Subsidient: Luc Haverhals/Utrecht University
Subsidy: S181.66
A promising way of utilising nature in a sustainable way is through the use of ecosystem services. Ecosystem services need to be quantified before they can be adopted for policy making. Therefore, this report focusses on the quantification of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) in northern-Suriname, an important ecosystem service for local communities. To understand what NTFPs are worth, this study explored; 1) the distributions of NTFPs over different ecosystems, 2) the multi-year market price of NTFPs and; 3) the harvest and production factors of NTFPs. De results show that 10 of the 14 selected NTFP species are heterogeneously distributed over vegetation types. Furthermore, results showed that the market prices for two processed NTFPs (essential oils) have increased over the period from 2005-2018 and is likely to be explained by the decline in the supply of these oils. Lastly, it was found that the market prices of un-processed NTFPs can be explained by the travel distance and travel costs to the market in Paramaribo. For the processed NTFPs no relationship was found between the market price and the production factors. This study shows that a simple quantification of the provisioning services of NTFPs is not sufficient enough to fully quantify this ecosystem service.
