Nontimber forest products (NTFPs) play an important role in the lives of people who rely on forests. An absence of data on the size of harvests, their location, and the economic value of NTFPs prevents effective management and full utilization by all stakeholder groups. We set out to measure one important NTFP sector -- the medicinal plant trade in the diverse deciduous forests of the eastern United States, by surveying licensed buyers of ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) in 15 states about purchasing of other untracked species. To combat potential coverage and non-response bias we created a place-based model that predicted the probability of purchasing non-ginseng medicinals based on buyer location and used this to build more robust estimates. This viable method for estimating NTFP output is a replicable system that can be applied in other regions and for other products. We reviewed the literature and hypothesized biophysical and socioeconomic factors that might contribute to the prevalence of non-ginseng purchasing, and tested them on the respondents using multinomial logistic regression. The significant variables were used in two-step cluster analysis to categorize respondents and non-respondents in high or low production areas. Volume was assigned to non-respondents based on respondent behavior within each cluster. Both were then summed to estimate total output. The results depict trade volume and prices paid to harvesters for 11 medicinal NTFP species. There was significant variation between products. Two species, black cohosh (Actaea racemosa) and goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), accounted for 72 percent of trade volume and 77 percent of the value paid to harvesters. The total first-order value for all species estimated was 4.3 million $USD. The discrepancy between point-of-sale and retail value implies room for increasing value for all stakeholders at the base of the supply chain. Harvests for most species were concentrated in the central Appalachian coalfields. We also sought to understand what motivated or deterred participation by conducting qualitative interviews with buyers and other stakeholders. Buyers were interested in knowing the size and value of the trade, but had concerns about losing access to the resource, which was rooted in past experience with land managers and policy-makers, and conflicting discourse between stakeholders about the state of the trade and of wild populations. Many institutional deliverables are not well matched with the realities or priorities of the traditional trade. We describe potential avenues for collaboration and reciprocity, including providing market research and certifying or providing technical support for sustainably wild harvested material in addition to ongoing support for cultivation. / PHD / Nontimber forest products (NTFPs) are sources of sustenance and livelihood for people around the world. This broad category includes parts of plants such as barks, roots, and fruits, and fungi harvested for food, medicine, decoration, for use in crafts and cultural and spiritual ceremonies. They are harvested for personal use, and sold into local and global supply chains. Commercially harvested NTFPs have a dual nature. They have the potential for providing income without having the kind of large-scale disturbance caused by logging or other more impactful extractive industry. At the same time, most forests are not managed for NTFP production, and the ecological impacts of most NTFP activity are difficult to assess. Habitat loss and harvesting pressure has led to the monitoring and regulation in the trade of one iconic medicinal NTFP American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) For the majority of NTFPs, the scale, value and distribution of the trade is unknown, presenting a barrier to effective management and institutional investment in the trade. We sought to better understand one important NTFP supply chain, the trade in medicinal plants occurring in eastern deciduous forests using a voluntary survey program. To accomplish this, we surveyed and interviewed registered ginseng buyers in 15 states about the other products they purchase. This dissertation is divided into three parts with three different objectives. The first is to describe the trade in medicinal NTFPs from eastern forests. This includes what species are being harvested, how harvests are distributed throughout the study area, the value of surveyed species to producers, and market structure close to the point of sale. We found that the majority of the trade was taking place in central Appalachia. The majority of the trade in terms of value and total output was concentrated in two species, goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) and black cohosh (Actaea racemosa). The second chapter seeks to create a replicable method for projecting total volume for the most commonly harvested species, including predicting the buying of the majority of respondents who did not participated. We created a model that predicted the likelihood of a respondent purchasing non-ginseng based on characteristics of their location associated with the trade. The third chapter uses interviews with buyers and other participants to explore how to improve participation in NTFP studies and make the results more useful for stakeholders.

In summer of 2012 archaeological excavations were conducted at the Iberville Housing Projects in New Orleans, Louisiana. The excavations were conducted in order to gather archaeological data pertaining to the site’s history as part of New Orleans’ notorious vice district, Storyville. During excavation a cache of 765 turquoise glass seed beads was uncovered along the east wall of Test Unit #1. The cache, found at a depth of around 83 cm below the ground surface, suggests, in conjunction with other artifacts found at this level, that the beads were deposited at the site between 1810 and 1830. This cache of seed beads is unique at the site both in its context and in the quantity of beads that were found. The presence of the bead cache suggests that there may have been an active trading economy at the site, as beads similar to those found at the Iberville site are important elements in informal economies of the eighteenth century. This paper discusses the possibility that an alternative or informal reciprocal, non-cash based economy was in operation on the periphery of New Orleans in the early nineteenth century.

How might ownership of intellectual property rights (IPRs) bring about sustainable socioeconomic development for women entrepreneurs in the emerging cosmetics sector of Nigeria? This research question is motivated by the observation that despite the very significant economic role women entrepreneurs in Third World countries play, their economic status remains low. This low status is a result of various factors including limited access to formal finance mechanisms, high cost of finance and other infrastructural deficiencies, as well gender discrimination. Since the protection of intellectual property (IP) is claimed to be an effective strategy to sustain the growth and development of entrepreneurship, in this thesis I examine whether the IP regime engenders the development of women entrepreneurs in Third World countries. Using trademarks as an exemplar of IPRs and a case study of women entrepreneurs producing cosmetics in Nigeria, I carry out a nuanced analysis that questions assumptions about the role of the IP regime in the improvement of women's businesses in Third World countries. Through an intersectional lens, I explore whether and/or how to localize IP's impact in the context of complex global issues regarding IP protection. Deploying feminist methodology guided by theoretical frameworks of feminist theory and Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), this thesis draws attention to the politics of gender and racism in the IP system and how this is exacerbated for women entrepreneurs in Third World countries. The thesis while acknowledging the importance of IP protection, finds that the current IP regime does not accommodate the innovations of women entrepreneurs in Third World countries like Nigeria, that semi and informal IP appropriation like secrecy, are more utilized by women entrepreneurs, and that gender plays a significant role in their acquisition and exploitation of formal IPRs. The thesis concludes that the IP regime as currently framed plays no role in the development of women entrepreneurs in Third World countries, and recommends amongst others, that a gender based legislative impact assessment of IP laws be carried out in Nigeria to ensure gender transformative reforms, and that the content of IP education be revolutionized to reflect the realities of women entrepreneurship in Third World countries.

Between 1991 and 2000, Sierra Leone experienced massive state and economic decline amidst a brutal civil war. In a country that is minerally wealthy, but ruled by a corrupt and predatory government, a `revolutionary¿ movement known as the RUF emerged, terrorising the civilian population and profiting from the unsecured diamond industry. The classic causes given for Sierra Leone¿s state collapse and consequent civil war have in large centred around the adverse effects of colonialism, civil unrest due to rampant governmental kleptocracy, and regional conflict spillover. However, the multiplicity of actors in Sierra Leone and the complexity of the environment demonstrate that the ten year civil war revolved predominantly around the country¿s highly lucrative diamonds. Indoctrinated in Qadafi¿s Libya and trained by Taylor¿s NPFL rebels in Liberia, the RUF insurgency created links through Charles Taylor to international criminals such as weapon¿s dealer Victor Bout, and international terrorists including al Qaeda. In just a few years Sierra Leone attained the dubious distinction of being one of the most globalised informal and illegal economies in the world. To the backdrop of Sierra Leone¿s collapsed state, economic vacuum and brutal civil war, and within the context of contemporary economic globalisation and an international `War on Terror¿, this paper discusses the local, regional and international levels of economic exploitation throughout the wartime period, and highlights how informal economies are inherently prone to large scale criminal predation.

No description available.

The outport is in the midst of great change. Twenty years since the moratorium on cod fishing, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador is experiencing rapid economic development in another industrial resource boom. While some outports are growing, others continue to decline. This development is based on wealth gained through exploitation of non-renewable resources, and as such, is not sustainable. Investing a portion of these short-term gains into the development of sustainable alternates will improve opportunities and resources for future generations. Pilot Project proposes that latent outport phenomena may act as supporting structures for sustainable development. The project suggests methods of identifying and expanding sustainable outport phenomena. This analysis can be distilled into five strategic tools for testing, designing and implementing sustainable rural development. 1. Territorial Networks defines a diverse region, increasing individual community capacity and developing resilience by examining existing micro-regional community connections and designing new ones. 2. Community Stewardship encourages a re-organization of local social structures and informal governance initiatives by defining communication pathways and aligning stakeholder interests. 3. Temporal Alignment co-ordinates the events, services and opportunities over time, between communities, by creating flexible infrastructure for supporting temporary and seasonal outport needs. 4. Informal Economies develops new modes of production by blending traditional trade and barter markets with industrial production frameworks, providing economic sustenance in the outport. 5. Place-making constructs new institutions and landmarks with available resources, reorganizing the rural web of social, economic and ecological activity in the region. Newfoundland operates at the extremes. On one hand, rural folk culture has established small-scale, informal community structures; on the other, industrial mega-projects develop according to strict legislation, market pricing, and resource extraction. The proposed strategies find new links between these extremes. Tried and true vernacular development methods are paired with newly emerging technologies and ideas about the future. Rural areas in Newfoundland have historically been used as testing grounds for heavy-handed development ideas, often with severely adverse effects on communities. This project proposes a series of micro developments: the mobilization of existing resources with small capital investment, little risk, and immediate opportunities for implementation. Sustainable rural development is conceived as a practice, an aggregative change from within the community.

The outport is in the midst of great change. Twenty years since the moratorium on cod fishing, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador is experiencing rapid economic development in another industrial resource boom. While some outports are growing, others continue to decline. This development is based on wealth gained through exploitation of non-renewable resources, and as such, is not sustainable. Investing a portion of these short-term gains into the development of sustainable alternates will improve opportunities and resources for future generations. Pilot Project proposes that latent outport phenomena may act as supporting structures for sustainable development. The project suggests methods of identifying and expanding sustainable outport phenomena. This analysis can be distilled into five strategic tools for testing, designing and implementing sustainable rural development. 1. Territorial Networks defines a diverse region, increasing individual community capacity and developing resilience by examining existing micro-regional community connections and designing new ones. 2. Community Stewardship encourages a re-organization of local social structures and informal governance initiatives by defining communication pathways and aligning stakeholder interests. 3. Temporal Alignment co-ordinates the events, services and opportunities over time, between communities, by creating flexible infrastructure for supporting temporary and seasonal outport needs. 4. Informal Economies develops new modes of production by blending traditional trade and barter markets with industrial production frameworks, providing economic sustenance in the outport. 5. Place-making constructs new institutions and landmarks with available resources, reorganizing the rural web of social, economic and ecological activity in the region. Newfoundland operates at the extremes. On one hand, rural folk culture has established small-scale, informal community structures; on the other, industrial mega-projects develop according to strict legislation, market pricing, and resource extraction. The proposed strategies find new links between these extremes. Tried and true vernacular development methods are paired with newly emerging technologies and ideas about the future. Rural areas in Newfoundland have historically been used as testing grounds for heavy-handed development ideas, often with severely adverse effects on communities. This project proposes a series of micro developments: the mobilization of existing resources with small capital investment, little risk, and immediate opportunities for implementation. Sustainable rural development is conceived as a practice, an aggregative change from within the community.