PPI - PPI Book Series

PPI Books

People and Plants books contain guidelines, methodologies and case-studies on major themes related to the conservation of biocultural diversity. Building on the series of books produced by the 12-year People and Plants Initiative, the People and Plants Conservation Series forms a valuable ethnobotanical library, based on the practical work and experience of PPI collaborators. English editions of these books can be ordered through PPI's Amazon Book store. Ordering through this portal on PPI's website supports PPI's work.

Forthcoming Titles

Available Titles

Wild Product Governance: Finding Policies that Work for Non-Timber Forest Products
Sarah A. Laird, Rebecca McClain and Rachel Wynberg

April 2010

Products from the wild, also known as non-timber forest products (NTFPs), are used as medicines, foods, spices, and a multitude of other purposes. They contribute substantially to rural livelihoods, generate revenue for companies and governments, and have a range of impacts on biodiversity conservation. However, throughout the world NTFPs have been both overlooked and poorly regulated by governments. Inappropriate policies have not only led to over-exploitation but have also generated new forms of inequity. This book reviews these experiences and aims to provide information to support new policy approaches towards NTFP regulation and the broader issues of governance associated with these products. The volume includes cases from around the world, a review of literature and resources, and an annotated bibliography linked to the People and Plants International website.

This timely book does a terrific job of providing a context for improving policies related to the harvest and trade of wild resources. What are the major issues, what works, what clearly doesn’t work, and what are the best alternatives? There is a lot to absorb - and hopefully apply - here. The editors are to be congratulated for assembling such a thoughtful and informative collection of papers.’

Charles M. Peters, Ph.D., Kate E. Tode Curator of Botany, The New York Botanical Garden

'It is high time to move from anecdotes and eclectic studies on NTFPs to democratic and sustainable plans that foster diverse livelihoods and new relationships to nature. In an exciting work of truly global scope -- drawing on experiences from Mexico to India -- Laird, McLain, and Wynberg have done just that, assembling readable and cutting-edge proposals, which link grounded cases with general principles to fundamentally rethink the rules that govern forests around the world..'

Paul Robbins, Professor and Head, School of Geography and Development, University of Arizona, USA

Human Health and Forests: A Global Overview of Issues, Practice and Policy
Carol J. P. Colfer, 2008

This book, written for a broad audience, is the first comprehensive introduction to the issues surrounding the health of people living in and around forests, particularly in Asia, South America and Africa. Part I is a set of synthesis chapters, addressing policy, public health, environmental conservation, and ecological perspectives on health and forests including women and child health, medicinal plants and viral diseases such as Ebola, SARS and Nipah Encephalitis. Part II takes a multi-lens approach to lead the reader to a more concrete and holistic understanding using case studies from around the world that cover issues as important as the links between HIV/AIDs and the forest sector and diet and health. Part III looks at the specific challenges to health care delivery in forested areas including remoteness and the integration of traditional medicine with modern health care.

Plant Identification: Creating User Friendly Field
Guides for Biodiversity and Management
Anna Lawrence and William Hawthorne, 2006

An important prerequisite for successful conservation is a good understanding of what we seek to conserve. Nowhere is this more the case than in the fight to protect plant biodiversity, which is threatened by human activity in many regions worldwide. This book is written in the belief that tools that enable more people to understand biodiversity can not only aid protection efforts but also contribute to rural livelihoods. Among the most important of those tools is the field guide.

Plant Identification provides potential authors of field guides with practical advice about all aspects of producing user-friendly guides which help to identify plants for the purposes of conservation, sustainable use, participatory monitoring or greater appreciation of biodiversity.

The book draws on both scientific and participatory processes, supported by the experience of contributors from across the tropics. It presents a core process for producing a field guide, setting out key steps, options and techniques available to the authors of a guide and, through illustration, helps authors choose methods and media appropriate to their context.

Plant Conservation: An Ecosystem Approach
Alan Hamilton and Patrick Hamilton, 2006

In this book, plant conservation is described in the context of livelihoods and development, and ways of balancing the conservation of plant diversity with the use of plants and the environment for human benefit are discussed. A central contention in this book is that local people must be involved if conservation is to be successful.

Also examined are ways of prioritizing plants and places for conservation initiatives, approaches to in situ and ex situ conservation, and how to approach problems of unsustainable harvesting of wild plants. Roles for botanists, foresters, sociologists, development workers and others are discussed. This book acts as a unifying text for the series, integrating case studies and methodologies considered in previous volumes and pointing out in a comprehensive, accessible volume the valuable lessons to be learned.

Carving out a Future: Forests, Livelihoods
and the International Woodcarving Trade
Anthony B. Cunningham, Brian Belcher and Bruce Campbell, 2005

Very little has yet been written about the cultural or economic contributions of woodcarving to people's livelihoods or the consequences of felling hardwood and softwood trees for the international woodcarving trade. Carving Out a Future is the first examination of this trade and its critical links to rural livelihoods, biodiversity, conservation, forestry and the international trade regime. A range of case studies from Australia, Bali, India,Africa and Mexico provides a lens for examining the critical issues relating to the significant impacts of woodcarving on forests, conservation efforts, the need to promote sustainable rural livelihoods and efforts to promote trade so that skilled artisans in developing countries get a fair economic return.

Tapping the Green Market: Management
and Certification of Non-timber Forest Products
Patricia Shanley, Alan R. Pierce, Sarah A. Laird and Abraham Guillen (ed.),2002

There is a rapidly growing interest in, and demand for, non-timber forest products (NTFPs). They provide critical resources across the globe fulfilling nutritional, medicinal, financial and cultural needs. However, they have been largely overlooked in mainstream conservation and forestry politics. This volume explains the use and importance of certification and eco-labelling for guaranteeing best management practices of non-timber forest products in the field. Using extensive case studies and global profiles of non-timber forest products, this work not only seeks to further our comprehension of certification processes but also broaden understanding of non-timber forest product management, harvesting and marketing. It should be useful to forest managers, policy-makers and conservation organizations as well as for academics in these areas.

Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge:
Equitable Partnerships in Practice
Sarah A. Laird (ed.), 2002 English, Spanish (2003)

Biodiversity research and prospecting are long-standing activities taking place in a new legal and ethical environment. Following entry into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1993, and other recent policy developments, expectations and obligations for research and prospecting partnerships have changed. However, to date there are few guides to integrating these concepts with practice.

This book offers practical guidance on how to arrive at equitable biodiversity research and prospecting partnerships. Drawing on experience and lessons learned from around the world, it provides case studies, analysis and recommendations in a range of areas that together form a new framework for creating equity in these partnerships. They include researcher codes of ethics, institutional policies, community research agreements, the design of more effective commercial partnerships and biodiversity prospecting contracts, the drafting and implementation of national 'access and benefit-sharing' laws, and institutional tools for the distribution of financial benefits.

As part of the People and Plants initiative to enhance the role of communities in efforts to conserve biodiversity and use natural resources sustainably, Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge will be invaluable to students, researchers and local communities, academic institutions, international agencies, government bodies and companies involved in biodiversity research, prospecting and conservation.

Uncovering the Hidden Harvest: Valuation
Methods for Woodland and Forest Resources
Bruce M. Campbell and M. Luckert (ed.), 2002
English, Spanish, (2003)

Forests and woodlands provide an enormous range of goods and services to society, from timber and firewood to medicinal plants, watershed protection, destinations for tourists and sacred sites. Only when these are understood and valued can forests and their resources be properly managed and conserved. This work shows how the complicated network of benefits can be untangled and sets out the different approaches needed to value them. It covers the analysis of plant-based markets, non-market valuation and decision frameworks such as cost-benefit analysis.

Applied Ethnobotany: People, Wild Plant Use and Conservation
Anthony B. Cunningham, 2001.
Chinese (2003), English, Spanish, (2002)

Wild or non-cultivated plants are crucial to the lives of a large portion of the world's population, providing low-cost building materials, fuel, food supplements, medicines, tools and sources of income. Despite their importance, their vulnerability to harvesting and other social impacts is not well understood. Applied Ethnobotany is the first practical guide to be published on how to manage wild plant species sustainably.

This detailed manual on wild plant resources sets out the approaches and field methods involved in participatory work between conservationists, researchers and the primary resource users. Supported by extensive illustrations, it explains how local people can learn to assess the pressures on plant resources and what steps to take to ensure their continued availability.

For all those involved in resource management decisions regarding plant species and diversity, and in particular those studying or working in conservation, rural development and park management, this guide is invaluable.

People, Plants and Protected Areas: A Guide to In Situ Management
      John Tuxill and Gary Paul Nabhan, 1998
      Chinese (2003), English (re-issued 2001)
      Spanish (2001)

Conservation of plant resources is often focused on seed banks and botanical gardens. However, the two authors of this volume present a comprehensive conservation strategy that complements this ex-situ approach with practical guidance on in-situ management and conservation of plant resources. The book aims to facilitate better management of protected areas and to illustrate new approaches to conservation of plants within their landscapes. It draws on concepts from forestry, the agricultural sciences, anthropology, ethnology and ethnobotany and should be useful to practitioners, academics and policy-makers.

Plant Invaders: The Threat to Natural Ecosystems
Quentin C. B. Cronk and Janice L. Fuller, 1995
English (re-issued 2001), Spanish (2001)

A practical guide to the protection and management of ecosystems against invasions by non-indigenous plant species. The authors seek to offer an accessible account of the subject and how to protect natural habitats. The majority of countries suffer from invasive plants and there are case studies from North America, Europe, Australia, South and South East Asia and the Pacific and Atlantic islands. There is also a list of invasive species, with their countries of origin and regions of introduction.

Ethnobotany: A Methods Manual
      Gary J. Martin, 1995
      Bahasa, Chinese (1998, reprinted 2002)
      English (re-issued December 2003), Spanish (2001)

Ethnobotany, the study of the classification, use and management of plants by people, draws on a range of disciplines, including natural and social sciences, to show how conservation of plants and of local knowledge about them can be achieved. Ethnobotany is critical to the growing importance of developing new crops and products such as drugs from traditional plants.

This book is the basic introduction to the field, showing how botany, anthropology, ecology, economics and linguistics are all employed in the techniques and methods involved. It explains data collection and hypothesis testing and provides practical ideas on fieldwork ethics and the application of results to conservation and community development. Case studies illustrate the explanations, demonstrating the importance of collaboration in achieving results.

Editions available in Spanish can be ordered via the Editorial Nordan website.

For enquiries, please contact:

Editorial Nordan-Comunidad,
Avda. Millán 4113 12900 Montevideo, Uruguay
Tel (598-2) 305 5609
Fax (598-2) 308 1640