A methodology for assessing and evaluating the social impacts of non-timber forest product projects
Fisher, R.J.; Dechaineux, R.
Incomes from the forest methods for the development and conservation of forest products for local communities: 189-202
1998
Document Number: 498879
It is argued that the assumption behind the idea that non-timber forest product (NTFPs) exploitation can promote biodiversity is that people will ensure the reproductive capacity of products that are valuable sources of income. Thus, managed exploitation of NTFPs is seen as a means of combining the objectives of biodiversity conservation and economic development. The paper argues that if projects are based on the assumption that NTFP projects can be of benefit to rural people, then it is necessary to check continually whether these benefits actually exist. Otherwise the claim that rural people are benefiting is no more than convenient rhetoric. The paper presents a four-pronged approach to social impact assessment and evaluation: collection of information for a baseline study by field staff; continuing observation of social impacts by field staff; village case studies; and external review. The approach was initially developed to meet impact assessment and evaluation needs of the Non-Timber Forest Products Project in Laos, but is applied in the paper with reference to a project in Palawan Province in the Philippines.