Anthony B. Cunningham and Xuefei Yang (2010). Mushrooms in Forests and Woodlands: Resource Management, Values and Local Livelihoods.

Despite the economic, social and cultural values of fungi, there is a general lack of understanding of their importance to local livelihoods and forest ecology. This book demonstrates the crucial roles that fungi play in maintaining forest ecosystems and the livelihoods of rural people throughout the world while providing good practice guidelines for the sustainable management of this resource and an assessment of economic value. It brings together the perspectives of biologists, anthropologists and forest and woodland managers to provide a unique inter-disciplinary and international overview of the key issues.

Sarah A. Laird, Rebecca McClain and Rachel P. Wynberg (2010). Wild Product Governance: Finding Policies that Work for Non-Timber Forest Products. Earthscan, London.

Products from the wild, also known as non-timber forest products (NTFPs), contribute substantially to rural livelihoods, generate revenue for companies and governments, and have a range of impacts on biodiversity conservation. Despite this, they have been both overlooked and poorly regulated, leading to over-exploitation and to new forms of inequity. This book reviews these experiences and provides information to support new policy approaches to NTFP regulation. The volume includes cases from around the world, and a review of literature and resources. An annotated bibliography and a policy brief with findings from this study are also available.
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Carol J. Pierce Colfer (2008). Human Health and Forests: A Global Overview of Issues, Practice and Policy.

Written for a broad audience, this book is the first comprehensive introduction to the issues surrounding the health of people living in and around forests, particularly in Asia, South America and Africa. Part I is a set of synthesis chapters, addressing policy, public health, environmental conservation, and ecological perspectives on health and forests including women and child health, medicinal plants and viral diseases such as Ebola, SARS and Nipah Encephalitis. Part II takes a multi-lens approach to lead the reader to a more concrete and holistic understanding using case studies from around the world that cover issues as important as the links between HIV/AIDs and the forest sector, and diet and health. Part III looks at the specific challenges to health care delivery in forested areas, including remoteness, and the integration of traditional medicine with modern health care.
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Anna Lawrence and William Hawthorne (2006). Plant Identification: Creating User Friendly Field Guides for Biodiversity and Management.

This book is written in the belief that tools enabling more people to understand plant biodiversity can aid conservation and contribute to rural livelihoods. It provides potential authors of field guides with practical advice to produce user-friendly guides which help to identify plants for the purposes of conservation, sustainable use, participatory monitoring or greater appreciation of biodiversity. The book draws on both scientific and participatory processes, supported by the experience of contributors from across the tropics. It presents a core process for producing a field guide, setting out key steps, options and available techniques and, through illustration, helps authors choose methods and media appropriate to their context.
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Alan Hamilton and Patrick Hamilton (2006). Plant Conservation: An Ecosystem Approach.

In this book, plant conservation is described in the context of livelihoods and development, and ways to balance the conservation of plant diversity and the use of plants are explored. A central contention in this book is that local people must be involved if conservation is to be successful. Also examined are ways of prioritizing plants and places for conservation initiatives, approaches to in situ and ex situ conservation, and how to approach problems of unsustainable harvesting of wild plants. Roles for botanists, foresters, sociologists, development workers and others are discussed. The book acts as a unifying text for the series, integrating case studies and methodologies considered in previous volumes and pointing out in a comprehensive, accessible volume the valuable lessons to be learned.
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Anthony B. Cunningham, Brian Belcher and Bruce Campbell (2005). Carving out a Future: Forests, Livelihoods and the International Woodcarving Trade.

Very little has been written about the cultural or economic contributions of woodcarving to people's livelihoods, or the consequences of felling hardwood and softwood trees for the international woodcarving trade. Carving Out a Future was the first examination of this trade and its critical links to rural livelihoods, biodiversity, conservation, forestry and the international trade regime. A range of case studies from Australia, Bali, India, Africa and Mexico provide a lens for examining the impact of woodcarving on forests, conservation efforts, sustainable rural livelihoods, and efforts to promote equitable trade that provides a fair economic return to local skilled artisans.

Patricia Shanley, Alan R. Pierce, Sarah A. Laird and Abraham Guillen (eds) (2002). Tapping the Green Market: Management and Certification of Non-timber Forest Products.

There is a rapidly growing interest in, and demand for, non-timber forest products (NTFPs). They provide critical resources across the globe fulfilling nutritional, medicinal, financial and cultural needs. However, they have been largely overlooked in mainstream conservation and forestry policies. At the same time, certification of a wide range of products is popular today, and the information in this book is still a key resource. This volume explains the use and importance of certification and eco-labelling for guaranteeing best management practices for non-timber forest products. Using case studies from around the world, it not only seeks to further our understanding of certification processes, it also examines non-timber forest product management, harvesting and marketing.
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Sarah A. Laird (ed) (2002). Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge: Equitable Partnerships in Practice. Spanish (2003).

Responding to the Convention on Biological Diversity and other policy developments, this book offers practical guidance for equitable biodiversity research and biodiscovery, or prospecting, partnerships. Drawing on experiences and lessons learned from around the world, it provides case studies, analysis and recommendations in a range of areas that together form a new framework for creating equity in partnerships, including: researcher codes of ethics, institutional policies, community research agreements, biodiversity prospecting contracts, the drafting and implementation of national 'access and benefit-sharing' laws, and institutional tools for the distribution of financial benefits.
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Bruce M. Campbell and M. Luckert (eds) (2002). Uncovering the Hidden Harvest: Valuation Methods for Woodland and Forest Resources. Spanish (2003).

Forests and woodlands provide an enormous range of goods and services to society, from timber and firewood to medicinal plants, watershed protection, destinations for tourists and sacred sites. Only when these are understood and valued can forests and their resources be properly managed and conserved. This work shows how the complicated network of benefits can be untangled and sets out the different approaches needed to value them. It covers the analysis of plant-based markets, non-market valuation and decision frameworks such as cost-benefit analysis.
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Anthony B. Cunningham (2001). Applied Ethnobotany: People, Wild Plant Use and Conservation. Spanish (2002), Chinese (2003).

Applied Ethnobotany is the first practical guide published on how to manage wild plant species sustainably. This detailed manual on wild plant resources sets out the approaches and field methods involved in participatory work between conservationists, researchers and primary resource users. Supported by extensive illustrations, it explains how local people can learn to assess the pressures on plant resources and what steps to take to ensure their continued availability. An invaluable guide for all those involved in resource management decisions regarding plant species and diversity, and in particular those studying or working in conservation, rural development and park management. Download PDF.

John Tuxill and Gary Paul Nabhan (1998, re-issued 2001). People, Plants and Protected Areas: A Guide to In Situ Management. Spanish (2001), Chinese (2003).

Conservation of plant resources is often focused on seed banks and botanical gardens. However, the two authors of this volume present a comprehensive conservation strategy that complements this ex-situ approach with practical guidance on in-situ management and conservation of plant resources. The book aims to facilitate better management of protected areas and to illustrate new approaches to conservation of plants within their landscapes. It draws on concepts from forestry, the agricultural sciences, anthropology, ethnology and ethnobotany and should be useful to practitioners, academics and policy-makers.

Quentin C. B. Cronk and Janice L. Fuller (1995, re-issued 2001). Plant Invaders: The Threat to Natural Ecosystems. Spanish (2001).

A practical guide to the protection and management of ecosystems against invasions by non-indigenous plant species. The authors seek to offer an accessible account of the subject and how to protect natural habitats. The majority of countries suffer from invasive plants and there are case studies from North America, Europe, Australia, South and South East Asia, and the Pacific and Atlantic islands. There is also a list of invasive species, with their countries of origin and regions of introduction.

Gary J. Martin (1995, re-issued 2003). Ethnobotany: A Methods Manual. Spanish (2001), Bahasa, Chinese (1998, reprinted 2002).

Ethnobotany, the study of the classification, use and management of plants by people, draws on a range of disciplines, including natural and social sciences, to show how conservation of plants and of local knowledge about them can be achieved. This basic introduction to the field illustrates how botany, anthropology, ecology, economics and linguistics are all employed in the techniques and methods involved. It explains data collection and hypothesis testing and provides practical ideas on fieldwork ethics and the application of results to conservation and community development. Case studies illustrate the explanations, demonstrating the importance of collaboration in achieving results.