Conservation logic in the forests of south-west Ethiopia: Linking honey producers to markets and the implications for sustainable forest management

Sustainable trade in non-wood forest products (NWFPs) has been much tested as a strategy for leading to the
dual objectives of forest conservation and poverty reduction. Whilst this approach has met with concerns about elite capture, poverty traps and unsustainable harvesting, the literature on NWFP commercialisation identifies key factors essential for NWFP enterprises to work well. One of these factors concerns the relationship between those who manage the forest, and those who derive income from the forest. This paper discusses NWFP development and marketing in the biodiverse forests of south-west Ethiopia, and describes the institutions in place to manage forests under participatory forest management (PFM) and the different forms of trade for NWFPs, principally honey. Forest use decisions were in the past partly governed by family claims to bee trees and so-called ‘honey forests’, which indicate that the link between conservation and trade is not new. The context is research and development work undertaken by the University of Huddersfield and Ethio-Wetlands and Natural Resources Association, 2003 to date. Participatory forest management associations (FMAs) have responsibility for demarcated forest areas. NWFP marketing is carried out by different forms of co-operatives, some with structural links to the FMAs and others with none. Honey trade is also carried out by farmer-owned trading companies and individual traders. This paper explores how project work linking producers to markets has been obliged to pay close attention to the connection between the way trade happens and the way forest management happens i.e. the conservation logic. There is some evidence that the increasing honey price is revitalising traditional claims to bee trees, and co-operatives linked to FMAs understand the rationale for giving a percentage of their profits to the FMA. The paper discusses the link between sustainable forest management and honey income.