Carving Out a Future : Forests, Livelihoods and the International Woodcarving Trade 9781849770705, 9781844070459

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Carving Out a Future FORESTS, LIVELIHOODS AND THE I N T E R N AT I O N A L WO O D C A RV I N G T R A D E

EDITED BY

ANTHONY CUNNINGHAM, BRIAN BELCHER AND BRUCE CAMPBELL

Carving Out a Future

PEOPLE AND PLANTS CONSERVATION SERIES Series Editor Martin Walters Series Originator Alan Hamilton People and Plants is a joint initiative of WWF, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew www.rbgkew.org.uk/peopleplants AVAILABLE Applied Ethnobotany: People, Wild Plant Use and Conservation Anthony B. Cunningham Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge: Equitable Partnerships in Practice Sarah A. Laird (ed) Carving Out a Future: Forests, Livelihoods and the International Woodcarving Trade Anthony Cunningham, Brian Belcher and Bruce Campbell Ethnobotany: A Methods Manual Gary J. Martin People, Plants and Protected Areas: A Guide to In Situ Management John Tuxill and Gary Paul Nabhan Plant Invaders: The Threat to Natural Ecosystems Quentin C. B. Cronk and Janice L. Fuller Tapping the Green Market: Certification and Management of Non-Timber Forest Products Patricia Shanley, Alan R. Pierce, Sarah A. Laird and Abraham Guillén (eds) Uncovering the Hidden Harvest: Valuation Methods for Woodland andForest Resources Bruce M. Campbell and Martin K. Luckert (eds) F ORTHCOMING Plant Identification: Creating User-Friendly Field Guides for Biodiversity Management William Hawthorne and Anna Lawrence

Carving Out a Future Forests, Livelihoods and the International Woodcarving Trade

Edited by Anthony Cunningham, Bruce Campbell and Brian Belcher

London • Sterling, VA

First published by Earthscan in the UK and USA in 2005 Reprinted 2005 Copyright © WWF, 2005 All rights reserved ISBN: 1-84407-045-X paperback Typesetting by MapSet Ltd, Gateshead, UK Printed and bound in the UK by Bath Press, Bath Cover design by Yvonne Booth Cover photo by Anthony Cunningham Panda symbol © 1986 WWF ® WWF registered trademark owner For a full list of publications please contact: Earthscan 8–12 Camden High Street London, NW1 0JH, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7387 8558 Fax: +44 (0)20 7387 8998 Email: [email protected] Web: www.earthscan.co.uk 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012, USA Earthscan is an imprint of James and James (Science Publishers) Ltd and publishes in association with the International Institute for Environment and Development A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Carving out a future : forests, livelihoods and the international woodcarving trade / edited by Anthony Cunningham, Bruce Campbell and Brian Belcher. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-84407-045-X 1. Wood-carving industry—Cross-cultural studies. 2. Wood-carving industry— Environmental aspects—Cross-cultural studies. I. Cunningham, Anthony. II. Campbell, Bruce. III. Belcher, Brian M. (Brian Murray), 1959HD9774.W652C37 2005 338.4'768408—dc22 2005002239 This book is printed on elemental chlorine-free paper

Contents

List of Figures, Tables and Boxes List of Contributors Acknowledgements List of Acronyms and Abbreviations 1

2

3

4

Livelihoods, Carving and Conservation Brian Belcher, Anthony Cunningham and Bruce Campbell Introduction History, culture and tradition Woodcarving: Big business and petty trade Attention to livelihoods Learning from experience Wood supply and conservation Carving out a future

ix xvi xix xxi 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 9

Global Overview: Tradition, Technology and Trade Anthony Cunningham Introduction Carvers’ preferences: Wood properties and products Regional differences and distinctiveness Change, innovation and commercialization Future trends

11

Chasing the Wooden Rhino: The Case of Woodcarving in Kenya Simon K. Choge, Anthony Cunningham and William Ellery Introduction History of woodcarving Carving in the context of other Kenyan wood markets Woodcarving: Supply of raw materials Wood processing and carving Successful trade, declining resource base Forestry policy and commercial woodcarving

31

Drums and Hornbills Patrick Omeja, Anthony Cunningham and Joseph Obua Introduction History of drum-making Species selection and volumes used

11 13 16 23 27

31 32 35 35 36 38 40 43 43 43 45

vi

Carving Out a Future Tree abundance and size-class distribution Supply and demand Ecosystem and socio-cultural implications of resource depletion Management implications

5

6

7

8

Sculpture and Identity: The Makonde African Blackwood Carving Movement Zachary Kingdon Introduction The development of the Makonde African blackwood carving movement The importance of patronage: The case of Mohamed Peera Blackwood sculpting and identity African blackwood and identity Conclusions Fallbacks and Tourist Traps: Carving Wood in Southern Zimbabwe Wavell Standa-Gunda and Oliver Braedt Introduction Chivi study area Characteristics of the woodcraft markets The policy environment Conservation and development lessons Bowls, Spoons and Other Useful Items: The Kiaat Woodcrafters of Bushbuckridge, South Africa Sheona E. Shackleton Introduction Geographic and socio-economic setting of the case The Bushbuckridge woodcraft industry in context Wood sources, access and characteristics of the resource base Processing industry Trade and markets The way forward Carvers, Conservation and Certification in India Sudipto Chatterjee, Manish Pande, Govinda Pangging and Gitika Goswami Introduction Diversity of products and scale of production Growth and limits to growth Logs and livelihoods Resource and forestry policy implications: No wood, no work Alternative supply sources State and United Nations support in policy and practice Conclusions

46 50 51 52

53 53 54 57 60 63 65 67 67 68 69 76 78

81 81 82 84 87 95 99 101 103

103 104 108 109 110 113 115 119

Contents 9

10

11

12

13

Colour, Sustainability and Market Sense in Bali Dede Rohadi, Pipin Permadi and Syarif Hidayat Introduction Historical background Trends in wood species used Impacts on regional development and livelihoods Support for the development of the woodcarving industry Conclusions ‘Too Many Trees!’: Aboriginal Woodcarvers in Australia Jennifer Koenig, Jon C. Altman and Anthony D. Griffiths Introduction Aboriginal woodcarving Aboriginal art industry in Australia Aboriginal woodcarvers in Maningrida, central Arnhem Land Future directions Fantasy Figures: Bursera Woodcarving in Oaxaca, Mexico Silvia E. Purata, Michael Chibnik, Berry J. Brosi and Ana María López Introduction History of carving The resource base Harvesters Carvers and carving Trends and prospects Linaloe Wood Handicrafts: Natural and Social Witnesses Paul Hersch-Martínez and Robert Glass Introduction History Natural resources and conflicting uses The production process Trade Contribution of linaloe craftsmanship to household income Trends Getting Out of the Woods: Learning from a Comparison of Cases Brian Belcher and Ramadhani Achdiawan Introduction The case comparison: Methods The woodcarving cases Comparison with other NTFPs Role of NTFPs in household economies Organization in the processing sector Investing in the woodcarving sector Conclusions

vii 121 121 121 123 126 130 132 135 135 136 138 140 145 147

147 148 150 152 154 157 161 161 162 163 165 170 171 171 175 175 176 177 179 186 188 189 195

viii

Carving Out a Future

14

Ecological Footprints: Carving, Sustainability and Scarcity Anthony Cunningham, Bruce Campbell, Brian Belcher and Ramadhani Achdiawan Introduction Focal families and genera Context and carving woods: Multiple reasons for scarcity Predicting carver responses to wood scarcity Resource managers and conservationists: What’s your worst nightmare? Beyond trees: ‘Ecological footprints’ and wildlife The transition from wild harvest to tree cultivation Conclusions

15

16

Certification of Woodcarving Susanne F. Schmitt and David R. Maingi Introduction What is certification and what can it do for woodcarving? Certifying Kenyan woodcarvings Overcoming the constraints to certifying Kenyan woodcarvings Conclusions Carving Out a Future: Planning for Woodcarving in the 21st Century Bruce Campbell, Anthony Cunningham and Brian Belcher Introduction Why woodcarving is important What needs to be done: Towards best practice What needs to be done: Towards more enabling policies and strategies Conclusions

References Index

199

199 201 207 209 214 220 224 227 229 229 229 234 238 246

249 249 249 256 261 268 271 287

List of Figures, Tables and Boxes

FIGURES 2.1 2.2

2.3

2.4 2.5

2.6 2.7

2.8

3.1 3.2

3.3 4.1 4.2

5.1

Particularly in Asia, carving and architecture are commonly combined (a) A young Rwandan cattle herder carrying milk pails of fig (Ficus) wood patched with metal; (b) Julius Rivero burning a design into a crocodile carved from Boscia albitrunca wood In addition to being a termite-resistant wood for war clubs and construction of chiefly houses, Intsia bijuga is used in Fiji and Samoa for carving bowls in which kava, a beverage from Piper methysticum roots, is prepared Old-growth western red cedar (Thuja plicata), British Columbia Bentwood cedar box, probably over 100 years old, used to store food and materials (Tsimshian Coast, from Hartley Bay Gitga’at) Interior of a voyaging canoe hull with `aholelei family, showing the size of the hull and some cross-booms and lashings Canoe construction in Africa follows a monoxylous tradition, where the canoe is carved from a single log: (a) canoes in Malawi, South-Central Africa; (b) ocean-going fishing canoes off the Ghana coast, West Africa Innovative and extremely responsive to new trends, Balinese carvers creatively carve virtually anything, including mahogany (Swietenia mahogani) furniture in the form of crabs Kenya, showing the main carving centres, sources and destinations of woodcarving raw materials WaKamba carvers in Kenya commonly work in large clan-based businesses that they term co-operatives; over 4000 carvers work at the Akamba carvers’ co-operative in Mombasa Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve Location of Mpigi district, Uganda Carving a drum ‘frame’ using a locally forged long-handled chisel 474.3 Diameter size classes of the target species in the three forests: (a) Antiaris toxicaria; (b) Erythrina excelsa; (c) Ficus exasperata and F. mucuso; (d) Funtumia africana; (e) Polyscias fulva Head of a woman with hair ornament (early type; height 6cm); sculptor unknown, Ndanda, Tanzania, early 1950s

12

14

15 17

20 22

24

28 32

33 39 44

49 55

x Carving Out a Future 5.2 5.3 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 7.1

7.2 7.3 7.4 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4

8.5

8.6

8.7

8.8 9.1 9.2

Sculpture consisting of three single-eyed mashetani (height 145cm); Chanuo Maundu, December 1991 61 A sculpture intended as something ‘completely astonishing’ (height 58cm); Dastan Nyedi, 1992 63 Map of the detailed study area along the Masvingo–Beitbridge Road (showing the wards in the communal land) 68 Stages in the production of carvings common along the Masvingo–Beitbridge Road 70 Percentages of total household cash incomes from different activities in Chivi district (N = 139) 72 Monthly income from the sale of woodcarvings for three craft markets along the Masvingo–Beitbridge Road 74 Map of the Bushbuckridge district and wider production-toconsumption system area, indicating boundaries, major towns and roads, and the woodcraft sales centres 82 Market chain for woodcraft products from the Bushbuckridge district 86 Habitat photo of kiaat woodland 87 Photo of a selection of carvings made from Pterocarpus angolensis 95 Centres of the woodcarving industry in India 104 Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia) box with brass inlay from Nagina 105 India’s export of wood products to different countries during the financial years of 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 105 Different products and processing methods: (a) detail of a carved screen of sheesham (Dalbergia sissoo) from Saharanphur; (b) trimming a wooden box at a small production unit in Nagina using a saw powered by a floor-to-ceiling belt 106 Women and men often have different roles in wooden handicrafts production, as is the case in Kerala, where wood inlay production is dominated by women and Dalbergia latifolia (rosewood) production by men 110 Education levels of artisans in the wooden handicrafts trade in Kerala and Karnataka; the involvement of a high proportion of people (48 per cent) with standard 6- to 10-level education is an indicator of the importance of this activity as a source of employment 111 The main need of artisans producing wooden handicrafts in Kerala and Karnataka, from a recent base-line study on socio-economic aspects of the wooden handicrafts trade, was access to raw materials at a reasonable price 112 The Indira Gandhi Nahar Project (IGNP), along which plantations of Dalbergia sissoo trees have been established 114 In Bali, Indonesia, skills for production of high-quality carvings in stone are as well developed as those for woodcarving 122 Brightly coloured Balinese woodcrafts 123

List of Figures, Tables and Boxes 9.3 9.4 9.5 10.1 10.2 10.3 11.1 11.2 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 13.1

14.1

14.2 14.3 14.4

14.5 14.6

14.7

Exports of woodcarving and other products from Bali during 1995–1999 Paraserianthes falcataria trees growing on farms A huge carving of a garuda (dragon); carvings like this can fetch thousands of US dollars Location of the Maningrida region in north-central Arnhem Land A local artist in the final stages of painting his carving Mature Bombax ceiba trees in monsoon rainforest vegetation An eco-alebrije (carving made with sustainably produced wood), made by Saúl Aragón Map of the principal communities involved in the Oaxacan woodcarving trade Location of the studied areas, central Mexico Linaloe trunks at Olinalá Linaloe wood after sawing, Olinalá Linaloe-treated wood prepared for boxes Little boxes, the left made with pine wood, the right one with linaloe Artisan at work, Olinalá Rich floral and animal designs Regression analysis of integration into cash economy (%) against product contribution into household income (%) crossed by five household strategies Hundreds of muhugu ‘mahogany’ (Brachylaena huillensis, Asteraceae) trees felled from a coastal forest of global conservation significance being off-loaded by truck at a carving centre in Mombasa, Kenya Net commercial increment over growing stock for the tree species used for carving for two harvesting scenarios The development of growing stock of tree species used for carving in private and communal forests for two harvesting scenarios Many hardwood genera favoured by carvers are also heavily exploited for timber: (a) kiaat or mukwa (Pterocarpus angolensis) carved bowls in Namibia; (b) Raymond Obunga next to the dead stump of an African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) in Kenya A conceptual model of different woodcarver responses to scarcity of woodcarving trees Over the past ten years, Kenyan carvers in Mombasa have increasingly shifted from indigenous hardwoods to neem (Azadirachta indica), which is shown here being sawn prior to carving Regression (r2 = 0.67) of wood densities of 45 carved wood tree species with category of commonness or rarity based on 16 options

xi

127 128 129 140 141 144 148 153 162 166 166 167 168 168 169

178

200 202 203

205 208

212

218

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Carving Out a Future

14.8 A multiple regression of phylogenetic distinctiveness, wood density and category of commonness or rarity based on 16 options for 45 carved wood tree species 14.9 (a) Felling hollow trees for carving, such as this circa 100-year-old Brachylaena huillensis from an East African coastal forest, represents loss of an important nest, roost sites and micro-habitat; (b) softwood trees, such as this Ficus sycamorus with two entry holes to hornbill nests, are ecologically important for this purpose as well as for their edible fruits 14.10 Relationship between diameter at breast height (dbh) and age based on 33 neem trees of known age 14.11 Ugandan drum-maker Pacsal Mugabi standing in front of a three-year-old Polyscias fulva, one of fifty he has planted amongst his food crops 15.1 The Kenya coastal districts, showing Malindi town and the neem resource study area 15.2 The UK campaign to buy ‘good woods’ included featuring Kenyan woodcarving in sales catalogues, with explanations of why it was appropriate to purchase Kenyan woodcarvings made of ‘good wood’ 15.3 Interior of Ten Thousand Villages store in Canada, showing the Kenyan giraffes 15.4 Scientists conducting the neem resource assessment 15.5 Model of FSC group certification for neem farmer groups linked to chain-of-custody certification of Malindi and Akamba Handicraft Co-operative Societies and cutters 15.6 Example of unique identification number on carving for tracing the chain of custody (COC) 15.7 A carver working at one of the carving co-operatives in Kenya and initiating the process of shaping the wood 16.1 Cumulative growth of woodcarving market stalls in Zimbabwe from independence in 1980 to 1998 16.2 Use of hardwood for commercial charcoal production in Africa accounts for the harvest of large wood volumes for little financial return compared to other uses 16.3 Value of wood (farm-gate prices) for various purposes in Kenya 16.4 A government-supported ‘emporium’ in New Delhi, India, which displays and markets woodcarvings 16.5 (a) High-quality and high-priced sandalwood (Santalum album) carvings produced in Bali, Indonesia, based on traditional Japanese netsuke designs (scale in centimetres); (b) a forest department nursery for Fijian sandalwood (Santalum yasi) for commercial production on Vanua Levu, Fiji 16.6 Two contrasting examples of production practices: (a) sanding a Dalbergia box in Nagina, India, without protective gear; (b) women sanding a carving in Bali, Indonesia, wearing face masks

219

220 223

225 230

235 237 240

241 242 245 253

254 255 258

260

261

List of Figures, Tables and Boxes

xiii

16.7 National laws banning the felling of hardwood species are rarely enforced: (a) a ‘protected’ pod mahogany (Afzelia quanzensis) felled for woodcarving in Zimbabwe; (b) hippos carved from the same species and displayed for sale 262 16.8 Standing stock and legal production of, and industrial capacity for, sandalwood in Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, Indonesia 265 16.9 (a) A nursery with introduced and indigenous species (including Brachylaena huillensis) at the Makinde carvers’ co-operative in Kenya; (b) a 1937 plantation trial for Brachylaena huillensis near Nairobi, Kenya 266

TABLES 3.1 3.2 3.3 4.1 4.2

4.3 6.1 6.2

6.3 6.4 7.1 7.2 8.1

8.2 8.3

Comparison of the carving industry with the wider wood market in Kenya Comparison of the unit price of wood in alternative uses in Kenya (US$ per cubic metre) Summary of major forestry policies and legislation and their potential impacts on the woodcarving industry in Kenya Tree species used in the drum-making industry, Uganda Abundance (in stem per hectare) of favoured tree species with diameters at breast height (dbh) greater or equal to 5cm in the three forests studied Number of stems per hectare in each forest available for drum-making species Market participants along the Masvingo–Beitbridge Road by activity, gender and age in 1997 Volume and prices of woodcarvings according to species used for products on the Masvingo–Beitbridge Road in 1997 (N = 27 markets, one time survey) Net returns on labour from carving a hippopotamus from Afzelia quanzensis (N = 54) Differences in official operational rules regulating markets in districts along the Masvingo–Beitbridge Road in 1997 Species used by woodworkers in Bushbuckridge and their main uses; species are listed in order of frequency of use Average net annual incomes (US$) earned by carvers and furniture-makers in Bushbuckridge during 1993 and 2000 Income from carved wooden products to Nagina, Uttar Pradesh, showing the relative values of income from exports and the domestic market (US$1 = 45 rupees) Wood extracted from the Indira Gandhi Nahar Project (IGNP) (1999–2002) Summary of earnings of different categories of artisans in Saharanpur and Nagina

34 35 41 46

47 50 71

73 75 77 89 96

107 115 116

xiv 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 15.1

16.1 16.2

Carving Out a Future Wood species used for woodcarving in Bali, as recorded during the early 1980s The land-use system in the province of Bali Wood produced from private/plantation forests in Bali in 1999 The total volume of wood supplied to Bali during 1997–1999 from different ports The distribution of woodcarving producers and volume of raw material used on Bali in 1999 Price list of some wood species used for woodcarving Woodcarving cases included in comparative analysis Characteristics of woodcarving compared to ‘other’ NTFP cases (raw material production) The value of the carving sales in South Africa in relation to the source of those carvings (US$ million per annum in 1998) Characteristic tendencies in household economic strategy groups Woodcarving organization Production per carver in the three markets studied Description and chronology of the inputs and costs associated with certification (excluding Oxfam inputs on market access and farmers’ training) External support for the woodcraft industry in Bushbuckridge Summary of sandalwood census data from Timor and surrounding islands

124 125 126 126 127 128 178 180 185 187 189 192

240 251 263

BOXES 1.1 2.1 2.2 7.1 8.1 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4

The name of the rose (wood) Woodcrafts on the North-West Coast of North America The Kalia Mileniume: Revival of a Tongan voyaging canoe Promoting sustainable resource use among lowveld woodcarvers: Approaches and challenges Afforestation, canals and the potential for carved wood Producing wooden kitchen utensils in western Java: Crisis and recovery South Africa: The one-stop woodcarving shopping stop Binga: Carving at the margins Soundwood: African blackwood for the manufacture of musical instruments Growth and yield: Miombo woodland and the woodcraft sector in Zimbabwe Remarkable trees: Dalbergia conservation and development Boxes, burls and Berber thuya Ecological characteristics of Pterocarpus angolensis and impacts of harvesting in Bushbuckridge, South Africa

8 17 21 91 114 181 182 190 193 202 204 206 210

List of Figures, Tables and Boxes 14.5 Neem (Azadirachta indica, A. Juss., Meliaceae) and its potential for sustainable woodcarving in Kenya: A case study from Malindi 15.1 Access to markets and business approaches 15.2 An importer’s perspective: ‘Good woods’, poor supplies, great opportunities 15.3 KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife’s policy on craftwork sales from protected areas: An example of second-party certification 16.1 External support for the woodcraft industry in Bushbuckridge, South Africa 16.2 Oil and woodcraft: The case of the decline in sandalwood in Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia

xv

221 232 236 247 251 263

List of Contributors

Ramadhani Achdiawan is a researcher at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Indonesia, working on a range of non-timber forest products. Professor Jon C. Altman works for the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at Australian National University, Canberra. Irdez Azhar works for Conservation International in Papua, Indonesia. Dr Brian M. Belcher is Principal Scientist for the Forests and Livelihoods Programme at CIFOR. Dr Ivan Bond works for the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in the United Kingdom. Dr Oliver Braedt is Natural Resource Management Specialist in the Rural Development and Natural Resources Sector Unit, East Asia and Pacific Region, of The World Bank. David Bright works for the Market Access Team of Oxfam GB (a member of Oxfam International). Berry Brosi is a doctoral student in Conservation Biology at Stanford University, California. Professor Bruce M. Campbell conducts research on conservation and development issues for Charles Darwin University (Australia) and CIFOR (Indonesia). Sudipto Chatterjee is the Coordinator of the Forests and Biodiversity Conservation programme at the World Wide Fund for Nature, India (WWFIndia). Dr. Michael Chibnik is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iowa. Simon K. Choge works for the Kenya Forestry Research Institute, Nairobi. Diane Conyers is a rural development and planning specialist who was living and working in Binga, west Zimbabwe. Fanuel Cumanzala is a facilitator working in community empowerment and democracy, in Binga, Zimbabwe.

List of Contributors

xvii

Dr Anthony B. (Tony) Cunningham is an ethnobotanist working at Charles Darwin University, Western Australia. He is also Director of People and Plants International, Australia. Professor William Ellery is in the School of Environmental and Life Sciences at the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa Stuart Ferrer works for Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (EKZNW), South Africa. Dr Robert Glass works for the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México. Gitika Goswami is Project Officer of the Forests and Biodiversity Conservation programme of WWF-India. Anthony D. Griffiths conducts research on plant and wildlife populations at Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia. Dr Paul Hersch-Martínez is an anthropologist and medical doctor working for the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico. Syarif Hidayat works for CIFOR. Dr Martina G. Höft is a biologist and freelance consultant in natural resource management based in Montréal. Dr Robert Höft is Environmental Affairs Officer at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), in Montréal. Martin Jenkins is Senior Advisor, Species Conservation at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre. He is an expert in the international conservation of biodiversity with particular interests in the trade and sustainable use of wild species and in the international biodiversity conventions. Zachary Kingdon is curator of African Collections at the Liverpool Museum in the UK. Jennifer Koenig works at Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia. Her PhD covered aboriginal woodcarving. Ana Maria López Gómez is a student at the Instituto de Ecología, Xalapa, Ver. México Sunjay Lutchman works for Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (EKZNW) in South Africa David R. Maingi is a forest economist who works for the WWF/UNESCO/Kew People and Plants Initiative, based at the WWF East Africa Regional Programme Office in Nairobi, Kenya. Retno Maryani works for CIFOR.

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Steven G. McKean is a biologist who works with Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (EKZNW), based in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Matabekki Mudenda works for the Binga Crafts Centre in western Zimbabwe. Larry Nafziger works for Ten Thousand Villages which, through the Mennonite Central Committee, provides fair income to Third World people by marketing their handicrafts and telling their stories in North America. Based in Kenya for many years, then in Ottawa, he now lives in Laos, southeast Asia. David Newton heads the office of TRAFFIC in southern Africa, dealing with trade in plant and animal species. Alex O. Obara is a forester and freelance consultant in natural resource management based in Nairobi. Dr Joseph Obua is a Professor in the Faculty of Forestry & Nature Conservation at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. Sara Oldfield works for Fauna and Flora International in the United Kingdom. Patrick Omeja is a MSc graduate from Makerere University who is doing research in Kibale forest, western Uganda. Manish Pande is Senior Programme Officer, Forests and Biodiversity Conservation, at WWF-India) Govinda Pangging is Project Officer, Forests and Biodiversity Conservation, at WWF-India. Dr Pipin Permadi is a researcher of the Forestry Research and Development Agency (FORDA) in Indonesia, specializing in non-timber forest products. Dr. Silvia Purata is a Mexican ethnobotanist working with People and Plants International in Xalapa, Ver. Mexico. Dede Rohadi works for the Forestry Research and Development Agency in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Dr Susanne F. Schmitt is the International Plants Conservation officer for WWF-UK. She has been involved with the certification aspects of the Kenya Good Woods project since 1999 and has been the co-ordinator of the project since 2002. Sheona E. Shackleton is involved in the Environmental Science Programme at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. Wavell Standa-Gunda works for CIFOR in Zimbabwe. Professor Nancy J. Turner is an ethnobotanist and professor at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Made Widyana is a forester who works for the Forestry Research and Development Agency in Kupang, West Timor, Indonesia.

Acknowledgements

Too often, researchers and their organizations work in isolation. This book represents a welcome exception. For over a decade, studies on woodcarving had been supported through the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)/Kew People and Plants Initiative (funded by the Darwin Initiative, the UK Department for International Development, or DFID, and Norwegian Funds in Trust to UNESCO) and through the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) (funded through DFID and the European Union). The idea of synthesizing joint results into a book grew out of an international comparison of cases of non-timber forest product (NTFP) commercialization by the Woodcarving Working Group, a project co-ordinated by CIFOR. A first meeting at CIFOR in Bogor, Indonesia, in November 2001 brought together all of the woodcarving cases from within that project. A follow-up meeting in February 2002, co-sponsored by WWF and CIFOR, expanded the scope with additional woodcarving cases and a broader range of issues. Subsequently, as the book idea grew, additional authors were invited to contribute chapters and boxes. We are grateful to all the authors for their willingness to contribute, for the chapters themselves and for their ideas and enthusiasm during the meetings and the preparation of the book. The book has been reviewed, in whole or in part, by many helpful colleagues. Professor Ed Witkowski of the University of Witwatersrand reviewed the entire manuscript, providing valuable feedback and suggestions, for which we are especially appreciative. Comments on draft versions of various chapters were received from John Reynolds, Wavell Standa-Gunda, Charles Peters, Alan Hamilton and Peter Whitehead. The editors and the authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of all the woodworkers and representatives from government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who took the time to meet or talk to the various authors. The task of preparing the book has been eased by the excellent secretarial assistance of Titin Suhartini and Nani Djoko. Case authors acknowledge the help and insights of various contributors, including Alfred Shabangu, a carver and entrepreneur in South Africa; I. Wayan Rugeg from Dewan Kerajinan Nasional (DEKRANAS); Sutrisno from the regional office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade; and I. Nyoman Silanawa from the regional office of the Ministry of Forestry for their help in the Bali case (Chapter 9).

xx Carving Out a Future The authors of the India case study (Chapter 8) would like to express their sincere thanks to WWF-UK and to their project partners Arshad Qureshi of Tehereek; Julficar Ali, Royal Handicrafts in Nagina; and C. L. Soni and S. L. Sankhla for information on the woodcarving units at Nagina and Jodhpur, respectively. Acknowledgements also go to Rajeev Tyagi, conservator of forests, Department of Environment and Forests, Government of Rajasthan; and, at WWF-India, to Ravi Singh, P. K. Sen, Krishma Kumar, Rajeev Semwal, Vishambar Dutt and Pijush Km Dutta. Special thanks in the Mexican linaloe case (Chapter 12) go to Edilberto Jiménez; Esteban Cabañas; Juan Ayala; Ramiro Andrew; Lucía Desiderio; Mezquitlán; Juan Vélez and Virginio Montes; Andrés Fierro (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana); Celso Guerrero; Francisco García and Ana Pérez Cardona (PASFM-INAH); and Jorge Larson (Conabio). In the Australian case (Chapter 10), thanks go to industry partners Maningrida Arts and Culture and the Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, and partner investigators Apolline Kohen and Fiona Salmon, and the Djelk Rangers. Researchers on the Binga example thank the Binga Craft Centre, Wavell Standa-Gunda and Rosemary Cumanzala for their support. Mark Nickum would like to thank the University of Hawaii and, in particular, Dr Will McClatchey, as well as the Tonga National Centre for logistic support. Most of all, his thanks go to the `aholelei family, with whom he stayed in Nuku`alofa, Tonga – in particular, Masiu, Hainite and Hinemoa. The research reported in these studies was funded by WWF, CIFOR and UNESCO, supported by the European Union (to CIFOR for biodiversity support) and DFID (to CIFOR for global comparison of forest products and to the People and Plants Initiative through WWF-UK). In addition, funds were provided by the Wits Rural Facility (South Africa case; Chapter 7); the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature (grant B2-98/009) and the Kleinhans Fellowship of the Rainforest Alliance (both to Silvia Purata for the Mexican alebrijes case; Chapter 11); the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Conservation Fellowship, co-sponsored by the Yale University Tropical Resources Institute (to Berry Brosi for Mexican alebrijes case; Chapter 11); International Programs and the Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Iowa (to Michael Chibnik for the Mexican alebrijes case; Chapter 11); Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (project 34581 S for the Mexican linaloe case; Chapter 12); WWF (through the Darwin Initiative), UNESCO and Oxfam (for the Kenyan case; Chapter 3); WWF and UNESCO (for the Ugandan case; Chapter 4); WWF-UK (for the Indian case; Chapter 8); the Australian Research Council Linkage grant, the National Heritage Trust and an Australian Federation of University Women (Queensland) scholarship (for the Australian case; Chapter 10). In addition, Anthony Cunningham would like to thank the University of Hawaii for enabling him to work on this book while he spent time there in 2004 as G. P. Wilder Chair in Botany. Most of all, the contributors to this book would like to thank the many woodcarvers across the world whose time, knowledge and experience enabled this book to come to fruition.

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

AAC AMACUP APKIN ASMINDO BAC BPTH CDEP CFCU CFM CIDA CIFOR CITES cm CMT COC DACST DANCED dbh DC(H) DEKRANAS DFID DWAF EARPO EKZNW EU FAO FoE FONART FPRDC FSC GDP GoK GPS ha IDT

annual allowable cut Asociación Mexicana de Arte y Cultura Popular (Mexico) Indonesian Wood Preservation Association (Asosiasi Pengawetan Kayu Indonesia) Indonesian Association for the Furniture Industry Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation (Australia) Forest Tree Seed Institute (Balai Perbenihan Tanaman Hutan) Community Development Employment Projects scheme Central Finance and Contracts Unit collaborative forest management Cultural Industry Development Agency (South Africa) Center for International Forestry Research Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora centimetre culturally modified tree chain of custody Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (South Africa) Danish Cooperation for Environment and Development diameter at breast height deputy commissioner (handicrafts) (India) Dewan Kerajinan Nasional (Bali) Department for International Development (UK) National Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (South Africa) Eastern Africa Regional Programme Office Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife European Union United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Friends of the Earth Fondo Nacional para el Fomento de las Artesanías Forest Products Research and Development Centre Forest Stewardship Council gross domestic product Government of Kenya global positioning system hectare Independent Development Trust

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IGNP INAH IPB IUCN JFM JHEA KCCU KEFRI kg KIFCON km km2 LPD m m3 MAC MCC MDG mm MPB N NAFTA NGO NIDC NPV NTFP NTT PEFC PEMDA Perhutani PESS PFT PPI SAFCOL SANP SARS SLIMF SMIK UK UNCTAD UNDP UNESCO US WCMC WTO WWF

Indira Gandhi Nahar Project National Institute for Anthropology and History (Mexico) Bogor Agriculture University (Institut Pertanian Bogor) International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (World Conservation Union) joint forest management Journal of Higher Education in Africa Kenya Crafts Co-operative Union Kenya Forestry Research Institute kilogram Kenya Indigenous Forest Conservation Programme kilometre square kilometre Lembaga Perkreditan Desa (Bali) metre cubic metre Maningrida Arts and Culture (Australia) Mennonite Central Committee Millennium Development Goal millimetre Mpumalanga Parks Board (South Africa) sample population North American Free Trade Agreement non-governmental organization Neighborhood Improvement Development Corporation net present value non-timber forest product Nusa Tenggara Timur Pan European Forest Certification system Pemerintah Daerah (local government, Bali) Perusahaan Umum Kehutanan Negara (forest resources community-based forest management) plant ecological strategy scheme plant functional type People and Plants Initiative South African Forestry Company Limited South African National Parks Social Ecology severe acute respiratory syndrome small and low-intensity managed forest Sekolah Menengah Industri Kerajinan (Bali) United Kingdom United Nations Conference on Trade and Development United Nations Development Programme United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization United States World Conservation Monitoring Centre World Trade Organization World Wide Fund for Nature

1

Livelihoods, Carving and Conservation Brian Belcher, Anthony Cunningham and Bruce Campbell

INTRODUCTION Commercial woodcarving in the 21st century is a microcosm of the ‘globalized’ world. Traditional artefacts with deep cultural significance have become desired objects of art in faraway lands. Tourists criss-cross the world, sampling food, culture and exotic environments, and buy souvenirs of their journeys. Woodcarvings – light, inexpensive and attractive – are popular as gifts and decorative items for the home. But there are severe pressures on the people who produce carving wood and carvings alike, and on the natural environments that still serve as the source for most carved wood. In many poor countries with large numbers of unemployed, people rely on the environment to help meet their daily needs. They harvest various products from forests, grasslands, wetlands and the sea, and, wherever they can find a market, they try to convert some of those resources into cash. Woodcarving has proven to be a good way of doing that: with limited investment in tools, some skills and access to wood for carving, a carver can make a product that, with a little luck, might sell at the roadside market. However, they compete with others with similar ideas for raw material and for customers, with the common result that resources are depleted and profits are low. Such a grim outcome is not inevitable. There are good examples of successful woodcarving industries that have created wealth and that have moved raw material production to a sustainable basis. There are thriving art markets, with very high prices paid for particular pieces. And there are possibilities, and successful examples, of changes that can encourage sustainable resource production and use and improved value addition from carving.

2 Carving Out a Future This book draws on a wide range of experience from around the world to answer questions that are important not only for woodcarving enterprises, but also for the wider set of crafts industries and other small- and medium-sized enterprises based on timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs): • • • • • •

• •

Where and under what circumstances can woodcarving contribute significantly to household income? How can carvers get a fair share of the profits generated through their skills? Is woodcarving sustainable (and if not, what should be done about it)? Does the demand for carving wood offer good opportunities for tree growers? How can carving best link to tourism policies and development? How can commercial woodcarving, for years the ‘Cinderella’ of forestry policy and practice, achieve better recognition of its value in employment creation and value addition to wood? What trade and policy barriers pose the biggest hurdles to woodcarvers? How can rural development, forestry and conservation programmes more effectively support woodcarving industries?

In this chapter we introduce the main ideas, with reference to individual chapters.

HISTORY, CULTURE AND TRADITION Chapter 2 provides a rich context for the rest of the book with an exploration of woodcarving traditions, the technologies used and the history of trade. Woodcarving and other artisan activities, such as basket-making, mat-making and handicrafts, contain strong cultural elements and links to history. There is tremendous diversity in the traditions that have informed modern carving cultures, and religion and trade have been very important in shaping current woodcarving styles and markets. Ugandan drum-carving (see Chapter 4) links directly to the cultural history of the area, to a time when drums were an important medium of communication. The market has changed, with tourists and international musicians buying drums and taking them to their homes around the world. But the skills and the traditions are being maintained, often by the direct descendants of the drum-makers of the past. The historical and cultural significance is appreciated by the carvers and by the buyers in the world market. Sculptures by Asmat carvers in West Papua (see Chapter 2), stools from West Africa (Chapter 2) and wooden boxes from Mexico are appreciated for their art and their symbolism (see Box 1.1). Chapter 12 traces the design styles used on the carved Mexican linaloe wood boxes to the 17th and 18th centuries. Indian woodcarving, described in Chapter 8, builds on the Mughal

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3

stone-carving tradition. Recent market liberalization in India has stimulated a stunning increase in carved wood exports, the impacts of which are still to be realized. With good marketing, and sometimes with the support of influential patrons, some carvers have been able to achieve recognition, respect and very high prices in the world market (see, for example, the case studies of Australia in Chapter 10 and Tanzania in Chapter 5). But art is a fickle business – other highly skilled carvers labour in obscurity and, too often, in poverty. And not all carving is art. Tourist markets in Zimbabwe (see Chapter 6), for example, are characterized by mass-produced figurines. There is no denying that the carvers are skilled; but production-line manufacturing and the need to keep costs down to satisfy highly price-conscious consumers result in carvings that are virtually indistinguishable.

WOODCARVING: BIG BUSINESS AND PETTY TRADE The woodcarving industries discussed in this volume range in size from very small to large. Woodcarvers in Bali, Indonesia, exported US$100 million in carvings in 1998, and regularly earn export revenues exceeding US$80 million annually (see Chapter 9). Dedicated workshops, creative artists and craftsmen, and innovative entrepreneurs have created an industry that supports thousands of families, earns valuable foreign exchange for the country and enriches an already rich culture. In the short history of the industry, carvers have depleted wild resources of tree species used for carving from nearby areas, suffered the decimation of sandalwood resources from neighbouring West Timor, sourced wood from further and further afield, and now have a reliable and sustainable source of raw material from planted trees indigenous to South America (Samanea and Swietenia) and Melanesia (New Guinea and the Solomon Islands) (Paraserianthes). The success of the woodcarving industry in Bali begins with the inherent skill and artistry of the carvers. The work is exquisite, and the extraordinarily high prices paid for some of the art pieces reflect this; but there is much more to the story. The carvers in Bali have been sensitive to the demands of the market. They produce a huge variety of carvings, and innovative carvers are always producing new designs. For example, they produce replicas of a range of dinosaur species with the detail and accuracy needed to appeal to buyers in natural history shops. When buyers come with new ideas, the carvers are more than willing to implement them. And they are successful as entrepreneurs and business people, with the willingness and ability to deliver larger orders of good quality on time. So, while direct sales to tourists remain important, a much larger part of the business is in bulk orders for sale in rich overseas markets. This feature of the Balinese market is extremely important now, with international terrorism and epidemics such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) damaging tourism-related industries worldwide. There is another part of this success story – the carvers have responded well to resource

4 Carving Out a Future over-exploitation. With government support, a good private-sector response to an opportunity to produce carving wood and a willingness on the part of carvers to use substitute raw material, the industry seems to be on a sustainable footing. In Zimbabwe, a woodcarving industry has developed and grown during the same period. Like the Balinese industry, tourists were the first customers. Young men seized the opportunity to earn money by supplying a market for curios and keepsakes from a holiday trip. Carvings of animals are created and sold in roadside stalls. But the Zimbabwe experience has been very different from that in Bali. The value of the trade is relatively small, ranging from US$1 million to US$2 million per year. The carvers find it difficult to make ends meet from their earnings – many enter and leave the activity depending upon what other opportunities exist at the time. For them carving is a fallback activity, something to do if there is nothing better to do. Resource ‘management’ has been restricted to cutting trees wherever they are found, with the inevitable resource depletion and conflicts over available resources among carvers and with other stakeholders. The Kenyan woodcarving industry represents a middle way between these two extremes. The origins of the Kenyan industry are similar: a tourist market that has grown (and has been threatened by political instability that has hurt tourism). The Kenyan industry supports more carvers than that of Bali, but with much lower earnings (US$20 million). The big difference from the Zimbabwe case is that carvers have organized themselves and efforts are under way to improve the market and to address the issues of resource sustainability.

ATTENTION TO LIVELIHOODS Links between natural resource use and livelihoods is important as the world increasingly recognizes the pressing need to reduce poverty. In 1999, nearly 1.2 billion people lived on less than US$1 per day and nearly 2.8 billion on less than US$2 per day (World Bank, 2001). About 65 per cent of these people live in South and East Asia and a further 25 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. The first of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) explicitly aims to halve this number by 2015. International development agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and conservation agencies are redoubling efforts to meet this goal. For decades, commercial crafts production has been viewed by donors and rural development agencies as an important means for poorer rural people, often from remote areas, to enter a cash economy. These activities offer the opportunity to create and capture value at the local level. They can provide employment directly, and other income earning possibilities in related activities, and they are based on resources that are available to the key target groups. However, some of the cases discussed here show the limits of this approach. In Zimbabwe (see Chapter 6), carvers, especially in the more

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ephemeral roadside markets, have limited long-term investment or interests, and the market does not reward quality. As discussed above, price competition among carvers can be severe – carvers in side-by-side stalls may try to underbid one another; but they all lose in the process. Prices remain extremely low and the daily wages earned by some of these carvers are shockingly low. In these kinds of markets, carvers are naturally eager for other opportunities and they tend to leave the sector when they can and re-enter when there is no more rewarding way to spend their time. Equally naturally, people engaged in businesses of this kind are reluctant, or unable, to invest in the business. There is scope for improvements in design, in marketing and especially in the ‘institutions’ – the way carvers organize and sell – that could improve earnings. For example, in one of the market areas in the Binga case from Zimbabwe (see Box 13.3), the establishment of minimum prices by agreement among carvers resulted in higher average prices for products sold than in a nearby market. The Kenyan case (see Chapter 3) offers some important lessons along these lines. Here carvers have organized to gain social benefits and business advantages, with some success. The industry supports many people and turns out a large volume of carvings. They have successfully entered export markets with the support of international organizations. In the South African case (see Chapter 7) carvers manufacture simple utensils for the domestic market. The consumers tend to be poor and the prices paid are low; but the industry offers a very important means of earning cash for people who have few other opportunities. This ‘safety net’ element, common in these kinds of industries (for both raw material producers and carvers) should not be underestimated.

LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE The cases presented in this book are fascinating and informative in and of themselves. They offer valuable lessons about where and how people use natural resources and give important insights on the ‘dynamics’ of this kind of resource use – what happens over time to resources, incomes and markets? Looked at together, they are even more significant. By comparing and contrasting different cases we can understand much more about the characteristics of natural resource management, of social and economic context, of markets, and of policy and investment interventions that lead to successful outcomes or to failures. Chapter 13 presents a comparative analysis of several of the main cases in this book with a large number of other non-timber forest products. Like other NTFPs, woodcarving is a natural resource-based industry that provides income and employment for large numbers of predominantly poor people. However, there are particular characteristics of woodcarving that need to be understood in order to design and implement effective policy- and project-level support to the sector. Like many other commercial NTFPs, the woodcarving industries are often based on unmanaged, naturally regenerating resources that are

6 Carving Out a Future treated as open-access resources. In combination with the typically low prices paid for finished products, this means that there are no incentives for sustainable management and that over-exploitation is common. Unlike the trade in many other NTFPs, such as medicinal plants or fruits, where it is not easy to substitute one species for another, the woodcarving industry is more adaptable and substitution of raw material is more common. This may further undermine incentives for sustainable management. However, the possibility to substitute raw material facilitates a shift from wild to more intensively managed and/or faster-growing species. Important successes have been achieved in some cases and this is a key area needing support. Compared with many of the other NTFP cases, woodcarving tends to be located in areas that are well integrated within the cash economy, reflecting the strong need for market access. Wood production contributes a small proportion of total income in most cases, and this reinforces the idea that, for most households, wood production is not a major income-earning activity. People typically act as woodcutters because the resource is free or nearly free and because, in economic terms, they have a low opportunity cost of labour – they literally have nothing better to do. This is a simple but very important fact. Because the returns are low, the cutters have little incentive to harvest sustainably (for example, to leave ‘mother trees’ to encourage regeneration or to refrain from cutting small trees), let alone to invest effort to encourage regeneration and growth. In combination with the open-access nature of the resource in most places, sustainable harvesting or any active investment in the future of the resource is a non-starter. Moreover, the potential for successful cultivation/management is undermined as long as wild resources are available at low cost. Likewise, there is a weak linkage between the value of wood to the carvers and incentives for sustainable wood production. Carvers naturally appreciate having access to good-quality material. But with the low prices that they typically receive for their carvings, they are unable to pay a sufficiently high price for wood to reward better management. There is a clear need for government and other intervention to support sustainable wood production.

WOOD SUPPLY AND CONSERVATION The woodcarving sector, and the broader range of industries based on natural products, is situated at the livelihoods–conservation nexus. Livelihoods depend upon natural resources; but the way in which livelihoods are managed determines resource management options. How can the sustainable use of the natural resources upon which crafts production is based be ensured? How can livelihoods be improved without irreparable harm to the natural resource base? Beyond local resource issues, many woodcarving cases are located within the world’s conservation priority ‘eco-regions’ and ‘hotspots’. As carving is a labour-intensive activity, with much of the work done by hand, few people are aware that woodcarving industries can operate on a large scale and the trade

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is growing year by year. The ‘ecological footprint’ of this trade is having a serious impact on some species and habitats of local and, in some cases, global significance. Chapter 14 examines this in detail. Over-exploitation of carved hardwoods for export markets and the tourist trade is widespread geographically and across several tree families, such as Compositae (for example, Brachylaena discolor); Leguminosae (for example, Afzelia – two species); Dalbergia melanoxylon; Pericopsis (two species); and Pterocarpus (three species). The problem is compounded by the historical effects of habitat loss and logging of these species. In the Kenyan case, illegal harvesting of Brachylaena huillensis from a national park has depleted the population of this slow-growing tree species and exacerbated the threat to an endangered cavity-nesting owl. Less dense, lighter-coloured carving woods are faster growing. These are generally carved into stools or drums, such as from trees in the Apocynaceae (Holarrhena floribunda and Funtumia, two species), Araliaceae (Polyscias fulva) and Anacardiaceae (Sclerocarya birrea) families. However, the largescale felling of these species for carving can have negative social impacts. Chapter 15 discusses the opportunity that people in Western Europe and North America have, through selective buying and responsible sourcing, to play an important role in ensuring the sustainability of the crafts trade rather than remaining contributors to rural resource depletion. It concludes, however, that formal certification schemes may not be cost effective for most woodcarving enterprises. Less formal means of ensuring more sustainable practices, and paying for them, may be more appropriate. Interventions from governments or from NGOs are needed in many cases because success in the marketplace does not create sufficient incentives to stimulate sustainable resource management. Raw-material prices tend to be low. This is because the industries they supply often have very low profit margins – woodcarvers get low prices for their carvings and so they can only pay low prices for their wood. The raw material itself tends to come from openaccess resources. Since anyone with an axe or a saw can cut trees, competition among woodcutters keeps prices for the wood very low. The low prices paid, the long time to harvesting maturity (even for fast-growing species) and lack of property protection means that the people who cut trees have no reason to harvest sustainably, let alone to invest in planting or managing the resource. This situation is not restricted to woodcarving – it is a widespread phenomenon in the NTFP sector. Strong links are needed between enterprise success and rewards for good natural resource management in order to ensure conservation benefits. Here again we can learn from the case examples. The Bali case (Chapter 9) has gone full cycle through extending the harvest area, substitution and serial over-exploitation, to a sustainable raw-material supply based on fast-growing exotics. The key elements that support this transition have significant market demand, creating private-sector opportunity, secure land tenure and an available supply of planting material of a suitable fast-growing species. The Kenya case (Chapter 3) illustrates two interesting options:

8 Carving Out a Future

BOX 1.1 THE NAME OF THE ROSE (WOOD) Anthony Cunningham We want this book to be useful to people involved in rural development, trade, forestry and conservation, and not just to scientists: so this is an important note for readers on the system we use for naming tree species in the book. This is not as simple as it might appear. For most people, it is important to be able to refer to a particular tree species. To do this, we need to solve three challenges: first, avoiding being too general; second, avoiding being too scientific; and, third, in a book of this type, avoiding using a local name only known in one tiny corner of the world. Each of these challenges is explained below. We then describe the naming system used in this book. To start, what do we do with names that are too general? Worldwide, a long history of timber trade has resulted in a few species becoming ‘icons’: ‘mahogany’, ‘rosewood’ and ‘ebony’ are good examples. Demand for these species has resulted in these trade names being applied to timber and carvings from trees in so many different species in different plant families and genera that they are virtually useless in describing an individual species with specific characteristics. When you are told that a wood is mahogany, ironwood or ebony, for example, which one of the 30 tree species commonly called ‘mahogany’, 100 species called ‘ironwood’ or 40 species called ‘ebony’ do you think this refers to? Any one of these common names could apply to trees in unrelated plant families or different genera, each with different economic and conservation values, growth rates or forestry potential. Scarcity, demand and high prices have generated even more names (with dye or boot polish to help the process along!). Scarcity of Dalbergia melanoxylon (known as African blackwood or African ebony, but not related to the true ebonies in the genus Diospyros) has been followed by a shift to alternative species suitably darkened by black boot polish, enthusiastically touted by carvers as ‘ebony number two’ to distinguish it from the real thing (‘ebony number one’). What is needed is something more specific. Scientific names pose the second dilemma. Following enthusiastic botanists through a forest can be like walking with a Roman legion: they talk to each other in a stream of seemingly unintelligible Latin, punctuated by ‘mmm’s’ and ‘ah’s’: ‘Antiaris toxicaria … mmm … Apocynaceae … ah … Ficus exasperata’ and so on. An hour or two of this is enough to kill the enthusiasm of any layperson unfamiliar with scientific names. It is an international naming system, however, which enables botanists and foresters throughout the world, whether they are from Japan, England or outer Mongolia, to know what each other is referring to, even if they can’t speak each other’s language – so it is worth learning if you have the chance. Names in local languages pose a third challenge. Some commonly used, widespread species can literally have hundreds of names. The African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon), for example, would have upwards of 200 local names across Africa, some restricted to a small area, such as in the language of Hadza hunter-gatherers. Other names are widespread through trade, such as mpingo, a local name for Dalbergia melanoxylon used in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and northern Mozambique. If one is working with local people,

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however, it is crucial to know that Afzelia quanzensis is known as mukamba in Gwembe Tonga or shamfuti in Tsonga, because few local people would know what you are talking about if you asked about pod mahongany or Afzelia quanzensis. To get around these challenges, we have done two things. First, each chapter or box will give the scientific and the trade name of each species when it first appears in that section (for example, Olneya tesota, or ironwood); but thereafter, only the scientific name is used. Second, where authors have used local names in a case study, they are included in that section and in the Index.

1 2

organization of craftsmen to offer support, training and economies of scale, and to help capture better prices; and improved resource management supported by ‘green’ marketing efforts directly linked to an alternate, conservation-compatible resource supply.

In Mexico (Chapter 11) there are ongoing efforts to develop improved management for wood production within community lands.

CARVING OUT A FUTURE The many situations reported in this book provide a strong basis for learning lessons. Chapter 16 summarizes the main conclusions and identifies practices and policies to support successful woodcarving industries. Policy- and projectlevel interventions can encourage sustainable resource management; help to build strong industries that are efficient and effective at creating and capturing value through good products and well-functioning markets; and encourage the use of improved technologies for more efficient production, reduced waste and better worker health and safety. The concluding chapter considers specific policy tools that can be used to achieve these objectives.

2

Global Overview: Tradition, Technology and Trade Anthony Cunningham

INTRODUCTION Throughout the tropics and subtropics it is wood – not bone or shell, or bark, leaf fibre or clay pottery – that is the dominant resource of material culture. This also applies in some northern temperate regions today (see Box 2.1) and in pre-industrial societies of Europe and North America during the past. Bowls, milk pails, spoons, sticks, stools and headrests, grain-stamping pestles and mortars, snuff containers and other ritual objects are all made of wood. Even entire houses, as well as doors, storage houses and their support pillars, are (or were) intricately carved (see Figure 2.1). Five common elements link these diverse carving traditions. These common factors are closely associated with culture, technology and change. First, virtually all carvers are men. Second, the basic carving tools are largely the same: a saw, an axe, different sized adzes, a mallet and chisels, and a knife. Patterns are often burned into the final carving with red-hot metal and the same tool usually has similar modifications for similar tasks, such as the robust, long-handled chisels used to make drums in East Africa, as well as grain-stamping mortars in Southern and Central Africa. Third, the highest diversity of carved items is made by settled farming societies rather than by nomadic pastoralists or hunter-gatherers. Fourth, woodcarving has become increasingly commercialized worldwide, particularly since the 1950s. Many carvers bridge the different worlds of carvings for local use, often with ritual significance, and for ‘airport art’, ‘folk art’ or ‘gallery art’. Carvers respond and adapt to the challenges and opportunities of commercialization in many ways. What Phillip Dark (1999) points out in relation to Pacific art also applies to carving on a wider scale:

12 Carving Out a Future a

b

Note: (a) Intricately carved support posts of sal (Shorea robusta) and screens are a feature of many buildings in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal; (b) Carving and painting of posts, lintels and beams characterize many wealthy Tibetan homes. Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 2.1 Particularly in Asia, carving and architecture are commonly combined

Global Overview

13

Things are constantly changing in the contemporary scene and in a complex manner, for Pacific Islanders of one country seek out and interact with those of another, making adaptations accordingly, in their search to re-establish their heritage while contending with the tourist culture of America, Europe and Japan, to which they likewise adapt, producing what best suits a cash return. A similar situation in Africa reflects both artistic ability and entrepreneurial enterprise, getting carvings – including massive figures and wooden thrones – to international markets in Johannesburg, Paris, London or New York. The fifth common element is that carvers focus on relatively few plant families and genera. Reasons for this are that carvers need wood with specific requirements such as close grain, tensile strength and resistance to cracking or insect attack. Although many species of tree are carved today, they can be divided into two broad groups. The first group of carving woods are lightcoloured softwoods that do not crack easily. These faster-growing trees were favoured for making masks, drums, cups and spoons and could be carved – although much more slowly – with stone adzes or shell scrapers before carvers had access to iron tools. The second group comprises dense, slow-growing hardwoods such as rosewood and African blackwood, which are in the pea family. These have a fine grain, rarely crack and take a fine polish, qualities that make these species prized for timber. As a result, these favoured hardwoods have been increasingly exploited for commercial purposes, including woodcarving, on a large scale (see Chapters 3 and 14).

CARVERS’ PREFERENCES: WOOD PROPERTIES AND PRODUCTS For millennia, carvers have experimentally carved their local tree species, rapidly recognizing those with the most desirable qualities. Walking through an African landscape, for example, carvers would select Terminalia sericea for hoe or axe handles, Boscia albitrunca or Rauvolfia caffra wood for milk pails, Trichilia emetica or Balanites maughamii wood for spoons or plates, and resonant Ficus sycamorus wood for making drums. Selection of tree species depends upon the type of product made, and few species have all of the varied qualities required. In every case the timber needs to season well. This is a function of radial and tangential shrinkage rate, which varies greatly from one species to another. Resinous Pterocarpus species, for example, are incredibly stable, with a radial shrinkage of only 0.5 per cent and tangential shrinkage of 2.5 per cent, even if dried under full sun – conditions that would cause most timber to crack. Wood also has to be resistant to insect attack or wood rot and have good working qualities. Hoe or axe handle timber, for example, needs to combine the qualities of shock resistance, bending strength, stiffness and hardness, and must have no splinters and take a smooth polish.

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a

b

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 2.2 (a) A young Rwandan cattle herder carrying milk pails of fig (Ficus) wood patched with metal; (b) Julius Rivero burning a design into a crocodile carved from Boscia albitrunca wood Wood for carving drums and xylophones needs to be resonant, producing an excellent tone (see Chapter 4). These are influenced by wood structure, including width and density of annual rings, tracheid length, microfibril angle and extent of microscopic crystals in the wood (Bucur, 1995). In Uganda, for example, the hard, durable wood of Teclea nobilis is favoured for marimba keys and mallets used to make bark cloth. A further challenge to carvers is that some musical instruments are large, yet need to be light and portable, so less dense woods have to be selected. Internationally, Honduras rosewood (Dalbergia stevensonii) is considered to have the finest tonal quality for orchestral marimbas, perambuco wood (Caesalpinia echinata) is preferred for violin bows, Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) for sides and backs of guitars, and African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) for woodwind instruments (see Box 13.4). Masks also need to be light, smooth and without splinters. Wood carved into spoons, cups or milk pails must not contain toxins or leave a bitter taste to avoid spoiling food or drink, getting the carver into immense trouble at home! Canoe carvers have to select trees that are rot resistant but have a density well below 1000kg per cubic metre or, quite literally, they are sunk! Yet, it is these very dense species that are most preferred for intricate

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Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 2.3 In addition to being a termite-resistant wood for war clubs and construction of houses, Intsia bijuga is used in Fiji and Samoa for carving bowls in which kava, a beverage from Piper methysticum roots, is prepared woodcarving as their fine grain reduces the chance of chipping off at the edges and enables them to take a smooth polish. Woods that combine these qualities are rare, and these woods are admired by the people who use them. In Fiji, for example, there are many analogies between the hardness of Intsia bijuga wood and human qualities. Expressions linked to Intsia bijuga, locally known as vesi, indicate the cultural importance of this species (see Figure 2.3). For example, the chief of a particular area might be referred to as ‘strong as walls of vesi’ or as ‘strong as the vuni vesi [vesi tree]’. Other traditional idioms are to say ‘Sa ciri na vesi’ (‘the canoe is afloat’) as a reply to a goodnight greeting from a chief, or ‘Sa bale na vesi’ when a chief is dead (K. Tabunakawai, personal communication, 2000). One could argue, therefore, that loss of large diameter vesi, the reference point of these expressions, would be both a loss of the natural resource and a cultural loss. During the 19th- and early 20th-century colonial period, local knowledge of different timber qualities for different purposes was well used, developed and quantified in order to select timber species for economic development and export. For example, as the world’s finest timber for woodturning, African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) became the standard against which all other timber was compared, due to its fine grain and oiliness. In India, the forest department tested many species for tool handles in order to select the

16 Carving Out a Future best timber for industrial manufacture (Limaye, 1946). In England, the Forest Products Institute surveyed timbers suitable for the musical instruments industry (Pearson and Webster, 1956). This research continues today; Shukla et al (1990) have recently taken a quantitative approach to the carving behaviour of Indian timbers. These wood properties, and particularly wood density, provide useful insights for resource management (see Chapter 14).

REGIONAL DIFFERENCES AND DISTINCTIVENESS Under this ‘umbrella’ of common elements is a remarkable diversity of woodcarving traditions. Along the North-West Coast of North America, carvers produce huge cedar totem poles of great cultural significance and a range of other products (see Box 2.1). In Africa, carvers produce the richest diversity of headrests, masks, stools and backrests in the world. This diversity of African carvings is unified by one common factor: virtually all wooden items are carved from a single piece of wood, a practice known as monoxyly. Monoxyly applies whether carvers produce a 5m-high carved post for a fon’s palace in north-west Cameroon, a small headrest or a tiny spoon. These designs range from highly decorated stools and masks to the minimalist designs of Pokot, Turkana and Somali headrests, Lobi backrests and Dan masks, which astonish admiring European and Japanese designers. Bocola (1995), for example, documents 170 different examples of African stools and Dewey (1993) illustrates the diversity of African headrests compared to other parts of the world, such as the AsiaPacific region. In contrast, although items such as bowls, spoons and masks are also carved from a single piece of wood, carvers in Asia and, to a lesser extent, in Meso-America join sections of wood together to form figurative sculptures such as Buddha statues, human figures, animals or alebrije figures (see Chapter 12). Use of stools and headrests is widespread, while the production and use of other wooden objects is geographically more clustered. The widespread use is due to a common perception amongst many traditional societies that those with high status should not sit directly on the ground. Headrests, for example, are also carved in parts of the Pacific, such as Fiji and Samoa, often from Intsia bijuga wood. Unlike those in Africa, however, which are all carved from a single piece of wood, several styles of headrest in the Solomon Islands (Bonshek, 2002) and Fiji are made from several pieces of wood, usually with each pair of ‘legs’ tightly bound to the curved top of the headrest. In the Pacific, large canoes are also constructed from separate sections that are bound together (see Box 2.2), whereas even the largest African canoes, such as on Lake Malawi, or ocean-going canoes off West Africa are generally carved from a single tree (see Figure 2.7), with additional sections added on when holes are patched. Masquerading using carved masks is also widespread across Africa, the Asia-Pacific region and the Americas. Design of masks is strongly influenced

Global Overview 17

BOX 2.1 WOODCRAFTS ON THE NORTH-WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA Nancy J. Turner The First Nation peoples of the North-West Coast of North America are renowned for their woodworking and carving skills. Sophisticated woodworking technology is one of the defining characteristics of the North-West Coast culture area (Suttles, 1990). Wooden houses, vessels and implements all are prime examples of the integration of utility, design and artistry by North-West Coast peoples. From the largest of dugout canoes, skilfully crafted from giant logs of western red cedar (Thuja plicata) (see Figure 2.4) and capable of carrying up to 60 people, to the smallest of fish-lures, fashioned from the light wood of the prickly, formidable devil’s club (Oplopanax horridum), wood has provided the means for people to create maritime resources central to their livelihoods. Ecologically, the North-West Coast region is well suited to such a wood-based culture. An area of coastal temperate rainforests, it offers a wide range of tree and shrub species, each type of wood having its own specific characteristics and potential applications (MacKinnon and Pojar, 1994; Halter and Turner, 2003).

Source: Nancy Turner

Figure 2.4 Old-growth western red cedar (Thuja plicata), British Columbia

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Western red cedar yields the best-known and most versatile wood in NorthWest Coast technology (Stewart, 1984; Turner, 1998). Cedar wood is used not only for canoes of many sizes and styles, but also for totem or crest poles, house posts and planks, and numerous smaller items (Sewid-Smith and Dick, 1998). Cedar wood is soft, rot resistant and easily worked. Woodworkers used to actually split planks of cedar from standing live trees, using stone mallets and wooden wedges. Evidence of this practice is seen in many culturally modified trees (CMTs), from which planks were removed many years ago but which are still alive and growing today (British Columbia Ministry of Forests, 1998). Once the wood was harvested, sharp-bladed adzes were used, along with fire and steam, to fashion and shape it. Among the most remarkable of all woodcrafted items are bentwood cedar storage boxes. The four sides of these ingenious containers are made from a single red cedar board, grooved or kerfed across its grain at three carefully measured points, then soaked or steamed until soft, and bent along the groove at right angles to form the three corners of the box. The fourth corner, where the ends of the board come together, is pegged or stitched with tough root strands of spruce or cedar. The box is tightly fitted with a base and a lid and is often carved in relief or painted with distinctive geometric representations of animals or supernatural beings. Bentwood boxes, used for cooking, food processing, transport and storage, were formerly a part of every household’s possessions and are still used by many people (see Figure 2.5). They were widely exchanged as gifts or trade goods, filled with food such as crab apples (Pyrus fusca) and high bush cranberries (Viburnum edule), and stored in water or oil. The huge monumental artworks of cedar, including the totem poles and masks, are highly significant in people’s social and religious lives (Barbeau, 1950; Halpin, 1981; MacDonald, 1983; Wright, 2001). Increasingly, too, they are a source of revenue for indigenous carvers all along the coast. A cedar wood totem pole can bring as much as US$3000 per linear metre to an artist, and many are commissioned by private collectors and museums. Totem poles, which represent inherited family or clan crests, or important life events of the artist or their ancestors, are symbols of this region and are often displayed in parks and other public areas in communities up and down the coast. Miniature or model totem poles are also commonly produced, mainly for sale to tourists and collectors. It is important to remember, however, that the crests themselves are considered to be private property, to be used or reproduced only with permission of those who hold the rights to them. Artists themselves are careful to use only those crests to which they are entitled. Some of the tree species used by First Nation peoples for sustaining themselves are now also important in the increasingly globalized commercial timber industry. This has raised very real concerns over resource depletion and loss of access to resources for the original users and occupants of the land. Cedar is a good example. Commercially, it is valued for its soft, even grain and rot-resistant properties; it is used for shakes and shingles, siding, decking, fencing and telephone poles. Because it is such a preferred and highly valued wood, it has been logged to the point where there are very few large old-growth cedars left throughout much of its range. Cedar is often ‘high graded’ and

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selected over other tree species such as western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla). A recent newspaper report, for example, stated that Coastal loggers, faced with a steep decline in the price of hemlock, are cutting into inventories of the highest-valued wood to stay afloat… Companies are harvesting more cedar in the hope they will be able to return and harvest lower-valued hemlock when global markets improve. The cedar is destined for the US market, where demand is strong for decking, fencing and housing materials. (Hamilton, 2001) Many people relying on cedar and other forest products for their livelihoods have expressed deep consternation over excessive commercial harvesting, especially clear-cutting and high-grading of large, old cedar trees (Clayoquot Scientific Panel, 1995; Sierra Legal Defense Fund, 2000).Other trees also have particular qualities and uses. Tough, resilient Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia) wood has been used to make implements that are subjected to tremendous pressure, such as bows, steering paddles, harpoon shafts, clubs, root-digging sticks and wedges. Pacific crab apple wood (Pyrus fusca), used for digging sticks, was known for its springiness and toughness, whereas red alder (Alnus rubra), with its smooth, even grain, is used for dishes, dance masks and spoons. Yellow cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) is strong smelling, so cannot be used around food, but is known as an excellent wood for making canoe paddles and model totem poles. Broad-leafed maple (Acer macrophyllum) is named ‘paddle-tree’ in some of the coastal languages and is prized for making the carved plate-sized disks of spindle-whorls, used for spinning mountain goat or dog wool by Salish weavers, as well as for paddles. Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) sapling wood was used for spear shafts, and the tough knots of fir, western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and sometimes Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), salvaged from rotten logs on the forest floor, were split, steamed and bent into strong fish hooks for cod and halibut. Even the wood of certain shrubs served particular roles; oceanspray, or ‘ironwood’ (Holodiscus discolor) and mockorange (Philadelphus lewisii), for example, were known for producing long, straight stems that were used for arrow shafts, mat-making needles and digging sticks. Hardhack (Spiraea douglasii) stems were used for salmon spreaders in smokedrying salmon, and snowberry sticks (Symphoricarpos albus) were used for stringing clams to be smoked. Woodworking is one traditional art that has grown and flourished on the North-West Coast following the arrival of Europeans with their iron chisels, saws, axes and other implements. More recently, power tools have facilitated woodworking, helping many artists to cut and shape their wood more easily and faster than ever before. Within the past two decades – in fact, since renowned Haida artist Bill Reid constructed a large 15m war canoe named Lootaas for the Expo 86 World Fair in Vancouver – a number of large cedar wood canoes have been constructed in various communities along the coast. Today, although people do not rely on wood to the same extent that their ancestors did, woodcrafting arts are still integral to people’s lives and woodcarvers are held in high esteem. Masks, bowls and traditional representations of animals are high-value items available for sale at many art galleries and gift shops throughout the North-West Coast region.

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Source: Colleen Robinson

Figure 2.5 Bentwood cedar box, probably over 100 years old, used to store food and materials (Tsimshian Coast, from Hartley Bay Gitga’at) by carvers’ cultural backgrounds, religious beliefs and the purposes for which the masks are made. These may be for rites of passage to frighten away evil spirits or misfortune, for funeral ceremonies or for theatre. African masks inspired Europe’s modern art movement – but Western perceptions of masks differ greatly from local ones. As Fred Eiseman (1996) points out in a Balinese context: The Balinese do not draw a line between natural and supernatural, secular and religious. Objects, particularly objects used in the performance of sacred dance and theatre, are sometimes charged with a kind of spiritual magic – kesaktian – and are said to be tenget. Thus, the traditional mask maker is not just a sort of carpenter, hacking away at a piece of wood with a mallet, chisel and knife. He is not creating decoration. He is crafting an object that will, at the very least, be handled and treated with great respect, and, at most, venerated in the most sacred and formal manner of which the Balinese are capable. The status of the mask maker derives not so much for his ability as a craftsman, but from his knowledge of the power of masks … these activities involve powerful supernatural forces, and it takes a strong man to ensure that these forces do not inadvertently get out of hand and create imbalance.

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BOX 2.2 THE KALIA MILENIUME: REVIVAL OF A TONGAN VOYAGING CANOE Mark Nickum Voyaging canoes were used in Polynesia for long-distance voyaging and the spread of Pacific Islander populations to new island homes. Amongst the most spectacular of these were Tongan kalia voyaging canoes, the large naval craft of chiefs and kings used in warfare and military combat between the mid 1700s to the late 1800s (Hornell, 1936). As these wooden canoes were the major tool for maintaining the Tongan maritime chiefdom, which included Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, `uvea, Futuna and Rotuma, the most favoured tree species from which they were constructed, vesi (Intsia bijuga, Fabaceae), was a strategic regional resource, just as oil is in today’s world (Banack and Cox, 1987). The canoes could carry more than 100 people and travel from one archipelago to another (Hornell, 1936). The kalia were built in the Lau group of Fiji by expert Samoan craftsmen (the Lemaki and Leha) under the direction and control of the Tongans (Thompson, 1940). The hulls for smaller outrigger voyaging canoes, the Fijian camakau, were made from either ‘Fijian kauri or greenheart’ (Hocart, 1929, p128). Fijian kauri was Agathis vitiensis (Araucariaceae) and greenheart was vesi (Intsia bijuga) (Gillett et al, 1993). Whether building kalia, `alia or drua, I. bijuga was the wood of choice. Calophyllum inophyllum was used very frequently as a canoe hull plant in the Cook Islands (Hiroa, 1944), `uvea (Burrows, 1936) and Futuna (Burrows, 1936). Other Calophyllum species were also utilized in Futuna (Burrows, 1936) and Calophyllum neo-ebudicum was utilized in Samoa (Hiroa, 1930), and Dysoxylum in both `uvea and Futuna. It took three to five years, or even longer, to build a large voyaging canoe of up to 100 feet (Derrick, 1946). Imagine the power and wealth it would take to feed and support labourers for several years to build one canoe, especially for chiefs or nobles located in Tonga, contracting (or ‘ordering’) the canoe to be built in Fiji. The renowned noble Ma`afu went from Tonga to Fiji in 1848 and acquired sovereignty over the islands of Northern Lau by 1855. He held control over this region until the cession of Fiji to Great Britain in 1874 (Derrick, 1946). The kalia and similar canoes (Samoan `alia and Fijian drua) were also a significant component of Tongan heritage and identity. The kalia was a doublehull canoe, with one hull shorter than the other and functioning as an outrigger. The outrigger hull always stayed to windward when under sail, with the result that when ‘tacking’ across the wind to change directions, the canoe would stall, the bow would become the stern and the stern would become the bow, and the canoe would take off, seemingly going in the reverse direction. This complex sailing procedure is termed shunting. Long canoe hulls were built of multiple dugout logs joined end to end (see Figure 2.6). Then strakes (boards) were placed above the dugouts to build up walls if a deeper hull was desired. The strakes purposely overlapped the dugout log joints, and any further strake layers overlapped the joints of the previous strake layer. In this way, the lateral joints were reinforced and rigidity was built into the hull. All joints were butt joints, which meant that they butted up against

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Source: Mark Nickum

Figure 2.6 Interior of a voyaging canoe hull with `aholelei family, showing the size of the hull and some cross-booms and lashings one another. Often flanges, or thickened lips, would be shaped on the interior side of adjoining edges. Aligning holes were then drilled through the adjoining flanges, and lashings of sennet (coconut fibre) cord were tied to join these dugout sections and strakes together. Large kalia hulls were not often made from single dugout logs (Dumont d’Urville, 1830–1834). During the J. Dumont d’Urville voyage of 1826–1829, for example, Admiral F. E. Paris sketched many Polynesian canoes, including a 51foot kalia with the main hull made from three lengths of timber joined end to end. The cross-section views of the main hull showed that each of the three hull segments were constructed of two halves, which met at the keel line (mid-line at the bottom of the hull). Voyaging canoes seldom exceeded 100 feet in length. The largest drua on record was 118 feet long, with a deck length of 50 feet and a deck width of 24 feet (Williams, 1858). The mast was 68 feet long and the yards were 90 feet long. This canoe was named the Rusa i vanua (Perished Inland), however, signifying that it would be impossible to launch it! In summary, large voyaging canoes were symbols of statehood, power, military prowess, strength and cultural pride. These voyaging canoes were also the vehicles which allowed for the spread of Polynesians and their culture over a vast expanse of the Pacific realm. Today in Hawaii, much of this identity has been revived with the work of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. Elsewhere in Polynesia people are also reviving their voyaging canoe heritage. This depends not only upon traditional canoe construction skills, but also upon available wood resources. Historically, the Lau group of Fiji possessed the best stands of Intsia bijuga. Nearly 60 years ago, Derrick (1946) pointed out:

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In Tonga, there was little timber of a size and quality suitable for the construction of these large vessels, and it became the practice for parties of Tongans to sail up on the wind to Lakeba, arrange with the chiefs there for logs and food in exchange for Tongan bark cloth, weapons or services in war, and then to establish themselves on islands such as Vulaga and Kabara and build, or help to build, the canoes. Today, research by Francis Areki for the World Wide Fund for Nature-Fiji (WWFFiji) shows that most large Intsia bijuga trees have been felled for the commercial trade in kava bowls. Finding a large enough tree to build a canoe hull may no longer be possible – a stark illustration of the close links between culture and conservation.

The same sentiments could also apply in Africa or South America where, in common with Asia, masked dances are one of the oldest performing arts. In Indonesia, for example, the use of masks in funeral processions, initiation and exorcism ceremonies is widespread, including in Java, West Timor, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and the Maluku and Batak islands, as well as in Bali. Supernatural power is also accorded to wooden power statues (fetishes), which are most commonly used in Central Africa by Tabwa, Luba, Teke, Songye, Suklu and Yaka traditionalists. These power statues are believed to have supernatural power and are items to which substances and objects with ritual power are applied. Mask production is centred in secret societies and rituals of forest and savanna areas of West Africa, with masquerades an important aspect of societies in Central and East Africa (such as Makonde lipiko masks in northern Mozambique and southern Tanzania). By contrast, it is Southern Africa that historically had a remarkably rich tradition of headrest production, most notably amongst Tsonga-speaking people, whereas masquerades are rare here. What is obvious in any overview of the African region is Madagascar’s distinctiveness. This is as much a product of its biogeography as the MalayoPolynesian origin of the Malagasy people, whose closest related language group is found in central Borneo, 6400km away. These distinctive MalayoPolynesian links have been blurred by Swahili and Arabic trade links with the East African coast, however. The result is a mix of carving styles in Madagascar. Carved Giriama grave markers (koma or vigango) in coastal kaya forests in Kenya and in the Mahalafy area of Madagascar may reflect these Swahili and Arabic influences.

CHANGE, INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION The most rapid changes in carving styles and quality during the past century are probably due to changes in technology, religious change and commercialization.

24 Carving Out a Future a

b

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 2.7 Canoe construction in Africa follows a monoxylous tradition, where the canoe is carved from a single log: (a) canoes in Malawi, SouthCentral Africa; (b) ocean-going fishing canoes off the Ghana coast, West Africa

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Tools and technology Throughout the world, carving has long been affected by changing tools and technology. The availability of axes, adzes and chisels made of iron, for example, increased both the speed with which wood could be carved and the range of species used. As mentioned in the introduction to this chapter, fastgrowing softwood trees could be carved with stone adzes or shell scrapers; but this was a slow process. Access to tools made of iron – and later of steel – radically changed this. Nevertheless, the pace and timing of change varies greatly from place to place. In West New Britain, New Guinea, for example, carvers first obtained iron tools in 1895, whereas African blacksmiths have been smelting iron and producing iron tools for millennia. Zachary Kingdon (2002; see also Chapter 5) describes how carving of spirit figures by Makonde artists using Dalbergia melanoxylon (mpingo, or African blackwood) developed during the colonial period. Prior to this, Makonde carvers had mainly produced helmet masks (muti wu lipiko) and female body masks (midimu) of softwood (probably Ficus sycamorus). Worldwide, contemporary carvers are rapidly adopting new technology for sourcing and processing raw materials or for marketing final products. Chainsaws are used to cut and shape logs. Trucks rely upon growing road networks to bring logs in from further and further afield. Cell phones are used to connect small-scale outlets to carving centres, and growing numbers of carvers use public internet facilities and internet addresses to communicate with importers on export orders. Growing numbers of retail outlets, many in North America and Europe, sell African carvings through retail outlets also supported by internet-based marketing. But unlike in Mexico (see Chapter 12), African carvers are relatively far from the lucrative ‘high-end’ art collectors’ market. Nevertheless, websites are increasingly used to provide access to the international marketplace. Large retailers started first with marketing carvings from websites; but smaller retailers soon followed them. Like all change, new technologies can be a mixed blessing. New production processes and power tools make for quicker production; but they create occupational health and safety hazards. Modern technologies such as chainsaws also mean that new strategies for resource conservation and management are needed (see Chapter 15).

Religious and political change Carving, culture and traditional religious practice have long been closely linked. Foreign religious influences on carvers occurred far earlier than missionary encouragement of craft production, such as at the Lutheran mission in Tanzania. On Africa’s Atlantic coast, 16th-century European influence was linked to the ivory and slave trade, becoming most widespread during 19th-century European colonial expansion. Early Islamic influence spread across North Africa, parts of West Africa and from the East African coast to the western shore of Lake Tanganyika, north to Kisangani, associated with the trade in ivory and slaves. It also influenced carving styles. In South America, colonial expansion influenced

26 Carving Out a Future woodcarving. Between the 16th and 17th centuries, for example, woodcarvers from Spain settled in San Antonio de Ibarra in Ecuador, carving religious items for the church and furniture for wealthy families in a Spanish-Moorish style. Today, San Antonio de Ibarra is considered to be one of the most important woodcarving centres in South America, developing its own style, which has spread to Chile, Argentina and Colombia. These religious and political changes profoundly affected traditional religions and, consequently, production of wooden carvings linked to supernatural power or veneration of the ancestors. In Africa, for example, snuff-taking and the use of headrests are both linked to respect for the ancestors (Wanless, 1991; Dewey, 1993). Christianization has definitely played a role in the demise of their use amongst African urban and farming communities today; but much less so amongst semi-nomadic cattle or camel herders, or amongst traditional healers, who all retain strong traditional belief systems. Perceptions of links between carved items and ‘negative’ cultural practices have lead to an outright ban on carving in some cases, as Hoogerbrugge (1993) describes for West Papua: In 1963, a small Indonesian army and police force took charge of the region. Worried about the dangers of the unfamiliar ‘headhunting culture’ and in keeping with the charged military atmosphere that surrounded the transfer of sovereignty, the Indonesians took strict measures against dancing, drumming and carving as [this was] deemed a prelude to head-hunting. All carving, except for the making of a few practical items like canoes and paddles, came quickly to a halt. Not only were new carvings banned, but the government also ordered many of the old carvings destroyed. This slump lasted until 1968, when the Indonesian authorities, in conjunction with the United Nations, decided to again open up the Asmat area to outside contacts. A joint effort between the United Nations Department of Small-scale Industries and the United National Development Programme resulted in the Asmat Art Project (1968–1974).

Commercial trade Contemporary carvers have taken a variety of approaches to commercial carving across the world – for example, the production of items such as masks, stools and drums for which there is a niche market locally and internationally. Production of Ashante stools in Ghana (Silver, 1981a, 1981b), Asmat carvings in West Papua (Hoogerbrugge, 1993) and the drum-carving trade in Uganda (see Chapter 4) are three such examples. Second, carving is done purely for a commercial market, such as bowls and wooden wildlife. Carving in Kenya, Namibia and Zimbabwe are good examples (see Chapters 3 and 6). Third, the timber trade and woodcarving are closely linked, particularly in Asia, where timber is intricately carved to make buildings, doors or furniture (see Chapters 8 and 9).

Global Overview

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Trade in carvings is not new. It is bigger than ever before; however, it has spread internationally, rather than regionally, and has focused on a far smaller resource base. Individual initiatives and the efforts of cohesive local communities have been remarkably significant and have had a lasting impact on training for carvers and on woodcarving enterprises. In New Zealand, Eramiha Kapua, a master carver who was the main tutor at the governmentsponsored Rotorua School of Maori Art (established in 1928) brought Maori traditional carving into mainstream ‘national’ art (Neich, 2001). In Indonesia, the efforts of a few master carvers also resulted in formalized carving classes being established in 1969 through the government-sponsored Dwi Jendra carving school in Guwang village, Gianyar district, Bali (see Chapter 9). In Bali and Mexico, the most successful carving enterprises were started on individual initiatives (see Chapters 9 and 11), and in India, the carving trade is an initiative of a cohesive Moslem community in Nagina and Saharanphur in Uttar Pradesh (see Chapter 8). In East Africa, waZaramo carvers began to make carvings for sale prior to 1914 with the encouragement of Lutheran missionaries at Maneromanga village, about 65km from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (Elkan, 1958). The Maneromanga area consequently became a centre for Zaramo woodcarving. During World War I, interaction between waZaramo carvers and Mutisya Munge, a muKamba farmer from Wamunyu in Kenya, stimulated a large commercial trade in carvings (see Chaper 3). Prior to this, waKamba carvers produced stools, snuff containers and sticks for the local market. Today, they are at the centre of an industrial process supplying Africa’s largest commercial carving industry, felling approximately 50,000 trees per year, generating about US$20 million per year in export revenue. However, in common with the rest of Africa, where woodcarvers are similarly disregarded, waKamba carvers are rarely taken into account in forestry policy, planning or practice (Chapter 3). Appreciation of quality hand-carved items in a world of mass-produced products is more important in some parts of the world than others. In Europe and the US, there is a great interest in Makonde carvings from Mozambique and Tanzania (see Chapter 5). With rising interest in world music, the interest in drums and xylophones from Ghana and, to a lesser extent, from Uganda is also increasing. Demand from interior designers for African traditional stools, Indian and Pakistani walnut wood screens and carved furniture is also high. Senufo, Ashante and Baoule stools from West Africa or Nyamwezi, Kamba, Wahehe and Maasai stools from East Africa are particularly favoured. Demand for high-quality furniture carved in Vietnam in an ‘Imperial’ style comes from a different market: principally, Taiwan and, to a lesser extent, Japan.

FUTURE TRENDS Resource stocks for favoured species are declining in response to commercial demand (Chapter 14). With some notable exceptions, carving quality is also declining as the tourist and export markets generally offer low prices. At the

28 Carving Out a Future same time, auction houses reflect unprecedented prices for high-quality 19thor early 20th-century carved artefacts. Recent examples are US$1.3 million paid for a single Bambara reliquary figure and US$200,000 for a Dan mask at a French auction, as well as US$20,000 for a Southern Africa headrest at a Stephan Weltz/Sotheby’s auction in South Africa in 2003. In Africa, these prices are driving theft of genuine artefacts from some national museums, particularly during times of political chaos, as well as encouraging a thriving trade in fakes. In Africa, for example, international demand has resulted in a thriving production of fake carved ‘Baoule’ fertility dolls, ‘Kongo’ power figures, ‘Dogon’ gazelle masks and carved granary doors in Kenya. ‘Asmat’ carvings are produced by non-Asmat carvers in Bali, rather than in south-west New Guinea (Schneebaum, 1993). Balinese carvers are probably the most responsive to market demand, making anything ‘to order’ (see Figure 2.8), including carvings of animals they have never seen, such as dinosaurs, camels and African giraffes and hippos. Carvers from Rapa Nui living in Temuco, Chile (‘the heart of Mapuche culture’) not only carve wooden figures in a Rapa Nui style, but also produce ‘Mapuche’ spoons and plates (Ramirez, 1992). Away from production-line carving, some exceptional sculptors are supported by having their work marketed individually, rather than anonymously, as is too often the case. In Mexico, alebrije carvers such as Manuel Jiminez are renowned as individuals. In Kenya, a few Nairobi galleries exclusively market work by a few innovative contemporary waKamba

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 2.8 Innovative and extremely responsive to new trends, Balinese carvers creatively carve virtually anything, including mahogany (Swietenia mahogani) furniture in the form of crabs

Global Overview

29

sculptors from Wamunyu who carve small, exquisite carvings in Spirostachys africana or Dalbergia melanoxylon. These retail at prices of around US$900 to $6000 – appropriate prices for the skill involved and the high-value wood species, rather than their rapid conversion into US$5 rhinos or salad bowls. There are three keys to a positive future path for carvers: quality, diversity and sustainable use of wood resources. Carving quality is crucial, making best use of sustainable harvested wood. Diversity ensures that the market is not saturated with sameness, and cultural diversity gives depth to carving design, offering creative ideas for the future. Sustainable use of wood requires policy change and support. This is crucial: quite simply, no wood means no work. Whether we are carvers or not, we all live in a world interconnected economically and ecologically as never before. Together, we have the opportunity to carve a better future.

3

Chasing the Wooden Rhino: The Case of Woodcarving in Kenya Simon K. Choge, Anthony Cunningham and William Ellery

INTRODUCTION The woodcarving industry in Kenya, characterized primarily by carved bowls, rhinoceroses and giraffes, is the largest of its kind in Africa, generating an estimated US$20 million per year in export revenue (Obunga, 1995; Choge, 2002). This enormous industry relies on indigenous forests for its raw materials since the favoured species include Brachylaena huillensis (muhugu, muhuhu or ‘mahogany’) and Combretum schumannii (mkongolo). However, less than 2 per cent of Kenya is covered by closed-canopy indigenous forest, partly due to a range of activities supporting livelihoods through the use of forest products. For example, most Dalbergia melanoxylon (African blackwood, or mpingo) stocks in woodland areas have been depleted because this species is so highly favoured for carving. Commercial carving is consequently characterized by over-exploitation of favoured tree species, use of trees in smaller and smaller size classes, long-distance log trade, and carvers constantly shifting to new resource-rich frontiers for raw materials (see Figure 3.1). While carvers are increasingly using a number of alternative species, the question remains whether alternative woods can support the growing industry. This case study focuses on the area surrounding Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve, one of the larger forest reserves on the Kenya coast. Wood scarcity affects not only the woodcarving industry, but the furniture and other industries as well. As a result, there is a need to diversify the species used and to promote on-farm cultivation of fast-growing trees for a woodcarving supply. The change to alternative carving wood has introduced a number of challenges to the industry. The carving qualities of many species are poorly known, and poor seasoning results in cracking and fungal infection of finished carvings, leading to wastage and loss of income and market share.

32 Carving Out a Future SUDAN ETHIOPIA Lake Turkana

UGANDA

K

E

N

Y

SOMALIA

A

Lake Baringo Rumuruti

Nanyuki

Lake Victoria

Mt Kenya Mumoni

Bengali

Gaikuku

Lake Naivasha

Embu

Nairobi Lake Magadi

Hirimani Wava

Wamunyu Mwina

TANZANIA

Lungi

Boni

Makindu

Lamu Mangroves

Hewari

n

Forest

Oc Mombasa Lungalunga

Shimba

Minor sources of wood supply

an

Country boundary

Indi

Provincial boundary

Main sources of wood supply

ea

Malindi

Lake

Major woodcarving centres

Source: Simon Choge, Anthony Cunnigham and William Ellery

Figure 3.1 Kenya, showing the main carving centres, sources and destinations of woodcarving raw materials

HISTORY OF WOODCARVING Commercial woodcarving in Kenya was started by a muKamba carver, Mutisya Munge, at the end of World War I, after he had observed waZaramo carvers in Tanzania while serving as a soldier with the King’s African Rifles (Elkan, 1958; Troughear, 1987). As the landscape occupied by the waKamba is generally dry, with low arable potential, woodcarving became an important and popular income-earning option. By 1956, when the industry was worth £56,000 per year (equivalent to £700,000, or US$1.3 million, in today’s terms), Mutisya Munge sent his son, Mwambetu, to London to investigate export market opportunities (Elkan, 1958). From this early beginning at

Chasing the Wooden Rhino 33

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 3.2 WaKamba carvers in Kenya commonly work in large clan-based businesses that they term co-operatives; over 4000 carvers work at the Akamba carvers’ co-operative in Mombasa Wamunyu in the Machakos district of Kenya, the industry has expanded to become the largest woodcarving industry in Africa. While it is not possible to obtain exact numbers of people involved due to the dynamic nature of the industry, a survey carried out during the mid 1990s showed that there were between 60,000 and 80,000 active carvers, supporting over 400,000 dependants (Obunga, 1995). Today, many carvers and retailers are still bound by close ties through extended families and clans, with their roots mainly in the Machakos district (see Figure 3.2). In addition to the entrepreneurial skills of the waKamba and Kenyan Asian traders, the growth of the industry can historically be attributed to three factors. First, the rising number of European settlers and missionaries (1920s and 1930s), British soldiers (1940s and 1950s), tourist arrivals (1960s to present) and the expanding international market for Kenyan carvings has increased demand.1 Second, weakening of the Kenya shilling against

34 Carving Out a Future Table 3.1 Comparison of the carving industry with the wider wood market in Kenya Aspect of comparison

Timber industry

Woodcarving industry

Comments

Annual roundwood market share (supply)

Volume of accessible roundwood supply estimated at 24,929,000m3 (KIFCON, 1994; Wass, 1994)

Wood intake estimated at 17,544.4m3 or 0.7% of market share (Choge, 2002)

Woodcarving co-operatives are assumed to constitute 50% of total volume of wood utilized for carving or 8772.4m3

Direct employment

100,000 employed in timber industry (Juma And Ojwang, 1996)

60,000 full-time Carving considered carvers and an informal source of 350,000 dependants employment (Obunga, 1995)

National value of the industry based on worth of traded products annually

Total domestic production of wood and paper estimated at US$100 million (Juma and Ojwang, 1996)

Total potential output based on wood volumes consumed per year estimated at US$25 million (Choge, 2002)

Range of species

More than 60 species

8 major species and 43 minor species (Obunga, 1995; Choge, 2002)

Total output estimates based on export sales statistics of carvings is over US$20 million (Obunga, 1995)

international currencies has created a favourable tourism and export environment. Third, growth in Kenya’s informal sector (including woodcarving), due to high unemployment, has led to increased participation in the woodcarving sector. In 1999, for example, in Nairobi and the Eastern and Coast provinces, where most woodcarving takes place, an estimated 1,705,400 individuals were engaged in the informal sector, with an increase in the sector of 11 per cent per annum (GoK, 2000). Although woodcarving is considered an informal activity, carvers have formed co-operative societies in different parts of the country following encouragement by central government shortly after independence during the early 1960s. Six major co-operatives exist, and in 1982 they amalgamated to form a union in order to further their ideals and promote their interests.

Chasing the Wooden Rhino

35

CARVING IN THE CONTEXT OF OTHER KENYAN WOOD MARKETS In common with most of the world (India and Indonesia are partial exceptions – see Chapters 8 and 9), little forestry policy or management practice have been focused on the carving industry. Woodcarving in Kenya consumes over 17,500 cubic metres of wood annually, representing about 50,000 trees per year (Choge, 2002). Although this represents just 0.7 per cent of the total roundwood market share in Kenya, the revenue that accrues from woodcarving represents about 25 per cent of the total revenue from the entire commercial timber industry. Furthermore, woodcarving employs more than 40 per cent of the national formal timber industry (see Table 3.1). Although the total wood volume used by carvers is relatively small considering the large number of carvers, it is focused on few species and constitutes the major form of species-specific over-exploitation in Kenya’s coastal forests. This has had a devastating impact on indigenous tree species with desirable carving qualities, particularly on those also used for other purposes. However, far higher prices are paid for use of these species for carving than for any other purpose (see Table 3.2). Unit prices for wood for carving are two to three orders of magnitude higher than for charcoal production, and they are a factor of two to ten times higher than for poles, firewood and sawn timber. Table 3.2 Comparison of the unit price of wood in alternative uses in Kenya (US$ per cubic metre)

Olea europaea Brachylaena huillensis Dalbergia melanoxylon Azadirachta indica

Charcoal

Poles

Firewood

Sawn timber Woodcarving

3–5

44–108

40–102

226–538

512–3589

3–5

45–108

51–102

226–538

512–3589

3–5

51–115

32–102

496–987

512–3846

3–5

44–102

32–76

226–538

256–3589

Note: US$1 = 78 Kenya shillings (2003)

WOODCARVING: SUPPLY OF RAW MATERIALS The supply of wood to carvers in the case study area is dominated by middlemen (or agents). These agents, who are mostly members of the resident Mijikenda tribe, often scout for wood from local farmers who are ready to dispose of mature Azadirachta indica (neem) or other carving trees. Alternatively, they liaise with wood poachers to obtain and deliver the highly prized Brachylaena huillensis from the Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve.

36 Carving Out a Future Generally, prices at source (farm-gate prices) ranged from US$12.5 per cubic metre to US$37.3 per cubic metre, depending upon, amongst other factors, the species, the sizes available and the bargaining power of the resource owner. Brachylaena huillensis and Azadirachta indica, for example, typically cost about US$12.5 per cubic metre; but the price is always negotiable. Harvesting charges were estimated at US$2.5 per cubic metre, loading charges at US$2 per cubic metre, transport charges at US$0.8 per kilometre per cubic metre and unloading charges at destination at US$2 per cubic metre for all species. At the destination, agents dispose of the consignments at wholesale (US$36 per cubic metre) or retail (US$66 per cubic metre) prices for Brachylaena huillensis wood. Usually, Azadirachta indica is only sold on a retail basis at US$31 per cubic metre. Generally, trading in wood for carving is not very profitable for Mijikenda farmers due to exploitation by agents and the availability of cheaper wood, mostly stolen from the nearby state forest and communal woodlands. In addition, free Azadirachta indica wood can be obtained at construction sites in urban areas. An estimated 808 cubic metres of carving wood is sourced from the study area annually, worth US$10,100 based on farm-gate prices. Approximately 331 cubic metres are used within Malindi and 477 cubic metres are used by carvers outside the study area, mainly in Mombasa (Choge, 2002).

WOOD PROCESSING AND CARVING After delivery to the carving centre, the wood is cross-cut and split to the desired sizes. Carving adds considerable value to the wood. For example, an estimated 600 medium-sized articles can be produced per cubic metre of solid wood.2 Selling for approximately US$1 per article, a total income of US$600 per cubic metre is generated in the domestic market. Prices in tourist markets are much higher than in local markets, where individual items can trade for US$5.6 per article (or US$3500 per cubic metre) or higher. The price of the finished product from Brachylaena huillensis is approximately nine times greater than the price paid by the carvers for the wood in the case of the domestic market, and approximately 55 times higher in the tourist market. These numbers are even larger when finished products are compared with farm-gate wood prices, with final prices on local and tourist markets being approximately 48 and 288 times the farm-gate price, respectively. Although it is important for carvers to shift to sourcing alternative ‘good woods’ from cultivated stocks on farm (see Box 14.5 and Chapter 15), the comparatively high financial returns from Brachylaena carving sales in a region with few economic opportunities explains why woodcarving has become a popular economic activity and why illegal harvesting of Brachylaena continues inside forest reserves and conservation areas. Within the study area, and elsewhere in Kenya, woodcarvers usually work together in large groups or co-operatives to share tools, experiences and

Chasing the Wooden Rhino

37

marketing opportunities, and to organize the bulk acquisition of raw materials. In general, carvers specialize in carving only certain products. This is in marked contrast to the Bali case, where carvers are very versatile and responsive to export orders for new products (including African giraffes; see Chapter 9). In Kenya, however, men experienced in carving animals such as lion, rhino and buffalo do not carve giraffes, masks, bowls or spoons, and vice versa. In Kenya, carving at the larger centres resembles a production-line industrial process, where different stages of carving, such as filing, sanding and painting, are undertaken for a fee by different men. In other cases, such as when carvers are working individually outside organized groups or cooperatives, all of the carving stages are undertaken by one person. However, products made by individuals are often sold in a less finished state, mostly to more established groups or dealers. In a typical woodcarving centre or group, 2 per cent of the members split the wood; 60 per cent do the actual carving; 10 per cent do the filing; 20 per cent perform the final sanding; while 8 per cent perform the rest of the operations, such as polishing, painting and wiping the finished carvings. Sanding is a critical stage that greatly influences the price of the finished product. Less skilled men, children and women largely carry out the finishing operations. The distribution of costs during the process of carving was as follows: • • • • • •

cost of wood: 30 per cent; splitting and cross-cutting of wood: 5 per cent; filing of carvings: 8 per cent; sanding: 30 per cent; painting: 12 per cent; and polishing: 15 per cent (Choge, 2002).

The growth of the industry has resulted in many new entrants to groups and co-operatives, compounding the already significant management problems. The existence of many independent carving groups, co-operatives and individuals, all competing for a share of the market, has created a situation where the competitive marketing of carvings is destroying the resource itself. Products are generally sold below realistic market costs at prices that do not reflect the prevailing wood scarcity. Low product prices also result in low incomes and enhance the chances of resource mining, as carvers are required to make many more items in order to meet basic family needs. A recent study (Choge, 2002) has shown that with the division of labour in the carving production process, a carver who is a member of the cooperative system is able to make between 100 to 200 complete medium-sized articles per month, representing a stock value ranging from US$562 to $1125 per month. However, carvers are only able to trade about 25 to 50 pieces, representing sales of about US$140 to $280 per month. As a result, 75 per cent of the articles may remain unsold for several months, or even years, tying up capital for considerable periods. However, most carvers prefer selling such

38 Carving Out a Future carvings to middlemen and other dealers outside the co-operatives, usually for a fraction of the market price (as low as US$1 to $1.50 per piece instead of the co-operative price of US$5.60 per piece). Given such sales, carvers can earn an additional US$75 to $150 per month, which represents an increase in income of approximately 50 per cent.

SUCCESSFUL TRADE, DECLINING RESOURCE BASE In common with commercial carvers in many of the other case studies, woodcarvers in Machakos district, where commercial carving first started, were faced with shortages of raw materials due to the depletion of the highly favoured tree species. For this reason, and due to limited local markets for carved products, the waKamba carvers moved hundreds of kilometres to resource-rich areas, particularly to the Coast Province. Over-exploitation of the favoured woodcarving species, such as Brachylaena huillensis and Dalbergia melanoxylon, is further complicated by their slow growth rates and limited recruitment potentials under natural conditions (Choge, 2002). The widespread depletion of these traditional carving woods has led to increased utilization of alternative species, such as Terminalia brownie, and four introduced species: Azadirachta indica (see Box 14.5 in Chapter 14), Jacaranda mimosifolia, Mangifera indica (mango) and Grevillea robusta (mukima). The two species considered in detail here are Brachylaena huillensis, the main indigenous hardwood species, and Azadirachta indica, the main introduced species carved in coastal Kenya. The Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve has been the main source of Brachylaena huillensis for woodcarvers based at the coast. It is the largest remaining tract of coastal forest in Kenya and one of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Global 200 eco-regions (these eco-regions are regarded as the priority conservation areas by WWF and its partners; Olson and Dinerstein, 1998). Scarcity of Brachylaena huillensis in Kenya, however, has led to importation of Brachylaena logs from Tanzania, extending a forest conservation problem to a neighbouring country. Between 1988 and 2000, for example, an estimated 34 per cent of the wood used in Kenya was from Brachylaena logs smuggled from Tanzania. Within the Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve, Brachylaena huillensis occurs on deep sandy loam soils in association with Cynometra weberi (see Figure 3.3). In forest types where Brachylaena huillensis is found, wood volumes were estimated at 2.7 cubic metres per hectare for trees greater than 30cm diameter at breast height (dbh), of which 50 per cent is assumed to be suitable for carving (KIFCON, 1994). In addition, their recruitment potential in these areas was found to be satisfactory, with over 2500 seedlings per hectare. However, a rapid decline in numbers of mature Brachylaena huillensis trees through overexploitation for carving is the most serious conservation threat. Although the recommended sustainable annual extractable volume of the species from the

Chasing the Wooden Rhino 39

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 3.3 Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve forest was estimated at 47 cubic metres during the late 1980s and early 1990s, licensed extraction of over 400 cubic metres per annum and illegal harvests of over 2100 cubic metres per annum have been estimated. At these rates of extraction, this species may be locally extinct by 2015, according to 1994 estimates (KIFCON, 1994). During the late 1990s, better law enforcement in the Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve led to a reduction in illegal logging for the woodcarving industry. For example, during 1998–2000, only about 340 cubic metres per annum of Brachylaena huillensis wood was extracted from the forest (Choge, 2002). However, even this level of exploitation cannot be sustained due to the slow growth rate of this species and the low levels of recruitment from seed that result from the removal of reproductively mature trees. Brachylaena huillensis is insect pollinated and dioecious, and reproduces mainly from seed. While small (less than 5cm in diameter), trees will resprout after felling; larger trees that are felled do not resprout. It takes over a century for a tree to reach a diameter of 40cm at breast height. The flowering period tends to follow the rainy seasons, with rainfall quantity determining whether the tree will flower or abort the young flower buds (Albrecht, 1993). Seed viability is extremely low (2 to 10 per cent) and is completely lost after six months’ storage at room temperature (Kigomo, 1989; Albrecht, 1993). In natural conditions, seed germination is enhanced with little or no forest floor litter. Areas with

40 Carving Out a Future substantial litter require unusually high amounts of rainfall for successful germination, conditions which occur only sporadically in the forest. In terms of recruitment and growth rates, Azadirachta indica differs markedly from Brachylaena huillensis. Use of Azadirachta indica for woodcarving has grown rapidly during the past decade as other favourable species have become more difficult to obtain. Moist climatic conditions along the Kenyan coast are very suitable for the growth of this introduced species, which is now widespread in the region.3 Azadirachta indica is an openpollinated tree species whose abundance, fast growth and high regeneration potential within the study area offer excellent prospects for sustainable utilization by the woodcarving industry (see Box 15.1 in Chapter 15). A vigorous resprouter, it is also commonly dispersed by birds and bats and is regarded by local farmers as a weed species due to its profuse regeneration, particularly in fallow fields. In addition to carving, the wood is used medicinally and for house construction, furniture and fuel. During 1998–2002, an estimated 200 cubic metres of Azadirachta indica wood was traded for carving per year (Choge, 2002); but this has since increased.

FORESTRY POLICY AND COMMERCIAL WOODCARVING Despite its economic importance, the woodcarving industry in Kenya has received scant government attention in comparison with the commercial logging industry. Yet the woodcarving industry is built on a resource base whose control and management, directly or indirectly, falls largely within the mandate of the state. Easy access to carving wood from state forests (due to poor management and corruption) is one of the main causes of unsustainable utilization of Kenya’s prime carving species, and this has contributed to the failure of wood markets. In theory, forest and tree exploitation and conservation in Kenya are subject to various state laws and policies, including presidential decrees and directives (see Table 3.3). Although these policies are fairly comprehensive, they are spread over various acts, which are administered without coordination by a wide range of authorized public bodies and individuals, some of whom are not aware of their responsibilities (MENR, 1994). Lack of political will in support of the forest sector in Kenya further complicates the problem. Therefore, sanctioned forest excisions are rife and deterrents against economic activities that degrade forest resources are ineffective. Exploitation consistently maximizes short-term private benefits at the expense of long-term sustainable utilization and conservation. Legislation governing utilization of tree resources in Kenya is being addressed under the new forest policy and law, which seeks to establish a legal body responsible for environmental conservation, to co-ordinate environmental management between different sectors and to set binding standards and liabilities against environmental damage (Emerton et al, 1998). The likelihood of this legislation being implemented has increased due to

Chasing the Wooden Rhino

41

Table 3.3 Summary of major forestry policies and legislation and their potential impacts on the woodcarving industry in Kenya Year

Legislation

Potential impact on woodcarving industry

1957

First forest policy drafted Forest Act

Government involved in all wood commercial sectors.

1962

1962

1968

1970

1970

1976

1980

1981

1986

1990

1994

Addresses reservation, protection, management, enforcement and utilization. Includes provision for organized licensing, setting of royalty rates and sale of hardwoods from natural forests (enforced by minister for environment and natural resources). Trust Land Act Controls unauthorized occupation, utilization of trees/ specified hardwoods on trust land (not covered by Forest Act) (enforced by minister for local government). National Forest Sets out ten principles under which forest will be managed Policy (first on a sustained yield basis. Annual extraction quantities for sessional paper) hardwoods could easily have been determined; but extraction is based on the impressions of local officers. Revision of the Authorization of the district commissioner or other persons Trust Land Act designated by the local or urban councils to grant licences for extraction of natural resources on trust lands. Has been greatly abused, leading to uncontrolled poaching of prime species on trust lands. Chief’s Authority Controls use of tree resources on private land and prohibits Act destruction of vegetation, wasteful use of trees and other products. Low penalties for its violation resulted in widespread depletion of some hardwoods. Wildlife Act Conservation of forests within national parks, game reserves and sanctuaries and other forest areas covered under the memorandum of understanding between the Kenya Forest Department and the Kenya Wildlife Service (including the Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve). Agriculture Act Prevents destruction of natural vegetation on private land through bush and tree clearing and loss of habitat of important species. It is rarely put into practice (enforced by provincial and district agricultural committees and boards). National Food Underlines the role of forests and trees for goods and Policy (session services. Forest excisions sanctioned for settlement paper no 4) contradict this act. Presidential ban Felling of indigenous trees completely banned in Kenya. on logging of Complete ban with little or no alternatives triggered a ripple indigenous timber effect of depletion of resources due to artificial resource shortages. No legislation exists to back implementation. Wildlife Policy The policy specifies non-consumptive use of forest resources through benefit-sharing of revenue for recreation between the government and local communities. Implementation of the policy during the late 1990s led to decreased extraction of Brachylaena from the Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve. Revised Forest Envisages greater involvement of local communities and Policy other stakeholders in management decisions of forest and natural resources, benefit-sharing, private investments in tree growing, non-consumptive use of forests, etc.

42 Carving Out a Future political changes since the recent Kenyan elections in 2003. More importantly, the introduction of stakeholder involvement in decision-making, planning and management of the existing forest resources is likely to impact positively upon the sustainability of the woodcarving industry as a whole. Therefore, carvers are likely to reap dividends through better organization, improved economies of scale in resource acquisition, improved product quality, better pricing policies, improved marketing, and greater reliability of supplies to exporters and other customers. The establishment of the Kenya Crafts Co-operative Union (KCCU) was intended to solve many of these problems; but mismanagement has reduced the effectiveness of this organization. Carvers have much to gain by becoming better organized, and everything to lose by encouraging destructive competition. Owing to the current problems facing the co-operatives and the union, the carving community and their leaders need to formulate lasting solutions to achieve unity of purpose. This is also crucial in response to the changing trends in global economic systems, environmental pressures and consumer behaviour and demands.

NOTES 1

2 3

Export data for Kenyan carvings show that the main destinations are the US (47 per cent), Japan (10 per cent), Spain (7 per cent), South Africa (7 per cent), Germany (6 per cent) and the UK (6 per cent) each year (Obunga, 1995) Medium-sized articles measure about 15cm to 20cm in height and are most popular, constituting over 70 to 80 per cent of the products made. The definite date of introduction of Azadirachta indica to Kenya is not known. However, it is widely believed that it was introduced in the country by migrant Indian workers who first settled in the Kenyan Coast Province during the building of the Kenya–Uganda Railway during the late 19th century.

4

Drums and Hornbills Patrick Omeja, Anthony Cunningham and Joseph Obua

INTRODUCTION Drums are of great social and cultural value in Uganda, as expressed in the Buganda proverb: ‘Teziraya ngoma’ (meaning ‘drums are not beaten without a reason’). Traditionally, drums were beaten to alert people to meetings, weddings, funerals, ritual cleansing ceremonies and dancing competitions, and were given as gifts during give-away ceremonies (Wachmann, 1938). Despite the availability of taped electronic music, drums continue to be used in Uganda today, most commonly in schools and churches. Mpigi district in central Uganda, which has a population density of 203 persons per square kilometre, is the best-known area for drum-making. This chapter describes drum-making in Uganda, and the impacts of trade on tree populations and ecosystem functioning. The chapter centres on three forest reserves in Mpigi district: Mpanga, Degeya and Lufuka (see Figure 4.1). The forests are ecologically similar and located close to one another in the Nabukongole Valley (Howard et al, 1996). Their vegetation is classified as medium-altitude moist evergreen Piptadeniastrum-Uapaca forest and medium forest/savanna mosaic. During 1999 the area had 280 people involved full time in carving drums and other musical instruments, including bow harps and xylophones.

HISTORY OF DRUM-MAKING Oral accounts suggest that drum-making in central Uganda evolved out of the carving traditions of Buganda people from Masaka district. These people migrated to central Uganda in search of land and settled in a place called Mpambire, 40km west of Kampala city. They started making drums for the traditional king (kabaka), resident district commissioner and the local councillors. Trade in drums began internally within villages in Mpigi, where

44 Carving Out a Future Namaba

Nabugulu Forest

Mbale

Yunu

Bueya

Kisitula Forest Reserve

Mayembe

Mpondwe

Mpigi TC

Masujju

Kyetinda Forest Reserve

Kizzi Kinya Forest Reserve

Mpami

Mpanga Forest Reserve

Kajaga

Nembe

Kalagala MPAMBIRE

Serinyabbi

Lufuka Forest Reserve

Kaligwa Ziwungwe

Kyagalanyi

Konyike Walugoga Forest Reserve

Naludugavu Forest Reserve

Bubezi Bwanda

BUBULE Janya

Kwabe

Magoja

Nseke Kyanja

Degeya and Krokota Forest Reserve Matale

Kalungulu Forest Reserve

Nsamu

SUDAN Forest Masala–Kampala main road D.R.C.

UGANDA

Hurran road KENYA

Study area

Dry weather road Drum making points

Lake Victoria

Papyrus swamp

RWANDA BURUNDI

TANZANIA

Source: Patrick Omeja

Figure 4.1 Location of Mpigi district, Uganda heads of families bought drums as symbols of leadership, and also used drums for informing people about important events and local meetings. In early 1970, some stalls were established along the Kampala–Masaka highway in Mpambire to meet demand from Asians living in Kampala. By mid 1970 the roadside business had attracted the Akamba businessmen from Kenya, marking the onset of the drum trade on a regional scale. The Akamba travelled on foot to central Uganda, gathered as many musical instruments as possible, and returned to Kenya. During the late 1970s, the Uganda government became involved in the business and opened up the Uganda Craft Shop in response to tourism. But with the economic collapse of Uganda, trade with tourists came to an end. Nonetheless, the Akamba remained active. Political stability and economic recovery since 1986 has led to growth in the tourism industry, and the drum trade has expanded again.

Drums and Hornbills

45

SPECIES SELECTION AND VOLUMES USED Unlike hardwoods, which are preferred for carving headrests, snuff containers or sticks, indigenous softwoods are preferred for making many musical instruments. Drum-making is a specialized craft requiring specific tree species, selected, in part, due to links among wood quality, the size of the drum and the required acoustic characteristics. Important requirements are that the wood is: • • • • •

easily workable so that it can be hollowed out and carved into a drum; relatively lightweight, as drums need to be portable; easy to dry in the sun and with limited shrinkage so that warping or cracking do not occur; characterized by straight boles, free of branches; resistant to insect and pest attack, especially woodborers.

During the past, the special types of drums (mjaguzo) for the Buganda king were made exclusively from omuvule trees (Chlorophora excelsa) (Lush, 1935). Possibly due to forestry regulations that restrict the use of this valuable timber species, drums are no longer made from it. The species most suitable for drums, and most heavily harvested, are listed in Table 4.1. Over half of the species carved are from the fig family (Moraceae). The most commonly used tree species were Antiaris toxicaria, Ficus mucuso and F. exasperata. Erythrina excelsa (Leguminosae), Funtumia africana, (Apocynaceae) and Polyscias fulva (Araliaceae) are also commonly carved. Demand for the drum ‘frames’ (the local term used for the carved wood frame around which skin vellum is stretched on top of the drum as a resonator) in Mpambire village adjacent to Mpanga Forest Reserve has been growing steadily since 1986, when the unstable Amin/Obote period ended. Between 1990 and 1999, the number of full-time drum-makers increased from 20 to 288 people (Samula, 2002). From the random sample of the 28 drum-making stalls in Mpambire village, well-established stalls produced an average of 80 drum frames per week (see Figure 4.2). Intermediate-sized stalls produced 50 drum frames per week, while the smallest stalls averaged 20 per week. Assuming an average weekly demand of 50 drum frames per drum-making stall, and based on the standard length of cut logs encountered in the forest (0.5m), the average annual demand for the drum frames by the 28 active drummaking stalls would be 56,000 drum frames over the 40-week cutting season. No tree felling takes place during the rainy seasons when wet weather affects the wood seasoning process. Based on an average length of rainforest tree bole cut for drum-making (20m), and with 40 logs per tree bole cut into standard 0.5 log lengths, the average number of trees required to supply drum carvers per year would then be 1400 trees per year. The annual demand for drum frames by the 28 drum-making stalls was estimated to be 107 cubic metres for small-sized drums, 571 cubic metres for medium-sized drums and 436 cubic

46 Carving Out a Future Table 4.1 Tree species used in the drum-making industry, Uganda Family

Scientific name

Apocynaceae Apocynaceae Araliaceae Boraginaceae Boraginaceae Burseraceae Cercropiaceae Leguminosae Moraceae Moraceae Moraceae Moraceae Moraceae Moraceae Moraceae Moraceae Moraceae Moraceae Rhamnaceae

Alstonia boonei Funtumia africana Polyscias fulva Cordia africana Cordia millenii Canarium schweinfurthii Musanga cercropoides Erythrina excelsa Antiaris toxicaria Trilepisium madagsacariensis Ficus exasperata Ficus natalensis Ficus mucuso Ficus sur Ficus sycomorus Milicia excelsa Morus mesozygia Trilepisium madagsacariensis Maesopsis eminii

Local/Luganda name Nkago Setala Mukebu Mukebu Muwawu Bajangabo Kirundu Luwawu Mutuba Kabalira Kabalira Mukunyu Muvule

Musizi

metres for large-sized drums. The total annual volume of roundwood estimated to be used by the drum-makers in 1999 was 1114 cubic metres.

TREE ABUNDANCE AND SIZE-CLASS DISTRIBUTION Table 4.2 shows that Antiaris toxicaria was the most abundant species and Polyscias fulva the least abundant in the three forests. On average, there were 64 stems per hectare of the five sampled drum-making species (for stems of diameter at breast height, or dbh, greater than 5cm), with much higher densities in Mpanga Forest Reserve and much lower densities in Degeya and in Lufuka. Lufuka Forest, located just 1km south-east of Mpanga Forest, faces much more intense harvest and disturbance by the local community. Extraction of logs for drum-making, charcoal burning and pit sawing, and proximity to the main road has made the forest highly degraded. Degeya Forest is located 4 km south of Mpanga Forest Reserve and far from the drum-making community. The long distance and the strict forest policing by the forest guards to maintain Mpanga as a research forest closed to logging have kept the forest relatively intact. Mpanga Forest Reserve has been minimally disturbed because it was designated a research forest by the forest department in 1951.

Drums and Hornbills 47

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 4.2 Carving a drum ‘frame’ using a locally forged long-handled chisel Table 4.2 Abundance (in stem per hectare) of favoured tree species with diameters at breast height (dbh) greater or equal to 5cm in the three forests studied Mpanga Antiaris toxicaria Erythrina excelsa Ficus exasperata and F. mucuso Funtumia africana Polyscias fulva Overall

Degeya

Lufuka

58 (46.7%) 8 (6.5%)

13 (27.6%) 8 (17.1%)

5 (23.8%) 5 (23.8%)

33 (26.6%) 20 (16.2%) 5 (4%) 124

9 (19.1%) 12 (25.5%) 5 (10.7%) 47

2 (9.5%) 5 (23.8%) 4 (19.0%) 21

48 Carving Out a Future The size-class distributions of Antiaris toxicaria, Erythrina excelsa and Funtumia africana were distinctly different from those of Polyscias fulva, Ficus mucuso and F. exasperata in all three forests (see Figure 4.3). There were no mature A. toxicaria trees (dbh greater than 25cm) in Lufuka due to intensive harvesting (Figure 4.3a). The poor natural regeneration (about ten individuals per hectare with a dbh of less than or equal to 5cm) probably indicates that the seed sources were depleted through harvesting of mature trees. Enrichment planting could raise the population of Antiaris toxicaria in Lufuka forest. A similar management intervention could be undertaken in Degeya forest where the population density of A. toxicaria is about ten individuals or fewer per hectare. There were relatively more Erythrina excelsa in the 0cm–4.9cm and greater than 25cm dbh classes (Figure 4.3b), indicating a healthier population. Since E. excelsa grows in the swampy parts of the forest with fewer weeds and has good sprouting ability from the cut stump, its population is likely to increase in all three forests in spite of the current low stem density in the 5cm–9.9cm dbh class range (less than ten stems per hectare). Many of the Ficus exasperata and F. mucuso harvested trees were regenerating from stumps in the three forests. There were more than ten stems per hectare of F. exasperata and F. mucuso (Figure 4.3c), which is a sign of recovery from past exploitation. Regeneration rates of F. exasperata and F. mucuso were poorer in Degeya and Lufuka forests than in Mpanga. Ninetyfive per cent of the species recorded in Lufuka and Degeya forests with a dbh of greater than 10cm were sprouts from stumps. One reason for the poor establishment and regeneration of trees in in Degeya and Lufuka forests may be due to the low population of the dispersal agents (birds and primates) that has occurred after logging activities. Over-exploitation has reduced the density of Funtumia africana in all classes from 5cm–9.9cm to greater than 25cm dbh, as exemplified by fewer than ten individuals per hectare in the three forests (Figure 4.3d). However, the population could recover because F. africana has a high sprouting ability and produces viable seeds that germinate easily, even when dispersed to sites away from the mother plants (Mabberley, 1997). Antiaris toxicaria, Ficus exasperata, F. mucuso and Funtumia africana regenerated better than Polyscias fulva. This could be attributed to a number of factors. First, Antiaris toxicaria, Erythrina excelsa, Ficus exasperata, F. mucuso and Funtumia africana regenerate vegetatively through sprouting from stumps. Their seeds can germinate and the seedlings and coppices establish under open and closed canopies. This means that their populations would always be higher than the population of Polyscias fulva, which can only regenerate from seed stock. Second, Antiaris toxicaria, Ficus exasperata and F. mucuso fruits are eaten by a diversity of birds and animals, whose feeding habits help in seed dispersal. Third, the seeds of Funtumia africana are wind dispersed and can be carried over long distances to other areas that do not have reproductively mature individuals. It is therefore possible that the few mature fruiting trees scattered in the three forests often release seeds that facilitate adequate regeneration of

Drums and Hornbills

n = 270

100 80 60 40

(d) Funtumia africana 100 Number of individuals/ha

20

n = 205

80 60 40 20

25 .0 +

0– 9. 9 .0 –1 4. 9 15 .0 –1 9. 9 20 .0 –2 4. 9

+

.9

.0 25

.9

–2 4

dbh classes (cm)

20

10

15

.0

.0

–1 9

.9

9

–1 4 .0

0– 9. 5.

0– 4. 9

10

0– 4. 9

0

0

5.

Number of individuals/ha

(a) Antiaris toxicaria 120

49

dbh classes (cm)

n = 62

15 10 5

n = 78

35

20

0

30 25 15 10

+ .0

9 –2 .0

20

25

4.

9.

9 –1

.0 15

.0

0– 5.

–1

4.

9 9.

9 4. 0–

9

0

10

+ .0 25

4.

20

15

.0

–2

–1 .0

–1 .0

10

9

9 9.

9 4.

9 9. 0– 5.

0–

4.

9

5

dbh classes (cm) (c) F. mucuso & F. exasperata 25

dbh classes (cm)

n = 95

20 15

Lufuka

.0 25

14

0– 1 15 .

10 .0 –

–9 5. 0

4. 0–

+

0

9. 9 20 .0 –2 4. 9

Degeya

.9

Mpanga

5

.9

10

9

Number of individuals/ha

(e) Polyscias fulva 40 Number of individuals/ha

Number of individuals/ha

(b) Erythina excelsa 25

dbh classes (cm)

Source: Patrick Omeja, Anthony Cunningham and Joseph Obua

Figure 4.3 Diameter size classes of the target species in the three forests: (a) Antiaris toxicaria; (b) Erythrina excelsa; (c) Ficus exasperata and F. mucuso; (d) Funtumia africana; (e) Polyscias fulva F. africana. Although Antiaris toxicaria and Polyscias fulva regenerate from seeds, it is possible that the seed properties could have had a part to play in the different regeneration levels. Antiaris toxicaria has relatively large seeds (mean size of 1cm x 1.5cm) compared to Polyscias fulva (mean size of 0.1cm x 0.5cm) (Katende et al, 1995). Polyscias fulva had restricted spatial and temporal regeneration trends in the forests. The diameter size class of P. fulva (Figure 4.3e), as reflected by the ratio of saplings to parent trees, indicates that it exhibits poorer regeneration in the three forests than the other tree species do. One reason may relate to

50 Carving Out a Future drum-makers: P. fulva provides the most preferred wood, being very soft and easy to hollow and dry in the sun. Other tree species are generally used as substitutes for P. fulva. Another reason relates to the ecological niche of this species. As a pioneer and a light-demanding species, P. fulva has not been prominent in Mpanga Forest because of the lack of disturbance and, hence, the lack of gaps for light-demanding species.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND The fastest growing drum-making tree species, Polyscias fulva, takes an average of ten years for the bole to reach a usable size of 15cm top diameter at breast height. Other tree species used by the drum-makers such as Antiaris toxicaria, Erythrina excelsa, Ficus exasperata, F. mucuso and Funtumia africana, are much slower growing, taking more than 15 years to attain a harvestable dbh of 20cm. The annual allowable cut (AAC) was computed for Degeya and Lufuka forests where commercial wood harvesting is permitted. Since annual increment data for the six species were not available, the potential of the forests to meet the demand for logs for drum-making was determined using the Von Mantel method (FAO, 1998), where AAC = 2V/R, with R = average rotation age (cutting cycle in years for the major tree species comprising the growing stock) and V = average volume (cubic metres) of commercial species above a specified stem diameter. The estimated supply of logs from the three forests is presented in Table 4.3. Deformed trees are not harvested. In Degeya Forest, 30 per cent of the mature trees had defects such as stem rot, forked stems, deep flutes and crooked boles. Up to 60 per cent of the trees sampled in Lufuka Forest had such defects. Taking the defects into account, the productive volume of the desired species that can be harvested for making good-quality drums is 5390 cubic metres (78 cubic metres per hectare) and 897 cubic metres (45 cubic metres per hectare) for Degeya and Lufuka forests, respectively. Mpanga Forest Reserve, which has not been intensively harvested by drum-makers, had 75,929 cubic metres of mature roundwood favoured for drum-carving (380 cubic metres per hectare). Table 4.3 Number of stems per hectare in each forest available for drum-making species Forest

Mpanga Degeya Lufuka

Area (ha)

Forest area (ha) with favoured species

Volume (m3/ha)

Total volume (m3 per forest)

450 250 270

200 100 50

380 78 45

75,929 7761 2242

Drums and Hornbills

51

Considering an average rotation age of 25 years for the six tree species studied, the AAC for Degeya Forest was 431 cubic metres and for Lufuka Forest was 72 cubic metres. The wood used in drum-making is already in critical supply to the extent that the annual demand exceeds AAC by 610 cubic metres. The annual demand for wood for making drum frames cannot be met by the supplies from Lufuka and Degeya forests alone. The combined standing stock from Degeya and Lufuka forests was 23 cubic metres, 962 cubic metres and 5709 cubic metres of roundwood for small, medium and large drum frames, respectively. As such, the demand for wood for making small drums (107 cubic metres) is about five times the supply. The standing stock for making medium drums and large drums is 1.6 and 13 times higher than the demand, respectively. With the poor recruitment pattern, and an excessively high demand by carvers for trees in the small dbh class (10cm–20cm), the population of the target trees in these two forests will continue to decline.

ECOSYSTEM AND SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS OF RESOURCE DEPLETION While making drums for local use is unlikely to have had negative ecological or social impacts, the same cannot be said for large-scale commercial trade in musical instruments. An estimated 1400 trees are felled annually to make drums, with felling focused on relatively small areas of remaining lowland forest in densely populated landscapes. Increased drum-making in Mpigi district has raised concern about the population structure and supplies of the tree species used for making drum frames, about the potential socio-economic impacts if wood supplies are no longer available, and about the ecology of the natural forests where they are exploited. The wood is obtained from forest reserves that have for a long time been managed by the government. The majority of felled trees are figs (family Moraceae), which are prolific fruit producers. The sweet-smelling fruits of Antiaris toxicaria, Ficus exasperata and F. mucuso are eaten by a range of frugivorous birds, including the blackbilled turaco (Tauraco schuetti emini) and the black-and-white casqued hornbill (Bycanistes subcylindricus), as well as by red-tailed monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius) and black-and-white colobus monkeys (Colobus guereza). Ecologists term these trees ‘keystone species’ as they provide a stable food source for birds, bats and primates, the major agents for dispersal and pollination. Their softwood also makes them favoured trees for hole-nesting birds such as the hornbills, which feed on their fruit. In addition to the environmental impacts of unsustainable use, there are social consequences. If the supply of these drum-making tree species continues to decline, there will be significant economic hardships for the people employed full time in the drum-making industry. Drum-frame suppliers will be forced to travel long distances in search of suitable tree species and to charge higher prices. In the absence of drum-making trees in Lufuka and Degeya, the pressure on Mpanga Forest Reserve will increase. Given the centrality of drums

52 Carving Out a Future in the local culture, loss of resources for drum-making will also lead to cultural losses.

MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS As has been indicated, the current standing stock of wood may be insufficient to meet future demand. In developing forest management strategies for Lufuka, Degeya and Mpanga forests, it is important to focus on the protection of the above tree species from depletion. Limiting the number of trees cut per season or encouraging the drum-makers to explore alternative tree species with similar acoustic properties could achieve this. The past policy of no commercial logging in Mpanga Forest Reserve has been effective in conserving the forest structure. More strict controls on logging are needed for Degeya and Lufuka forests. It might be appropriate to consider Lufuka and Degeya forests for designation as either research forests or strict nature reserves in order to allow them to regenerate. However, this would require proper planning, taking into account the financial, human resources and policy requirements. There is a need to raise awareness in the local communities living around the three forests about the declining status of the natural resource stocks used for carving drums. The ongoing collaborative forest management (CFM) programme around Mpanga Forest Reserve could be extended to Degeya and Lufuka forests. The wood resources from Mpanga Forest Reserve are generally not available to the drum-makers at the moment in spite of CFM – this may need to be rethought. New systems of access would require the formation and implementation of clearly defined and supportive by-laws. Since the area of natural forest that can supply wood is limited, there is a need to find additional supply from other sources. Currently, there are no onfarm plantings of most drum-making species in the parishes. The CFM programme should also focus on agroforestry production, using species such as Polyscias fulva. Although the trees would not be available for drum-making in the near future, tree planting in agroforestry systems outside of the forest would help to reduce further degradation of the forest and depletion of the species. Trade in drums should be regulated by putting guidelines in place that specify the wood that fits within the annual allowable cut, so that forest resources are not depleted. Other areas outside Mpigi district that can supply wood for carving drum frames should be considered. Although this is a good approach to overcoming the problem of scarce raw material supply, it has the danger of increasing transport costs and reducing the profit margin. As a result, drum-makers may not see any incentive in bringing logs from places outside Mpigi district. For the foreseeable future, on-farm tree planting of the favoured tree species seems to be the likely option in order to meet the demand for wood for making drums.

5

Sculpture and Identity: The Makonde African Blackwood Carving Movement Zachary Kingdon

INTRODUCTION The Makonde of Mueda plateau in Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique, possessed one of the richest woodcarving traditions in Eastern Africa, and even appear to have made finely decorated wooden medicine boxes that were traded along the local trade networks of the lower Rovuma River. However, the woodcarvers who made them never carved full time. Patronage by external ethnic groups has often been a significant factor in the history of African sculpture; but the economic and social changes that attended the colonial era allowed Makonde and other woodcarvers to begin carving for foreigners on an unprecedented scale. European patronage helped a vast woodcarving industry to develop, the like of which had not been seen in the region before. New genre figures and forms were invented and carvers took on roles and ways of working that that were often not permissible in the pre-colonial context. Towards the end of the colonial era and in post-colonial times (which began around the early 1960s for the formerly British-held countries) the new social and economic landscape allowed Eastern Africans involved in woodcarving, especially migrant Makonde carvers in Tanzania, to develop as independent sculptors with strong ‘artistic’ identities. These developments corresponded with some remarkable innovations, including the shetani, or ‘spirit’, figures invented by Samaki Likankoa during the 1950s. Today, Makonde carvers are widely known in Eastern Africa for their virtuoso carving skills and their individual creativity and inventiveness in sculpting African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon). Since the early 1960s, there have been numerous exhibitions of Makonde sculpture in East Africa, Europe, America, Japan and elsewhere. However, these exhibitions were

54 Carving Out a Future mostly organized by non-mainstream institutions and commercial galleries, and Makonde blackwood sculpture is still frequently dismissed en masse as ‘tourist’ or ‘airport’ art by mainstream institutions. In fact, Makonde blackwood carvers make a diverse range of products, including candlestick holders and bowls made on bow-driven lathes; souvenir genre figures of animals and people; complex ujamaa works composed of a multitude of interlinked human figures; shetani, or ‘spirit’, figures, often displaying considerable individual creativity, and abstract mawingu forms that are said to have originally been inspired by cloud formations. Frequently included within the shetani category are sophisticated works by gifted sculptors such as Chanuo Maundu and Dastan Nyedi, inspired by indigenous cultural and philosophical concepts. One of the intriguing things about the Makonde blackwood carving movement is the way in which the carver’s role and identity was transformed after the invention of commercial blackwood sculpture, and the way African blackwood (mpingo) persisted as the dominant carving medium – often in the face of difficulties in obtaining adequate local supplies of this wood. This chapter presents a brief account of the development of the carving movement and draws some conclusions about the importance of mpingo to Makonde blackwood sculptors.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAKONDE AFRICAN BLACKWOOD CARVING MOVEMENT In pre-colonial times, Makonde carvers made masks and figures out of lightweight woods such as Ficus sycamorus in order to fulfil the requirements of particular social institutions and events. Most adult Makonde men acquired basic wood-shaping skills, and those who enjoyed woodcarving and coveted a good reputation could become well known and sought after for their expertise. However, no practitioner of any craft, no matter how demanding (whether pottery, in the case of women, or blacksmithing or carving, in the case of men), could be described as a specialist craftsperson. All Makonde, with the exception of the humu (clan leader) were primarily farmers or, in the case of some men, hunters. Those with special skills would usually practice their crafts during slack periods in the agricultural calendar, as craft activities were not highly valued in themselves. If a carver spent too much time carving rather than working in his fields, he would be criticized, and thought lazy and childish. The work of a skilled carver was admired, and so was his individual creativity; but pursuit of aesthetic excellence and originality were individual and personal matters, which were peripheral to the dominant social concerns. Consequently, specialist activities such as woodcarving were not held to be morally commendable as full-time activities in themselves. After the conquest of the Makonde by the Portuguese in 1917, European administrators began to arrive on the Makonde plateau. Some of them took an interest in, and bought, items of Makonde material culture, such as

Sculpture and Identity 55

Source: Zachary Kingdon

Figure 5.1 Head of a woman with hair ornament (early type; height 6cm); sculptor unknown, Ndanda, Tanzania, early 1950s figurative bottle stoppers carved in the form of human heads, and also mapiko masks, used by maskers of the male masquerading association. This trade in carved objects provided carvers with much-needed cash with which to pay taxes, and to advance this strategy a new type of non-functional carving was invented that was intended only for sale to Europeans. The first non-functional objects, made specifically for sale, were created by a man called Nyekenya Nangundu in Miula village at some point during the mid to late 1920s. Nyekenya was probably born around the turn of the century and lived most of his life in Miula village, Mueda district, Cabo Delgado. He was a member of the Mchumbuji clan and both his father and maternal grandfather were carvers of mapiko masks, among other things. Nyekenya did not make masks, but he did carve figurative gourd stoppers out of light white woods and lip plugs out of African blackwood. The first item he made exclusively for sale to Europeans was a head, like the heads he carved on gourd stoppers and in the same wood, but cut off at the base of the neck, which was formed into a stand (see Figure 5.1). The Portuguese who bought Nyekenya’s heads soon asked him to make animals and full human figures, so Nyekenya then created the seated smoker, the woman carrying a water pot on her head, lions, elephants and various other genre figures.

56 Carving Out a Future Portuguese buyers apparently asked Nyekenya to use a hard wood for the items he made for them. Most of the Makonde sculptors I spoke to on this issue suggested that it was Nyekenya himself who chose African blackwood for this purpose. Not only does it have a good colour, extreme hardness and the ability to take a fine finish, it is also highly carvable in that its dense, fine grain allows it to be cut cleanly and predictably. Makonde carvers such as Nyekenya were certainly familiar with the qualities of African blackwood because, in addition to its use in the manufacture of lip plugs, it evidently had other uses in pre-colonial Makonde society. Nyekenya taught most of his male relatives and many other men in Miula village how to carve African blackwood in his new style. According to Kashimiri Matayo, a relative and former apprentice of Nyekenya, he taught them free of payment because he enjoyed the work and he wanted the youth of Miula to remain in the village and to continue with what he had started. Nyekenya was not a full-time carver, even in his new style, and he always made sure that all necessary agricultural work was done before he took up his carving tools. He encouraged his apprentices to do the same, so in this sense he was ‘conservative’ because he did not try to alter the status of carving as a marginal activity in Makonde society. Even once he had become a well-known blackwood carver whose work was sought after by Europeans, Nyekenya continued with his old work of making gourd stoppers and lip plugs for Makonde women. Whether it was a conscious move or not, the consequence of turning the marginal activity of carving into a source of cash income, along with the separation of ‘export’ from indigenous items, can be seen to be aimed at minimizing the intrusive and disruptive effects of forced participation in the colonial economy on Makonde social life. From this point of view, Nyekenya’s new style of carving for ‘export’ can be regarded as having been a means to resist some of the worst effects of colonialism. From its beginnings in Miula, the new African blackwood carving movement spread to a few other Makonde villages. From early on, carvers contributed to the stream of Mozambican migrants who went to look for work in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). As a result, Makonde migrants from villages far from Miula learned to carve in Tanganyika with carvers who had originally learned in Miula. However, even today, most Makonde carvers working both in Tanzania and Mozambique belong to one or other of the four dominant clans who made their original home in the Miula area – namely, the Chumbuji, the Vianda, the Mwilu and the Mwanga. As the Makonde blackwood carving movement developed, innovative forms were added by carvers who came into contact with successive external influences; but many of the early models continued alongside the new ones. Colonial officers and missionaries were the first patrons of Makonde blackwood carvers and their influences were important in the early development of the movement in Mozambique. The blackwood bust, an early variation of Nyekenya’s Makonde head, follows the classic form of Western portrait sculpture and was initiated by Portuguese colonial officials. During the 1940s and 1950s, colonial officers built up large collections of blackwood

Sculpture and Identity

57

carvings and often supplemented their incomes by selling Makonde sculpture. The interest of colonial administrators in Makonde carvers is clearly demonstrated by the fact that, during the 1940s, the better carvers began to enjoy a privileged status. Men who obtained a carver’s licence were exempted from various forms of forced labour. However, it became common practice during the 1950s for Portuguese colonial officers to exploit skilled carvers by employing them full time as craftsmen servants. Catholic missions also employed Makonde blackwood carvers and introduced many of them to religious themes, such as crucifixes and Madonnas. Carvers who worked for missions often became skilled copyists because they were required to reproduce European figurines or pictorial images in blackwood and ivory. After World War II, there was an influx of foreign investment and expansion of the Tanganyikan sisal industry, which provided new economic opportunities for Makonde migrants. Portugal was now in the hands of the dictator Salazar, under whose rule the colonies were being forced to exploit their human and natural resources more effectively. Conditions in Mozambique therefore became extremely harsh and many Makonde carvers left their homes in Cabo Delgado Province to live and work in Tanganyika. Increasing prosperity in Europe and, especially, America towards the end of the 1940s led not only to greater tourism in East Africa – and therefore greater demand for indigenous crafts – but also to the growth of an export market for these crafts. Makonde blackwood carvings became an exportable commodity and Tanganyikan businessmen soon stepped into the role of dealer. One of the earliest of these dealers was a New Zealander called Norman Kirk who built up an export business in Makonde carvings during the 1950s, which he ran in conjunction with lime orchards at Mahurunga, near the Rovuma River, in southern Tanzania. The carvers who worked for Kirk during the early 1960s thought that his prices were relatively good and he apparently inspired a level of competition among them by applying a variable price scale according to the quality of the work brought to him. The carvers produced standard themes such as the seated smoker and the woman carrying a water pot to a more or less uniform size. Kirk’s method of running his operation ensured that the carvers who worked for him became experts at their own prescribed lines of work so that he was readily able to fulfil clients’ orders and keep up a high level of exports. In this way Kirk provided a large, if somewhat restricting, market for the Makonde carvers of the south-eastern area of Tanzania.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PATRONAGE: THE CASE OF MOHAMED PEERA Many migrant carvers settled in the Dar es Salaam area in Tanganyika where the Peera brothers were among the first traders to take an interest in Makonde carvings. They began selling Makonde carvings to an American buyer during the mid 1950s. Mohamed, the youngest of the three Peera brothers, became passionately involved in this aspect of the business and for the first six years

58 Carving Out a Future bought almost everything that Makonde carvers living around Dar es Salaam produced. Although Mohamed Peera’s patronage had a major influence, at an early stage, on the development of the Makonde blackwood carving movement as a whole, it did not determine the forms or individual styles of the work produced. The carvers were apparently free to carve whatever they liked. Mohamed bought almost everything, although he paid more for more expressive and original work. The carvers were therefore encouraged to develop new themes, among which some of the earliest included ‘dancers, fighters, hunting scenes, woodcutters [and] women doing household chores’ (Peera, 1970, p68). Mohamed Peera was a businessman and an entrepreneur; but his role as a patron of Makonde carvers and the particular style of his patronage developed through a kind of ‘dialogue’ with the more creative carvers. This fitted with his perception that carvers should develop as individual sculptors (or ‘artists’) with styles and ideas of their own. This ‘dialogue’ was based on trust and a degree of mutual respect between patron and carvers. Peera’s patronage helped to foster a number of remarkable innovations and original stylistic developments among these carvers. The most radical and momentous of these was the shetani or ‘spirit’ genre of carving introduced by Samaki Likankoa in 1959 at a point of deadlock and crisis in the relationship between patron and carver. In an interview with Mohamed Peera conducted in Paris in October 1992, he gave this author the following account of the way in which Samaki introduced him to the shetani genre: Almost every week was about the cycle in which a carver would reproduce two or three pieces or one piece and bring to me... Samaki was one of the persons so I gave him the wood and he did his pieces, realistic pieces, and he kept on bringing them. He would come weekly and he would bring some pieces for me. And at a certain stage I discovered that I could not sell his pieces... So at one stage I said: ‘Samaki, I cannot sell your pieces. I’m sorry I cannot sell your pieces; you’ll have to improve your style.’… So he continued to make a few pieces and finally I told him: ‘Samaki, look! If you are trying to make a career in carving, I don’t see.’ (I don’t know why I said this but I still remember I did tell him.) I said: ‘I think you should leave carving and go back to what you were doing before.’ So this was when, after about a week or two when he came in again, he brought similar figures and one of the pieces was different. And that was a piece on a round stand with two spindly legs. The body was a round ball and the head was also a round ball with two round eyes and one mouth, that’s how I remember it. For me it was an unusual piece and I put it on the shelves where I was exposing all the Makondes and that same afternoon I sold it (because this was a piece he brought in the morning). So when he came the next time he again brought his usual pieces and I told him: ‘Samaki, why don’t you do some more pieces like that other one. That style you brought the other

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59

day, that piece was good. Why don’t you make me some more of those kind?’ And he refused. He said: ‘I didn’t bring anything.’ I said: ‘Samaki, I remember I bought this piece from you. I paid you 7 shillings for that.’ ‘No, no, no; that’s not me, that’s somebody else.’ I said: ‘Samaki, you know, you know.’ He said: ‘No, no, no.’ Then finally he agreed. He said: ‘Oh, you mean the shetani?’ I said: ‘You call it a shetani?’ He said: ‘Yes, I call it shetani.’ Peera found Samaki’s first shetani carving interesting and unusual, and because it was quickly sold he asked Samaki to carve further examples of mashetani. Samaki set to work with newfound enthusiasm. After a while another Makonde carver, Jawawila, noticed Samaki’s new work on the shelves of Peera’s shop and decided to make his own version. Peera remembers Jawawila’s shetani carving to have been an asymmetric figure carrying a ‘calabash’ with ‘one eye, one large ear, half a face, with the other half all scales of a snake, one arm and one leg’ (Peera, 1970, p69). He adds that the carving ‘led to an exciting development as other artists started to make their own versions’. From these beginnings the shetani theme was taken up by a great many other blackwood carvers (sometimes with Peera’s encouragement and sometimes without) who developed it in various directions and invested it with new meanings to the point where, in some cases, it no longer had much to do with spirits. It would appear that in provoking his patron by presenting him with an original and distinctive carving style of his own invention at a critical stage in their relationship, Samaki raised Peera’s appreciation of the individual characters and creative talents of the carvers whose works he bought. Samaki’s success in introducing shetani figures should not, therefore, be measured simply by the saleability of his innovation and by the economic value of the whole genre of spirit images it gave rise to, but also by the part that it played in allowing a more engaged and accommodating phase in the patron–carver relationship to develop. In about 1961, the Peera brothers opened a warehouse with a spacious yard in the Chang’ombe area of Dar es Salaam. Blackwood logs were delivered to the warehouse yard and Makonde and Zaramo carvers were encouraged to work there on a regular basis. Organization of the workplace at Peera’s warehouse was very informal. There was no leader; but there was a sharp distinction in status between the favoured elite shetani carvers and those who simply crafted a single type of object. Carvers who liked to work with each other formed themselves into groups. Dastan Nyedi and Chanuo Maundu were one such group, and they often used to criticize each other’s work and make suggestions as to how each other’s pieces could be improved. Peera claims that it was his involvement with Makonde sculptors that taught him what he knows about art and enriched his life with wonder and joy. So it can be said of Peera that he underwent a kind of ‘apprenticeship’ and transformation in his role as patron, just as some of the Makonde sculptors claim they underwent some sort of training and transformation with him.

60 Carving Out a Future Peera could not have been so successful in encouraging the high levels of sculptural experimentation and playful invention among the sculptors whose works he bought without the trust he commanded as someone who ‘liked carvers’. He had a fascination with the way in which sculpting took hold of novice carvers and contributed to their sense of identity. In fact, this phenomenon was highly significant, not only in the way in which individuals developed as sculptors, but also in the way blackwood sculpting assumed a new and original meaningfulness as a cultural movement in its own right.

BLACKWOOD SCULPTING AND IDENTITY A major difference between the roles of the traditional Makonde carver and the blackwood carver lay in the fact that whereas the former worked (or works) primarily in order to satisfy the requirements of a particular social occasion, or to satisfy a person’s need for a specific utilitarian object, the latter works primarily in order to satisfy his own creative aspirations and his general economic needs. In the absence of any need for his work to serve a particular social function, the blackwood carver works, as far as possible, according to his inner creative motivation. The blackwood carver’s creative aspirations and ambition to become a fundi1 (or ‘sculptor’) were at odds with the traditional ‘agricultural ethic’ of the Makonde. In the traditional social context, therefore, the blackwood carver’s works were more or less meaningless and were seen as childish. At the same time, however, this social resistance against the blackwood carver’s work partly shaped the relationships which obtained between master and apprentice and between carvers, because it generally ensured that these relationships were entered into by persons with an aptitude and a strong creative motivation. Furthermore, because the carvers were from different clans and had different backgrounds, they tended to be competitively disposed towards each other. These factors contributed to the carvers’ experience of their own distinctness, both as individuals and as a group, from the majority of Makonde who conformed to dominant social values. It was the consciousness these carvers had of their distinct values and abilities and their expression of them in their work that formed the basis for their selfidentification as sculptors who lived the creative life. Chanuo Maundu and Dastan Nyedi were two highly accomplished blackwood sculptors who learned to carve before Samaki Likankoa began making spirit figures in 1959. During the 1960s, they were in the forefront of the group of carvers who worked in Mohamed Peera’s warehouse yard. Kashimiri Matayo, a carver who did not work at Peera’s place but who knew many who did, admitted that there was something special about this group. He told this author that many of them had learned to carve in Tanzania (and so did not have direct links with the Mozambican ‘school’ of Makonde blackwood carving). They had their own ideas and developed rapidly because they worked very hard full time and were always watching and trying to surpass each other. It was largely carvers from this group who took Samaki’s simple and sometimes

Sculpture and Identity 61

Note: The shetani figure at the bottom is very strong and carries the other two. The top figure is a kind of lindandosa (sorcerer’s invisible slave) called Kankome, which has a single leg paired with a snake-like extremity and one huge eye. With its one leg it can take great leaps and with its one huge eye it can see things incredibly far away (‘even to London’). The central figure is also a lindandosa with incredible visual powers. Source: Zachary Kingdon

Figure 5.2 Sculpture consisting of three single-eyed mashetani (height 145cm); Chanuo Maundu, December 1991

62 Carving Out a Future crude, unimpressive first spirit figures and developed the idea as a creative and expressive template for some of the most complex, original and masterful sculpture the Makonde had ever produced (see Figure 5.2). Both Chanuo and Dastan developed the form and iconography of the spirit genre to the point where it no longer had much to do with spirits, in order to express themes drawn from their own experience. Their intention was almost always to astonish and startle with extraordinary and unique images ‘that have never before been seen in the world’. Dastan stated that all of his works are, in some way or other, ‘about human beings’ and that he usually tried to create works which are ‘completely astonishing’ so that they capture the attention of those who see them and ‘occupy all their thoughts’. On another occasion he told this author that he makes his works to stand as something to ‘compare’ with human consciousness or thought (see Figure 5.3). Both Chanuo and Dastan expressed clear ideas about what it meant to be a sculptor and about the attributes that distinguished themselves from other people and from mere craftsmen. Chanuo, for example, once told me that other people (those who do not carve) do not think to create things and only gossip about themselves. He said that it was his habit to sit quietly in the evenings absorbed in thought about his work and that during these times he could suddenly have an idea and burst out laughing. Alternatively, he could suddenly chase his children out of the room. Dastan, for his part, stated that he must always be filling his mind with new things. He said that if he did not do so, and if instead he began copying his previous work, it would be like going backwards and he would have no strength. Those craftsmen who endlessly reproduce a single kind of object have failed to develop themselves, Dastan said: ‘Their thoughts have remained right there.’ In these statements both Dastan and Chanuo pointed to the fact of their living the creative life as something that distinguished themselves from others. Furthermore, in Chanuo’s statement we find intimations of what is often referred to as the ‘creative personality’. This is something that, in a certain form, is at the root of the Western concept of the artist, and d’Azevedo (1973) has also discussed it in relation to what he defines as the Gola notion of the ‘archetypal artist’. Echoing the substance of Dastan’s statement to the effect that he must always be filling his mind with new things in order to progress, Chanuo once commented that the quality of carving among Makonde carvers was in decline because too many of them drank, which meant that the first thing they looked for when a buyer came with an order was money. ‘They do not think to develop [or ‘advance’] themselves’, he said. This is really the crux of the matter for these sculptors. The sculptor is concerned, above other things, with his own creative project and with the development of his special abilities, which means that his work is the product of a highly personal endeavour largely irrelevant to dominant communal interests. The Makonde stereotype of the blackwood carver as a childish and lazy personality reflects the irrelevance of his products so far as dominant social values are concerned, and it helps to explain why carving was necessarily a casual, part-time activity in the traditional context.

Sculpture and Identity 63

Source: Zachary Kingdon

Figure 5.3 A sculpture intended as something ‘completely astonishing’ (height 58cm); Dastan Nyedi, 1992

AFRICAN BLACKWOOD AND IDENTITY When the sculptor Hendrick Thobias was asked by this author about the suitability of mpingo (African blackwood) for carving, he stressed that it is an ‘extremely, extremely, extremely special’ material for the carver. He would not elaborate further on its sublime qualities; but Dastan Nyedi and Chanuo Maundu both clearly held mpingo to be in some way metaphorical of an aspect of human being or of personhood. In Dastan’s case, this was revealed in his idea that there is always a special place in any blackwood log where the human

64 Carving Out a Future face should properly be carved. In Chanuo’s case, the association was explained in rather more abstract terms. On one occasion he told this author that blackwood does not come in only one colour and that carvers recognize four main colour types – namely, ‘black’, ‘dark brown’, ‘reddish’ and ‘streaky’. Carvers also recognize that blackwood varieties can be either relatively ‘soft’ or relatively ‘hard’. Having described this variability, Chanuo then commented that blackwood is therefore ‘like human beings’. Chanuo did not mean that blackwood is like African human beings in its dark shades of colour: Mpingo isn’t good just for we carvers. Even for you, mpingo is good – the black wood. When we carve it our friends there, [Europeans] say that it is our colour. Others ask: ‘Have you seen Africans?’ Then they say: ‘Gosh, God made them black and put the black wood right there with them.’ They think that mpingo occurs all over Africa. But it’s not a bit true. Mpingo as we know it occurs in these three countries: Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique… The waKamba [of Kenya] don’t like to carve mpingo although they have it in their country. They have a very hard wood, which they carve. There are two types of wood, one white and one red, because they like to carve animals. Chanuo considers mpingo especially good for making carvings based on human themes essentially because one can carve anything out of it. In its characteristics of being an interior substance that is variable and intrinsically carvable, mpingo can be seen to be a metaphor of human ‘substance,’ not the external physical substance of human beings such as skin or flesh, but rather the inchoate ‘substance’ of being, or the lived ‘self’. In psychological terms we might call it the ‘substance’ of thought and imagination, of feeling and of perception. It is only in the light of this interpretation that we can explain why Chanuo should describe himself as ‘inside the blackwood’ when absorbed in thought about his work. Significantly, Kashimiri Matayo described mashetani (in its singular form, shetani) as resembling badly defined, minimal human beings, with ‘many mistakes’. More specifically, they can be understood as ‘refracted’ versions of human beings; as such, they provide a perspective on the imagined totality. It is therefore interesting that Dastan Nyedi often explained that he made his shetani works as something to be compared with the ‘human being’. At other times he said that he made them as something to compare (kulinganisha) with the intellect/consciousness. The Swahili verb kulinganisha does not only mean ‘to compare’ but also ‘to put two things together in order to make them fit’ (Johnson, 1939, p247). In other words, Dastan’s blackwood sculptures are intended to stand as fitting counterparts to the human being and the human ‘intellect’, or imagination. Like the inchoate, incomplete spirit beings that they originally depicted, Dastan’s blackwood works are reflections on the incomplete, inchoate substance of the ‘self’ and are intended as counterparts to an imagined totality: ‘the human being’. The individual works which make up Dastan’s oeuvre can therefore be understood as so many intervals in an

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encompassing creative project through which the sculptor responds to a sense of his human incompleteness and is challenged to advance himself toward a state of self-fulfilment. Consequently, sculptors like Dastan always strive to advance their work further and to overcome the limitations of all their prior achievements.

CONCLUSIONS Makonde blackwood carving is a unique sculptural movement that took root in colonial times on the Mueda plateau in northern Mozambique. From simple beginnings, with carvers making genre figures in blackwood for sale to help pay their taxes, the movement grew. It spread to Tanzania as carvers joined the streams of Makonde migrants who left Mozambique to escape the harsh conditions created by the Portuguese colonial regime there. In Tanzania, the movement gained a number of key innovations, the most important being the spirit figures introduced by Samaki Likankoa in 1959. The individual creative motivation of accomplished blackwood sculptors helped to transform carving from a part-time activity in the traditional cultural context into a full-time vocation. Individual creativity was further encouraged, especially among blackwood carvers settled in the Dar es Salaam area, through the patronage of the Indian trader Mohamed Peera. As carving assumed a greater importance for individual sculptors, it contributed to the development of their distinct identities as persons who lived the creative life. In pre-colonial society, Makonde sculpture in lighter woods was made to fulfil the requirements of particular social events. Contemporary blackwood sculpture, on the other hand, is made to fulfil the general economic needs and individual visions of sculptors. Some Makonde sculptors have therefore been able to transform the spirit ‘template’ into a format for exploring human themes at a highly reflective level. The particular reflexivity of these sculptors has also encouraged them to link raw blackwood, metaphorically, with the imaginary ‘inner substance’ of being and with the indeterminate aspects of identity that underlie the more stable constructions of culture and tradition. In a related movement, the indeterminate, incomplete spirit-like forms of their works have taken on new meaningfulness as a creative response to the anxieties and challenges of life in Tanzania and to a sense of the incompleteness of human identity in the modern context.

NOTE 1

The word fundi can take on various meanings, including ‘expert’, ‘craftsperson’ and ‘sculptor’, depending upon the intentions of the user.

6

Fallbacks and Tourist Traps: Carving Wood in Southern Zimbabwe Wavell Standa-Gunda and Oliver Braedt

INTRODUCTION In Zimbabwe, it is now common to see a diverse range of forest products being sold along major intercity roads – including carvings (from both soapstone and wood), thatch, baskets, sisal and baobab mats, wild fruits, fuelwood, mushrooms, mopane worms and clay pots (Braedt and Standa-Gunda, 2000). The increased commercialization has prompted a number of questions. How has the expanded commercialization of these products affected rural livelihoods? What has been the response by government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)? What has been the impact on the natural resource base? Diverse views exist on forest product trade, use and management (Homma, 1992; Dove, 1993; Momberg et al, 1997). In Zimbabwe, there was an emerging consensus that woodcarving could be a useful tool for rural development in selected areas. This led to more studies as a basis to improve sustainability of the resource use and to increase returns to carvers and traders. Leading the efforts to improve the woodcarving industry were the Zimbabwe Forestry Commission, the Ministry of Employment Creation and National Affairs, the University of Zimbabwe, and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). This chapter summarizes some of the research (Braedt and StandaGunda, 2000; Braedt, 2002). The aim is to provide an overview of the characteristics of woodcraft markets and the general policy environment. From this, the chapter draws lessons to address environmental and social aspects of the expanding woodcraft sector in Zimbabwe.

68 Carving Out a Future

Zambia Harare

Chivi Mission

Z I M B A B W E

Nyamakwe

Gwera Masvingo

Mutare

Study area

Bulawayo

Ward 16 Tokwe clinic

Botswana

Beitbridge

Mozambique South Africa

Craft market

Craft market Business Centre

Chisave

Distrct boundary

Gwitima

Tarmac road

Ward 18

Gravel road River Sese

Chirongwe

Ward 20

Rungal

Source: Wavell Standa-Gunda and Oliver Braedt

Figure 6.1 Map of the detailed study area along the Masvingo–Beitbridge Road (showing the wards in the communal land)

CHIVI STUDY AREA The study area is centred on the northern portion of the well-maintained allweather road between the towns of Masvingo and Beitbridge, in southern Zimbabwe (see Figure 6.1). This road links South Africa with central Zimbabwe. At the time of the study (during the late 1990s, before the current drastic economic collapse) there were 25 to 29 craft markets in the 300km between Masvingo and Beitbridge. The population density in the three wards presented in Figure 6.1 was about 50 persons per square kilometre. Mean annual rainfall in the area is less than 650mm per annum and is highly variable. The soils are sandy, with low fertility. The high frequency of droughts

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and the decreasing availability of off-farm employment have created livelihood problems for many rural households (Cavendish, 1997; Campbell et al, 2002). The primary data were collected over a period of three years (1996–1998). The data are specific to woodcarvings; other forest products traded in the markets are not covered here.1 A ‘main road survey’ was conducted at all the markets between Masvingo and Beitbridge. A detailed ‘market survey’ was conducted in three markets, with 105 participants. At the time of the study the average rate of exchange was US$1 = Zimbabwe $11.3.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WOODCRAFT MARKETS Raw material location and ownership Three of Zimbabwe’s four major land tenure classes are found along the road between Masvingo and Beitbridge: communal land, resettlement land and commercial/freehold land. Most of the markets are located in Chivi district (69 per cent), which is a predominantly communal area, and in Masvingo district (21 per cent), located mainly on resettlement land (land purchased from commercial farms soon after Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 and resettled with smallholder farmers). The bulk of the land in the case study area is communal land. The markets are variable in size, age, materials used (soapstone carving, woodcarving, clay and needlework products) and types of carvings (Braedt and Standa-Gunda, 2000). Logs for carving are collected from the natural woodlands, with no planted trees being used. In the main road survey, 87 per cent of the carvers obtained logs from communal areas, while the rest collected from small-scale commercial farms and resettlement areas. Although it is locally perceived that trees in communal and resettlement areas fall under the collective ownership of the local communities, official legislation gives control to the rural district councils, assisted by the Department of Natural Resources and the Forestry Commission. Trees in small-scale commercial farms are ‘privately owned’, though the Forestry Commission is entitled to control commercial use; the small-scale farmers can use their trees for domestic purposes but need permits to establish commercial operations. Woodlands in the communal and resettlement areas are severely depleted and highly fragmented due to agriculture and settlement. There were an average of 3.9 trees per hectare of woodcarving species (see species listed in Table 6.2) with a carvable wood volume of 4.6 cubic metres per hectare (Braedt, 2002).2 Woodcarving species accounted for over 25 per cent of the wood volume for all 78 tree species recorded.

Producing the carvings The woodcarving process involves four main stages (see Figure 6.2). The first stage includes harvesting the wood and transporting it to the market or carving site. The wood is often cut with an adze at the felling site to remove unusable

70 Carving Out a Future

Final carving

Rough carving

Sandpapering

Polishing

Stage 2

Log transportation

Stage 3

Log collection

Stage 1

Log indentification

Stage 4

Trade

Retailing

Export

Source: Wavell Standa-Gunda and Oliver Braedt

Figure 6.2 Stages in the production of carvings common along the Masvingo–Beitbridge Road wood and bark. The second stage involves carving the wood into the final product. The third stage comprises finishing the piece with sandpaper and polish, while the last stage is the actual selling of the carving. The marketplaces are very basic. Fifty-eight per cent had some form of shelter to protect carvings from bad weather conditions, 50 per cent had pitlatrine toilets and 16 per cent had piped water. Shelters ranged from pole and mud walls with thatched roofs, to brick walls with corrugated iron roofs. The equipment used for carving ranged from rudimentary to more sophisticated tools; but the latter were infrequent. Only one individual owned a chainsaw; most people used axes to cut trees. The chisels used varied from purchased ones to those manufactured by local blacksmiths. Even purchased chisels were modified locally at the end of their normal life to enhance their performance.

Participants in the industry Historically, wood was carved for cultural and religious symbols and for household utensils; but now woodcarving is predominantly for tourists. Since the late 1980s, tourism rose steadily. Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 and the signing of a peace accord between rival political parties in 1987 brought peace to a country engaged in guerrilla and civil war since the 1970s. Increased tourism was probably favoured by the introduction of the economic structural adjustment programme and the resultant devaluation of the Zimbabwe dollar, which increased the purchasing power of tourists (Braedt and Standa-Gunda,

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2000). The low quality and shortage of the land, combined with the extreme droughts during the early 1990s, left many households in communal areas with few livelihood options. This resulted in the upsurge of off-farm activities, including woodcarving (Scoones et al, 1996). Thus, conditions were set for a major increase in woodcarving, with demand much increased through tourism, and supply possible because of the contraction of other livelihood options. Prior to 1980, women dominated craft production on the Masvingo–Beitbridge Road, largely selling pottery. However, men, who focus mainly on soapstone and woodcrafts, currently dominate (57 per cent of market participants; see Table 6.1). Half of the women participants were confined to markets where pottery and crochet products were sold. When involved in carvings and sculptures, women restrict themselves to the final stages of production, the finishing of the product with sandpaper and polish, and the selling of the product (see Figure 6.2). There was not a single female carver on the Masvingo–Beitbridge Road, although women sell many finished carvings. While craft production in colonial and pre-colonial times used to be the preserve of mature members of the community, young males are now dominant. The distance of the homestead to the nearest market also influences participation in a market. As the distance to the market increases, there is a decrease in the number of women participating as household duties restrict their movement. Women are willing to travel approximately 2km to 2.5km to a market, whereas men move across districts and provinces. Men from as far as Birchenough Bridge (150km), Harare (350km), Bulawayo (300km) and Bindura (400km) participate in trading of carvings on the Masvingo– Beitbridge Road, though there are more local people than there are outsiders. However, if there is further decline in the economic situation, it is envisaged that women will increasingly become involved in long-distance trade away from their home (Campbell et al, 2002). From a survey conducted in 1997, carvers differentiated themselves into three broad categories. ‘Artists’, renowned for their high-quality work, constitute 15 per cent of the total carvers. They have generally been in the business long before the recent upsurge in craft activity. ‘Carvers’, producing good-quality products, constitute about 30 per cent and have largely opted to Table 6.1 Market participants along the Masvingo–Beitbridge Road by activity, gender and age in 1997 Activity

Carving Selling Total

Number of participants Males Males Females*

390 1696 1549 3635

(11%) (46%) (43%) (100%)

Distribution by age grouping (%) in each activity group ≤25 years 26–49 years ≥50 years 6%

4%

1%

46%

33%

10%

52%

37%

11%

Note: * 583 female participants (38%) primarily concentrate on non-woodcarving activities, such as pottery and crochet knitting, but occasionally sell woodcarvings (main road survey).

72 Carving Out a Future do carving because of the declining economic opportunities. ‘Part-time carvers’ have also moved into the sector because of declining opportunities, but produce substandard products. This group includes farmers who try to supplement their agricultural incomes and retrenched urban workers. Most participants involved in the craft sector do it part time, carving or trading when other livelihood options fail, or in seasons when agricultural activities are less labour intensive. The woodcarving sector was not limited to certain kinds of households (for example, in terms of wealth status). Under the prevailing economic conditions of poor agricultural outputs, rising unemployment and the resultant low access to remittances from urban household members, the circumstances of most households were desperate, and even those who were traditionally better off found themselves with household members participating in various aspects of the woodcarving sector. Despite the unfavourable climate and soils, agriculture remains a key economic activity (see Figure 6.3). Well-off households derive only 2.5 per cent of their cash income from forest products, whereas poor households derive nearly 20 per cent of their cash income from this source. More affluent persons who specialize in forest products (and other small-scale industries) are exceptions (for example, a few ‘full-time’ woodcarvers or brick-makers). Introduced products 4%

Employment based 26%

Agricultural products 53%

Remittances 4% Other 6% Forest products 7% Cash income sources are as follows. Forest products = sale of indigenous fruit; sale of firewood; woodcarving; brick-making; basketry; pottery; soapstone carving; gold panning; sale of wild meat; sale of fish; wild fruit beer. Agricultural products = sale of livestock; sale of livestock products; hiring out of livestock; sale of field crops; sale of vegetables; sale of exotic fruits; crop beer; farm work. Introduced products = carpentry; knitting; crochet; sewing; tie and dye. Employment based = formal employment; social welfare; pension. Other = gifts; respondents did not want to specify the source. Note: Mean annual cash revenue = US$198 (95% confidence interval for mean = 153–243) (US$1 = Zimbabwe $14, 1997 rate). Source: Braedt (2002)

Figure 6.3 Percentages of total household cash incomes from different activities in Chivi district (N = 139)

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73

Species and prices During the 1960s, craft markets in Chivi district were mostly for pottery. However, with buyers acquiring new tastes from other markets in Harare and Bulawayo, soapstone carvings were introduced in 1976 at the Masvingo Craft School (now defunct). Accessing raw materials for soapstone carving was difficult as it was located more than 50km away, so eventually wood became the dominant material, gaining prominence at the Sese Craft Centre during the early 1980s. There were eight main product types and six main tree species (see Table 6.2), and a close linkage existed between product type and the tree species used to produce them. By far the most common species in the markets was Afzelia quanzensis (pod mahogany), followed by Combretum imberbe (leadwood), Kirkia acuminata (bastard marula), Pterocarpus angolensis (mukwa) and Dalbergia melanoxylon (African blackwood). Over half of the products were made out of one species: Afzelia quanzensis. The prevalence of A. quanzensis is not a reflection of its abundance in the woodlands. Pricing of products is influenced by the previous market transactions, buyer characteristics and the needs of the trader at the time of transaction. Table 6.2 Volume and prices of woodcarvings according to species used for products on the Masvingo–Beitbridge Road in 1997 (N = 27 markets, one time survey) Main species

Volume (m3)

Average prices (US$/piece) Main product type Small Medium Large (0.001– (0.02– (0.2– 0.01m3) 0.1m3) 0.5m3)

Afzelia quanzensis 79 Pterocarpus angolensis 10 Combretum imberbe 42

4.7 4.7 9.0

28.8 28.8 42.0

342.9 342.9 393.8

Kirkia acuminata

13

4.0

22.3

64.0

5

5.4

11.2

–

Spirostachys africana < 1

5.4

11.2

–

Ozoroa insignis subspp reticulata Albizia amara Sclerocarya birrea Berchemia discolor

50% household Few mature individual trees income. per ha. High household income. Cultivated. > 50% income in cash. Intensively managed. NTFPs > 50% household Highest labour and income. technology inputs. Highest NTFP-based Smallest harvest area. income. Highest production per ha. NTFP producers’ income above local average.

Economic characteristics

Household strategy

Medium road density. High labour rates. Intermediate total trade in area. Mainly non-private land. High road density. High land prices. Intermediate road density. Intermediate private land. High total NTFP trade in area.

Mainly private land. High road density. Intermediate labour prices. Intermediate NTFP trade in area.

Intermediate labour rates. Low road density.

Remote, undeveloped Low labour prices. Production on state land or open access.

Economic geography

Fruits for local processing or consumption. Medicinal plants for regional market. Intermediate NTFP prices. Bamboo, high-value woodcarving, fruits, mulberry paper, resin. Mainly local/domestic markets. Local processing or direct consumption. Intermediate prices. High-value NTFPs. Dominated by food products and medicinal plants. National and international market Expanded market. Specialty food products and resin/dyes. International markets. Stable, mature markets.

Palm fibres, low-value. woodcarving, fuelwood and medicinal plants. Mainly low-value products. Local processing, often in same household.

Products and market

Table 13.4 Characteristic tendencies in household economic strategy groups

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agricultural cycle. For products with larger markets, specialized production is a good option; but there are also niche opportunities of highly rewarding products that are gathered from wild systems. Woodcarving cases are represented in four of these five categories; but the majority occur in areas that are fairly well integrated within the cash economy. That is, more than half of the household income of wood producers is earned in cash.5 The Zimbabwe and Mexico linaloe cases fall just below 50 per cent household income in cash, so they are grouped with the ‘subsistence’ category. Wood production contributes a small proportion of total income in Zimbabwe. Carvers often collect the wood themselves; but much more of their income comes from carving. In the linaloe case, wood harvesters rely upon this activity as their main source of cash income. The South African, Ugandan and the Kenyan cases fall in the supplementary category. Wood production earns a small proportion of the total income of the household (between 10 and 30 per cent). The two Indonesian cases are classified as integrated as they are both based primarily upon cultivated production.6 The Mexican copal case is the only woodcarving case that falls into the specialized natural category, with collector households earning a large proportion of their household income in cash from wood harvesting. This reinforces the idea that, for most households, wood production is not a major income-earning activity. It is certainly a welcome supplement to household incomes; but people typically act as woodcutters because the resource is free or nearly free and because, in economic terms, they have a low opportunity cost for their labour – they literally have nothing better to do. This is a simple but very important fact. Because the returns are low, the cutters have little incentive to harvest sustainably (for example, to leave ‘mother trees’ to encourage regeneration, or to refrain from cutting small trees), let alone to invest effort to encourage regeneration and growth. In combination with the open-access nature of the resource in most places, sustainable harvesting or any active investment in the future of the resource is a non-starter. Moreover, the potential for successful cultivation/management is undermined as long as wild resources are available at low cost. Likewise, there is a weak linkage between the value of wood to the carvers and incentives for sustainable wood production. Carvers naturally appreciate having access to good-quality material; but with the low prices they typically receive for their carvings, they are unable to pay a sufficiently high price for wood to reward better management. There is a clear need for government and other intervention to support sustainable wood production.

ORGANIZATION IN THE PROCESSING SECTOR A common prescription in small enterprise development is to encourage organization amongst individual companies to share information, engage in collective marketing and take advantage of economies of scale in purchasing inputs. Within our set, seven of the eight woodcarving cases do have an

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Table 13.5 Woodcarving organization Case

Bali (Indonesia) Sukabumi (Indonesia) Copal (Mexico) Linaloe (Mexico) Kenya South Africa Uganda Zimbabwe

Processors’ organization

Age of organization (years)

Impact of processors’ organization

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes

26 8 6 40 35 7 not available 10

positive positive positive negative positive neutral not available neutral

organization in place (see Table 13.5). The exception is the Ugandan drum case, where the industry is very small, the community is closely knit with a long local history of musical instrument-making, and where carving contributes a relatively small amount to the household incomes of the carvers (just 15 per cent). There is a clear pattern that cases where woodcarving is a major income earner for the household (Bali, Sukabumi, Mexico, Kenya and South Africa) tend to have effective producers’ organizations; on the other hand, cases where carving is an opportunistic activity tend to have poorly functioning organizations. In the former, there are incentives for organization and, presumably, well-functioning organizations contribute to the success of the industry. For example, three of the cases with well-functioning organizations had received government support to the industry. Even in the poorly developed markets of Binga (see Box 13.3), sellers who organized and effectively imposed floor prices managed to get better prices than their less-organized counterparts in nearby markets.

INVESTING IN THE WOODCARVING SECTOR We compared ‘external interventions’ (investments intended to support some aspect of an NTFP industry) by kind and source. We were interested to know what kinds of cases attracted non-governmental organization (NGO), donor, government or private-sector investment, and where these interventions were targeted. Interestingly, few woodcarving cases had benefited from donor or NGO interventions to support raw material production, especially based on indigenous tree species. This may reflect the fact that substitution is relatively easy in the woodcarving sector; therefore, raw material supplies are not the main constraint to sector development. In addition, where the wood is harvested mainly from open-access resources, technical solutions are unlikely to be effective. In these cases, institutional solutions are needed, and these are notoriously more difficult to achieve.

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BOX 13.3 BINGA: CARVING AT THE MARGINS Diane Conyers, Fanuel Cumanzala, Matabekki Mudenda and Ivan Bond The tourism industry has created new demand for Tonga crafts, originally developed for producing household utensils. Tonga crafts are now sold in retail markets in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Europe and North America. Carvers in Binga district, north-west Zimbabwe, however, work at the margins – politically, socially (most carvers are Tonga, one of Zimbabwe’s minority groups), economically (on the border with Zambia, far from the national capital) and ecologically (in hot, semi-arid areas with low, erratic rainfall of circa 600mm per year, with shallow soils and steep slopes). Commercial woodcarving activities are concentrated along the main road between Kamativi and Binga town, the district’s primary tourist route. Tarring of the Binga–Kamativi Road in 1990 stimulated tourists to travel to Binga by road and, in turn, the establishment of woodcarving markets. By 2000, there were approximately 45 informal woodcarving markets along this 125km stretch of road, some more permanent than others. The markets themselves are basic, with at most a thatched shelter. Carvers earn low monthly incomes. Even at Tinde, where carvers earned an average of Zimbabwe $597 per month (compared to Zimbabwe $81 and Zimbabwe $378 per carver per month at two other markets studied), average carver income was substantially less than the national minimum wage for either domestic or commercial agricultural workers. The carvers blame the collapse of the tourist trade due to political turmoil and scarcity of automobile fuel. But most carvers, predominantly young men, reported that even during better times they were engaged in carving not because of its profitability but because they had no better source of income. Most carving is done at the markets using adzes, chisels and hammers. The most commonly carved species is Afzelia quanzensis (pod mahogany or muKamba) (Tonga), although 11 other species were recorded, the most significant being musanta (Kirkia acuminata), siachimvwa (Commiphora pyracanthoides and C. mollis), mutorotoro, mutyokela and mukunku. The species used depends upon availability and suitability for specific products. Afzelia quanzensis, for example, is particularly suitable for furniture. Carvers usually harvest the wood themselves, although some buy wood that has already been cut. They do not normally seek permission to cut a tree unless it is in someone’s field, in which case they are required to pay for it. A wide range of products is produced, including carved animals, furniture and traditional artefacts, with individual markets tending to specialize in particular items. In three markets studied in detail, each with a similar number of carvers (16 to 22 members), one (Tinde market) specialized in furniture, another (Makunku market) in animals (particularly hippos), while the third (Tweezye market) had a variety, especially traditional Tonga crafts, drums, pianos, stools and chairs. Analysis of the products sold to traders at Makunku market revealed that 93 per cent were hippos and that half were sold ‘rough’ (that is, before being smoothed or polished) to traders who do the fine finishing themselves, thus adding value to their own sales. Sales to traders from the other two markets

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comprised a variety of products and, unlike Makunku, all items were sold as finished goods. There was a significant variation in scale between markets, largely due to variations in the average time taken to produce a carving, which is due, in turn, to variations in the size and complexity of the item and whether it is sold in a finished or unfinished state (see Table 13.6). As direct sales to tourists declined, a larger proportion of carvings were sold to traders, though at a lower profit. Even with such small-scale trade, raw material scarcity is an emerging problem. At Tinde and Makunku markets, carvers now travel further than they used to, to obtain Afzelia quanzensis. When asked what they would do if their favourite species were no longer available, all carvers interviewed said that they would switch to other species, changing the nature of their product if necessary. Most of the carvers are young and have a relatively low level of education. In a sample of 25 carvers, only two carvers were over 30 years’ old (with one 71year-old man a notable exception), while only 11 (44 per cent) had completed seven years of schooling and one had completed 11 years of school. Woodcarving was attractive to them because: • • • • •

With sufficient customers, it is possible to earn quite a good income. One can barter carvings for other goods. One can combine carving with household duties. It is a means of expressing cultural values. It enhances the reputation of the district.

The main disadvantages noted were that: • • • •

Income depends upon the availability of customers, which can be difficult to attract at times. It takes up a lot of time Carvers are accused of destroying trees. One has to buy a licence from the council, which increased from Zimbabwe $35 in 1999 to Zimbabwe $90 in 2000.

The different markets catered to different main buyers, with Makunku carvers selling primarily to traders, Tweezye carvers selling primarily to tourists, and Tinde carvers selling almost exclusively to tourists. There were major variations in hourly ‘wages’ (profit divided by number of hours spent carving) within and between markets (Makunku mean = Zimbabwe $9.6 per hour, ranging from Zimbabwe $3–$49.3; Tweezye mean = Zimbabwe $15.3 per hour, ranging from Zimbabwe $4.2–$66.7; Tinde mean = Zimbabwe $31.5 per hour, ranging from Zimbabwe $2.5–$107.1). Larger, higher-priced items generate higher profit margins. Some items had extremely low returns, indicating that they were ‘underpriced’. Indeed, carvers at all three markets regularly sold products below their desired price and a substantial number at less than half this price. The differential was greatest at Makunku, where 90 per cent of items were sold at less than half the desired price. All of the carvers complained that prices were exceptionally low. Carvers at Makunku acknowledged that although they had managed to maintain a reasonable level of sales, they were accepting unprecedented low prices.

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The carvers have tried different market strategies. At Tweezye they once tried to undercut the prices of another group, but were, in turn, undercut by the other group, resulting in a general collapse of prices. Later they tried a cooperative approach at Tweeyze. They use a common pricing and selling system in which carvers take turns to sell and 10 per cent of the proceeds of each sale goes to the co-operative. This has helped them to keep minimum prices at a higher level than in markets where carvers are actively competing with one another on price. The practice of selling unfinished items at Makunku has also proven effective. Although the average price for finished pieces (Zimbabwe $118) was much higher than that for rough ones (Zimbabwe $70), the average return per hour was considerably higher for rough products (Zimbabwe $11.85 per hour versus Zimbabwe $9.1 per hour). In conclusion, options to Binga carvers will only improve with greater political stability nationally and the return of tourist markets. Once this happens, the idea of a district woodcarvers’ committee or association, possibly composed of regional or zoned groups in each of the main producing areas, should be revived to address issues of general concern to the carvers: marketing, pricing policy, licence fees, and regulations regarding the utilization and conservation of timber. This would only be successful if there were clear benefits to the carvers and if these exceeded any costs (in terms of time, money or effort) involved. In this respect, useful lessons might be learned from recent experiences with both wildlife committees and fishers’ associations in the district, as well as from the failures of the earlier attempt to establish such a body.

There are two cases where NGO support has been directed at wild resource production. First, in the fantasy-figure alebrijes carving case in Mexico, there are ongoing efforts to support sustainable production of wild Bursera (see Chapter 11 and Peters et al, 2003). Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification provides an incentive for more intensive management (see Chapter 15). Second, in Kenya, Oxfam and the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) have supported nurseries growing indigenous species, including slowergrowing Brachylaena, Olea and Dalbergia trees. Table 13.6 Production per carver in the three markets studied Tinde market Number of carvers 16 Total number of products per carver: Average 13 Range 1–26 Number of products per carver per month: Average 1.3 Range 0.1–2.6

Makunku market

Tweezye market

19

22

39 2–107

9 2–18

3.9 0.2–10.7

1.4 0.3–3

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BOX 13.4 SOUNDWOOD: AFRICAN BLACKWOOD FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Sara Oldfield and Martin Jenkins African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) has been a well-known timber in international markets for over a century. It is particularly renowned as the best of all woods for the manufacture of woodwind instruments. But there is concern about the possible deleterious impacts upon wild populations of harvesting trees for musical instrument manufacture. In order to better assess the issue, a study undertaken between April 2001 and March 2002 examined the international trade in detail, with surveys of sawmills in Tanzania and Mozambique and of traders and users of African blackwood worldwide. Globally, there are four large manufacturers of clarinets and oboes. The largest company produces just over 30,000 wooden clarinets annually. Overall, more than 65,000 (and almost certainly fewer than 100,000) African blackwood clarinets and oboes are produced annually, with clarinets greatly outnumbering oboes. Each clarinet requires about 0.0015 cubic metres of wood; but accounting for up to 25 per cent waste and defects, the average volume of billets used is closer to 0.0019 cubic metres. Manufacture of clarinets and oboes therefore accounts for anywhere between 120 and 190 cubic metres of exported billets annually, with the figure likely to be nearer the former than the latter. Manufacture of other instruments from African blackwood is on a much smaller scale. Production of bagpipes probably accounts for most use after clarinets and oboes. There are around 12 to 18 bagpipe manufacturers in the UK and a few elsewhere, although the UK appears to dominate the market. The largest UK manufacturer produces around 1300 sets annually, with the others producing a few hundred each at most. One US manufacturer produces around 60 full sets, including some 300 chanters annually. Worldwide, a few thousand African blackwood bagpipes are produced annually. Each complete bagpipe set uses around 0.002 cubic metres, not accounting for wastage; so wood consumption may reach 20 cubic metres, but is more likely in the range of 10 to 15 cubic metres. Other musical instruments, such as flutes, and instrument components may require a similar quantity of wood. In total, it is estimated that between 150 and 200 cubic metres of blackwood are used in musical instrument manufacturing annually. This figure accords well with the rough estimates of exports of semi-processed billets from Mozambique and Tanzania combined, of an average of something over 100 cubic metres from Tanzania and something under 100 cubic metres from Mozambique. Recovery rates (the proportion of wood actually used) for production of these billets vary from 5 per cent or less to a reported 20 per cent in some cases. Assuming that the average is around 10 per cent, this translates to around 1500 to 2000 cubic metres of roundwood. A typical harvested tree yields between 0.1 to 0.2 cubic metres of roundwood; as a result, between 7500 and 20,000 trees a year are needed. It is difficult to get comparative figures for the amount of African blackwood used in the production of carvings. It appears that domestic roundwood consumption in Mozambique and Tanzania is of a similar order of magnitude to that used for the production of billets for export.

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Although historical data are few, it seems that the African blackwood trade has been relatively stable for many decades. There is little evidence of any dramatic changes in demand or supply, with prices showing little change other than that expected from general inflationary pressures. From this it might be concluded that there is little need for concern over future supplies. However, the lack of extensive inventory data and measures of annual increment of harvestable timber mean that it is impossible to state this with confidence. Indeed, the fact that the source of the timber is reported to have shifted, and continues to shift, in both Mozambique and Tanzania indicates that supply may not be able to be prolonged indefinitely. As with many other resources of this kind, it seems that accessible areas are quite rapidly ‘mined out’, with the source of supply moving to more and more inaccessible areas. Typically, as this happens, the costs of production rise until it may no longer be economical to exploit the resource. However, in the case of African blackwood there is no currently acceptable substitute in its major market: high-quality woodwind instruments. It seems likely, therefore, that the market will absorb increases in price, particularly as the cost of the wood comprises only a small percentage of the manufacturing costs and retail price of the finished product. This means that there is likely to be an incentive to continue harvesting trees of merchantable quality until supplies are exhausted. With its widespread distribution and ability to regenerate in disturbed areas, there is little question of the species itself becoming threatened with extinction in the foreseeable future (it is currently categorized as ‘lower risk/near threatened’ by the World Conservation Union, or the IUCN). However, with continuing forest conversion to agriculture and the harvesting of trees for carving before they are large enough for industrial processing, there is a real risk that the supply of merchantable timber cannot be maintained under present conditions. Both Mozambique and Tanzania have shown commitment to improve African blackwood management through community forest approaches under the terms of new forestry policies in both countries. Improved mechanisms are needed to ensure that local communities benefit from the financial value of the hardwood species that they manage. This is an area that could benefit from the support of the international community. In order to ensure the sustainable international trade in African blackwood, better information is needed about the distribution and abundance of the species in the areas of harvesting. Partial inventory data are available; but these must be supplemented and updated, particularly in Mozambique, as an urgent priority. Verification of sustainable forest management is becoming an increasingly important requirement in the main importing countries for African blackwood. The priority goal in Mozambique is currently to develop sustainable forest management rather than forest certification; but the importance of certification is recognized at a national level and action is needed to develop appropriate studies and pilot schemes. Current or potential production areas in Cabo Delgado and Niassa are priorities for African blackwood. Production of African blackwood for export is controlled by a small number of sawmills in the two countries. Chain-of-custody certification to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards should be promoted for these producers. With the strong links to the musical instrument industry and the considerable financial value of the markets for African blackwood products, there is a great opportunity to promote the sustainable production of this globally important tree species.

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In the Kenya case there is also a focused effort to substitute slow-growing indigenous species with faster-growing introduced species grown in agroforestry systems, in small plantations or as roadside trees. Here, again, the FSC is involved in trying to develop certification schemes suitable for smallholder tree growing (see Chapter 15). There has also been some government support for raw material production, but usually not with a focus on woodcarving. Paraserianthes falcataria planting in Bali was supported through the Indonesian government’s Sengonisasi campaign. This was initially aimed at providing cheap wood for fruit packing boxes (see Chapter 9), but is now a self-sustaining system at the local farmer level with a far more valuable use of the wood by carvers. The plantations in the Sukabumi case were established for timber production, and the wood that goes to the carving industry is an almost incidental off-take. Likewise, Dalbergia sissoo (sheesham) is widely planted in plantations and agroforestry systems in India, primarily for timber, but with a major opportunity to link into the carving industry’s need for raw materials (see Chapter 8). We find much higher levels of intervention at the processing level, with a marked difference between woodcarving cases (75 per cent of cases with intervention; 50 per cent with increasing trend) and other NTFP cases (34 per cent of cases with intervention; 17 per cent with increasing trend). In other examples, we find support for the marketing of woodcarvings through the Ministry for Textiles in India, with regional emporia in major cities, as well as through a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project (1996–2000). The UNDP also supported the production and marketing of quality carvings in West Papua at an early stage (1968–1973) in conjunction with the Catholic church. As noted earlier, the focus on the carving sub-sector is logical as this is the most visible stage in the production-to-consumption system, and the most important for income and employment generation.

CONCLUSIONS The woodcarving sector has many of the characteristics that have attracted the interest of conservation and development organizations to non-timber forest products, in general. It is a natural resource-based industry that provides income and employment for large numbers of predominantly poor people. However, there are particular characteristics of woodcarving that need to be understood in order to design and implement effective policy- and project-level support to the sector. Like many other commercial NTFPs, the woodcarving industries are often based upon unmanaged, naturally regenerating resources. These are frequently treated as open-access resources. In combination with the typically low prices paid for finished products, this means that there are no incentives for sustainable management, and over-exploitation is common. Unlike the trade in many other NTFPs, such as medicinal plants or fruits, where it is not easy

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to substitute one species for another, the woodcarving industry is more adaptable and substitution of raw material is more common. This may further undermine incentives for sustainable management. However, the possibility to substitute raw material facilitates a shift from wild to more intensively managed and/or faster-growing species. Important successes have been achieved in some cases and this is a key area needing support. Woodcarving is often a fallback employment. With de facto open-access wood resources and low barriers to entry to the carving sector, (primarily) young men get involved when they do not have other opportunities. There is a clear tendency in some cases for workers to enter and leave as other opportunities come and go. This underlines the importance of the sector as a safety net for poor and disadvantaged people. It also highlights key challenges to making improvements in the woodcarving sector. Low barriers to entry mean that competition among producers is high, which limits profitability (and, in a vicious cycle, further undermines the ability of carvers to pay for sustainable resource management). The more successful cases show the importance of having a leader or innovator. In a number of cases presented in this book (for example, in Kenya, Bali and Mexico), individual ‘champions’ led the way by developing particular styles of carving and/or opening new markets. This is hard to replicate; but it points to the need to support leadership and innovation. The successful cases also demonstrate the importance of organization and collective action among carvers to gain political and commercial power. This is another key area for support. Woodcarving can add more value and create more jobs per cubic metre of wood than other uses (an extreme example is the case of carving of musical instruments; see Box 13.4). But this only happens under very specific circumstances, where carvers reliably produce quality products and are sensitive to market requirements. Balinese carvers, who ‘make to order’ whatever the client wants – including giraffes and dinosaurs in response to the international popularity for animals that they have never seen – are masters of this game. Training in business and other related activities has helped. As a consequence, they have been able to ride out periods of economic and political turmoil through successful export marketing. In undeveloped markets there is scope to develop skills through training in design, marketing, quality control and business administration.

NOTES 1 2 3

The full set of case studies is published in three volumes: Kusters and Belcher (2004); Sunderland and Ndoye (2004); Alexiades and Shanley (2004). In the Kenya case, the high forest cover is a function of the way in which the case study area was defined – forest cover is much lower at a larger spatial scale. These cases were not included in the case comparison.

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5 6

197

This analysis focuses on raw material production. Woodcarving and other craftsbased industries provide their main value added in the processing sub-sector; but limited data available on the processing sectors in other industries prevent a full comparison at this level. Compared to carvers – but in many cases the wood producer and the carver is the same person. The Sukabumi case does not fit well into the classification because the raw material production occurs in government-owned plantations.

14

Ecological Footprints: Carving, Sustainability and Scarcity Anthony Cunningham, Bruce Campbell, Brian Belcher and Ramadhani Achdiawan

INTRODUCTION Previous chapters have illustrated the importance of woodcarving across many cultures. Carved objects are vital as utility items, including a wide range of household products (bowls, stools and utensils), farm tools and transport, from canoes (Haddon and Hornell, 1997) to ox carts. Culturally significant items such as drums, masks, snuff containers, headrests, kava bowls and stools are also produced (Koch, 1961, 1986; Burkill, 1985, 1994, 1995, 1997; Shaw and van Warmelo, 1988; Dewey, 1993; Eiseman, 1996). Increasingly, woodcarving is also entering international markets. Subsistence-level harvest has had limited impact on populations of carved wood species (Cunningham, 1985). In some cases, such as in northern Australia, tree stocks are more than adequate to meet current demand from carvers (see Chapter 10). But in some cases commercial woodcarvings are traded on a large scale (see Figure 14.1 and Chapters 3, 9 and 10). Furthermore, many woodcarving industries must compete directly for the same resources with other, often larger and more powerful, industries. As a result, declining wood supplies and limited access to quality timber are widely recognized as a problem by artisans, forestry and conservation agencies and, more recently, by exporters. With increasing globalization, trade in carved wooden crafts has expanded rapidly. Market liberalization in India in 1991, for example, resulted in export sales of carved crafts expanding at 40 per cent per year (NIDC, 1997). But this economic success is based on a declining and over-exploited natural resource base, which threatens the long-term viability of the woodcarving industry. There are also broader implications for biodiversity conservation, as several

200 Carving Out a Future

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 14.1 Hundreds of muhugu ‘mahogany’ (Brachylaena huillensis, Asteraceae) trees felled from a coastal forest of global conservation significance being off-loaded by truck at a carving centre in Mombasa, Kenya restricted-range species from a variety of habitats have been over-exploited. Species-selective over-exploitation within conservation priority habitats (sensu Olsen and Dinerstein, 1998) occurs widely, including in moist evergreen forest sites of international conservation significance in India (Western Ghats, Andaman Islands and Assam) and coastal forests in East Africa. Many importers, retailers and consumers of woodcarvings remain unaware of the resource impacts of commercial carving enterprises. Important questions need to be asked: can we predict the vulnerability of conservation priority species to over-exploitation? Does the woodcarving trade generate an ‘ecological footprint’?1 If so, how big is it? What are the implications of the development of the carving trade for the conservation of species and habitats? When resource stocks decline, how do carvers respond to scarcity? What does resource over-exploitation mean to carvers in terms of ‘hidden’ social effects? Answers to these questions can lead to more informed decisions about managing woodcarving species, both in natural forests and in intensified production systems. Progress in this area can lead to improved forestry, tourism, development and international trade policies for the commercial carved wood trade. To help answer these questions we first discuss why carvers prefer certain species and how and why some wood characteristics are relevant to resource management. We then discuss why carving woods become scarce and look at

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the responses to scarcity. Then we look in detail at the ecological and economic considerations for resource management. Improved resource management includes action by local communities or the state, and production of woodcarving species through agroforestry or plantations, as well as policy change (see Chapter 16).

FOCAL FAMILIES AND GENERA Woodcarvers need wood with specific requirements, such as close grain, high tensile strength, resonance (for musical instruments) and resistance to cracking and insect attack. These characteristics tend to be found in related species – the most favoured carving species occur within relatively few plant families and genera. As mentioned in Chapter 2, these can be divided into two broad groups. The first group includes light-coloured softwoods that resist insect borers and cracking and are typically carved into masks, drums, cups, milk pails and spoons. In the tropics, these are from faster-growing, latex-producing trees in the Apocynaceae family (such as Alstonia, Funtumia, Rauvolfia and Wrightia) and Moraceae family (Brosimum, Ficus and Milicia), resincontaining Burseraceae family (Bursera, Commiphora) or trees without latex in the Araliaceae (Polyscias), Fabaceae (Alibizia, Paraserianthus), Rutaceae (Zanthoxylum) and Sterculiaceae families (Brachychiton). In temperate areas, wood often comes from conifers in the Cupressaceae (Thuja) and Pinaceae families (Picea, Pinus). The second group is of dense, slow-growing hardwoods with fine grain that take a fine polish and rarely crack. These species are often heavily exploited by the commercial timber industry, as well as for carving (see Figure 14.4). Focal families and genera are in the Bignoniaceae (Tabebuia), Boraginaceae (Cordia), Ebenaceae (Diospyros), Fabaceae (Afzelia, Dalbergia, Intsia and Pterocarpus) and Lauraceae (Eusideroxylon). The high density (usually 800kg–1020kg per cubic metre) of many of these hardwood species, such as several Dalbergia species, is reflected in their slow growth rates (see Boxes 14.1, 14.2 and 14.4). These species have a history of overexploitation in the timber industry, with poorly managed logging and insufficiently long rotation times. As a result, for example, Diospyros species are threatened in many different parts of the world, such as D. quaesita in Sri Lanka, D. mun in Vietnam and D. crassifolia in West Africa, with virtually all large trees felled except in remote parts of their range. This is realized as an important cost to many local people who also use Diospyros species for their edible fruits, dyes and sources of traditional medicine, such as D. malabarica fruits used to treat diarrhoea and dysentery. Faster-growing, light-demanding species are more able to withstand demand for carving wood; yet there are cases in which depletion of wild populations has occurred. Polyscias fulva, for example is a favoured species for woodcarving through most montane forest areas of Central and West Africa (Rwanda, Burundi, western Uganda and Cameroon). Due to its rapid

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BOX 14.1 GROWTH AND YIELD: MIOMBO WOODLAND AND THE WOODCRAFT SECTOR IN ZIMBABWE Oliver Braedt and Reinhold Glauner Since the 1990s some rural households in Zimbabwe started income diversification by producing and marketing woodcarvings (Braedt and StandaGunda, 2000). The ecological impacts of these activities on the local miombo forests are alarming. One main aspect to be considered for sustaining forestbased incomes is the understanding of the production capacity of the resource. Without knowing the natural growth (and thus production) capacity it is impossible to sustainably manage the resource profitably (Peters, 1994). In particular, the time-related increment of a forest stand is essential for assessing sustainable harvesting levels (Bick et al, 1998). Therefore, to quantify the impacts on local woodlands, a simple statistical growth model was developed (Braedt, 2002). The model served to simulate the ‘net increment’ (ie the maximum amount of timber available for extraction, m3ha–1yr–1) over growing stock (m3ha–1). Moreover, the model allowed prediction of the development of ‘growing stock’ over time. Two scenarios (‘no harvesting’ and ‘current demand’) on adjacent communal and private miombo forests were used to project the effects of extraction of wood for the carving sector. The increment development was reasonably described by the model (r2 between 0.76 and 0.81). The resulting bell-shaped pattern for a natural, variouslyaged, mixed miombo forest allowed determining the expected net increment at any given growing stock (Figure 14.2). The maximum of the curve corresponded to the desired growing stock level, around which the actual growing stock levels

Net periodic increment (m3ha–1yr–1)

0.12

Current growing stock private forests

No use Current demand

0.10 r2 = 0.81 0.08

Current growing stock communal forests

r2 = 0.76

0.06 0.04 0.02 0 0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Growing stock

9

10

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13

14

(m3/ha)

Note: Harvesting scenarios: (i) ‘no use’ = no harvesting (moratorium); (ii) ‘current demand’ = the annual demand of wood by the carving sector per hectare and forest tenure class (i.e. 0.03m3ha–1yr–1 for communal forest and 0.01m3ha–1yr–1 for private forest).

Figure 14.2 Net commercial increment over growing stock for the tree species used for carving for two harvesting scenarios

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Private land tenure

}

10 8 No use Current demand

6 4

}

Communal land tenure

Growing stock >20cm dbh (m3ha–1yr–1)

12

203

2 0 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Year Note: Harvesting scenarios: (i) ‘no use’ = no harvesting (moratorium); (ii) ‘current demand’ = the annual demand of wood by the carving sector per hectare and land tenure class (i.e. 0.03m3ha–1yr–1 for communal forest and 0.01m3ha–1yr–1 for private forest).

Figure 14.3 The development of growing stock of tree species used for carving in private and communal forests for two harvesting scenarios ideally should oscillate to obtain maximum net increment on the long run (Bick et al, 1998). The model calculations reveal that the maximum net increments of the two scenarios varied between 0.10m3ha–1yr–1 for the ‘no use’ scenario and 0.11m3ha–1yr–1 for the ‘current demand’ scenario. The respective maximum growing stock levels approximated 7.3m3ha–1 for the ‘current demand’ scenario and 8.0m3ha–1 for the ‘no use’ scenario. Comparing the model outputs with actual conditions revealed that the current growing stock in private forests was around the target (=8.1m3ha–1), whereas the current growing stock in communal forests (=2.7m3ha–1) was alarmingly low (Figure 14.2). A central aspect in forest planning is the time required until the desired growing stock is achieved (Glauner et al, 2001). Only when this point has been reached and sustained can maximum harvesting levels and thus continuous income for rural households be obtained. Figure 14.3 shows that private forests had a continuously increasing growing stock under both scenarios. After 100 years, the current stock of 8.1m3ha–1 at the beginning of the simulation increased to 11.7m3ha–1 under the ‘no use’ scenario and to 11.0m3ha–1 under the ‘current demand’ scenario. This is a clear indication that private forests could sustain even higher extraction rates than at present. Simulations for communal forests (Figure 14.3) clearly showed that the current growing stock level was below the minimum for self regeneration. Even under the ‘no-use’ scenario an increase in the growing stock did not take place over the 100 year simulation period. The current stock of 2.7m3ha–1 at the beginning of the simulation decreased to 2.2m3ha–1 in the ‘no use’ scenario and to 0.8m3ha–1 in the ‘current demand’ scenario. This is a clear indication that rural households will face problems in sustaining their incomes from woodcarvings from communal forests.

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BOX 14.2 REMARKABLE TREES: DALBERGIA CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Anthony Cunningham The genus Dalbergia, with circa 125 species of trees, shrubs and lianas in the pea family (Papilionaceae), contains the world’s most valuable species for woodcarving, woodturning and timber. These are known by a confusing array of trade names, most commonly as rosewood, blackwood, palisander, sheesham, sissoo and ebony (not to be confused with the ‘true ebonies’ Diospyros in the family Ebenaceae). Trade in Dalbergia wood from the tropics has a very long history. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Dalbergia hainanensis (huanghuali) was the wood used for Chinese Imperial furniture, while D. melanoxylon (the African ebony or African blackwood), along with ivory and slaves, was an important part of East African trade to the Arabian peninsula and later to Europe. During the 19th century, when colonial botanists explored tropical floras for species that were potential sources of revenue, D. melanoxylon also provided the standard against which all other woodturning species were judged for their quality: a feature recognized today by those who use it to produce the world’s finest woodwind instruments (see Box 13.4). This trade has had an impact on some highly valued species. Centres of Dalbergia diversity are Madagascar (43 species, all but one found nowhere else in the world) and in Asia (with 70 species) along the Himalayas from northern Pakistan to China. Eleven species (8.8 per cent) of the genus Dalbergia are included on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Plants (Walter and Gillet, 1998). However, thorough review of the conservation status of Dalbergia species may result in some more species being added. Neither the heavily exploited Dalbergia baronii and D. monticola, endemic trees restricted to eastern Madagascar (Schatz, 2001), nor D. horrida in India, which survives only in a few sacred groves in Kerala (Mabberley, 1992), are included on the 1997 IUCN Red List, for example. Most of threatened species are South American: • • •

from Brazil: Dalbergia cearensis vulnerable (V), D. decipularis (V), D. frutecens var. tomentosa (V) and D. nigra rare (R); from Panama: D. darienensis endangered (E); and from Salvador and Guatemala: D. funera (E).

Threatened species are also found in Asia, particularly China: Dalbergia fusca var. enneandra (V), D. odorifera (E) and D. tonkinensis (V), which is also found in Vietnam, and Africa, with two species listed by the IUCN (Walter and Gillet, 1998), D. setifera (E) in Ghana and D. eremicola (R) in north-east Kenya and into Somalia. As most species are shrubs or lianas (such as Dalbergia setifera and D. eremicola, a small shrub which is locally common on red sands near Wajir in north-east Kenya and into Somalia), which are too small and/or too crooked for their wood to be used, habitat loss, rather than the commercial timber or woodcarving trades, are the major threat to several of these Dalbergia species. Of the 59 Dalbergia species in Africa (Lock, 1989), for example, many are used on a small scale for traditional medicine; but just a few are used for making

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walking sticks, cudgels and snuff containers (Dalbergia hostilis, D. melanoxylon, D. nitidula, D. obovata and D. saxatilis). Only one species (Dalbergia melanoxylon) enters international trade, whereas in Asia, seven species (10 per cent of the regional total) are commercially used for timber. Dalbergia species produce some of the world’s most expensive woods, particularly rosewoods and African ebony; but they are slow growing. In India, ten-year-old stands of D. latifolia trees are 6m high and 4cm–5cm in diameter, with the average age of 60cm diameter trees reported as 240 years (Soerianegara and Lemmens, 1994). There is, therefore, a great temptation to shorten cutting cycles – and natural populations in many parts of the world urgently need protection. There are exceptions, however. Dalbergia sissoo, for example, grows rapidly, and can reach 11m in five years and 15m in ten years. As a result, D. sissoo is the second most widely cultivated tree in South Asia (after teak, Tectona grandis).

growth rate and the abundance of this light-demanding softwood tree species in disturbed forests, supplies of wood from Polyscias fulva easily meet the local demand for the production of carved stools, spoons and blacksmiths’ bellows in densely populated (150 to 350 people per square kilometre) south-western Uganda. In these forests, canopy gaps are frequently created by tree falls on

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 14.4 Many hardwood genera favoured by carvers are also heavily exploited for timber: (a) kiaat or mukwa (Pterocarpus angolensis) carved bowls in Namibia; (b) Raymond Obunga next to the dead stump of an African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) in Kenya

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BOX 14.3 BOXES, BURLS AND BERBER THUYA Anthony Cunningham From the medina of Marrakesh to up-market stores in Europe, North America, Japan and Australia, one cannot help seeing distinctive boxes, vases, picture frames and knife handles made of an incredibly beautiful golden wood with characteristic clusters of tight burls, like tiny eyes. These cut, turned and carved items are from woody lignotubers, the thick rootstock of a remarkable gymnosperm, Tetraclinis articulata. Known as the Araar tree after the Arabic word ’ar’ar, the source of its name in Malta (Gharghar), it is also widely known as Berber thuya, Sandarac gum tree, Barbary arbor-vitae, alerce, Mediterranean alerce, citron wood tree and African juniper. Like ebony (see Box 14.2) and African blackwood (see Chapter 5), Tetraclinis is a famed tree in historic trade. It was the favoured wood for construction and artefacts of the Greek and Roman Empire. It is also the fabled fuelwood used on the island of Ogygia by Calypso, a sea nymph who imprisoned Odysseus, and a tree which Theophrastus, the father of botany, recorded growing at Cyrene in Libya in 390 BC. Today, one can still buy arrar wood: this time via the internet, at US$8–$18 per pound (see www.starsart.com), although most products leave North Africa in a finished state. The total quantities exported are unknown. Tetraclinis articulata is a monotypic genus, endemic to North Africa, with two small populations in Europe (northern Malta and near Cartagena, south-eastern Spain) whose closest relatives (Callitris) are found in Australia. Sensitive to frost and ice, evidence from fossil pollen shows that Tetraclinis articulata is a relict species eradicated from large areas of Europe by ice-age freeze. Today, Tetraclinis woodlands are concentrated in the dry, frost-free coastal lowlands of Morocco, along the western Algeria coast and within some mountain areas along the north-eastern Tunisian coast. A ‘flagship’ tree species of the Mediterranean woodland and forest eco-region, Tetraclinis woodlands and forests extend over almost 10,000 square kilometres in North Africa – 7500 square kilometres in Morocco, 1600 square kilometres in Algeria and about 220 square kilometres in Tunisia, primarily on limestone areas (WWF-US, 2002). Despite this relatively wide distribution in North Africa, Tetraclinis is listed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as an endangered species in Spain and Malta (where it is the national tree), rare in Algeria and Tunisia, and vulnerable in Morocco. Why is this species considered threatened? Conversion to agricultural land, intensive grazing by livestock and fire management on land used for pasture are part of the reason. A long history of use of arrar timber for construction, furnituremaking and handicrafts is another, and the eye-like burls of the lignotuber have an important story to tell: Tetraclinis is one of only two Mediterranean conifer species that can be transformed into coppice woodlands, the other being the Canary pine (Pinus canariensis). This is a characteristic of resprouting species, whose resilience to stem harvest and fire is due to their putting energy into maintaining a ‘bud-bank’ that produces new shoots from the thick rootstock. In terms of resource management, the worst thing to do to a resprouter is to dig up the rootstock (Cunningham, 2001). This is precisely what is happening to get the beautiful burl wood.

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There is also an interesting connection to the state of Mediterranean and Atlantic fish stocks. In common with many parts of the world, local fish stocks – and the livelihoods of fishermen along the Moroccan coast – are in decline. With tourism growing, many fishermen from Moroccan coastal villages such as Essaouira are abandoning fishing and producing Tetraclinis carvings and handicrafts instead (Moussouris and Pierce, 2000). This cascade effect from declining fish stocks merely exacerbates the decline of the Tetraclinis populations. It also highlights the need for action, not only for Moroccan people’s livelihoods, but also for the value of Tetraclinis to a far wider part of humanity. Tetraclinis is not only the source of sandarac resin used in lacquers and varnish production, but extracts of essential oil from Tetraclinis articulata inhibit cancer in human melanoma, breast and ovarian cells (Buhagiar et al, 1999). Taxol from a related and equally ancient gymnosperm, Taxus baccata, is currently one of the most effective treatments for breast cancer, a major cause of mortality in women: a good reason to conserve Tetraclinis woodlands, with all their component species.

steep slopes. By contrast, in Ugandan lowland forests closed to logging for many years, such as Mpanga Forest, a lack of canopy gaps may have contributed to the scarcity of Polyscias, a light-demanding (and shadeintolerant) species (see Chapter 4). The same does not apply in the Bamenda highlands of north-west Cameroon, however, where carvers in a similarly dense farming population are renowned for the large, innovative and culturally significant carvings they make from Polyscias fulva. Although Argenti (1996) only recorded 40 to 50 carvers in the Mount Kilum/Oku area of north-west Cameroon (out of a total population of circa 60,000 people), there has been over-exploitation of this species from the forest. As a result, many carvers in this area now plant this species on their small-scale farms (Argenti, 1996).

CONTEXT AND CARVING WOODS: MULTIPLE REASONS FOR SCARCITY Increased scarcity of woodcarving species is driven by a range of factors. This is illustrated for Berber thuya (Tetraclinis articulata), where farming, fire and browsing animals have had negative impacts (see Box 14.3). Reduction in tree cover through clearing for commercial or subsistence farming purposes has been a major contributor to reduced supplies of carved hardwoods. So has commercial exploitation for sawn timber. As mentioned in the previous section, many tree species preferred by carvers have long been the focus of commercial logging, and traded volumes are high. For example, in 1995, Malaysia exported 42,000 cubic metres of Intsia bijuga timber and Indonesia exported three times this volume – over 137,000 cubic metres – primarily to The Netherlands and Germany to make windows and doors (Soerianegara and

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SCARCITY

Reduce power of competing users

Intensify sourcing Strong tenure • Resource • Land area Go further (extend supply)

Shift to substitution species

Experiment with range of species

‘Waste wood’ • smaller individuals • branches Product diversification

‘Faking’

Intensive/extensive managed production (wild population)

Policy responses in practice!

Demand Tenure Intensification Cultivation

Supply responses Favourable social, ecological, circumstances within a supportive policy environment

Note: Causes of scarcity include: overexploitation by carvers; exploitation by timber or clearing habitat; loss of resource due to competing land uses; and overexploitation or control by competing users of the same resource (such as charcoal burners or loggers). Source: Anthony Cunningham, Bruce Campbell, Brian Belcher and Ramadhani Achdiawan

Figure 14.5 A conceptual model of different woodcarver responses to scarcity of woodcarving trees Lemmens, 1994). Eusideroxylon zwageri, a favoured wood of Dayak carvers in Borneo, is another commercially important timber which has long been favoured both for local use and in export trade (Peluso, 1992). The increased availability of forest roads opened by concessionaires is leading to greater problems of uncontrolled exploitation in Kalimantan (Partomihardjo, 1987). Over-exploitation, together with forest clearance, has led to the decline of this slow-growing timber species. Huge stands of Eusideroxylon zwageri in lowland forests of southern Sumatra have been almost entirely destroyed (Davis et al, 1994). Declining wild stocks are reflected in declining export volumes. The state of Sabah on the island of Borneo, for example, exported 3,836,070 cubic metres of Eusideroxylon zwageri timber in 1987 (WCMC, 1995). By 1992, this had dropped to 7350 cubic metres (Soerianegara and Lemmens, 1994).

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Other commercial uses can also have an impact. Since the 19th century the main demand for sandalwood has been for essential oil extraction, leading to the decline of sandalwood populations in Hawaii (Santalum freycinetianum), Juan Fernandez (S. fernandianum), Fiji (S. yasi) and in India and East and West Timor (S. album). With commercial logging for timber having such an impact, why should we bother about the effects of the commercial carving trade? There are several reasons for concern. First, and particularly in Asia, the timber industry and woodcarving are closely linked, where sawn timber is intricately carved to make furniture, doors and entire buildings. The town of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, India (see Chapter 8), where 50,000 to 60,000 people are involved in this form of carving, is a good example. In 1997 wooden handicrafts production in Saharanpur reportedly ‘came to a standstill’ when an estimated 120 unlicensed sawmills in the district were closed on the orders of the Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra state governments (Sharma, 1997). Second, although the volume of timber used by carvers may be low compared to timber production on a national scale, a focus on over-exploited hardwoods within conservation areas and on small diameter species is cause for concern. The total volume of wood commercially carved in Kenya represents just 1 per cent of timber produced nationally (Choge, 2002). But most of the 17,500 cubic metres carved is Brachylaena huillensis, a very slow-growing species illegally exploited from the last remaining populations in high conservation priority ‘protected’ forests. Alternative supply sources and sustainable wood production therefore need to be developed to avoid future problems of this sort. Unless policy changes take place, whether through smallholder agroforestry production or plantation production, the wooden handicrafts industry will be in for tough times.

PREDICTING CARVER RESPONSES TO WOOD SCARCITY Carvers respond to wood scarcity in different, but generally predictable, ways that are determined by specific circumstances. These responses are summarized in Figure 14.5. How carvers respond to scarcity depends upon their situation. This is influenced by factors such as the value and demand for the products they produce and the opportunity costs of land and labour. We used quantitative data to compare eight woodcarving cases (see Chapter 13 for the methods used). As we might expect, there is a positive relationship between level of development (using a proxy based on human population density, transportation infrastructure and the ratio of local labour rate to national labour rate) and intensification of natural resource production. The circumstances which influence carvers’ response to wood scarcity relate to local context in terms of production systems, human population density, cultural and social networks, educational status, and alternative employment opportunities, price/volume of the timber and profit margins on carvings (see Chapter 13 and Belcher et al, 2005).

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BOX 14.4 ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PTEROCARPUS ANGOLENSIS AND IMPACTS OF HARVESTING IN

BUSHBUCKRIDGE, SOUTH AFRICA Sheona E. Shackleton Pterocarpus angolensis is a fairly ubiquitous species in that it occurs throughout Southern and Eastern Africa. However, its geographic distribution in South Africa is limited to parts of Limpopo Province, Mpumalanga and northern KwaZuluNatal. Within Bushbuckridge, the location of the case study (see Chapter 7), this species has a fairly scattered distribution. The data provided in this box apply to those areas in which P. angolensis occurs and not the whole case study area. All of the attributes of this species point to its high vulnerability to over-exploitation. Pterocarpus angolensis has a poor resprouting ability in the study area (Shackleton, 1997) and in other areas in South Africa (Krynauw, 1999). Consequently, most trees die after cutting. Recruitment is episodic (Shackleton, C. M., 1993; Clarke, 1997), and tree density is low at about two to three adults per hectare (Desmet et al, 1996), although the total number of stems (seedlings and saplings) can be as high as 26 to 59 per hectare (Krynauw, 1999). Little is known about the growth rates of woodland species in South Africa, including Pterocarpus angolensis. P. angolensis has a peculiar trait of remaining as a suffrutex (a small 2m–3m plant) for a number of years, possibly up to 24 years (Vermeulen, 1990). The cues that stimulate it to enter a phase of rapid vertical growth are unknown, but have been speculated as fire, browsing, high rainfall or release from competition. Based on data collected by Shackleton (1997) over a period of seven years for 99 trees, the time to reach a minimum harvestable size of 84cm in circumference (Desmet et al, 1996) was calculated at approximately 82 years (assuming a starting stem circumference of 3cm). The model derived by Desmet et al (1996) between diameter and absolute mean annual increment based on one year’s growth data results in an estimate of approximately 93 years. Neither of these estimates includes time in the suffrutex stage. In terms of seed production, Shackleton (1997) found that half of all trees of 60cm in circumference (approximately 59 years old) bore fruit, and all trees 80cm in circumference (approximately 78 years old) or greater had fruit. Fruiting is regular, and pollination and seed dispersal are by wind. The rate of harvesting of Pterocarpus angolensis in Bushbuckridge was estimated as 5.6 per cent of harvestable individuals per year in 1994 (Desmet et al, 1996). A simple Leslie matrix model indicated that this was unsustainable over the long term. Clarke (1997) compared the demand data of Shackleton (Shackleton, S. E., 1993) with supply data (density and size-class profiles) for several species and similarly concluded that current rates of demand are unsustainable. Certainly, wood scarcity has become a major concern for producers during the period of 1993–2000, and has been the most significant change observed in the local industry. Previously, most producers felt that there was adequate wood (Shackleton, 1993a); but in a more recent survey (see Chapter 7) all report a severe shortage. None of the harvesting sites mentioned in 1993 were still in use. Craftspeople were moving further north, as well as looking increasingly to populations outside the study area. However, recruitment

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is occurring (Desmet et al, 1996) and many producers commented on the large number of young Pterocarpus angolensis individuals that exist in selected areas. In particular, Bushbuckridge Nature Reserve has large stands of immature trees (Shackleton, 1997), although most mature trees have been illegally removed (Macleod, 1999). There is evidence that pressure on young trees is increasing as mature trees become scarcer. Some carvers are beginning to harvest small diameter trees to make walking sticks – something that would have never happened in the past due to an understanding amongst woodworkers regarding the need to protect immature trees (Shackleton, S. E., 1993).

Whether tree cultivation takes place or not also depends upon the ecological characteristics of the woodcarving species involved, such as growth rates, seed viability and resprouting vigour. Pterocarpus angolensis, a favoured source of timber, building poles and carving wood in Southern Africa, provides a good example of the interplay between these ecological attributes (see Box 14.4). In the cases we examined, responses of carvers to wood scarcity could be divided into three categories, which are described in the following sections: supply-based responses, demand-based responses and tenure-based responses.

Supply-based responses There are seven typical supply-based responses: 1

2

3

Travel further to source wood: carvers extend their network to source the most favoured carved wood timber species (rather than substitutes) further and further afield. In the initial stages this may mean that carvers have to walk further for wood. As resources are further depleted, transport is needed, creating a niche for traders that can access wood from more remote sources, as in Oaxaca, Mexico (Bursera glabrifolia) (see Chapter 11). In Indonesia, wood is shipped to Bali from Sulawesi (Diospyros celebica) and Timor (Santalum album). In Southern Africa, Pterocarpus angolensis is transported to Namibia from southern Angola and to South Africa from Mozambique. In Kenya, some Brachylaena huillensis comes from Tanzania. Adapt to use smaller pieces: carvers start to use smaller stem-diameter size classes and/or produce smaller carved products. This often means using younger trees. It is both a symptom and a cause of over-exploitation. New or modified technology may be used to deal with smaller wood diameters and create wider marketing opportunities, such as low-technology wood lathes used in Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania to produce bowls, chess pieces and egg cups. Intensify use: in some cases, carvers ‘salvage’ stumps and roots from highvalue species such as Dalbergia melanoxylon and Santalum species (S. acuminata, S. album and S. yasi) whose stems were cut in the past for carving, timber or other products, such as sandalwood oil extraction.

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Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 14.6 Over the past ten years, Kenyan carvers in Mombasa have increasingly shifted from indigenous hardwoods to neem (Azadirachta indica), which is shown here being sawn prior to carving 4

5

Switch to alternative species: carvers shift to alternative, locally available species with the characteristics required for particular types of carvings. These shifts often occur across a limited range of families and genera, and may lead to a process of ‘serial over-exploitation’ of one species after another. In many cases, when carvers ‘switch’ to alternative species, they also disguise the substitute wood so that it looks like the scarce, highervalue species. Common examples of this are the use of black boot polish to produce ‘ebony number two’ and fake Dalbergia melanoxylon wood (Malawi and Kenya) and sandalwood oil to produce fake ‘sandalwood’ (Indonesia). Decreasing supplies and increasing costs for raw material stimulates innovation and experimentation. In Mombasa, Kenya, for example, on their own initiative, carvers tested over 60 tree species for their carving qualities (Obunga, 1995). Move to available resources: carvers and their families move to the ‘resource-rich frontier’, settling there until wood stocks are depleted, then shifting again and repeating the process. In Fiji, depletion of Intsia bijuga for commercial kava bowl production on Kabara Island in the Lau island group is driving carvers to source trees on neighbouring islands such as Fulaga (Francis Areki, personal communication, 2004). In Kenya, WaKamba woodcarvers have moved from their home area of Wamunyu in Machakos district to the resource-rich frontier forests of coastal and

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6

7

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central Kenya. Even then, coastal forests were so depleted that approximately 4000 Brachylaena huillensis trees per year are transported from forests in northern Tanzania to Kenya (Cunningham and Choge, 2004). Other examples are found within countries (India, Malawi and South Africa) as well as across international boundaries in Kenya and Namibia (Choge, 2000; C. Hines, personal communication, 2002). Switch to available cultivated resources: carvers shift to harvest existing stocks of cultivated or naturalized supplies of introduced species planted for other reasons, either as roadside trees (Jacaranda mimosifolia in Kenya; Swietenia mahogani from Java to Bali), naturalized species (Azadirachta indica in Kenya; see Box 14.5) or plantations and enrichment plantings (Swietenia mahogani from Java to Bali). Deliberately cultivate suitable tree species: finally, under the right conditions, carvers (or other suppliers) deliberately plant trees for woodcarving, either nurturing self-sown wildings in farm fields (examples are found in the case of Trichilia emetica in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and Polyscias fulva in north-west Cameroon), or responding to a statesupported national planting campaign which supplies a fast-growing tree species with wood suited for some types of woodcarving and cabinetmaking. A good example of this is the 1985 Sengonisasi campaign for planting sengon (Paraserianthes falcataria) in Java and Bali, Indonesia (see Chapter 9).

Demand-based responses Carvers can also respond to wood scarcity on the demand side. Consumers can be encouraged to purchase in a number of ways. First, carvers may ‘mock up’ alternative species and sell them as the more valuable but scarcer wood. Second, as larger stems are exhausted and carvers shift to smaller stems and branches, they may also modify their products to stimulate demand for the smaller classes of wood. Small low-priced items can be very popular as gifts and souvenirs, especially in tourist markets. Examples are easy to find in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Indonesia (Bali). Third, carvers and traders can try to stimulate consumer demand for alternative, fast-growing woods using an environmental or development message. In Kenya, carvings made of ‘good woods’ (such as Azadirachta indica) have been promoted to tourists in country and marketed internationally (see Figure 14.6). Efforts are now under way to get these carvings ‘certified’ as an additional ‘green’ marketing tool (see Chapter 15).

Tenure-based responses As resources become more valuable and/or competition for them increases, users may try to appropriate them for themselves and to exclude competitors. For example, carvers may strengthen their ownership and control over wild or managed species (such as Erythrina verspitilio in parts of central Australia).

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Alternatively, commercial demand for wood for carving may weaken customary rules and tenure over multiple-use carved wood species conserved for other more sustainably harvested products, such as edible fruits (for example, Sclerocarya birrea, Berchemia discolor and B. zeyheri in communal grazing areas in South Africa and Zimbabwe).

RESOURCE MANAGERS AND CONSERVATIONISTS: WHAT’S YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE? Which tree species for carving would be a resource manager’s or conservationist’s ‘worst nightmare?’ It would be a large, shade-tolerant, slowgrowing tree (fine-grained, dense wood and greater than 1000kg per cubic metre in density). Unable to resprout from shoots, reproduction would only be from seed. There would be separate male and female trees (dioecy), as is common with ebony trees (Ebenaceae). The seeds would be typical of tropical forests: large and needing to germinate quickly, rather than being able to stay buried for years in a soil seed bank. Few seeds would be produced each year and they would be dispersed by a large bird or mammal (which local people like to eat). The ‘nightmare’ tree species would have a limited geographic distribution, very specific habitat requirements for soils with high arable potential, but would occur at a low population density. To compound the challenge, this species would have multiple uses: leaves browsed by livestock; favoured for timber and charcoal production (like all dense woods); and its bark would have medicinal properties. Like most forest trees, the bark is thin, providing little protection against fire. Once this bark is removed, the tree trunk is vulnerable to fire, fungal infection and insect attack. Loss of the seed dispersers would also pose a major problem for these tree populations. Few, if any, species actually have all of these characters; but some come close. We give just two examples here: one focused on a genus (the true ebonies), the other on a conservation priority location (Madagascar). True ebonies are the most favoured and most expensive woods for carving and for timber – commercial logging is a major competitor for woodcarvers. Some of these species have been traded for centuries. Ebony from Diospyros ebenum, found in India and Sri Lanka, has probably been traded for several thousand years. True ebonies are in the genus Diospyros, one of two genera in the family Ebenaceae. The genus is also the source of Japanese persimmons (Diospyros kaki), date plums (D. blancoi) and American persimmons (D. virginiana), whose wood is made into golf club heads (Mabberley, 1997). A large genus of 500 species, most of which are found in Asia (200 species, 100 of which are in Indonesia) and Madagascar (100 species, including 25 more being described), with 94 species in Africa and 80 in South America. Aside from their slow growth, their dioecy (separate male and female trees) adds to their vulnerability, particularly in forests fragmented by habitat loss. As a result, many Diospyros species are threatened. In an excellent study in

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the Western Ghats of India, Somananthan and Borges (2000) studied harvested and un-harvested populations of Diospyros montana and D. sylvatica. In unharvested populations, 45 per cent of male trees were within 10m of a female tree. In harvested populations, not only were the large, most productive and reproductively mature trees felled, but no female trees were within 40m of a male, and 35 per cent of trees were more than 80m away. Tree sex ratios were heavily skewed towards female trees. As a result, during the same year (1996) successful pollination (by insects) and fruit set was significantly lower in the harvested population of Diospyros montana (4.31 per cent) than in unharvested populations (31.08 per cent) (Somananthan and Borges, 2000). Tree species carved in Madagascar provide the second example of a resource manager’s nightmare. This amazing island has a very high diversity of tree species favoured for woodcarving, and many of these have a limited geographic distribution. Baudouinia (Fabaceae) is an endemic genus of six species of which several are threatened by commercial woodcarving. There is also a remarkable diversity of Dalbergia in Madagascar (43 species – 34 per cent of the world total – and all but one is endemic). Again, several species are threatened by the export timber trade, charcoal production, demand for local construction and, to a lesser extent, woodcarving (see Box 14.2). Fortunately, these trees, all in the Leguminosae family, are able to resprout, so they are not dependent upon seed for reproduction. Their seeds are relatively small and can retain viability in a soil seed bank. However, if there are browsing animals around that eat seedlings or resprouted shoots from cut stumps, then these species are in deep trouble. Most threatened of the above examples is Baudouinia rouxevillei, only found on the Mahalafy limestones between the Onilahy and Fiherana rivers, whose wood is used for carvings, lamp stands and for symbolic purposes to ward off misfortune (Schatz, 2001). This species is absent from the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List (Walter and Gillet, 1998); but it should be listed. What does this example of a ‘nightmare species’ tell about how we might predict management or conservation priority species? And, finally, why bother?

Predicting resilience and vulnerability Commercial craft production is commonly promoted by NGOs and international organizations such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)/World Trade Organization (WTO) International Trade Centre as a means of enabling rural people to generate a cash income (Lederman, 1997; Yoffe, 1997). If sustainable development objectives are to be achieved, then resource over-exploitation must be avoided. The question is whether vulnerability to over-exploitation and conservation priority species can be predicted. Admittedly, we know little about the growth rates or population biology of many of the tropical species favoured by carvers. Dalbergia sissoo, South Asia’s most commonly carved tree species and the most widely cultivated tree in India after teak (Tectona grandis), is an exception. It

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has been the focus of several reviews and much research (Tewari, 1994; Khan, 1995; Bangarwa, 1996; Thapliyal and O’Connor, 1997; Devagiri et al, 1998). Correct identification of commercially carved tree species, rather than just the trade name, is important (see Box 1.1). Grouping these tree species together in other ways is also useful. Carved tree species can be grouped according to demand – for example, the quantity harvested or whether they are used for subsistence or commercial purposes. Trees can also be grouped according to their ecological characteristics. One advantage when identifying priority tree species for more detailed monitoring or management, however, is that carvers select species in relatively few plant families and genera, focusing on the two broad groups of trees mentioned above: light-coloured, fast-growing softwoods and, secondly, slower-growing hardwoods.

Selective criteria, sunlight and wood density One of the most common ways in which foresters group tree species is according to their light requirements. The division of forest trees into shadetolerant versus light-demanding species or ‘gap’ versus ‘non-gap’ species is common. These reflect the different forest successional stages that these trees favour, such as early pioneer, late secondary or primary forest species. Lightcoloured softwoods are products of light-demanding gap species. Not all softwoods are used, however, as carvers favour species that do not crack easily (for example, Polyscias). This resistance to cracking is more often due to favoured softwood tree species containing latex or resin. The chemical qualities of resin- or latex-bearing woods will also deter wood-boring insects. Aromatic compounds in wood also deter insects, which is why wood of some Meliaceae (Cedrela and Toona) and Rutaceae (Zanthoxylum) is favoured. Many of these trees are valued medicinally or for their fruits, in addition to their wood. Tree species with the hardest and most dense woods (1000kg–1200kg per cubic metre) are usually in shade-tolerant genera such as Calophyllum (Guttiferae), Diospyros (Ebenaceae), Eusideroxylon (Lauraceae), Manilkara (Sapotaceae) and Olea (Oleaceae). Commercial use of medium-density hardwoods in the Fabaceae (Afzelia, Dalbergia, Intsia, Pericopsis and Pterocarpus) and Boraginaceae (Cordia) and Juglandaceae (Juglans) is more common. Wood density and growth rates not only vary from site to site, but also vary across a single genus. Dalbergia is a good example, as Dalbergia sissoo has wood of 700kg per cubic metre, while Dalbergia melanoxylon has wood of 1200kg per cubic metre. These simple categorizations can help to select species for conservation or management studies on the density, regeneration rate, yield or harvesting impact at a plant population level. Recent insights from functional ecology (Westoby, 1998; Bond and Midgeley, 2001) can help take this prioritization much more than has normally been the case. Furthermore, subdividing species according to commonness or rarity (Rabinowitz et al 1986; Pitman et al, 1999)

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and taxonomic distinctiveness enables high conservation priority species and those vulnerable to over-exploitation to be ‘filtered out’ from more resilient species and those that have potential for agroforestry or plantation production. Information on the number of species in different genera (from Mabberley, 1997) can be used to identify phylogenetically distinct groups, such as monotypic families or genera. When used with IUCN lists of threatened plants (Walter and Gillet, 1998) and trees (WCMC, 1998), this can be a further ‘filter’ for high conservation priority species (Cunningham, 2001). These steps to identify priority woodcarving resources are important when money and manpower for management planning is scarce. Finally, in terms of selecting suitable tree species for agroforestry systems, it is useful to group trees used by carvers according to their growth pattern and form (or ‘architecture’), a field of study pioneered by Hallé and Oldeman (1970) to explain the structure and growth of tropical trees. In this way, species can be selected that are appropriate for a particular application – for example, to minimize light and water competition for inter-planting with field crops, or a spreading architecture to maximize shade, if that is desired.

Ecological and economic insights into sustainable harvest There is a solid body of ecological theory that enables conservation biologists to predict vulnerability or resilience to harvest. In particular, research by Loehle (2000), Weiher et al (1999) and Westoby (1998) have identified what are termed plant ecological strategy schemes (PESSs) or plant functional types (PFTs). These are very useful for predicting management priorities from an ecological perspective. The three most widely accepted traits are specific leaf area (calculated by dividing leaf area by dry leaf mass), seed mass and plant height (Westoby, 1998). These can be usefully combined with an understanding of two other traits: plant persistence through resprouting ability (Bond and Midgeley, 2001) and wood density, which as Weiher et al (1999) point out, is a useful indicator of tree longevity. Together, these link into a fine ‘filter’ for prioritizing species that are vulnerable or resilient to harvest or have potential for cultivation. Based on field observation and records from field guides to trees, we can also categorize trees favoured by woodcarvers into the categories used by Rabinowitz et al (1986). Data on specific leaf area, seed mass and plant height are not readily available for most woodcarving species. Collecting and cataloguing such information would be useful. Data on wood density are available for many species, as foresters have collected wood density data over many years (Goldsmith and Carter, 1981; Soerianegara and Lemmens, 1994; Timyan, 1996). Information is also available from field guides and floras (such as Coates Palgrave, 2002; Lock, 1989; Schatz, 2001) on the geographic distribution, habitat preferences and local population size of these species. Combined with field observation, this enables these species to be grouped into the different ‘forms of rarity’ used by Rabinowitz et al (1986) (see Figure 14.7).

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r2 = 67%

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Wood density (kg/m3) Note: Four main groups of trees are shown: (A) lower conservation priority viable growers; (B) slower growers, viable wild stock management; (C) slow growers, vulnerable to over-harvest; (D) highly vulnerable, small resource stock species. (A) Faster-growing species: Agathis borneensis (Ag.b); Antiaris toxicaria (An.t); Ekebergia capensis (Ek.c); Ficus exasperata (Fi.e); Sclerocarya birrea (Sc.b); Tectona grandis (Tec.g); Paraserianthes falcataria (Pa.f); Cordia alliodora (Cor.al); Dalbergia sissoo (Dal.s); Pterocarpus angolensis (Pt.a); Swietenia mahogani (Sw.m); Juglans nigra (Ju.n); Juglans regia (Ju.r); Thuja plicata (Th.p); Trichilia emetica (Tr.e); Colubrina arborescens (Col.a) (B) Slower growers, viable wild stock management: Guibourtia coleosperma (Gu.c); Tetraclinis articulata (Tet.a); Afzelia quanzensis (Af.q); Milettia stuhlmannii (Mi.s); Euxylophora paraensis (Eu.p); Dalbergia nigra (Dal.n); Intsia bijuga (In.b); Catalpa longissima (Ca.l); Pterocarpus dalbergioides (Pt.d); Pericopsis angolensis (Pe.a); Spirostachys africana (Sp.a); Diospyros abyssinica (Di.a) (C) Slow growers, vulnerable to over-harvest: Diospyros abyssinica (Di.a); Diospyros mespiliformis (Di.m); Afzelia rhomboidea (Af.r); Eusideroxylon zwageri (Eus.z); Diospyros celebica (Di.c); Diospyros ebenum (Di.e); Olneya tesota (Oln.t); Tabebuia serratifolia (Ta.s); Olea europaea ssp. africana (Ole.e); Dalbergia melanoxylon (Dal.m) (D) Highly vulnerable, small resource stock species: Baudouinia rouxeville (Ba.r); Dalbergia pupurascens (Dal.p); Dalbergia monticola (Dal.mo); Dalbergia davidii (Dal.d) Source: adapted from Rabinowitz et al (1986)

Figure 14.7 Regression (r2 = 0.67) of wood densities of 45 carved wood tree species with category of commonness or rarity based on 16 options

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1400 Oln.t

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Source: Anthony Cunningham, Bruce Campbell, Brian Belcher and Ramadhani Achdiawan

Figure 14.8 A multiple regression of phylogenetic distinctiveness, wood density and category of commonness or rarity based on 16 options for 45 carved wood tree species If phylogenetic distinctiveness is added as a variable in this same set of 45 species (see Figure 14.8), then dense-timbered, slow-growing hardwoods in monotypic genera stand out as a higher priority than vulnerable, but fastergrowing, species in large genera such as Dalbergia (125 species). These are Olneya tesota (Oln.t), Eusideroxylon zwageri (Eus.z), Tetraclinis articulata (Tet.a), Euxylophora paraensis (Eu.p) and Tabebuia serratifolia (Ta.s). Regressions only based upon wood density, rarity or phylogenetic distinctiveness are crude, yet useful. What would be far better is to also gather and use data on specific leaf area, seed mass and plant height for most woodcarving species. Beyond the plant population level, several other factors also need to be taken into account for resource management and conservation. First, scarcity of woodcarving species is driven by a range of factors, including clearing land for farming, logging of the same species for timber, and the effects of fire and browsing animals. The fact that many species in the same genus can be over-exploited over a wide geographic area can be important for developing priorities for in situ and ex situ conservation disturbance dynamics. Second, forest disturbance dynamics can affect tree species populations.

220 Carving Out a Future a

b

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 14.9 (a) Felling hollow trees for carving, such as this circa 100-year-old Brachylaena huillensis from an East African coastal forest, represents loss of an important nest, roost sites and micro-habitat; (b) softwood trees, such as this Ficus sycamorus with two entry holes to hornbill nests, are ecologically important for this purpose as well as for their edible fruits

BEYOND TREES: ‘ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS’ AND WILDLIFE The ecological impact that commercial tree felling has on forest-dependent animals and on the structure of their forest habitat is also of concern. Although hardwood species are more vulnerable to over-exploitation than faster-growing softwoods, the focus of some carving groups on softwood species has interesting ecological implications. The close relationship between fruit production and forest primate density (Stevenson, 2001), and between breeding densities of hole-nesting birds and available tree cavities (Newton, 1994), is well known. Also well known is the importance of many fig tree species (Moraceae) as a ‘keystone’ resource, not only of fruits for primates, but also for birds such as hornbills, which are tree cavity nesters (see Figure 14.9b). So although some forest primates may even thrive under low-intensity logging, which creates disturbed patches of habitat with favoured food plants,

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BOX 14.5 NEEM (AZADIRACHTA INDICA, A. JUSS., MELIACEAE) AND ITS POTENTIAL FOR SUSTAINABLE WOODCARVING IN KENYA: A CASE STUDY FROM MALINDI Alex O. Obara, Martina G. Höft and Robert Höft Kenya’s woodcarving industry has been estimated to support 60,000 to 80,000 carvers with more than 300,000 dependants, generating about US$20 million in revenue per year (see Chapter 3). Although Kenyan carvers use more than 50 different tree species and consume some 17,500 cubic metres of wood each year, in 1998 almost 85 per cent of the wood volume came from only three indigenous species: Brachylaena huillensis (muhuhu, or mahogany), Dalbergia melanoxylon (mpingo, or African ebony), and Olea europaea ssp. africana (mutamaiyo, or African olive). Serious over-exploitation and depletion of these species has brought about greater efforts to substitute the traditional carving species with alternative woods. For the large carving co-operatives in Kenya’s coastal tourist centres, neem (Azadirachta indica, Meliaceae) has, since 1998, replaced mahogany (Brachylaena huillensis) as the prime carving wood. Neem was introduced to East Africa during the early 20th century. It is a widely cultivated multipurpose tree, which is particularly valued for its fast growth, medicinal uses and as a source of natural insecticides. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)–United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)–Kew People and Plants Initiative (PPI), in collaboration with a range of local and international organizations, has worked with Kenyan carvers since 1994 to identify environmentally sound alternatives to the traditionally preferred hardwoods. In order to promote farmgrown alternatives to indigenous forest species, the People and Plants Initiative has assessed whether the neem carvings can be certified under the group certification system of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). In this box we present base-line data on the distribution and abundance of neem trees, as well as annual allowable cuts. The study was carried out in Malindi district in the centre of Kenya’s 480km shoreline along the Indian Ocean between May and September 2000.

Methodology Random plot locations within a radius of 20km around Malindi town were generated using a random number generator, and a global positioning system (GPS) receiver was used to locate the plots in the field. Permission to assess the neem populations was sought from the owners or managers of the respective plots, who were also asked about the total size of the land unit in question. Where the size of the land unit was known, we sampled the entire unit. Otherwise, a number of 50m x 50m plots were sampled in representative locations within the unit. A total area of 469.5ha, including 409ha on privately owned and 60.5ha on public land (road reserve, schools, hospitals, cemeteries, municipal or county council land, etc.), was sampled, and a total of 1555 neem trees with a diameter at breast height (dbh) of 10cm or larger and 47,240 seedlings and saplings (less than 10cm dbh) were counted. The density of all neem trees with a diameter equal to or greater than 25cm, calculated as the total

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number of trees per area surveyed, was 7.7 per hectare on public and 1.7 per hectare on private land. For each tree total height, merchantable height, height up to the first branch (all done with a Haga clinometer) and dbh were measured. In addition, average diameter and length of all branches suitable for carving (the parts with a diameter of 10cm or larger) were measured or estimated. Trunk and branch volumes of each tree were then calculated using the formula for a cylinder corrected by a form factor of 0.7: Trunk volume = merchantable height x (dbh/2)2 x π x 0.7 Branch volume = ∑(length of merchantable branch x (average diameter/2)2 x π x 0.7), where ∑ is the sum of volumes of all branches with a diameter of 10cm or larger. The form factor is based upon a model developed for the harvesting of trees in coastal Kenya and corrected to account for the low recovery rates of local cutters and carvers. For the calculation of the annual allowable cut (AAC), only trees with diameters equal to or greater than 25cm and their branches equal to or greater than 10cm in average diameter were considered. The AAC within each diameter class was calculated as: AAC = (trunk volume + branch volume)/(age of dbhmax), where dbhmax = upper limit within each dbh class. In other words, since it takes a tree 13 years to reach a dbh of 30cm, the wood volume within the 25cm–30cm dbh class would be regenerated from seedlings within this time span. Therefore a maximum of 1/13th of the wood volume can be cut each year on a sustained yield basis if the required number of seedlings is allowed to grow. Growth rates for neem were determined from a total of 33 neem trees of known age. To correlate dbh with age, a non-linear loss function was modelled based on the maximum diameter observed. The following relationship was found (see Figure 14.8): dbh = 142 x (1–e–0.018 x age), r2 = 0.759. Among the carvers in the study area, the preferred log size for standard woodcarvings is between 25cm–40cm in diameter. This preference is a consequence of the exclusive use of hand tools and a certain standardization of products. According to the growth model, trees of a dbh equal to or greater than 25cm would need a rotation of 13 years. For larger trees – required, for example, for the production of large bowls – longer rotation periods would apply. The total wood volume (combined trunk and branch volume) of trees with a dbh greater than 25cm was more than three times larger on public land (25.42 cubic metres per hectare) than on private land (6.76 cubic metres per hectare). Since 87 per cent of the land in the study area is privately owned, almost twice

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as much neem wood is available from private compared to public land. Based on a 13-year rotation, the AAC of all neem trees with a minimum diameter of 25cm was 0.21 cubic metres per hectare.

Demand and Supply The six organized carving groups in Malindi, including Malindi Handicraft Cooperative Society Ltd., which alone represents about half of Malindi carvers, use approximately 1262m3 of wood per annum, or 3% of the total wood requirements of Malindi District for timber, poles, firewood, charcoal and carving wood combined. Just over 6000ha of privately owned land would therefore be required to supply the woodcarving demand for Malindi on a sustained yield basis, and slightly more than 200,000ha would be needed to supply the entire wood industry. If all private landowners agreed to participate in a managed neem supply scheme, the total wood requirement for Malindi District could be satisfied within a distance of less than 40km from the town centre, equivalent to 30% of the District area. The neem wood required for the entire woodcarving industry could be obtained from within a 3km range of Malindi. These figures show that even a growing demand for wood could be supplied from sustainably produced neem wood without increasing the current density of trees. 90

60

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0 0

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Source: Alex Obara, Martina Höft and Robert Höft

Figure 14.10 Relationship between diameter at breast height (dbh) and age based on 33 neem trees of known age

60

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their populations decline with high-intensity logging (Chapman et al, 2000), particularly if the figs are felled. Although softwood tree species are easier for hole-nesting birds such as barbets, hornbills and wood hoopoes to excavate for nest sites, hardwoods provide much longer-lasting hollows. Hardwood species are also favoured for fuelwood, timber and woodcarving. Fuelwood removal is known to affect the diversity and density of cavity-using birds and mammals (du Plessis, 1995); but only one preliminary study has been conducted on how tree felling affects animal populations. This was done in an East African coastal forest, an endangered forest type and one of 200 priority eco-regions identified by Olson and Dinerstein (1998). Both Brachylaena huillensis and Combretum schumannii are forest tree species felled from (theoretically) protected areas of the last remaining forests in Kenya and Tanzania. These forests are also the habitat for endangered species such as the Sokoke scops owl (Otus ireneae) and golden-rumped elephant shrew (Rhychocyon chrysopygus), which use hollow trees for nesting or shelter. A preliminary study in 1998 by Kyalo Solomon, who worked with woodcutters felling trees to supply woodcarving centres, recorded the proportion of felled trees which were hollow and the number occupied by birds, reptiles and small mammals. According to this study, over 18,000 of the 40,000 trees cut per year would represent hollowtree habitat (see Figure 14.9a). In just one year, the loss of hollow-tree habitat would affect over 8000 golden-rumped elephant shrews and 2300 tropical girdled lizards, also one of the East African coastal forest endemics. While no scientific record has ever been made of Sokoke scops owl nests, this species certainly would nest in hollow trees, just as other scops owl species do. In addition, Sokoke scops owls are found mainly in Cynometra–Brachylaenadominated forest in the Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve (the most important and – until the recent discovery of another site in Tanzania – the only known locality for this owl species in the world). For these reasons, it appears highly likely that the Kenyan carving industry poses the main contemporary threat to the endangered Sokoke scops owl.

THE TRANSITION FROM WILD HARVEST TO TREE CULTIVATION Increasing wood scarcity poses a series of economic and marketing problems for carvers. These are useful to think about in terms of the simple model used by Homma (1992) to illustrate the transition from wild harvesting to cultivation of non-timber forest products. Carvers’ responses to raw material scarcity follow similar broad phases. In the first phase the demand for raw material is less than the supply so that there is little competition for what is often an open-access resource. Woodcarvers are able to cut wood as and when they need. As demand increases they may have to go further afield, but still in the local area. In the second phase, demand and supply are more or less in

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Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 14.11 Ugandan drum-maker Pacsal Mugabi standing in front of a three-year-old Polyscias fulva, one of fifty he has planted amongst his food crops equilibrium and the resource is being harvested at or near the maximum sustainable yield. In this phase competition grows and stakeholders attempt to control the resource. Toward the end of this phase some individuals may experience or anticipate resource shortages and begin to experiment with alternative sources of supply (such as cultivated wood, alternative species and small or otherwise inferior quality). In the third phase, the wild resource has been over-exploited (or displaced by other land uses) and the supply declines. In this phase raw material users must actively seek and use alternatives or go out of business. How carvers respond depends upon their circumstances – and this is what policy can influence (see Chapter 16). The set of cases analysed in Chapter 13 represent an interesting range of forest products and management systems. On the resource side, there are cases that use exclusively wild-harvested raw material (Zimbabwe, Mexico and Uganda); while there are others that are based on agroforestry production (Bali; see Chapter 9) and/or large plantations (at Sukabumi, Indonesia; see Box 13.1), where there is a small industry making wooden kitchen utensils in an area of government-owned timber plantations that are used mainly for sawn timber. In Kenya, the woodcarving industry was based entirely upon wild-

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harvested wood; but that source has been over-exploited, so gradually, with some external support, the industry is shifting to alternative woods and sources of supply (see Box 14.5). But there are many other responses to scarcity. We see increased harvest from plantations; increased intensity of labour (see Chapter 13) and technology in raw material production; and increased density of economically harvestable individuals (reflecting plantation management). This is consistent with economic theory that lower-intensity land uses are simply not economically competitive in more developed areas. This is not enough to explain the shift to actually producing wood in managed systems, however, as a shift to intensive agroforestry production in Bali, for example, took place in the face of what some might consider major demographic and economic odds: high human population densities, a strong economic driving force for more wood for carving, and increasing land scarcity and land values. For many conservation biologists, this combination of factors is cause for Malthusian despair. In 1989, the administrative province (kabupaten) where the woodcarving industry is centred in Bali (Badung) had a population density of 1083 people per square kilometre, with 874 people per square kilometre in the neighbouring kabupaten, Gianyar (derived from data in Hobart et al, 1996). Tourist arrivals increased from 47,000 people in 1969 to nearly 1 million people in 1992. As a result, the prices of agricultural land in parts of Bali, such as Ubud (the centre of the woodcarving trade) increased 500-fold between 1970 and 1984 (Rigg, 1996) and have increased even more since then. Tourism also created demand for carvings. By 1994/1995, tourism revenue to Indonesia was US$3671 million per year. Bali, as the major tourist centre of Indonesia, generated a major part of this revenue, with tourism accounting for 30 per cent of the island’s gross regional product (Rigg, 1996). In response, carving for rapidly growing export and tourist markets has provided a major economic force for increased demand for woodcarving species. The initial responses of Balinese carvers to wood scarcity were the same as those in many other localities, such as Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mexico (over-exploitation of local stocks, expanding to resource areas further away, sourcing Diospyros celebica from north Sulawesi from the early 1970s and Santalum album from Timor even earlier). To help meet the demand for carving wood, the Indonesian government implemented a programme to promote the planting of Paraserianthes falcataria (see Chapter 9). Based on our field observation of the volume, diversity and economic value of products produced from cultivated wood in Bali, there is no doubt that the Sengonisasi campaign was a success. In addition to the strong demand, key factors in the Bali case (and, to a lesser extent, in the Oku area of north-west Cameroon) have been the combination of high rainfall; nutrient-rich volcanic soils; strict land tenure under intensive agriculture; an awareness of wood scarcity and of the economic and cultural values of wood; and the availability of a fast-growing tree species with a specific tree architecture (single stemmed, casting relatively little shade on the crops below) producing carvable timber (Paraserianthes falcataria in Bali and Polyscias fulva in Cameroon).

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The choice of Paraserianthes falcataria in the Indonesian case was a good one: a nitrogen-fixing species which is the fastest-growing tree on record (based on a tree in Sabah which grew to 10.74m in 13 months; Mabberley, 1997). Trees reach a mean height of 25.5m and 17cm in diameter after six years, and although the wood is susceptible to fungus and insect attack (Soerianegara and Lemmens, 1994), carvers deal with this through painting, polishing or varnishing. The forest pioneer species Polyscias fulva occupies a similar position in tropical Africa as Paraserianthus falcataria in New Guinea, the Moluccas and the Solomon Islands. Both species have a similar tree architecture: a single tall stem topped by short-lived leaves. As they cast little shade, both species are ideally suited to agroforestry production amongst crops (see Figure 14.11). In Latin America, Cordia alliodora trees, which are relatively fast growing but produce useful timber, have been shown to be a valuable timber component with cacao or plantain agroforestry systems (Somarriba et al, 2001). We suggest that where slow-growing species are used, the responses of woodcarvers (many of whom are farmers) to carved wood scarcity lead to quite different outcomes from those that would be expected from studies on agricultural intensification (Boserup, 1965; McNetting, 1993). Nevertheless, Ashton et al (2001) have shown through a financial analysis in Sri Lanka that enrichment planting of the slow-growing, high-value timber species Diospyros quaesita along with faster-growing non-timber forest products (such as rattan, cardamom and fishtail palm, Caryota) can produce a comparable income in terms of net present value (US$23,000 per hectare) to tea cultivation (US$26,000 per hectare).

CONCLUSIONS Scope for successful conservation, resource management interventions or more intensive production of trees for carving is the outcome of a complex interplay between ecological factors (such as tree population biology), social factors (such as land or tree resource tenure) and economic factors (such as prices paid for carvings), each of which is affected by policy factors. In essence, there are two extremes. On the one hand, there are cases with low-value carvings, low opportunity costs of labour and open access (no tenure) in terms of tree resources. In these situations, woodcarving may be an occupation of last resort. There is high competition among carvers, driving prices down and increasing pressure on raw materials. Under these circumstances, carvers/wood harvesters will go further for supplies of preferred species, mediated by the fact that the low value of the industry limits them to low-cost sources. Serial overexploitation is common, and there are few incentives and probably inappropriate property regimes to encourage cultivation, unless this can be done on community/public land. The other extreme are cases with higher-value carvings, where there is a larger market for more volume and/or higher-priced carvings. This makes sourcing from further afield economically feasible, and

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offers greater incentives for intensified management, particularly with fastgrowing species with a suitable tree shape for agroforestry systems, such as Paraserianthus falcataria in Asia, Polyscias fulva in East Africa or Cordia alliodora in Latin America. Financial analyses suggest that even cultivation of high-value hardwoods such as ebony (Diospyros) can be viable – but given the long time to harvestable maturity, strict, secure long-term tenure is crucial.

NOTE 1

The concept of ‘ecological footprints’ developed by Rees (1992) can be used to illustrate the geographical scale and impacts of trade in plant products in response to international demand (Moffatt, 1996, 2000).

15

Certification of Woodcarving Susanne F. Schmitt and David R. Maingi

INTRODUCTION In this chapter we focus on the applicability of independent certification of woodcarving, with special reference to the pilot project of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Kenyan woodcarving co-operatives centred around Malindi (see Figure 15.1). We describe the general rise of eco-labelling and certification, and how this could potentially have environmental and socio-economic benefits. Analysing the chronology of the Kenyan woodcarving project highlights the opportunities and constraints involved in becoming FSC certified. The Kenyan woodcarving industry – particularly the economics of supply and demand of indigenous wood resources – has already been described (see Chapter 3). The urgency of putting the woodcarving industry in Kenya, and elsewhere, on a sustainable footing is evident. To do so will involve a multitude of interventions. If sustainability is not achieved, the livelihoods of tens of thousands of carvers and their dependants will be threatened, while there will be further loss of globally important biodiversity harboured by forests (Schmitt and Cunningham, 2002).

WHAT IS CERTIFICATION AND WHAT CAN IT DO FOR WOODCARVING? The 1990s saw a rapid rise in the popularity and application of certification and eco-labelling to timber and wood products. Following the late 1980s era of tropical timber boycotts, certification was seen as a constructive way of reassuring the consumer that timber was coming from sustainably managed sources (Bass et al, 2001). In general, boycotts penalize forest owners or concessionaires, timber-related businesses and their employees and do not lead to the active management of forests.

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SOMALIA

K E N YA Lamu District Tana District TANZANIA

Malindi District

Malindi Town Arabuko Sokoe Forest Kilifi District

National Reserve (NR) Kwale District

Mombasa District

Forest Reserve (FR)

Shimba Hills

Study area 0

50km

Source: Obara et al (2004)

Figure 15.1 The Kenya coastal districts, showing Malindi town and the neem resource study area The early 1990s saw a proliferation of certification and eco-labels, which made dubious claims of sustainability of wood products that could only be substantiated in a minority of cases (see, for example, WWF-UK, 1995). First-, second- and third-party certification is recognized. First-party certification is when the retailer places a sustainability label on the timber product. In this case there is no verification of the validity of the sustainability claim. A secondparty claim is placed by an association of retailers or producers, or some group facilitating the carvers but relatively independent of them. Truly independent verification of the claim and, in particular, traceability of the product to the source are often not possible. In an effort to provide independent, third-party certification, the FSC was set up in 1993. Under the FSC system, certification agencies are accredited and regularly audited by the FSC. The FSC certification agencies assess the environmental, social and economic sustainability of forest management against ten international principles and criteria (see www.fscoax.org/principal.htm). In order to ensure the traceability of certified logs from the forest to the retailer, a certifier also assesses the chain of custody.

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FSC is endorsed by major conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – for example, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth (FoE) – and by many governments. From its recent beginnings, FSC certification has grown rapidly, with currently circa 29 million hectares of forests certified in 60 countries (WWF-US, 2002). However, competition from other timber certification systems, such as the Pan European Forest Certification (PEFC) system, is on the increase. Many of the competing schemes have been criticized for not being truly independent and rigorous (Ozinga, 2001). Woodcarving is a major source of livelihood for thousands of people in developing countries. However, in some cases, it has considerable negative impacts upon the wood resource and associated biodiversity – for example, in Mexico (see Chapter 11) and in Kenya (see Chapter 3). Certification has been proposed as one of several tools to reduce the ‘ecological footprint’ of woodcarving (Schmitt and Cunningham, 2002), where availability and access to a sustainable wood resource is both good for conservation and the longterm sustainability of carvers’ livelihoods. Importantly, certification should always be seen as part of a wider strategy that should incorporate policy reform, forest protection and awareness-raising. Forest certification aims at sustainable harvesting of the timber resource, while the certification label on the woodcarving should increase sales and ensure premium prices in environmentally sensitive Northern markets. In fair trade certifications, high social and economic standards are the prime concern. However, even in the more environmentally focused FSC certification, just social and labour requirements, such as fair wages and health-and-safety standards, are considered. Achieving the benefits from certification for conservation and livelihoods relies upon several assumptions: • • • • •

Monetary benefits from price premiums on certified products are considerable and reach the producers. Market share can be increased as a result of certification. Costs and the administrative burden of certification can be met. A market for certified carvings exists and can be accessed and/or created (Laird and Guillen, 2002). The capacity to adapt to the certification system exists.

Various concerns have been raised regarding these assumptions, especially for small enterprises. For instance, the Chiquitano woodcarving artisans in Bolivia achieved the first FSC certification for woodcarvings; but the co-operative is struggling to establish a reliable export market that can justify the time and money expended to achieve and maintain certification (WWF Bulletin, May 2003; F. Aguilar, personal communication). Often, issues of market access are ignored by those proposing certification (see Box 15.1). In addition, carvers and conservation organizations supporting certification efforts are unable to deal with the whole chain, from producers to consumers.

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BOX 15.1 ACCESS TO MARKETS AND BUSINESS APPROACHES David Bright Oxfam GB works to overcome poverty and suffering of people around the world. This involves helping people to build sustainable livelihoods. The Good Wood programme in Kenya is part of this livelihood programme. It deals with two specific groups of people: woodcarvers whose livelihoods are being threatened through unsustainable wood usage, and small-scale coastal farmers whose farm income from tree crops has declined, partly through market liberalization. The main interest in the Good Wood programme for Oxfam GB is to improve the livelihoods of coastal farmers. Oxfam GB has developed a number of basic tools to support our livelihood programmes. These include tools to analyse the markets in which poor people are operating in order to identify appropriate interventions. These tools help to assess a range of factors, from the barriers and opportunities that poor people face in the macro-market environment, to the barriers and opportunities within their micro-business environment. This analysis ensures that as many issues as possible are identified and addressed. The following shows how this analysis was applied to the Good Wood programme: •

•

•

•

• •

Which markets are important for those with whom you are working? For ‘green’ goods, a key first question will be whether a market exists for these products. For carvers, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification will give value to the co-operatives in export markets, as certification is predominantly a Northern concept. The primary market for carvers was a local market selling to tourists. This means that FSC certification does not directly affect their primary market. For farmers, neem (Azadirachta indica) has not been historically recognized as a cash crop; therefore, training in growing neem trees as a crop was required. Do those with whom you are working have the organizational strength to access the identified market? The carvers’ co-ops had limited organizational capacity to trade internationally, so this needed strengthening. The farmers acted as individual traders and had little ‘power’ to trade effectively within any market, particularly a new market. Therefore, group formation and enterprise training was required. Does the group with whom you are working have a market for its product and the capacity to deliver to this market? Changing wood types for carving created quality issues which often made the product un-saleable. The product range was designed for the local market. Tourists will purchase wooden animal carvings to represent their African trip. However, the same products would be less attractive to buyers in a shop in Wycombe. This meant that product design for export markets would be needed. Does the target group have sufficient production systems and capacity? In order to resolve quality issues, new production systems and quality controls were required for carving ‘good woods’. Is the project financially viable and cost effective? The answer was yes. What are the risks to those involved in the project and do the benefits outweigh the risks? Carvers need to be prepared for a future of carving

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•

233

different materials as hardwood supplies will cease, or seek alternative employment. For farmers with limited trading options, gaining a new market is an ideal benefit. Can the trading environment support project activities? As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the implementation of existing Kenyan forest policies has had an immediate impact upon the supply of hardwoods and, hence, the use of neem. Understanding which policies affect the trading environment is critical, either to advocate for change or in understanding the potential effect of planned changes.

In brief, the analysis showed that the decision to use certification in order to substitute fast-growing timber for hardwoods involved two key issues. The carvers had limited capacity to operate in the key market for certified products, and changing wood types caused quality issues in production. This range of questions should help to identify what is required in order to make any marketbased programme effective and sustainable. The sustainability of certification for small-scale producers is a very real question. Certification comes at a cost, both in terms of time and resources to those participating. A clear commercial benefit to cover these losses is required to ensure continued and growing participation. The reduction in these costs by certifiers is vital if certification is to become sustainable for small-scale producers.

In some cases, the monetary benefits from premiums have been overestimated. FSC-certified wood products can attract premiums of 0 to 40 per cent (Jones, 2000), depending upon product type, timber species and demand; but there is no guarantee that price premiums achieved by the producers are sufficient to offset the costs of certification. In many cases, retailers gain the lion’s share of the benefit from price premiums. Premiums are also likely to reduce over time as the supply in certified wood products increases (Bass et al, 2001). If access to ethical markets has been achieved, however, producers can typically increase their market share and gain a new competitive edge. In the case of Kenyan carvings, meetings with importers and retailers have shown a considerable interest in the purchase of certified carvings, but only limited willingness to pay a premium price. As a result, certified Kenyan carvings could regain some of their recently lost market share to cheaper woodcarvings of novel design from places such as Bali and India, but may not achieve significantly higher prices. Increasingly, other more indirect benefits of certification are being recognized by timber producers. Such benefits include efficiency gains; government and donor recognition of good forest management and resulting access to funds and support; tax breaks; public credibility; improved staff morale; and peer acceptance (Jones, 2000; Bass et al, 2001).

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CERTIFYING KENYAN WOODCARVINGS During the 1990s, under the previous Kenyan government, corruption and powerful vested interests made implementation of national forestry policy impossible. Authorized public bodies, and the forest department in particular, were unable and/or unwilling to enforce forestry legislation and decrees, such as the 1986 presidential ban on logging of indigenous timber. As a result, hardwoods, illegally cut from forest reserves in Kenya or smuggled from Tanzania, fetched similar prices as the superabundant fast-growing woods (see Chapter 3). Effectively, carvers were not paying for the real value of the wood, but were only paying the transport, bribe and labour costs of the harvesters. In Kenya, the severity of over-exploitation by carvers of indigenous, slowgrowing species (for example, muhugu – Brachylaena huillensis) precludes a move towards sustainable management of those species for carving. Rather, the strategy is to shift to sustainably produced, fast-growing ‘good woods’. Since 1995, the People and Plants Initiative (PPI), supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Kew, has been promoting this shift. Several ‘good woods’ were identified by the carvers as suitable for carving: neem (Azadirachta indica), jacaranda (Jacaranda mimosifolia), grevillea (Grevillea robusta) and mango (Mangifera indica). Over the years, awareness of carvers, tourists and importers has been raised through drama, videos, leaflets, newsletters, talks and workshops (Schmitt and Cunningham, 2002). Some shifts to ‘good woods’ took place as a result of awareness-raising activities (see Figure 15.2) and particularly when one large buyer – the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) – started to demand ‘good wood’ carvings (Cunningham, 1999; see Box 15.2). However, the shift was neither significant enough to have any real positive conservation impact, nor would it secure carvers’ livelihoods. In December 1997, all stakeholders at a major workshop agreed to a 20-year vision of putting the Kenyan woodcarving industry on a sustainable footing. One of the agreed interventions was to increase market-led demand, with certification and eco-labelling highlighted as potential tools (Cunningham, 1998). Subsequently, a course on certification was held in Kenya in 1999 at which agreement was reached to develop a certification system (Cunningham, 1999). Independent certification potentially offers several economic incentives to producers (such as price premiums and the ability to increase market share). Certification, by design, should also help the ethical consumer to make the right choice about a product – a choice that does not harm the environment and/or guarantees fair trade. In the Kenya woodcarving pilot case, pre-conditions for certification were thought to be good because: •

Large stocks of the alternative ‘good wood’ neem existed. In addition, there are many other incentives to grow neem because of its multiple purposes (such as neem oil, shade provision and medicinal properties).

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Source: WWF-UK

Figure 15.2 The UK campaign to buy ‘good woods’ included featuring Kenyan woodcarving in sales catalogues, with explanations of why it was appropriate to purchase Kenyan woodcarvings made of ‘good wood’ •

•

•

‘Good woods’ had already been used by carvers for a number of years, particularly for larger-sized carvings for which large-diameter hardwood logs were no longer available. The record-keeping system of the woodcarving co-operatives is already very detailed (for example, recording log prices, consignment and log number), with little modification required to trace certified logs through the carving process to the point of sale. Many carvers are well aware of the scarcity of indigenous wood.

Initially, the project wanted to achieve a simple eco-label that would distinguish ‘good wood’ carvings from hardwood carvings to allow tourists and importers to make a conscious environmental choice. In the overall

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BOX 15.2 AN IMPORTER’S PERSPECTIVE: ‘GOOD WOODS’, POOR SUPPLIES, GREAT OPPORTUNITIES Larry Nafziger Ten Thousand Villages is a job creation programme of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). The MCC is the relief and development agency of the Mennonite Church in North America and works overseas in a variety of roles, ranging from disaster relief to development activities related to health, education, agriculture and job creation. The Villages programme operates on a non-profit basis and purchases handicrafts at a fair price from artisans in the developing world who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed, and markets these products in their chain of retail shops across North America. Involvement with artisan groups includes assistance in product development, credit through cash advances on orders and sustained ordering in long-term, ethical business relationships. In addition to the obvious economic concerns, ethical business practice also considers social and environmental factors in the business equation. In North America, there are about 200 Villages stores. The comments here arise from the experience of a single large retail outlet of Villages in Ottawa, Canada (see Figure 15.3). For more than 20 years, Ten Thousand Villages has been purchasing carved wood products from Kenya, and for the past decade has been exploring the issue of environmental sustainability of this craft, attempting to balance the importance of maintaining the livelihoods of the many thousands of woodcarvers in Kenya with the environmental issue arising from the over-harvesting of key wood species traditionally used in the woodcarving export trade. During the late 1990s, Ten Thousand Villages began reducing purchases of unsustainable wood products and increasing purchases of so-called ‘good wood’ products. During this transition period Villages also funded the carving co-ops in their efforts to establish tree nurseries and reforestation programmes. Ten Thousand Villages now purchases only ‘good wood’ carvings from Kenya. This restriction has significantly reduced our trade in Kenyan carvings. Consumer demand at the retail level remains high – Kenyan carvings, (‘good wood’ or not) are easily marketable; but the supply of ‘good wood’ products is insufficient. Villages rations available inventory amongst the 33 stores in Canada. Undoubtedly, most if not all Villages store managers in Canada would like to see, stock and sell more of these products. The reasons for the failure to meet demand are not entirely clear to us. They could be organizational on the part of the carver co-ops, a lack of sufficient quantity of ‘good wood’ available to the carvers, ongoing technical challenges in producing large volumes of acceptable quality carvings from ‘good wood’, or a lack of financial incentive for the carvers to continue development of their work using ‘good wood’, to name a few. In Ottawa, several independent import shops sell woodcarvings from Kenya that are not carved from ‘good wood’. Clearly, a market for these carvings exists and obviously environmental concerns are not fully appreciated by those consumers. If Ottawa is any sort of an example, it may be that as long as a less discerning market exists, carvers will not have enough incentive to shift to environmentally sound alternatives.

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The ‘good wood’ message displayed in the Ottawa Ten Thousand Villages location is well received and generally respected by the clientele who shop in this fair trade store, and it is probably true that many informed buyers would choose ‘good wood’ if the option were available. Unfortunately, many consumers are unaware of the issues or the options. Building a meaningful awareness of a specific environmental issue in a region of the world far removed from the consumer seems unlikely, particularly when that consumer lives in a context where he or she is constantly bombarded by an infinite number of competing messages. Limiting the volumes of unsustainable wood products that leave a place like Kenya may well be a more effective means of encouraging the development of the use of ‘good wood’ and, if necessary, forcing any premium price that may result from the use of ‘good wood’. The Kenyan carvings that do reach the retail shelves in Ottawa are of a high quality, and with a ‘good wood’ message attached, they justify a premium price. It is not clear how high a premium may be tolerated; but most of our customers appreciate that a reliable assurance of product integrity has value that is reflected in the final price. Certified organic and/or fair-trade food products often fetch prices 10 per cent (or more) over comparable non-certified alternatives. A 10 per cent price increase for ‘good wood’ products would be acceptable in this store, particularly if it is supported with good information and a reliable assurance that it is an environmentally superior alternative.

Source: Larry Nafziger

Figure 15.3 Interior of Ten Thousand Villages store in Canada, showing the Kenyan giraffes

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strategy, however, the focus was primarily on the export market for two reasons. First, it was assumed that a few large ‘good wood’ orders from Northern buyers would send powerful signals to the co-operatives and carvers about demand changing towards certified ‘good woods’. Second, it was easier to convince a few Northern buyers to buy certified carvings than to target individual tourists buying from numerous retail outlets. Exports, on average, make up 30 per cent of all sales, tourist retail 40 per cent and local wholesale 30 per cent (often to local hotels and traders; Obunga 1995). Sixty per cent of all exports are destined for the US (Obunga 1995). With the aim of gaining a market advantage, particularly in the US, we approached the certifier Smartwood, which is a programme of the Rainforest Alliance, based in New York. Rainforest Alliance had carried out several innovative certification initiatives, such as Eco-OK Cocoa or Eco-OK Bananas (see www.ra.org), and we felt that innovation was required in the Kenya case. We were aiming for a Rainforest Alliance or Smartwood eco-label, which effectively would have been a second-party certification (see description of the types of certification in the previous section). After some consideration, the project decided to work towards FSC certification. This decision was made for several reasons: • •

•

to avoid a ‘forest of labels’ by adding yet another eco-label to the list of sustainability labels and claims; to obtain the currently most respected and recognized label for sustainable wood products, and therefore to become one of the entry points for wider timber certification of plantations or natural forests/miombo woodlands of Kenya and the East African region; to raise awareness within FSC of the difficulties of applying certification to small producers and to timber coming from non-forest contexts.

OVERCOMING THE CONSTRAINTS TO CERTIFYING KENYAN WOODCARVINGS A number of different constraints emerged, some related to FSC policy and systems, and others to the socio-cultural context. The constraints and actions to overcome them are discussed in the following sections. Similar constraints are commonly faced by small timber producers (Scrase, 1999; Bass et al, 2001) or non-timber forest product producers (Shanley et al, 2002).

FSC-related constraints and actions to overcome them Initially, the project’s main concern was to clearly distinguish, through a certification label, a neem ‘good wood’ carving from a carving made from indigenous wood. With a clearly identifiable label, tourists and overseas importers could be assured of what they were buying. The label would allow vigorous marketing overseas, with the aim of increasing market share for

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Kenyan woodcarvings. However, the FSC system does not allow species-based certification (Wenban-Smith, 2000). This means that it is not possible to certify a wood product solely on the basis that it is made from an apparently sustainable species, even if, as in the case of the ‘good wood’ neem, the species is superabundant. Similar constraints were encountered by other initiatives in South Africa and India. In the South African case, timber was to be derived from clearing invasive trees, and in the Indian case acacia trees (Acacia nilotica subspecies indica) growing around water tanks were to be harvested for wooden toy manufacture (Wenban-Smith, 2000). The FSC system requires the certification of forest management as sustainable according to its ten principles and criteria, which include tenure, workers and indigenous peoples’ rights and proof of sound environmental management. It is effectively a ‘site-based’ system (Wenban-Smith, 2000) whereby the certified product can be traced back to the forest. In essence, FSC certification is divided into a forest management certification part and a chainof-custody (COC) part, the latter tracing the log from the certified forest to the end product to guard against adulteration. The FSC system was designed primarily to ensure the sustainable management of large natural forests and, later, included plantations. Application of FSC certification to small operations is more complex, particularly in a developing country setting where education and awareness levels are low, ownership rights are often tenuous, and financial resources to pay for certification are scarce. Thus, not surprisingly, certified forest areas of less then 100ha made up only 0.1 per cent of total certified forest area in 1998 (Fanzeres and Vogt, 2000); more FSC certificates are issued and more forest hectares are certified in Northern than in Southern countries (Gullison, 2003). After two scoping visits by FSC-accredited certifiers, first by Rainforest Alliance–Smartwood (Kiernan, 2000) and then by Woodmark Soil Association (Jones, 2001), and after much time and money invested, the project believes that it now has a system which can be certified under the FSC (see Table 15.1). We had to accept the site-based system of FSC and show that sustainable supplies of neem are available in the coastal area of Kenya. A resource inventory established that neem growing in a 30km radius around Malindi (see Figures 15.1 and 15.4) could supply the whole Kenyan woodcarving industry 25 times over its current demand of 50,000 trees per year (Choge, 2002; Obara et al, 2004). When the certification of the whole Malindi district as the forest management area was ruled out by the FSC, we developed, with the help of Woodmark Soil Association (Jones, 2001), a model that follows group certification principles (see Figure 15.5; Nussbaum, 2002). Group certification allows several forest sites to be evaluated and certified under a single certificate and results in significant cost savings per site. Group certification is a highly flexible model. Sites may be under common or multiple ownership, and may be managed by one or more managers. Forest or woodland owners can join the group, and others can leave the group, without affecting the status of the group itself. The key to group certification is that a ‘group manager’ is responsible for ensuring that management at all the sites

240 Carving Out a Future Table 15.1 Description and chronology of the inputs and costs associated with certification (excluding Oxfam inputs on market access and farmers’ training) Input Smartwood workshop participation Smartwood scoping visit ‘Good wood’ officer, and travel and subsistence costs Woodmark scoping visit Woodmark interim progress visit Three- year funding to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), including FSC assessment cost (excluding ‘good wood’ officer and resource manager salary and costs) Two-year United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) small grants funding to Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU) Resource manager, and travel and subsistence cost Project leader(s)’ time and costs Total

Year

Cost US$

1999 2000 1999–2005* 2001 2002

3000 6000 150,000 6500 6000

2002–2005

150,000

2002–2004 2002–2005 1999–2005 1999–2005

48,000 36,000 90,000 495,500

Note: * 2005 is the end of the current project phase.

Source: Robert Höft

Figure 15.4 Scientists conducting the neem resource assessment

Certification of Woodcarving Resource manager

241

Advisory committee

M&A Handicraft Co-operative Societies

Carvers

Cutters

Chain of custody

Cutter

Cutter

Cutter

Chain of custody

Opinion leader 1

Opinion leader 2

Opinion leader 3

FM-certificate

Farmers groups F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

Source: adapted from Jones (2001)

Figure 15.5 Model of FSC group certification for neem farmer groups linked to chain-of-custody certification of Malindi and Akamba Handicraft Co-operative Societies and cutters within the group meets the certification standard, and for demonstrating this to a certification body. Under this system a forest management certificate will be issued to a farm forestry association consisting of members who commit to managing their neem tree resource on their smallholder farms according to FSC requirements. The cutters and the carving co-operative have to operate under the COC requirements before FSC-labelled carvings can be sold. COC requires complete traceability of logs from farm to shelf. A unique identification number on every log and carving piece made from certified neem makes COC monitoring possible (see Figure 15.6). A resource or group manager manages the relationship between the farmers, cutters and carvers, and ensures that the forest management plan and chain of custody are implemented. The manager also has to demonstrate compliance to the certification body. Training of farmers, cutters and carvers in FSC certification is currently under way, and a farm forestry association will be set up shortly. A major issue to overcome, even under this system, was that of on-site versus off-site conservation benefits. Under principle 6, ‘environmental impact’, criterion 6.2, the forest management certificate holder has to demonstrate conservation benefits within the certified area. However, in the case of neem farm forestry most of the tangible conservation benefits are offsite, as increased neem use will reduce illegal extraction of muhugu from the nearby Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve and indigenous forests further afield (Jones, 2001; Team, 2002; Ian Gordon, personal communication, 2001). At first, the FSC did not accept this argument as the reduction in poaching of indigenous wood could not easily be linked to the use of certified ‘good woods’

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FG

Farmer ID number

Tree number

8

15

4

Log number

Source: WWF-EARPO

Figure 15.6 Example of unique identification number on carving for tracing the chain of custody (COC) because of many other demands for indigenous wood (FSC communication, November 2001). However, non-applicability of certain criteria is likely to be more acceptable under the modification of FSC certification currently being made for small and low-intensity managed forests (SLIMFs). The carving of indigenous wood, the vast majority of which is illegally logged, is still a major issue potentially prohibiting FSC certification. For multiple reasons, it is very difficult to switch the whole carving co-operative over to certified neem (one obvious reason is that not all carvers have mastered the skill of carving neem). An option, as discussed with Woodmark Soil Association, is that a FSC assessment is carried out and a certificate is issued subject to meeting annual targets of phasing out illegal indigenous wood. This option carries the risk that the target is not met and the certificate is withdrawn. Alternatively, a certification assessment is carried out, but the certificate is only issued after phasing out all indigenous wood. The risk here is that the goal of having 100 per cent ‘good woods’ is never attained (Jones, 2002). It is obvious that the application of FSC certification to small-scale producers of wood for carvings is not simple. In addition, the exercise has been very costly (see Table 15.1), although these costs may not be as high in future certification exercises. Such costs could clearly not be met by small producers. However, throughout the process we have been in dialogue with certifiers and the FSC, and have contributed to the ongoing policy debate of making FSC certification more accessible to smallholders (see, for example, Wenban-Smith, 2000). One of the authors of this chapter (D. Maingi) was invited onto the technical committee for SLIMFs. Four major constraints are being tackled through the focus on SLIMFs (FSC, 2002), all of which apply to the Kenya case: 1 2 3 4

the cost of certification; the lack of information about certification for small producers; the need to interpret standards and clearly define what is required to become certified; and the need for a more flexible evaluation system.

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At the time of writing, field trials applying SLIMF procedures (FSC, 2003a) and eligibility criteria (that is, which operations qualify as small and low intensity) (FSC, 2003b) are being undertaken, and a modified SLIMF FSC standard (FSC, 2003c) is being tested. It is hoped that the modifications will help the Kenyan carvers to achieve FSC certification, as well as to increase the chance for the carving co-operatives and farmer associations to maintain their FSC certificates without external intervention. For instance, we are likely to benefit from a reduction in monitoring and evaluation costs if the SLIMF suggestions of fewer audits (biennially instead of annually), automatic renewal of certificate subject to satisfactory audits, and simpler forest management evaluation procedures could come into force following successful trials. However, only experience will tell if these modifications go far enough to be of real benefit to the small producers.

Socio-cultural, economic and technical constraints, and actions to overcome them The distorted market for indigenous wood, making it as cheap as ‘good woods’, at least until recently, has certainly not given carvers any incentive to switch to ‘good wood’ or to engage in certification. Importantly, carvers have a culture of carving indigenous woods; moreover, indigenous woods are easier to carve, do not crack as much and do not develop mould to the same degree as neem does. Unlike with indigenous wood, carvers have to invest more time in different treatments of neem to avoid cracking and mould from developing, and there has been almost no research on the treatment of neem roundwood and rough carving. As a result, rejection rates of export orders of neem carvings have been as high as 50 per cent or more (Margaret Reimer, Ten Thousand Villages, personal communication, 2002), and export orders, even from fair trade enterprises such as Ten Thousand Villages, have been falling drastically. Quality assurance issues must come to the top of the agenda if certification is to be successful. The project is now conducting wood technology experiments with the largest carving co-operative in Kenya. In order to encourage ownership of this process, co-operative members have received training, and they work alongside a wood technologist from the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI). A crucial next step is to apply the results to the production process and institute a quality assurance system. The lack of quality-control systems is particularly serious. Thus, the export manager in the Akamba cooperative has no power to reject items of poor quality. A business development company has been hired to train carvers in various business practices, including in quality control and in record-keeping to achieve the COC requirements. Kenyan co-operatives are generally highly organized, but are riddled with problems (Höft, 2000). The introduction of new methods of working, in the context of certification, has been repeatedly frustrated. One of the main hurdles has been the frequent change of the management boards (often dismissed by the membership because of alleged

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corruption), which has, in practice, left many carving co-operatives without clear leadership. Training has, until recently, focused on the management board; but training is now directed at so-called shed leaders and/or ‘book’ representatives, who are to spread the message to their carver colleagues. The co-op is organized into many different sheds or books. With less turnover in these positions, training may be more effective. An overarching constraint is that Kenyan carvers now operate in a much tougher marketplace. Tourism in Kenya has been declining since the mid 1990s, and recent terrorist attacks have led to a massive downturn. As a result, sales of carvings to tourists, which were around 40 per cent of total sales, have dropped dramatically (by up to 75 per cent, according to recent interviews of carvers). In addition, exports of Kenyan carvings face increased competition from Asian carvings (see Chapter 8 on India and Chapter 9 on Bali). Asian carvings are often cheaper and offer innovative designs. In contrast, the Kenyan carving industry has not invested in the development of new designs. A key reason is that the current system in the co-operatives does not reward innovation. Economic need forces carvers to keep carving because any time taken out to experiment with new designs leads to immediate loss of income. Until recently, most efforts have been concentrated at the carver level. However, organizing coastal neem farmers and training them in the FSC requirements under the group certification system is critical. Equally, bringing in the cutters, who are the crucial link between the carver cooperatives and the farmers, is also required. Sensitizing, training, organizing, and then managing and monitoring several thousand farmers presents a considerable challenge, which will require the formation of a strong neem farmers’ association and the strong and sustained effort of a skilled resource manager. If the FSC group certification scheme and farmers’ organization are to work, farmers must have sufficient incentives to grow and manage neem trees for sale under the scheme. With up to 3000 members, each farmer will only be able to sell a very small number of trees on an annual basis. The amount earned might not be sufficient to persuade farmers to comply with the rules under the scheme. This would eventually lead to exclusion from the scheme. If noncompliance became widespread amongst the members, the scheme could collapse. Ultimately, the will to organize and adhere to rules requires incentives. Given that income from neem tree sales for carving may be too low, the project is now investigating other possible income opportunities from neem. Neem by-products such as seeds can be made into oil and then soap, while neem leaves and bark can be made into a bio-pesticide. Therefore, the current farmer sensitization and certification training will promote neem management to farmers in a holistic sense. Until recently, cutters were able to buy neem trees from farmers for very little money. With increasing wood shortage and the rising awareness that neem is a good timber species for carving and other uses, such as furniture-making, prices are starting to increase; but current prices are still well below market

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Source: Susanne Schmitt and David Maingi

Figure 15.7 A carver working at one of the carving co-operatives in Kenya and initiating the process of shaping the wood values for timber (Maingi, 2001). Support given to the formation of a strong association, and regular training and monitoring through the resource manager, should increase the bargaining power of farmers. This discussion illustrates that many of the interventions must go beyond certification. It also indicates that partnerships are often essential to cover the multiple technical, social and economic issues that have to be tackled. Box 15.1 provides the example of the project’s partnership with Oxfam to help improve market access.

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CONCLUSIONS Provided that the above interventions and training are effectively undertaken, FSC certification should be achieved. In theory, FSC certification should benefit the carvers through increased export sales and improved business systems, and should benefit neem farmers who would receive income from the sale of certified neem trees and by-products. In practice, however, significant challenges are likely to remain. These are particularly related to the sustainability of the system after the project support ends. Maintaining the FSC certificate will require that carvers take full responsibility for maintaining the chain-of-custody system, implementing the associated new business practices and paying for the direct and indirect costs associated with certification (for example, the direct cost of regular audits by certifiers and the indirect cost of greater administration). Likewise, if the newly formed neem farmers’ association is to maintain its FSC forest management certificate, the group certification system has to be maintained through the willingness of all farmers to co-operate – for instance, by paying the small membership fee and complying to certain neem tree management standards. Moreover, a good business relationship between the neem farmers’ association and the cutters and carving co-operative has to be maintained (for example, the bargaining power of the association has to be maintained in order to achieve a fair price for neem logs and agreement over payment of the resource manager). It is somewhat doubtful that the certification scheme is sustainable over time without external support. This is despite several years of training and capacity-building of carvers and, more recently, of farmers, and despite the relaxation in FSC requirements for achieving and maintaining the certificate for small enterprises under the SLIMF scheme. Overestimating the financial incentives is a common mistake made when deciding to certify, thus leading to high expectations. In the Kenya case, the premiums derived through certification were overestimated. It remains to be seen whether market share can be increased. This leads to the question of whether third-party certification is the most appropriate tool for conservation and woodcarving. The Kenya case study has shown how difficult it is to achieve FSC certification in the context of a smallscale enterprise (especially in a non-forest context). Although the carvers themselves agreed to work towards certification, the real understanding of how much work and effort was required was not fully understood. Even on the part of the project, the complexity involved in achieving FSC certification and breaking into Northern markets was underestimated. The switch to carving ‘good wood’ has greatly increased following a recent clampdown on illegal transport of indigenous logs. With a new chief conservator of forests and a new government in Kenya, the policy environment has improved. Therefore, the use of certification to stimulate the shift to ‘good wood’ might not be as necessary, provided that the new policy environment

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BOX 15.3 KWAZULU-NATAL WILDLIFE’S POLICY ON CRAFTWORK SALES FROM PROTECTED AREAS: AN EXAMPLE OF SECOND-PARTY CERTIFICATION Steven G. McKean, Sunjay Lutchman and Stuart Ferrer Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (EKZNW) is the organization charged by the national and provincial governments to conserve biodiversity in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. EKZNW strives to foster sustainable living through the economic and social development of communities, especially those living adjacent to protected areas. A large number of rural people are dependent upon natural resources for their livelihoods. Increased tourism to protected areas in KwaZulu-Natal is providing opportunities for local communities to earn income from the manufacture and sale of handmade items, such as carvings, woven baskets and mats. Facilitation of community-run craft markets within protected areas affords opportunities to promote entrepreneurial development, sustainable living and economic benefits amongst local communities, and is likely to strengthen the cause of biodiversity conservation. EKZNW developed a policy on the sale of craftwork from protected areas that seeks to aid craft manufacturers to gain access to markets and to provide a form of ‘certification’ that carvings are made from sustainably harvested material. Community craft markets within protected areas may result in a number of problems, such as damage to protected areas, pollution and litter. Most importantly, activities that are likely to result in over-exploitation of natural resources and loss of biodiversity cannot be promoted. Due to relatively high demand and low tree replacement rates, species used for woodcarving are particularly at risk of over-exploitation. This is especially so where there is, effectively, ‘open access’ to resources. Decisions to establish a specific craft market in a protected area are based upon viability studies, covering market issues, environmental impact and the practicality of opening markets from a park management perspective. Based upon a favourable outcome of such a study, EKZNW then initiates development with full community participation. This includes offering communities trading locations at suitable sites; assistance in the development of appropriate infrastructure under negotiable conditions; ensuring that all products meet veterinary and disease control standards to facilitate export to foreign countries; improving sales and business skills; and marketing the crafts to the tourist industry. EKZNW promotes diversity in crafts produced and sold. An important aspect of developing craft markets in protected areas is that crafts are handmade and represent South African (especially Zulu) culture and natural heritage. All crafts must be made with materials that are derived from sustainable sources. Products of conservation management operations – for example, wood from bush clearing – are also provided to the craft manufacturers. Use of alternative sources of wood, such as alien species, is strongly promoted. Benefits to carvers are obvious, while EKZNW is able to increase the probability that resources are used sustainably.

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EKZNW markets craftwork through its own shops in many protected areas. To further promote economic development amongst local people, the organization has made it a policy to provide shelf space to local craft manufacturers in return for fair remuneration. In addition, policy dictates that any decor or utilitarian items required for the development of new eco-tourism facilities be primarily sourced from local craft manufacturers. Finally, EKZNW is obliged to ensure that no product derived from any species classified as rare, vulnerable or endangered in terms of current South African legislation or Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) regulations is traded at community craft markets unless it is the product of a legitimate conservation management project.

remains favourable. Nevertheless, important improvements in the efficiencies of the business practice of the carvers will have been made through the effort to get certified, and this should enable them to compete more effectively in the world market. Applying FSC certification to woodcarving makes most sense when dealing with highly organized and fairly large carver groups who source their timber supply from forest or plantation areas that have clear ownership. Carver groups clearly require the capacity to understand the rigours of certification; they must also have sufficient business skills to access and compete in ethical markets in Northern countries. If unassisted financially, the turnover of carvers’ businesses needs to be sufficient to enable them to cover certification costs. Unfortunately, in many situations in developing countries these ideal conditions are very difficult to meet. In the Indian and Balinese cases, the preconditions for FSC certification appear to be more favourable. These include the more supportive policy environment, which can be helpful in marketing (for example, the Indian export council) and research (for instance, the Indonesian Forest Products Research Centre in Bogor). Overall, one can conclude that independent third-party certification, such as the FSC, is still highly ambitious in the woodcarving context, particularly without outside assistance and a clear understanding of the implications by carvers. In many cases, it may be better to aim for other forms of certification. For instance, in South Africa a conservation organization has played the role of certifier, facilitating and investing in woodcarvers in situations where the resource is sustainably used (see Box 15.3). Conservation and development agencies will need to be creative in their quest for certification, matching the certification process to the biophysical and socio-economic contexts.

16

Carving Out a Future: Planning for Woodcarving in the 21st Century Bruce Campbell, Anthony Cunningham and Brian Belcher

INTRODUCTION In this chapter, we summarize some of the major conclusions from this book on the impact of woodcarving for livelihoods, economies and resources. We then identify practices and policies that promote vibrant and sustainable woodcarving industries. While woodcarving has mostly positive impacts upon livelihoods, carving can negatively affect plant species and ecosystems. We have to work towards changing this. Woodcarving is largely hidden from the attention of policy-makers and project implementers in the development, forestry and tourism sectors – a general feature of trade in forest products. With foresight and a supportive policy framework, the situation can be turned around before ‘serial over-exploitation’ of most favoured species takes place (see Chapter 14). Good examples of successful interventions have been recorded in some places (for example, Bali in Indonesia and South Africa; see Box 16.1). With good policy and practice, woodcarving can, on a sustainable basis, secure millions of livelihoods, contribute to national economies, enhance tourism, enrich culture and add considerable value to wood. We need to have proper resource management, expand cultivation of woodcarving species, capture value and expand markets, promote good prices for good quality and sustainable practices, exploit new technologies and develop better policies.

WHY WOODCARVING IS IMPORTANT Carving secures household livelihoods To the people of Nagina in India, carving is the major source of cash income

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(see Chapter 8). In Oaxaca, Mexico, sales of bright, imaginative alebrije carvings contribute around US$2500 per year to carver households (see Chapter 11). In Kenya, woodcarving involves over 60,000 woodcarvers, providing significant household income for about 300,000 dependants (see Chapter 3). Similarly, in Bushbuckridge, South Africa, woodcarving provides around US$500–$2000 per year per household, representing about 80 per cent of household income (see Chapter 7). Woodcarving can thus make a significant contribution to household incomes, in some cases actually lifting households out of poverty. In densely populated areas such as the Valles Centrales area of Oaxaca, Mexico, woodcarving has assisted households in improving their access to education and healthcare. We must also recognize the limitations of woodcarving in overcoming poverty. In many cases, carving offers very low returns to the point that it is seen as employment of last resort (for example, in Zimbabwe; see Chapter 6). This links to the conservation issue in that there is insufficient value to provide incentives for sustainable management. It is good to emphasize the high collective value of some industries (see the following section); but we also need to recognize that there are fundamental problems that limit growth and poverty alleviation potential, as well as threaten the resource base.

Carving contributes to national economies The island of Bali in Indonesia exports US$100 million of carvings per year (see Chapter 9). India has a US$65 million woodcarving industry with 50,000 people involved in a single centre alone (Saharanpur). And this export figure has been growing by 40 per cent per year! In Australia, a single company reportedly supplies didgeridoos, a traditional musical instrument carved from hollow Eucalyptus stems, to 1700 domestic retailers and exports to 38 countries (see Chapter 10). Africa, too, has a significant carving trade, such as stools from Ghana or Kenyan carvings. Most people are surprised when confronted by the facts on the scale of the woodcarving trade. The surprise largely comes from the fact that the industry is generally hidden. Most commercial carving enterprises are based in homes or small production units, not in big factories. And rarely is woodcarving recorded in official statistics. There are no statistics on woodcarving in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) forestry statistics database, although there are statistics for more than 25 wood and paper categories, a number of which have lower trade values than those for woodcarving.

Carving enhances tourism and enriches culture In most countries, commercial carving was first stimulated by tourism. In Zimbabwe, the number of markets offering wooden handicrafts rose from just 4 at the beginning of the 1980s to over 200 in 1999, coinciding with the tourism boom (see Figure 16.1). The Zimbabwean economy is currently in a state of collapse. Woodcarvings, though, retain value as a source of foreign

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BOX 16.1 EXTERNAL SUPPORT FOR THE WOODCRAFT INDUSTRY IN BUSHBUCKRIDGE, SOUTH AFRICA Sheona E. Shackleton Generally, in South Africa, government is paying more attention to stimulating the informal sector than it did in the past. The Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology (DACST) recently adopted a plan to promote job creation and growth in four areas: crafts, music, publishing and film (Duncan, 1999). This plan proposes the establishment of a Cultural Industry Development Agency (CIDA) (Moloi, 1999b). There is also considerably more effort to promote community–private-sector partnerships in a range of sectors, including crafts, as highlighted in a recent national craft industry report (DACST, 1998) and demonstrated by the inter-departmental Spatial Development Initiatives. Although these policies have not yet filtered through to the local woodcarving industry, the situation does bode well for the future of a sector that was previously ignored by government. At the provincial and local level, there have been a number of initiatives targeting the woodcraft industry (see Table 16.1). Agencies that have provided marketing and business skills development include the Danish Cooperation for Environment and Development (DANCED) Community Forestry Project, the Independent Development Trust and Seagram South Africa, although most of these activities have focused on carver-vendors in the softwood industry, rather than on home carvers using hardwoods (see Chapter 7). Support to informal traders has been provided by the provincial department of finance, the Mpumalanga Parks Board and the South African Forestry Company Limited (SAFCOL).

Table 16.1 External support for the woodcraft industry in Bushbuckridge Institution

Sector

Objectives/contribution

National Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF)/ Danish Cooperation for Environment and Development (DANCED) Bushbuckridge Community Forestry Project

Donor in bilateral agreement with government

Sustainable utilization of woodland resources and improvement of livelihoods, skills training and capacity-building; alternative sources of wood

UK Department for International Development (DFID)

Donor

Support with building the market outlet at Kruger Gate

Mpumalanga Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture

Government Create job opportunities, preserve skills (craft heritage), stimulate creative process within the individual

Mpumalanga Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

Government Right to earn a sustainable living; sustainable resource harvesting

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Institution

Sector

Objectives/contribution

Mpumalanga Parks Board

Para-statal

Control over tree harvesting; provision of informal market stalls

South African National Parks (SANP) Social Ecology/ DANCED

Para-statal Donor

Economic empowerment; Skukuza Alliance; market outlets; integration within park activities; sustainability of the carving industry

South African Forestry Company Limited (SAFCOL)

Private

Formalization of markets for traders

Seagram South Africa

Private sector Support in skills development to (social carvers; provision of tools responsibility programme)

Independent Development Trust (IDT)

NGO/donor

Building of a workshop (this has not yet been equipped); support has been targeted at the woodcarvers as both the producers and traders

At this stage it is difficult to determine the effect that these interventions have had on the woodcarving industry. Preliminary reports are mixed. Facilitation of the two sales outlets appears to be the main strength of the Skukuza Alliance (an alliance of woodworkers’ associations; see Chapter 7), whereas its performance as an organization and association of craftspeople is more questionable. Observations and discussions during 2000 suggest that the business skills and product development workshops organized by Seagram and DANCED had little impact. Carvers were still producing the same product range, and the same difficulties were experienced obtaining data on income, costs and pricing strategies, indicating that few of the producers were operating according to business principles. Indeed, it was surprising how little had changed given the fact that South Africa has undergone major political and institutional transition during the last decade. It has been noted that carvers are reluctant to participate in collective initiatives and are resistant to change.

exchange – and huge herds of wooden hippos, and other carved animals, leave Zimbabwe for export to South Africa (see Chapter 6). In South Africa, young entrepreneurs from all over Africa sell carvings, largely at tourist locations (see Box 13.2). Carving and culture are intertwined (see Chapter 5) and are closely linked to tourism. The beauty and historic significance of carved cultural jewels, such as in Baktaphur in Nepal, is a magnet for tourism. Fine carvings are a feature of Tibetan monasteries and the homes of wealthy Tibetan traders. Throughout the Pacific, culturally significant carvings are important, such as bowls for preparing kava, a drink made from roots of a piper species. Maori heirloom houses – maraes – in New Zealand are intricately carved. Music from drums

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250

Number of stalls

200 150 100 50 0 1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

Source: Braedt (2002)

Figure 16.1 Cumulative growth of woodcarving market stalls in Zimbabwe from independence in 1980 to 1998 carved in Ugandan (see Chapter 4) or didgeridoos made in Australia also link to and enhance culture. In much of Africa, household items such as carved stools are culturally important. The woodcarving sector contributes to tourism, enriching the experience of tourists, attracting visitors to places with unique local cultures, and providing small souvenirs for friends. Decorative and art pieces purchased from a local carver can take a central place in home decor and evoke fond memories. Who can read the text on cultural values of woodcarving in West Papua (see Chapter 2) and not immediately want to board a flight to visit the Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress in Agats? Only by maintaining carving skills with their deep cultural roots – and favoured wood resources – will carving traditions survive.

Carving adds considerable value to wood Compared to other uses, woodcarving gives considerable value to wood (see Figure 16.3). Damar (Agathis borneensis) is used for sawn timber in Indonesia, selling at US$120 per cubic metre; when carved into spoons, it sells at US$300 per cubic metre. In the lowveld of South Africa, 1kg of Pterocarpus angolensis wood is US$1; once carved, it fetches US$7. In Kenya, the greatest value added by far to wood comes through woodcarving. When one sees the scarce Olea europeae being sold as charcoal or firewood in Kenya, rather than being carved into beautiful bowls, it is apparent that something is amiss in the wood marketing system (see Figure 16.2). Dalbergia melanoxylon is the world’s most valuable timber (Beale, 1995), currently fetching close to US$20,000 per cubic metre in the international market for sawn timber. Turning these sawn ‘blanks’ into woodwind instruments such as clarinets (see Box 13.4) indicates the extremely high values that some carved wood species can fetch in the world market. This is a far higher price than sawn timber from any other local

254 Carving Out a Future species. In 1991, for example, the price of sawn Dalbergia melanoxylon on the world market was US$13,880 per cubic metre compared to US$491 per cubic metre for sawn timber of Pterocarpus angolensis and Milicia excelsa (Malimbwi and Epaphra, 2001). Additional value is added through polishing and painting. Giraffes, for example, are carved, then carefully painted. Painting adds high value to softwood carvings, such as Mexican alebrijes. In Bali, painting also covers cracks in wood so that no value is lost. Different painting styles also add a distinctive ‘cultural’ stamp on painted carvings, such as carved garuda from Bali or didgeridoos from Australia. Woodcarving is an excellent use of wood, providing opportunities for considerable value added. While it may be feasible to raise wood prices to give some returns to managing the wood resource in the case of Dalbergia for musical instruments, such interventions are highly unlikely for fuelwood and charcoal. However, it is also clear that local incentives do not necessarily encourage good resource management. A woman collecting cassava sticks for fuel would find cooking with wood from a carving species infinitely more desirable. Although returns to carving may be high by comparison to other uses, if there are insufficient buyers and markets, the wood will be used for other purposes. In fact, many carvers are unwilling to pay much more than the cost of labour and transport for cutting and hauling the wood, given what they can receive for their efforts. These resource extraction costs would be about

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 16.2 Use of hardwood for commercial charcoal production in Africa accounts for the harvest of large wood volumes for little financial return compared to other uses

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800 Brachyleana huillensis

US$ per cubic metre

Olea europea Dalbergia melanoxylon

400

0 Charcoal

Poles

Firewood

Carvings

Source: Anthony Cunningham and Simon Choge

Figure 16.3 Value of wood (farm-gate prices) for various purposes in Kenya the same price as fuelwood buyers will pay. We need to move towards changing the incentive system, although this endeavour is nothing less than solving the enormous poverty challenges that face the global community. While woodcarving adds more value to wood than the timber industry, and often creates more jobs and income, carvers often struggle to get wood supplies. Throughout the world, government support to woodcarving enterprises is limited, especially in comparison to the timber industry.

Carving can negatively affect plant species and ecosystems Where harvesting from wild populations occurs, over-exploitation of favoured carved wood species is leading to local scarcity and depletion in many countries (for example, in Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mexico and India). A recent inventory carried out in Arabuko Sokoke Forest Reserve in Kenya confirmed a decline of the Brachylaena huillensis stock. The results indicated an existing stock of 2.7 cubic metres per hectare, of which only 50 per cent was suitable for carving. With the current illegal, unsustainable extraction from the forest estimated at over 2500 cubic metres per year, coupled with the low growth rates for the species (2.5 per cent per year), the study concluded that the entire resource will be depleted in less than two to three decades (see Chapter 3). Other negative impacts include threats to biodiversity, forest degradation and the loss of nesting sites and shelter for rare forest-dependent species (for example, the Sokoke scops owl, Otus ireneae, in Kenya). The continued growth and economic success of the carving sector is placing increased pressure on an already limited resource base and is resulting in an expansion into new harvesting areas. In some countries, selected carving species have been listed as

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threatened under national conservation legislation. African ebony (Dalbergia melanoxylon) has been proposed for Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) listing (to restrict international trade). We need to recognize that not all impacts upon livelihoods are positive. As summarized above, the impacts on the resource base are often negative – if this resource were being used by non-carver households, then they would be negatively affected. The loss of the raw material also has direct consequences for the livelihood security of carvers themselves. The substitution of alternative woods, while often a positive change, occasionally increases pressure on species with multiple uses and which are important for subsistence (for example, fruit trees normally reserved for subsistence and food security in drought years). In other cases, indigenous knowledge and traditional beliefs associated with particular species are lost when the species declines.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE: TOWARDS BEST PRACTICE Proper resource management ensures a future The many tree species that can be carved can be divided into two broad groups (see Chapter 14). The first group is comprised of dense, slow-growing hardwoods, such as the rosewoods in the plant family Leguminosae, and the ebony and walnut families. These have a fine grain, resist cracking and take a fine polish – exactly the qualities needed for quality timber – and these trees are heavily exploited worldwide by the tropical timber trade. Bans on cutting hardwood species for carving exist in national legislation, but are rarely enforced. The second group of carving woods are light-coloured softwoods. These are from faster-growing trees and are more able to withstand demand for carving wood. Many of these trees are valued medicinally or for their fruits in addition to their wood – and this needs to be taken into account in resource management. The hardwoods preferred for carving are becoming scarce. Overexploitation of favoured tree species is a problem for carvers – and for the forest wildlife that depends upon these trees for shelter, food or nest sites. Historically, the scarcity of carving wood resources is the result of loss of trees from clearing farmland, competition from charcoal production, and exploitative and unsustainable logging. A common response is to source wood from further and further afield, including from other countries. For instance, in Kenya, 4000 of the 15,000 trees felled each year for carvings come from northern Tanzania. It is clear that unmanaged expansion into new, resource-rich harvesting areas is no solution. However, in order to break the cycle, the root causes of the problem need to be addressed. This means the development of proper management plans for sustainable harvesting of carved wood species. Sustainable resource management is a strategy to deal with problems of

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resource depletion. In involves assessing sustainable harvest yields and ensures implementation by encouraging participation of the local community in managing the resource. There have been few attempts to address the resource depletion problem and to implement participatory resource management strategies. There are few resource inventories, and little to no regular monitoring of quantities harvested and the impacts of harvesting (for exceptions, see Boxes 14.1, 14.4 and 14.5). Little detailed data exists on growth rates and population dynamics of even the most popular species – the data necessary to calculate sustainable extraction rates are generally not available. Wood can also be used much more efficiently. Carvers commonly fell a tree, remove the prime section of the stem, then leave the rest in the forest. Up to 50 per cent of the wood can be wasted. It is generally only when wood becomes scarce that carvers make smaller items and use wood more efficiently. This needs to change. Wastage due to cracking is also a common problem, usually due to inadequate drying. Forestry researchers can assist carvers with this problem. There is an opportunity to develop solar-powered kilns similar to those used in India, which are able to dry roundwood as well. Lack of attention to quality, often a result of poor tools, can result in some carvings never being sold. Similarly, lack of innovation and constant repetition of the same products will have the same outcome, as consumers become bored and pieces remain on the shelves for years before being discarded.

Tree cultivation builds a future There are cases where cultivation has been successful. These agroforestry systems are invariably accompanied by strong land and resource tenure, as well as local value adding. Carving in Bali provides a positive example where woodcarving has been put on a sound basis through shifts to a fast-growing species (Paraserianthus falcataria). In India there is the roadside, village-level and plantation production of Dalbergia sissoo. In coastal Kenya there are the neem trees. The same is possible in Uganda. This will enable some carved tree species to be included in multi-strata agroforestry systems. We need to understand how shifts to faster-growing trees can be promoted. There are other tree species which could be promoted, such as the raintree (Samanea saman), a tropical American species widely carved in Bali, Hawaii and Fiji, and milo (Thespesia populnea) and nawa-nawa (Cordia subcordata), which are both favoured for carving in the Pacific. Fast-growing Acacia species also have potential. The Australian and Hawaiian Acacia species, Acacia mangium and Acacia koa, are good examples. However, these faster-growing species may be invasive. Paraserianthus falcataria, for example, is an invasive tree in Hawaiian forests. Great care, therefore, needs to be taken to ensure this does not occur. There is an immense opportunity for forestry departments, conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs), woodcarvers and farmers to share information on cultivated species, whether for agroforestry systems or plantations.

258 Carving Out a Future

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 16.4 A government-supported ‘emporium’ in New Delhi, India, which displays and markets woodcarvings

Capturing value, expanding the market and building producer organizations In a global economy, marketing is a critical skill. Although there is great potential, marketing is a major problem faced by carvers. Mechanisms to provide information on market opportunities, current prices and product quality requirements are needed. Some governments and donor agencies are already providing support in these areas. In India, for example, the government Ministry of Textiles promotes handicrafts through state-supported craft ‘emporia’ (see Figure 16.4). In economic terms, the most successful carvers are those who retail their carvings themselves. There are opportunities and advantages to direct marketing, whether through large galleries, such as in Bali, or through the establishment of small roadside stalls in Africa. Modern technology offers carvers ways of marketing directly. Carving sales are increasingly linked to global markets. Carvers need to be aware of the uniqueness of their own products. For carvers with a market niche, such as makers of djembe drums, Ashante stools or finely carved Indian screens, there is little need to change. These carvers just need to maintain quality and avoid losing export markets where people are sensitive to, for example, forest antelope being killed for drum vellum. Goat skins are a better alternative. Other carvers have to be very sensitive to market change – they need to keep abreast of what the markets want.

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Balinese carvers are amongst the most responsive to market demand. They will make anything ‘to order’. They make a huge, diverse and dynamic range of carved items, such as birds or cats in many shapes and sizes. Balinese carvers are experts at carving animals that they have never seen, yet are in high demand, including dinosaurs, Arabian camels and African giraffes and hippos. Kenyan carvers, on the other hand, make only a small range of animals and always in the same style. Some of the carvers’ problems can be countered by developing local producer organizations. There is now considerable understanding of what it takes to establish and maintain effective organizations. They need to be equipped with good negotiating and financial skills, and linked to credit facilities. They also need to understand the resource situation. Examples of best practices in other contexts must be shared so that local carving leaders can plan for the future. International markets can be promoted through government efforts and as part of tourist promotion. The Bali industry has benefited from a variety of books and brochures on woodcarving, and by the periodic promotional exhibitions organized by the tourism industry. In Australia, Maningrida Arts and Culture was established with government assistance to facilitate sculpting; turnover has grown from Australian $50,000 in 1977 (Altman, 1999) to well over Australian $1 million during the 2002–2003 financial year (Kohen, 2003).

Pay good prices for good quality and sustainable practices Woodcarving requires a great deal of skill, creativity and artistry. Quality pieces can fetch substantial sums of money (see Figure 16.5a). However, carvers rarely see their fair share of the profits, with most value captured by those at the top end of the market chain. The time and effort required to produce a carving are rarely appreciated or acknowledged. Indeed, buyers often pay very low prices. The situation for those providing the raw material is even starker. Low prices act as a disincentive for planting, intensification and sustainable management. Away from production-line carving, some exceptional carvers are being supported by top galleries who exclusively market their small, exquisite carvings in top-quality hardwoods. These retail at prices from US$900–$6000. Clearly, the high-end art market is limited in size; but there is scope for growth, and the high-quality woods should be reserved for higher-value products, if possible. Moreover, there may be scope to increase the prices and the margins for largevolume products, such as the US$5 rhinos or salad bowls. Carvers are aware of quality, often serving long apprenticeships; but they need a price incentive. If tourists wish to support sustainable practices, they should be willing to pay for carvings derived from woods that are sustainably managed. Thirdparty certification (see Chapter 15) may not be feasible, given the costs of certification; but there are many innovative examples of second-party certification schemes (see Box 15.3).

260 Carving Out a Future

a

b

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 16.5 (a) High-quality and high-priced sandalwood (Santalum album) carvings produced in Bali, Indonesia, based on traditional Japanese netsuke designs (scale in centimetres); (b) a forest department nursery for Fijian sandalwood (Santalum yasi) for commercial production on Vanua Levu, Fiji

There are benefits – and risks – from new technology Worldwide, carvers are rapidly adopting new technology in their businesses, ranging from chainsaws through to cell phones and the internet. Large retailers started first with marketing from websites, rapidly followed by smaller retailers. Even small-scale traders in Africa, which has the lowest telephonesper-person ratio in the world and the highest costs of telephone calls, commonly use email to get orders from importers, using the services of small internet cafés. Even in small carving outlets, carvers use cell phones. New technology also brings risks and challenges in terms of resource management. Worker safety needs to be taken more seriously through improved policy and production practices in the woodcarving industry, whether it is using chainsaws or sandpaper (see Figure 16.6). In addition, increased access to chainsaws speeds up the process of producing saleable carved items; but in many cases in Africa, Asia and the Pacific this is also contributing to the depletion of hardwood supplies. This occurs particularly when chainsaws are available but rules governing tree tenure or management plans for sustainable harvest of tree populations, are absent.

Planning for Woodcarving in the 21st Century 261 a

b

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 16.6 Two contrasting examples of production practices: (a) sanding a Dalbergia box in Nagina, India, without protective gear; (b) women sanding a carving in Bali, Indonesia, wearing face masks

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE: TOWARDS MORE ENABLING POLICIES AND STRATEGIES Present policies neglect the significant economic and livelihood contributions of forest products other than timber. Livelihoods need to be secured by providing supportive policy frameworks and targeted assistance, and by ensuring a sustainable supply of raw material. Declining resource trends need to be reversed and carvers require specific policy support to access markets.

Resource management Several forestry-sector policies are detrimental to woodcarving. Many carved tree species, even when outside state forests, are protected by national and provincial legislation and are, effectively, state property, such as Dalbergia melanoxylon in Kenya or sandalwood (Santalum) in Australia and Indonesia. In Zimbabwe, three of the four most commonly traded species are listed as illegal to extract, including pod mahogany (Afzelia quanzensis) used for hippos (see Figure 16.7). Bans on cutting hardwood species for carving exist in

262 Carving Out a Future

a

b

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 16.7 National laws banning the felling of hardwood species are rarely enforced: (a) a ‘protected’ pod mahogany (Afzelia quanzensis) felled for woodcarving in Zimbabwe; (b) hippos carved from the same species and displayed for sale national legislation but are rarely enforced. This acts as an incentive against planting or management by local people and creates confusion. In some cases, local farmers would rather uproot saplings than nurture them, given the perverse incentives in place (see Box 16.2). Generally, there are too few policies in place that devolve rights and responsibilities to local people to manage resources.

Conservation policies Policy changes should offer opportunities for improved incentives for locallevel management. However, where conservation objectives are paramount, the legislation needs to be enforced with the use of appropriate penalties. Some of the current penalties provide little disincentive to illegal harvesters.

Forestry support policies Routinely, forestry budgets are allocated solely for timber extraction and commercial plantation production for timber and tannins. Recognition of the significant economic and employment contributions of other forest products

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BOX 16.2 OIL AND WOODCRAFT: THE CASE OF THE DECLINE IN SANDALWOOD IN NUSA TENGGARA TIMUR, INDONESIA Dede Rohadi, Retno Maryani, Made Widyana and Irdez Azhar Santalum album, the focus of the case study by Rohadi et al (2004), is a member of the Santalales family. Sandalwood species are scattered from the Pacific Islands to Australia to India. Sandalwood trading might have commenced as early as the third century when the wood was used as a gift for kings. The Chinese were trading sandalwood from the Timor Islands to Malaya and India as early as the tenth century. They built trade relations with the ruling native chiefs who controlled the cutting and sale of sandalwood and bartered the wood for silk, porcelain, beads and gold. During the Dutch colonial period, the trade in sandalwood was controlled by the Dutch East Indies Company. Sandalwood owes its popularity to its oil. The oil from Santalum album is particularly in demand because of its high santalol content (around 80 to 90 per cent). It is exported to the US, Singapore, Switzerland, the UK, France and The Netherlands, mainly for the perfume and cosmetic industries. The oils are extracted from the heartwood of the stem, branches or roots of mature trees. This species is also used, locally or on neighbouring islands such as Bali (see Chapter 9), for woodcarving and handicrafts of various forms (for example, fans, pens, beads, rosaries, accessories and handbags). The sawdust from the handicraft and oil factories is used to produce joss sticks for Hindu and Buddhist ceremonies. Amongst other uses, sandalwood has long been employed for traditional medicines. Sandalwood has very high value, and sandalwood production has benefited from detailed inventories and a few technological and silviculture investigations. In addition, there are a set of institutional arrangements in place for management. Nonetheless, there is a serious decline in tree stocks and the industry is threatened. This industry earns Indonesia US$1.5 million per annum in oil exports, and provided 40 per cent of the annual provincial government income during the early 1990s. Sandalwood is the only forest tree in Indonesia for which complete inventories have been conducted on a regular basis. While the accuracy of the data is questionable, it is obvious that there has been a sharp decline in mature tree numbers (see Table 16.2) and wood standing stock (see Figure 16.8) over the last decade.

Table 16.2 Summary of sandalwood census data from Timor and surrounding islands Census year

Diameter > 30cm (number of trees)

Diameter < 30cm (number of trees )

Total (number of trees )

Before 1966 1965–1968 1973–1976 1987–1988 1997–1998

190,000 131,687 200,575 188,389 41,427

150,000 375,065 325,106 395,041 209,513

340,000 506,752 525,681 583,430 250,940

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The provincial government has established a sandalwood collection system in the field and sets the selling price through an auction system. The harvesting of sandalwood is conducted according to a set procedure. An instruction regarding annual allowable cut, wood administration and revenue is issued by the regional forestry office to its branch offices at the district level. The heads of the district offices discuss this with their subordinates – namely, heads of sub-districts, forest rangers, villages and neighbourhoods. The annual allowable cut (set as weight of heartwood) is calculated using a formula that includes a term for ‘heartwood weight per tree’. From the beginning of the 1970s until the late 1980s, the predicted average heartwood weight per tree was 100kg per tree, and a cutting cycle of 50 years was recommended. The heartwood weight was subsequently revised to 50kg per tree in 1988; but during the early 1990s, research showed that the average heartwood per tree was only 29.8kg per tree. The high estimation of heartwood content per tree has contributed to overexploitation and has led to resource depletion. In addition, there has been widespread illegal logging. Legal wood production has fluctuated significantly, with a long-term average of about 600 tonnes per year (see Figure 16.8). The high peak in production during 1996/1997 was a result of a ‘second special operation’ by the government, which preceded the ban on sandalwood production for five years (1998–2002). This ban derived from a decree of the provincial governor to allow regeneration and re-growth. The special operation collected illegally cut wood from all communities. This was conducted in a benign manner – instead of impounding wood and charging villagers, compensation for harvesting costs was paid for all collected wood. Some commentators noted that this provincial operation may have been conducted to pre-empt new national regulations, stipulating that collectors or owners should receive up to 80 per cent of sandalwood value. While the operation was to have focused on already-cut wood, much of what was collected had been freshly cut. Despite the harvesting ban, the sandalwood oil and handicraft industries have continued to operate and industrial capacity has grown (see Figure 16.8). In order to overcome resource scarcities, some factories changed to producing eucalypt oil; but others simply turned to illegal sources of wood. The largest and oldest oil-distilling factory (located in Kupang, the provincial capital) was established in 1974 and has a processing capacity for about 800 tonnes of wood per annum. However, the actual operation never fulfils its capacity due to insufficient raw material. There were 24 handicraft factories officially recorded in 1998, most of them located in Kupang, but with most wood for handicraft being shipped to Bali. Fourteen joss stick factories operated in 1998, with a total capacity of 3300 tonnes. They use the sawdust from the other types of factories, also mixing it with the sawdust of other species, such as gaharu (Aquilaria spp.) and kayu pappi (Acacia oraria). Although efforts to plant the trees began during the early part of the 20th century, no successful plantations have been developed. The circa 200ha planted between the years of 1923 and 1951 failed partially or completely. After independence, considerable resources were devoted to plantation development; but these have not borne fruit. The serious decline in tree stocks threatens the future of the sandalwood industry. The root of the problem is ineffective government policies that neglect

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10 9 8

Thousand tonnes

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1969

1973

1977

1981

Wood production Industrial capacity (trend line)

1985

1989

1993

1997

Low estimation of wood stock (trend line) High estimation of wood stock (trend line)

Source: Rohadi et al, 2004

Figure 16.8 Standing stock and legal production of, and industrial capacity for, sandalwood in Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, Indonesia the rights of local people and discourage them from participating in sandalwood production. All natural regenerated sandalwood (trees, dead trees and wood) belong to the regional government. The regulations tend to marginalize local people. Because of low incentives for local people, they put no or little effort into sustaining the sandalwood resources. Moreover, in some cases the local people have purposely killed the seedlings in order to prevent them from being obliged to maintain the trees in their fields. Illegal logging, shifting cultivation and wild grazing are other common practices that increase the negative impacts upon sandalwood regeneration.

can encourage forestry departments to reallocate a share of their budgets to include management for multiple forest products. A proportion of revenues allocated to the forestry sector for timber production should be earmarked to support woodcarving, including production in agroforestry systems or small plantations (see Figure 16.9). Forest departments can make small lots available to harvesters for woodcarving (who cannot afford to use the large lots or concessions typically allocated to sawmills). Current forest management plans usually focus solely upon timber, neglecting species utilized for healthcare, food, crafts and

266 Carving Out a Future a

b

Source: Anthony Cunningham

Figure 16.9 (a) A nursery with introduced and indigenous species (including Brachylaena huillensis) at the Makinde carvers’ co-operative in Kenya; (b) a 1937 plantation trial for Brachylaena huillensis near Nairobi, Kenya woodcarving, as well as those possessing cultural significance. A recent financial analysis of rainforest silviculture in Sri Lanka, for example, concluded that managing both timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in silviculture systems – including high-value hardwoods prized for carving (particularly calamander, Diospyros quaesita) – would have a net present value (NPV) of US$23,000 per hectare, close to the value of tea monoculture (US$26,000 per hectare) (Ashton et al, 2001).

Balancing access rights Carving species are harvested from a variety of property regimes and tenure arrangements (for example, commons, sacred areas, private land and state land). Consequently, access to these resources can vary according to traditional and official resource-use restrictions and boundaries. Balancing the rights of access between commercial harvesters (who harvest over a very wide area) and those of village residents (who may assert their rights over resources within their commons) is always a challenge. Outside users, often based in urban areas, frequently pose a threat to local users (for example, by using wood for charcoal). Local institutional arrangements that facilitate carving but protect

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the interests of non-carvers need to be devised and facilitated. Systems such as the command-and-control by-law system in the Zimbabwe case (see Chapter 6) do not work. Carvers and carving advocates need to work with local councils to establish effective systems; this may mean giving further authority and responsibility to lower levels of governance. In the Zimbabwe case, this probably signifies giving support to traditional systems – recognizing the resource management responsibilities of traditional leaders, providing back-up where such leaders need support, and establishing simple and cost-effective systems to curb corruption and provide checks and balances.

Certification Certification has been tested as one mechanism of encouraging sustainable, economically fair and socially responsible production of carvings; but policy within certifying bodies needs to be reformed as costs of certification are prohibitive for carvers (see Chapter 15) or woodturners. There is a need and opportunity for innovation and flexibility in certification processes, and for better support for small-scale wood producers, including woodcarvers, to take advantage of certification. Examples are group certification schemes for smallscale producers and cost recovery through direct support from exporters, retailers or public buyers (see Box 15.3).

Trade policies Reduced or zero customs levies on the importation of craft products into North America and Europe can also boost carving exports. In Mexico, for example, alebrije carving exports (see Chapter 11) are free of customs duty under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Duty-free customs policies not only need to be considered from an economic viewpoint, but also in terms of resource sustainability. For valuable wild plant resources, it may be necessary to ban export of the raw materials. However, this must be done carefully. Indonesia enacted an export ban for unprocessed rattan stems in 1986, banning unprocessed rattan exports. This was intended to help strengthen the domestic processing industry, which was extremely weak at the time. The result was that the demand and prices for rattan (including sustainably produced cultivated rattan) were pushed down drastically, and a group of powerful, well-connected investors organized in the Indonesian Association for the Furniture Industry (ASMINDO) ended up controlling the trade. At a more local level, trade barriers and restrictions, such as municipal by-laws that control street vending, can have negative impacts for the marketing of woodcraft. This is especially problematic when there are few alternative markets.

National strategies With India a notable exception, most countries lack any national strategy for woodcarving. In Indonesia, forestry researchers have played a constructive

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role that could be expanded elsewhere. The various national initiatives in South Africa related to crafts (see Box 16.1) illustrate what can be done to stimulate woodcarving, although much additional work is still needed.

Policies in other sectors Policies in other sectors may be important for woodcarving. For instance, energy subsidies can be useful to take pressure off the declining fuelwood resource base. In Zimbabwe, subsidies for cooking fuel (kerosene) diminished the competition between fuelwood and woodcarving. Above all, considerable attention needs to be given to achieving better integration and co-operation between the tourism, arts, culture, forestry and conservation sectors in order to address the challenges faced by woodcarving enterprises. Occasionally, one agency may promote woodcarving, while another may try to curb it. Often governments do not recognize the potential contribution of forest products, including carving, to poverty reduction strategies. Woodcarvers are frequently invisible to formalized business and commerce in that they are cut off from credit facilities or the kinds of institutional assistance that small businesses receive (for example, in South Africa woodcarvers are not recognized by the Small Business Development Corporation). We need to work towards greater visibility of carvers across a variety of sectors.

CONCLUSIONS Woodcarving has the potential to improve livelihoods for millions of households. Livelihoods need to be secured by providing supportive policy frameworks and targeted assistance and by ensuring a sustainable supply of raw material. Declining resource trends must be reversed. There are three keys to a positive future path for carvers (see Chapter 2): 1 2

3

quality – making best use of sustainable harvested wood; diversity – ensuring that the market is not saturated with sameness, and maintaining cultural diversity to give depth to carving design, offering creative ideas for the future; sustainable use of wood resources – no wood means no work.

Each individual can make a huge positive change, particularly if individuals from the same community or with the same set of values work together. This is best demonstrated by the remarkable history of the Indian carving industry. It was Mahatma Ghandi’s locally spun textile campaign and focus on villagelevel crafts that led to India establishing a Ministry of Textiles, which provides support for craft workers to this day. Several of the world’s most successful commercial carving enterprises have started as individual initiatives. In 1919, the Kenyan carving industry was created by a Kamba man, Mutisya Munge, when he returned from World War

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I. Carving of alebrijes in Oaxaca, Mexico, was also started by one person, as did the trade in the Gyanyar district of Bali, Indonesia, resulting in the establishment of a training school for carvers there today. In each case, whether in Kenya, Mexico or Bali, community cohesion contributed to carving success. The same applies in Saharanphur and Nagina in India, where it is the Moslem community who have established the woodcarving trade. The combined annual value of these four examples is an estimated US$200 million plus per year. Readers of this book – whether your interest in carving relates to policy and governance, rural development, tourism or conservation – can also make a difference.

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Index

287

Index Acacia ataxacantha 89 Acacia koa 257 Acacia mangium 126, 257 Acacia nigrescens 90 Acacia nilotica 114, 239 Acacia tortilis 114 Acer macrophyllum (broad-leafed maple) 19 Africa carving traditions 16 masks 23, 183 African blackwood see Dalbergia melanoxylon African sandalwood see Spirostachys africana Afzelia 7 Afzelia quanzensis (pod mahogany) 9, 73, 75, 78, 92, 190–1, 261–2 Agathis borneensis (damar) 181, 253 Agathis vitiensis (Fijian kauri) 21 agroforestry 226, 228, 257 Albizia amara 73 Albizia versicolor 90, 92 alebrije carvings, Mexico 16, 28, 147–59, 177–8, 192, 250 Alnus rubra (red alder) 19 Alstonia boonei 46 Anacardiaceae family 7 Androstachys johnsonnii (Lebombo ironwood) 92 Annona senegalensis (wild custard apple) 92 annual allowable cut (AAC) 50, 222, 264 Antiaris toxicaria 45–51 Apocynaceae family 7 Apodytes dimidiata 88, 89 Arabuko Sokote Forest Reserve, Kenya 35, 38–9 Araliaceae family 7 art, carvings considered as 3, 138–9, 141–3, 259

Artocarpus heterophyllus (nangka, jackfruit) 123, 128 Australia Aboriginal woodcarving 135–46 art industry 138–9, 141–2 didgeridoos 250, 253, 254 government support 259 sustainability 143–6 tree species used 143 Azadirachta indica (neem) as alternative 184, 212, 213 ‘good wood’ 234–5, 239–46 price 35, 36, 245–6 resources 40 sustainability 221–3 bagpipes 193 Baikiaea plurijuga (Rhodesian teak) 183 Balanites maughamii 13 Bali agroforestry 226, 257 carving school 130–1 certification 248 exports 3–4, 126–7, 250 government support 130–2, 195 history of carving 121–2 masks 20 painted carvings 254 response to demand 28, 259 wood species 123–6, 195 woodcarving industry 3–4, 7, 28, 121–33, 177–8, 179, 259 bark paintings 142 bastard marula see Kirkia acuminata Baudouinia 215 bentwood boxes 18, 20 Berber thuya see Tetraclinis articulata Berchemia discolor 73, 214 Berchemia zeyheri (red ivory) 88, 89, 92, 214 blackwood see Dalbergia melanoxylon Bolivia, certification 231

288

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Bombax ceiba 143–5 boot polish, use for darkening 8, 183, 212 Boscia albitrunca 13, 14 boxes bentwood boxes 18, 20 Mexico 2, 165–70, 177–8 Brachychiton diversifolius 143–5 Brachylaena discolor 7 Brachylaena huillensis (muhugu) carvings made from 182–3 illegal harvesting 7, 185 Kenya wood carvings 31, 184 over-exploitation 38–40, 200, 209, 221, 234, 255 plantations 266 price 35, 36 transportation 211, 213 wildlife impacts 220, 224 Brazilian rosewood see Dalbergia nigra Breonadia microcephala 89 broad-leaved maple see Acer macrophyllum Bursera (copal) 147–59 Bursera aloexylon 151, 161–73 Bursera bipinnata 151, 164 Bursera copallifera 164 Bursera glabrifolia 150–1, 152–3, 164, 211 Bursera heliae 151 Bursera submoniliformis 151 Bursera xochipalensis 164 Bushbuckridge district, South Africa 81–102, 210–11, 250, 251–2 Buxus wallichiana (papri) 103 Caesalpinia echinata (perambuco) 14 Calophyllum inophyllum 21 Calophyllum neo-ebudicum 21 canals, India 114–15 Canarium schweinfurthii 46 canoes 16, 21–4 cedar, North America 17–19, 20 Ceiba pentandra 161 certification schemes constraints 238–45, 267 India 118 Kenya 229–48 Mexico 158–9 South Africa 247–8 chainsaws 260

Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (yellow cedar) 19 Chanuo Maundu 54, 59, 60–5 Chlorophora excelsa (omuvule) 45 clarinets 193, 253 Cleistanthus schlechteri (bastard tamboti) 182 Cocos nucifera (coconut) 107 collaborative forest management (CFM) 52 colonialism, influence of 25–6, 56–7 Combretum imberbe (leadwood, ‘ebony number two’) 73, 78, 89, 92, 183 Combretum schumannii (mkongolo) 31, 224 commercial trade 26–7 Commiphora mollis 190 Commiphora pyracanthoides 190 conservation and over-exploitation 199–228 policies 262 South Africa 91–3, 94–5 species selection 216–17 and wood supply 6–7 Zimbabwe 78–80 see also resource management Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) 248, 256 copal see Bursera coral tree see Erythrina lysistemon Cordia africana 46 Cordia alliodora 227 Cordia millenii 46 Cordia subcordata (nawa-nawa) 257 Crescentia alata 162–3 Cruz, Isidoro 148–9 cultivation of trees 184, 213, 224–7, 257 see also plantations culture, and carving 2–3, 25–6, 136–7, 252–3 Cynometra weberi 38 Dalbergia, species of 204–5, 215 Dalbergia latifolia (sonokeling) 103, 105, 111, 112, 123, 205 Dalbergia melanoxylon (African blackwood, mpingo, ‘ebony number one’)

Index Makonde carvings 53–65 musical instruments 14, 193–4, 253–4 objects made from 182, 183 over-exploitation 7, 8, 31, 221, 256 price 35, 253–4 quality for carving 29, 63–4 South Africa 88, 89, 92 as standard 15–16, 204 Zimbabwe 73 Dalbergia nigra (Brazilian rosewood) 14 Dalbergia sissoides 103 Dalbergia sissoo (sheesham), India 104, 106, 107, 111, 112–15, 184, 195, 205, 215–16, 257 Dalbergia stevensonii (Honduras rosewood) 14 damar see Agathis borneensis Dastan Nyedi 54, 59, 60–5 Degeya Forest Reserve, Uganda 43–52 devil’s club see Oplopanax horridum Dichrostachys cinerea 90 Diospyros, species 201, 214–15 Diospyros celebica (Celebes ebony) 123, 211, 226 Diospyros ebenum (ebony) 103, 112, 214 Diospyros mespiliformis (jackalberry) 92 Diospyros montana 215 Diospyros quaesita 227, 266 Dombeya rotundifolia 90 Douglas fir see Pseudotsuga menziesii drums, Uganda 2, 43–52 ebony species names 8, 183, 214–15 true see Diospyros ebenum see also Combretum imberbe; Dalbergia melanoxylon eco-labelling 118, 229 ecological footprint 7, 200, 220–4 economies household 186–8, 249–50 India 108 national 250 efficiency 257 Eiseman, Fred 20 Erythrina excelsa 45–50 Erythrina lysistemon (coral tree) 90, 92 Erythrina verspitilio 213 Erythrophleum chlorostachys

289

(ironwood) 137 essential oil, linaloe 163, 165 Eucalyptus camaldulensis 114 Eucalyptus tetrodonta 142 Eusideroxylon zwageri 208, 219 Euxylophora paraensis 219 exports 207–8, 250, 267 Bali 3–4, 126–7 India 105, 107–8 Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife (EKZNW) 247–8 fakes 28 Ficus exasperata 45–51 Ficus ingens (red-leafed rock fig) 92 Ficus mucuso 45–51 Ficus natalensis 46 Ficus sur 46 Ficus sycamorus 13, 46, 54, 220 Fiji, wood qualities 15 Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), certification 118, 192, 194, 195, 221, 229–48 Funtumia 7 Funtumia africana 45–50 gender divisions 71, 110, 155–6 ‘good woods’ 36, 79, 118, 213, 232–46 government support Bali 130–2 India 115–18, 258 Mexico 172–3 South Africa 251–2 grave posts 136–7 Grevillea robusta (mukima) 38, 234 hardhack see Spiraea douglasii hardwoods over-exploitation 256 preferred species 13, 201, 204–5 requirements 216–17 harvesting access rights 266–7 illegal 7, 185, 242 Mexico 152–4, 165 Pterocarpus angolensis 210–11 wild resources 25–6, 184–5, 224–6 headrests 16 hippopotamuses, carved 75–6, 190, 252, 261–2

290

Carving Out a Future

history, carving traditions 2–3, 11 Holarrhena floribunda 7 Holodiscus discolor 19 Honduras rosewood see Dalbergia stevensonii household economies 186–8, 249–50 household utensils Java 181 South Africa 5, 81–102 illegal logging 7, 185, 242 incomes Bali 128–30 from non-timber forest products 186–8 India 107, 116–17 Mexico 157, 171, 250 South Africa 96–7, 250 Zimbabwe 74–6 India alternative supply sources 113–14 certification 248 exports 105, 107–8, 250 marketing 258 resource management 110–13, 195 woodcarving industry 2–3, 103–19 Indira Gandhi Nahar Project (IGNP) 114–15 Indonesia kitchen utensils 181 masks 23 sandalwood 263–5 training 27 see also Bali insect resistance 216 Intsia bijuga (vesi) 15, 16, 21–3, 207, 212 investments, in woodcarving 189–95 ironwood 8 see also Erythrophleum chlorostachys; Holodiscus discolor; Olneya tesota irrigation, India 114–15 Jacaranda mimosifolia 38, 88, 90, 92–3, 183, 213, 234 jackalberry see Diospyros mespiliformis Java, kitchen utensils 181 Jiminez, Manuel 28, 148–9 joint forest management (JFM), India 111 Juglans regia (walnut) 107

kalia canoes 21–3 Kashimiri Matayo 60, 64 kava bowls 15, 23, 212, 252 Kenya certification scheme 229–48 forestry policy 40–2 history of woodcarving 32–4 over-exploitation 38–40 supply of wood 35–6, 212–13 sustainable production 221–3, 257 waKamba carvers 27, 28–9, 32–3, 212–13 wood processing 36–8 woodcarving industry 4, 5, 31, 177–8 Kenya Crafts Co-operative Union (KCCU) 42 keystone species 51, 220 Khaya nyasica (red mahogany) 92 kiaat see Pterocarpus angolensis Kirk, Norman 57 Kirkia acuminata (bastard marula, musanta) 73, 190 Lannea discolor 90 Lannea stuhlmannii 90 leadwood see Combretum imberbe light requirements, tree species 216 linaloe essential oil 150, 164, 165 handicrafts 161–73, 178, 179 livelihoods effect on 4–5 and woodcarving 249–50 see also incomes Lufuka Forest Reserve, Uganda 43–52 Madagascar carving traditions 23 tree species 215 Maesopsis eminii 46 mahogany 8 Makonde carvers 25, 27, 53–65 Mangifera indica (mango) 38, 107, 111, 113, 234 Manglietia glauca (manglid) 123 mango see Mangifera indica Manilkara kauki (sawo kecik) 123, 132 Maningrida, Australia 140–6, 259 marketing 258–9

Index markets access to 232–3 regulations 76–8 South Africa 99–100, 181, 182–3 Zimbabwe 4–5, 67–80, 190–2, 253 marula see Sclerocarya birrea masks African 23, 183 traditions 16, 20, 23 Melia azedarach 88, 124 Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) 234, 236–7 Mexico alebrijes figures 16, 28, 147–59, 177–8, 192, 250 box production 2, 165–70 carvers 154–7 certification schemes 158–9 harvesting 152–4, 165 incomes 157, 171, 250 linaloe handicrafts 161–73, 178, 179 resource management 151–2, 163–4 woodcarving 147–59 Michelia alba 123 Michelia champaca (cempaka) 123, 128 Milicia excelsa 46, 254 milo see Thespesia populnea mkongolo see Combretum schumannii mockorange see Philadelphus lewisii monoxyly 16 Morocco, Berber thuya 206–7 Morus mesozygia 46 Mozambique blackwood production 193–4 Makonde carvers 25, 27, 53–65 Mpanga Forest Reserve, Uganda 43–52 Mpigi district, Uganda 43–52 mpingo see Dalbergia melanoxylon muhugu see Brachylaena huillensis mukima see Grevillea robusta mukwa see Pterocarpus angolensis Musanga cercropoides 46 musical instruments African blackwood 14, 193–4, 253–4 drums 43–52 Mutisya Munge 32, 268 nawa-nawa see Cordia subcordata neem see Azadirachta indica Nepal, woodcarving in buildings 12

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New Zealand, training 27 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) 189, 192 non-timber forest products (NTFPs) comparative analysis 5–6, 175–97 in household economies 186–8 North America, North-West Coast culture 17–19 Nyekenya Nangundu 55–6 oboes 193 Olea europaea (wild olive) 35, 88, 89, 92, 221, 253 Olneya tesota (ironwood) 161, 219 Oplopanax horridum (devil’s club) 17 over-exploitation alternative species 112–13, 212 Brachylaena huillensis 38–40, 200, 209, 221, 234, 255 and conservation 199–228, 255–6 Dalbergia melanoxylon 7, 8, 31, 221, 256 Oxfam GB 232–4 Ozoroa insignis 73 Pacific crab apple see Pyrus fusca Pacific yew see Taxus brevifolia padauli see Pterocarpus dalbergiodes painting, of carvings 154–5, 254 Pan European Forest Certification (PEFC) 231 Paraserianthes falcataria (sengon) 125–30, 132, 184, 195, 213, 226–7, 257 patronage 57–60 Peera, Mohamed 57–60 perambuco see Caesalpinia echinata Pericopsis 7 Philadelphus lewisii (mockorange) 19 Picea sitchensis (Sitka spruce) 19 plant ecological strategy schemes (PESSs) 217 plant functional types (PFTs) 217 plantations India 114–15, 195, 257 Kenya 266 see also cultivation pod mahogany see Afzelia quanzensis Polyscias fulva 7, 45–52, 201, 205, 207, 213, 225, 227

292

Carving Out a Future

‘pop art’, Bali 122, 125 prices competition 5 Mexico 157 for quality 28, 128–30, 259 for wood 35, 36, 128, 244–5, 253–5 Zimbabwe 73–6 products, wood properties 13–16 Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir) 19 Pterocarpus 7, 13 Pterocarpus angolensis (kiaat, mukwa, wild teak) 73, 78, 83–102, 182, 210–11, 253 Pterocarpus dalbergiodes (padauli) 103 Pyrus fusca (Pacific crab apple) 19 quality products 28–9, 196, 259 rain tree see Samanea saman Rainforest Alliance 238, 239 Rauvolfia caffra 13 red alder see Alnus rubra red ivory see Berchemia zeyheri red mahogany see Khaya nyasica Reid, Bill 19 religion, influence 25–6 resource management certification schemes 239–42 India 110–13 Mexico 151–2 ‘nightmare species’ 214–20 policies 261–2 South Africa 247–8 sustainable 91–3, 94–5, 256–7 Zimbabwe 202–3 see also conservation; overexploitation rituals 136–7 roadside markets South Africa 86–7 Zimbabwe 4–5, 67–80 rosewood, species 8, 103 Samaki Likankoa 53, 58–9 Samanea saman (rain tree) 125, 257 sandalwood see Santalum album Santalum album (cendana, sandalwood) 103, 107, 123, 209, 226, 260, 263–5 Santalum yasi 260

Santiago, Martín 148–9 Schotia brachypetala 90 Sclerocarya birrea 7, 73, 90, 91, 92, 214 sculpture Aboriginal carvings 136–46 blackwood carvings 53–65 sengon see Paraserianthes falcataria sheesham see Dalbergia sissoo shetani ‘spirit’ figures 53–4, 58–61, 64 Shorea robusta (sal) 12 Sitka spruce see Picea sitchensis Skukuza Alliance 98, 100, 252 small and low-intensity managed forests (SLIMFs) 242–3 Smartwood 238, 239 snowberry see Symphoricarpos albus soapstone carving 73 softwoods musical instruments 45 preferred species 13, 201, 256 requirements 216–17 Sokoke scops owl 224, 255 South Africa certification scheme 247–8 external support 251–2 harvesting impacts 210–11 markets 99–100, 181, 182–3 woodcarving industry 5, 81–102 Spiraea douglasii (hardhack) 19 Spirostachys africana (African sandalwood) 29, 73, 78, 83, 88, 89, 92 Sri Lanka, silviculture in 265–6 stools 16 sustainable management Australia 143–6 importance of 256–7 Kenya 221–3 lack of incentives 6, 7, 264–5 South Africa 91–3 see also conservation Swietenia macrophylla 130 Swietenia mahogani 125, 213 Symphoricarpos albus (snowberry) 19 Tabebuia serratifolia 219 Tanzania blackwood production 193–4 Makonde carvers 25, 27, 53–65 Taxus brevifolia (Pacific yew) 19

Index technology, changing 25, 260 Teclea nobilis 14 Ten Thousand Villages 236–7, 243 Terminalia brownie 38 Terminalia sericea 13, 89 Tetraclinis articulata (araar) 206–7, 219 Thespesia populnea (milo, waru lot) 123, 257 Thobias, Hendrick 63 Thuja plicata (western red cedar) 17–18 Tonga, canoes 21–3 tools 25 totem poles 18 tourist market 2, 3–4, 250, 252–3 Bali 122 Kenya 244 South Africa 86–7, 99–100 Zimbabwe 67–80, 250, 252, 253 trade 26–7, 170, 267 see also markets traditions 2–3, 11, 25–6, 136–7 training 27, 130–1 transportation, of wood 211, 256 tree species alternative 112–13, 183–4, 212 Bali 123–6 drum-making 45–6 impact on 7 light requirements 216 names of 8–9 and product type 73 properties of 13–16, 201–7, 256 selection for conservation 216–17 threatened 214–20 vulnerability 217–19 see also wood Trichilia emetica 13, 213 Trilepisium madagsacariensis 46 Tsuga heterophylla (western hemlock) 19 Uganda, drums 2, 43–52 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 118, 215 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 118, 195 vesi see Intsia bijuga

293

western hemlock see Tsuga heterophylla western red cedar see Thuja plicata wildlife, impacts on 51, 220, 224, 255–6 women craft production 71 vendors 100 see also gender divisions wood density 216–17 scarcity 207–14 supply of 31 sustainable production 6 value added 253–5 see also tree species woodcarvers as artists 28–9, 138–9, 141–3, 148–9, 259 categories 71–2, 85–7 identity of 28, 60–5 incomes 74–6, 96–7, 116–17, 128–30 organizations 91–2, 98–9, 188–9, 243–5, 259 response to demand 28, 259 response to scarcity 209–14 woodcarving best practice 256–60 enabling policies 261–8 future trends 27–9, 256–68 importance of 249–55 negative impacts 255–6 Woodmark Soil Association 239, 242 World Trade Organization (WTO) 118, 215 World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) 118 Wrightia coccinea (pongmu) 107 Wrightia pubescens (bentawas) 123 Wrightia tinctoria 107 Yellow cedar see Chamaecyparis nootkatensis Zanthoxylum rhetza (panggal buaya, crocodile wood) 123, 132 Zimbabwe conservation 78–80 resource management 202–3 roadside markets 4–5, 76–8, 190–2 tourist market 250, 252, 253 woodcarving industry 67–76, 177–8