Use and cultivation of plants that yield products other than timber from South Asian tropical forests, and their potential in forest restoration

Rural communities have traditionally valued forests for a diversity of products and services, with timber serving a minor role. No-where has this diversity been greater than in tropical South Asia, and in particular south India and Sri Lanka. As economies advance towards full development and populations become increasingly urbanized, forests become increasingly valued for their services. National development generally occurs at differing rates in different regions, with rural forest dependent communities falling behind and pockets of poverty long remaining. The demand for 'non-timber forest products' (NTFPs) therefore changes from subsistence to monetary based values. Overall, though, forests have suffered an unprecedented decline with development in the tropics, especially in Asia. This necessitates restoration which takes account of the enrichment of economy, wellbeing and culture which forest products provide. Methods for such restoration, and the fundamental principles upon which these must rest, are presented for species yielding NTFP's. In this paper we first review the history of NTFP species use within south India and Sri Lanka. Second we provide a description of the broad regional characterizations of the forest formations within this region in relation to their affiliated patterns of NTFP use and exploitation. We consider seven guilds as a way to categorize NTFP's into autecological groups for application in restoration silviculture, and use it as a framework to suggest restoration protocols for South Asian forests. We use examples of scenarios based on experimental studies of NTFP's in reforestation trials which take account of different social values and land tenures. We conclude with a call for further research. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.