Socio-Economic Value and Availability of Plant-Based Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) within the Charcoal Production Basin of the City of Lubumbashi (DR Congo)

Dieu-donné N’tambwe Nghonda (), Héritier Khoji Muteya, Apollinaire Biloso Moyene, François Malaisse, Yannick Useni Sikuzani, Wilfried Masengo Kalenga and Jan Bogaert ()
Additional contact information
Dieu-donné N’tambwe Nghonda: Ecology, Ecological Restoration and Landscape Unit, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi 1825, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Héritier Khoji Muteya: Ecology, Ecological Restoration and Landscape Unit, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi 1825, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Apollinaire Biloso Moyene: Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa 01015, Democratic Republic of the Congo
François Malaisse: Biodiversity and Landscape Unit, University of Liège—Gembloux Agro-Bio. Tech., 5030 Gembloux, Belgium
Yannick Useni Sikuzani: Ecology, Ecological Restoration and Landscape Unit, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi 1825, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Wilfried Masengo Kalenga: Ecology, Ecological Restoration and Landscape Unit, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi 1825, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Jan Bogaert: Biodiversity and Landscape Unit, University of Liège—Gembloux Agro-Bio. Tech., 5030 Gembloux, Belgium

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 20, 1-20

Abstract: The overexploitation of forest resources in the charcoal production basin of the city of Lubumbashi (DR Congo) is reducing the resilience of miombo woodlands and threatening the survival of the riparian as well as urban human populations that depend on it. We assessed the socio-economic value and availability of plant-based non-timber forest products NTFPs in the rural area of Lubumbashi through ethnobotanical (100 respondents) and socio-economic (90 respondents) interviews, supplemented with floristic inventories, in two village areas selected on the basis of the level of forest degradation. The results show that 60 woody species, including 46 in the degraded forest (Maksem) and 53 in the intact forest (Mwawa), belonging to 22 families are used as sources of NTFPs in both villages. Among these species, 25 are considered priority species. NTFPs are collected for various purposes, including handcrafting, hut building, and traditional medicine. Moreover, the ethnobotanical lists reveal a similarity of almost 75%, indicating that both local communities surveyed use the same species for collecting plant-based NTFPs despite differences in the level of degradation of the miombo woodlands in the two corresponding study areas. However, the plant-based NTFPs that are collected from miombo woodlands and traded in the urban markets have significant economic value, which ranges from USD 0.5 to USD 14.58 per kg depending on the species and uses. NTFPs used for handicraft purposes have a higher economic value than those used for other purposes. However, the sustainability of this activity is threatened due to unsustainable harvesting practices that include stem slashing, root digging, and bark peeling of woody species. Consequently, there is a low availability of plant-based NTFPs, particularly in the village area, where forest degradation is more advanced. It is imperative that policies for monitoring and regulating harvesting and promoting the sustainable management of communities’ plant-based NTFPs as a priority, be undertaken to maintain their resilience.

Keywords: traditional knowledge; forest degradation; economic and cultural value; secondary forest products; miombo woodlands (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/20/14943/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/20/14943/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:20:p:14943-:d:1261082

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().