[Abstract] Sustainable management of intact tropical peatlands is crucial for mitigating climate change, conserving biodiversity and supporting the livelihoods of local communities. This study examines whether sustainable fruit harvesting of the palm Mauritia flexuosa can support these goals by increasing fruit yields and income in lowland peatland ecosystems of north-eastern Peru. Because M. flexuosa is dioecious and its fruit is commonly obtained by felling female palms, the proportion of female palms is a good indicator of stand health. Across 93 widely distributed sites, the proportion of female palms increased with travel time to market; overall, fruit harvesting has already halved the potential yield and income of this resource. However, more female palms were found where fruit is harvested by climbing. The authors estimate that region-wide adoption of climbing could eventually increase potential fruit yields by 51% and raise their total value to US$0.62 ± 0.28 million per year. The findings reveal the high costs of unsustainable resource extraction in Neotropical forests and outline a practical pathway for conserving and sustainably using one of the most carbon-dense landscapes on Earth.

[Background] Locally distinctive plants and animals provide indigenous peoples and local communities with a wide range of natural resources. Sustainable management of these resources plays a vital role in mitigating climate change, conserving biodiversity and supporting indigenous livelihoods. However, human-driven infrastructure development, agricultural expansion and the felling and unsustainable harvesting of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) have reduced the capacity of these ecosystems to provide resources. To support sustainable management and protect the carbon stocks and biodiversity of tropical peatlands, the services they provide to people must be quantified. It is therefore essential to understand how historical harvesting has altered the abundance of economically important species and whether sustainable harvesting techniques can improve the health of their populations.

[Study system]

• Study area: peatlands of the northern Peruvian Amazon

• Climate: warm, humid tropical climate without a regular dry season

• Main vegetation type: palm swamp

• Dominant species: Mauritia flexuosa (moriche palm)

[Methods]

[Data analysis]

[Main findings]

[Summary] The study demonstrates the feasibility of sustainable palm-swamp management for conserving Amazonian peatlands and their large below-ground carbon stocks. It also shows how apparently intact tropical forests are affected by resource extraction, and how a precise understanding of ecosystem modification can identify pathways for conservation action.

[Original article] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00858-z

[Discussion]

The study is innovative in its choice of study area, species and entry point. It chose a region with a long history of traditional plant use, ensuring the generality of the baseline data; the species studied is economically important, dominant in the ecosystem, central to the income and activities of indigenous people and supported by a long-standing local market, ensuring the depth and significance of the research; and by exploiting the dioecy of the palm and using the proportion of female plants as an indicator, it achieved the key step of quantification.

Moreover, the study goes beyond changes in the number of female palms at the ecosystem level, taking full account of the relationships among plants, indigenous people and market demand, which gives it greater depth and breadth.