WP 5 - Description of work

1. Gather (for WP6) existing information concerning management systems of palms used for subsistence and trade in northwestern South America (for relevant species see Table 1.1. at page 8). 2. Develop a standardized research protocol considering ecological, social, and economic criteria for sustainability. Interview extractors, farmers and other stake-holders and inventory the resource base, to compare management systems, and identify sustainable and unsustainable elements and drivers behind these. 3. Apply protocol to investigate and analyze management systems for palm species in agro-forestry systems or extracted from managed forests in: a) Amazon region, b) mountain forests, c) Pacific Coast. 4. Combine results from this package with data from the ecological (WP1 and WP2) and socio-economic (WP3 and WP4) research. Extract generalities regarding technical, socio-economic and organizational procedures and actions that increase sustainability of management systems, and factors and limitations reducing impact of management. 5. Define monitoring systems to evaluate sustainability of management regarding resource bases and people whose livelihood depend on the resource; identify biological, economic and social indicators of sustainability. 6. Make operational recommendations regarding sustainable management describing actions to be taken by different groups of stake-holders (extractors, farmers, extension workers, community organizations, NGO’s, private enterprises, local and national governments, etc.). 7. Support projects, institutions and organizations working with resource management in the project’s (own) sites in apply recommendations (and for wider dissemination via WP7 and WP8). 8. Summarize gathered experiences with management of palms in the projects (own) research areas.

Products (month): 1. Review of existing information about palm management systems; as review (to WP 6) and summary version submitted to an international journal (12). 2. Standardized research protocol for study of palm management systems to be published as report and on the projects website (12). 3. Reports on case studies of palm management; technical- and thesis reports (36). 4. Summarize recommendations and define indicators of sustainability (48). 5. Promote (through other local actors) a more sustainable resource management in project areas and appraise efforts (48), and continue until final evaluation (60).