Fragile Lands of Latin America Strategies for ... - PART - USAID

64 Ghillean i? Prance
Table 2
Comparison of Species Diversity on Five One-Hectare Inventory Plots for Trees 10
cm in Diameter
Plot ChAcobo Ka'apor Panare Tem be Mishana
N um ber of species 94 1 23 70 1 38 275
Individual trees 649 51 9 324 456 842
Table 3
Economic Data from One ~ectare~ of Forest at Mishana, Loreto Department, Peru
Forest No. of Value of Production and Net Profit
Product
Fruit
Latex
Species Sales $ (1987)
11 650
2 50
Marketing Costs
250
28
(per cycle)
-1 22
NPV ($)
8,-
~imbeP 60 31 0 490
Total 8,890
a The hectare contained a total of 275 species and 350 individuals of which
72 species were used economically from 350 individual trees.
25year cycle.
Source: Adapted from Peters et al. (in press).
erably more diverse than any of the forests studied in the quantitative
ethnobotany study summarized above (Table 2).
Of the 275 species in Mishana inventory 72 species (26.2%) repre-
senting 350 individuals (44.6%) yielded products which have monetary
values on the urban markets of Iquitos. These comprised edible fruit
from 11 species, 2 species of Hevea that produce commercial rubber
latex and 60 species that yield commercial timber. The detailed study
of Peters et al. (in press) calculated production rates of all products
such as rubber latex and fruits and merchantible volume of timber,
and also data on retail prices of each product involved. It also took
into consideration labor and transportation costs.
The results indicate an estimated net present value (NPV) per hectare
of natural forest of $8,890 (Table 3). This contrasts to similar NPV
calculations for a managed plantation of pulp wood species (Gmelina
arborea) in Pari, Brazil of $3,184/ha (derived from Sedjo 1983) and
of a typical Amazonian cattle pasture in Venezuela of $2,96O/ha (de-
rived from Buschbacher 1987).
The value of the standing forest is matched by very few alternative
systems such as intensive cultivation of tropical floodplain forest and
a few well designed agroforestry systems such as that of Tamshiyacu,