mature individuals, for example in
  some Tanzanian forests), sometimes being one of
  the dominant trees.
• Allanblackia trees are retained when other forest
  trees are cleared, possibly for local use of the
  oil or to attract bush meat.
• Reasonable densities of remnants can sometimes be
  found in farmland after forest cutting.
• Tanzanian stands can reach high densities but
  actual overall size of the Allanblackia resource
  in Tanzania limited.- relatively small geographic
  areas (the small mountains of the Eastern Arc).

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IUCN - AB project in Ghana

• Allanblackia standard setting and sustainable
  supply chain management project
• Funded by SECO and implemented by IUCN through
  its members.
• Launched in Ghana in March 2005 with an initial
  duration of three years.

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Objectives of project
Development objective - is to promote sustainable
development and trade in Allanblackia oil as a
contribution towards national economic
development, by diversifying income sources to
improve the livelihood of poor rural communities
and by fostering sustainable biodiversity
conservation and management in Ghana. Specific
objective - is to promote the instruments (Best
Practice Guidelines) that will ensure sustainable
harvesting of Allanblackia as well as equitable
sharing of benefits amongst the various
stakeholders .

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Expected outputs of Project

• Best-practice guidelines for Allanblackia
  harvesting are adopted by industry and
  collectors,
• Biological and socio-economic baselines are
  established,
• Institutional and legal aspects regarding
  Allanblackia harvesting are clarified and
• Allanblackia supply chain is managed in a way
  that is environmentally sustainable, socially
  equitable and economically viable, with primary
  producers trained in good practice harvesting
  methods

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Expected outcome or benefits

• Long term
• Ghanaians will take over the market
• Reduced poverty in pilot field sites,
• Increased export earnings and improved
  national-level economic development,
• Functioning small- and medium-scale businesses
  along the supply chain and
• Improved forest quality and cover through
  protection and restoration of forests with native
  species

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Expected outcome or benefits

• Short Term
• Development of good-practice guidelines.
• Impact of wild picking of Allanblackia on
  biodiversity and on local socio-economic
  conditions will have been determined.
• Small- and medium-sized enterprises have new
  skills on running their businesses, which will
  help them to operate independently in
  Allanblackia markets when the project ends.
• Local public in Ghana as well as global
  public internationally aware of the Allanblackia
  public-private partnership and its implications
  for forest conservation.

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Partners in the project

• The Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG)
• The Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA)
• Technoserve (TNS)-
• Intercooperation (IC)

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Development and use of harvesting
guidelines
Rationale To secure a sustainable supply of
Allanblackia seed to meet the needs of the buyer
(currently only Unilever). Short term- used for
harvesting seed from natural stands by the
Unilever supply chain. Long term applied to
Allanblackia harvesting from natural and
cultivate stands involving other buyers or supply
chain arrangements. Although these guidelines
have been developed for Ghana, they are expected
to be largely relevant in other countries within
the Novella initiative
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Objectives of guidelines

• Sustain biodiversity in the landscape (minimise
  adverse effects on biodiversity, making a
  positive contribution where possible),
• Sustain social and local economic values (enable
  local communities to protect and improve their
  well being and environments),
• Sustain the physical environment (minimise
  adverse effects on the physical environment) and
• Sustain product supply and value (produce high
  quality product, while maintaining the viability,
  diversity and yield of existing source trees)

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The main message of these guidelines is that, if
you adhere to these measures, you will have a
market for your Allanblackia seeds.
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Challenges of the guidelines

• Acceptance and adherence by stakeholders in the
  supply chain,
• Accessibility and understanding of the
  guidelines,
• Enforcement of guidelines can one be sanctioned
  for non-compliance, apart from non-purchase of
  nuts? If yes, what sanction? Will it be lawful or
  not?
• How to encourage community-based efforts that
  will promote structures that enable the equitable
  sharing of biodiversity benefits and associated
  intellectual property rights.
• Funding of the various research programmes
  outlined in the guidelines e.g. agricultural
  research needed to determine what inputs are
  needed or desirable for the agroforestry systems
  or plantations advocated by the guidelines

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Allanblackia and biodiversity conservation- A
forest landscape Restoration Approach
What is the relationship between AB and
biodiversity?

• Sustainable wild-harvesting will lead to more
  equitable benefits sharing from the forest
  resource.
• Allanblackia will provide an increased incentive
  to maintain and enhance the integrity of the
  resource (especially if buyers demand good
  practice),
• Smallholder productions of Allanblackia can help
  enhance the integrity of forest landscapes and
• Allanblackia incorporated into farming systems
  contributing to improved landscape connectivity

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Forest Landscape Restoration
A process that brings people together to
identify, negotiate and put in place practices
that restore an optimal balance of environmental,
social and economic benefits from forests and
trees within a broader pattern of land uses
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What is FLR?

• Focuses on restoring forest functionality
• Landscape context. Site-based decisions within a
  landscape context.
• Local stakeholder involvement in planning
  management options
• Double-filter
• Trade-offs
• Adaptive management learning process
• No single-solution approaches but a package of
  tools
• Requires supportive local and national policy
  frameworks over the long term
• Can be applied not only to primary forests, but
  also to secondary forests, forest lands and
  agricultural land

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FLR AB
Allanblackia provides a unique opportunity to use
a native tree species, with environmental and
economic benefits, to restore degraded forest
lands in Ghana and other African countries that
have experienced a period of exotic species
plantations resulting in negative consequences
for local biodiversity and livelihoods.
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FLR AB contd.

• How?
• AB tree has thick bark for reducing risks of farm
  fires during the dry season since the tree keeps
  the ground moist) and thus adds to its positive
  qualities for restoration.
• Allanblackia casts only minimal shade with its
  narrow crown and is sometimes hard to remove
  because it sprouts easily.
• Smallholder productions of Allanblackia can help
  enhance the integrity of forest landscapes,
• Incorporating Allanblackia into farming systems
  will contribute to improved landscape
  connectivity.

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Risks of using AB in FLR to biodiversity

• Possibility of over-harvesting seed sources
  which may impact regeneration,
• Evolution of Allanblackia into a plantation tree
  (contrary to Novella Project objectives).
• Habitat disturbance issues linked to seed
  collection.
• These risks can be reduced through careful
  management and by promoting legislation that
  favours the sustainable use of Allanblackia and
  enhances livelihood security and forest
  governance.

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Lessons Learnt

• Local communities abilities should be enhanced
  to benefit from the forests, through initiatives
  such as the Novella Project.
• Legislation that favours the sustainable use of
  AB and other natural resources, and that enhance
  livelihood security and forest governance should
  be promoted.
• Species that are dependent on Allanblackia fruit
  and seed should be monitored and if necessary
  promoted
• Paths used for wild (forest) harvesting should
  avoid parts of the ecosystem that are considered
  of particularly high value

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Lessons Learnt contd.

• Impacts (positive and negative) on other species
  (including animals) should be considered before
  introducing the tree into new areas.
• Natural and artificial Allanblackia regeneration
  should be promoted to compensate for the
  inevitable decline resulting from the loss of
  seed input from the ecosystem.
• Harvesting guidelines are not easy for local
  communities to comprehend, and need to be
  simplified and translated into local languages.

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Some Important gaps where further work needed

• Research into cocoa AB interactions (positive
  negative) on each other.
• Impact of AB collection on animal species
  dependent on AB and vice versa
• Research into cocoa farming that examines the
  integration of shade trees into cocoa plantations
  from a landscape restoration perspective
• Allanblackia as one of a number of forest
  products that can be integrated into cocoa and
  other tree crop plantations.
• Diseases, pests or parasites that AB is prone to
  and its resistance to these and other stress
  factors in the wild, on farmlands and in
  smallholder plantations.

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Some Important gaps where further work needed

• Feasibility and commercial viability needs to be
  researched into to provide the needed information
  that will motivate people to cultivate AB.
• Can Allanblackia cultivation provide an
  alternative cultivation system that contributes
  towards the development of a more sustainable
  agriculture?

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION