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| Local perceptions of the different land types and resources
Fodder
Figure 13. Importance of forest resources by use categories (all groups)
A second activity was to assess the importance of the 10 main species for each
category of use. Informants listed and scored the most important plant and animal
species they gather from the forest. A list was made for each of the categories of
use except hunting place, recreation and the future. Villagers decided not to include
these latter categories because no specific plant or animal from the forest was used
for them. The result shows that local people consider forest important for the
future, but cannot name any specific plant or animal to support this assumption.
This emphasizes the fact that specific knowledge on forest has decreased. Local
people still recognize the various roles of forest in general, but have difficulty to
provide information on more specific resources.
The scores of the important species from the forest were analysed, and the
top 10 most important plants and animals were identified using a tool called LUVI
(Local User Value Index; Sheil et al. 2003), which represents the sum of all a
species values. A summary of the results is shown in Table 12.
The importance of plants seems correlated to their usefulness (number of use
categories). Bamboo (Pheo), the most important plant in Khe Tran, is used for