Stoian, D.

Strategies to foster development based on nontimber forest products (NTFPs) implicitly target rural producers. In the northern Bolivian Amazon, however, NTFP-based benefits also accrue to peri-urban populations. A household survey (n = 120) at the periphery of Riberalta, the region's economic center, reveals that peri-urban livelihoods depend significantly on both the extraction of Brazil nut and palm heart and their urban-based processing. Migrant and educational background are key determinants for the degree of dependence. Valuation of NTFP-based development contributions needs to allow for the rural-urban continuum underlying NTFP extraction and processing, and the role migration plays in related livelihood strategies.

non-timber forest products, livelihoods, rural urban migration, rural urban relations, livelihoods, brazil nuts, rural development, policy, Bolivia, Amazonia.

World Development 33(9): 1473-1490.

2005.

English.