This study adopts an institutional approach to analyze the way in which informal rules, in their interaction with formal rules, shape the use of forest resources by diverse types of smallholders and communities (i.e., indigenous people, agro-extractive and traditional communities) in Latin America. Attention is given to understanding the ‘working rules’, comprising both formal and informal rules, that individuals use in making their decisions for land and forest resources access and use, which in turn affect benefits generation and distribution from such resources use.

This paper discusses the assumptions underlying non-timber forest product (NTFP)-based approaches. The authors examine conservation dimensions, highlighting the differences in perceptions among different stakeholder groups about what should be conserved, and development issues, including the role of NTFPs in meeting cultural and subsistence, and in enabling people to deal with increasing integration into market systems. This is followed by an examination of the institutional frameworks that influence pursuit of both conservation and development objectives.

Dry forests in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) cover approximately 43% of the continent. They are inhabited by nearly 236 million people, many of these the poorest in the world. A majority of the population of these regions is dependent on traditional energy sources (i.e., firewood, charcoal and organic wastes), subsistence farming, generally free-ranging livestock, and products harvested from the dry forests. Growing pressure on dry forest resources to meet human and socioeconomic development needs mean that dry forests are increasingly being utilised unsustainably.

Effective planning for non-timber forest product (NTFP) development and conservation will ensure the most effective use of scarce resources and maximise the likelihood that the objective will be obtained. NTFP development and conservation is usually a long-term activity and involves the collaboration of a number of different, quite independent parties. This has implications for the kind of planning that needs to be undertaken.

Forests and other tree-based systems such as agroforestry contribute to food and nutritional security in myriad ways. Directly, trees provide a variety of healthy foods including fruits, leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds and edible oils that can diversify diets and address seasonal food and nutritional gaps. Forests are also sources of a wider range of edible plants and fungi, as well as bushmeat, fish and insects.

One of the main technical knowledge gaps for sustainable timber production in tropical forests is the lack of reliable information on tree growth, which is indispensable for defining cutting cycles and estimating harvest volumes. We applied dendroecological methods to measure and model the diameter growth (dbh) of mahogany Swietenia macrophylla and cedar Cedrela odorata in humid tropical forests of community-managed concessions in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Petén, Guatemala. The width of growth rings was determined in increment cores from 32 trees of S. macrophylla and 27 of C.